ROSS WILLIAMS - WIGHT WINTER !
ROSS WILLIAMS – WIGHT WINTER !
For the first time in seventeen years, Britain’s number one all-rounder, Ross Williams, made the decision to drop his normal winter training regime in reliable conditions abroad in exchange for a winter at home on the Isle of Wight. The plan paid off handsomely after he tapped in to a perfect pattern of low pressures which lit up all of his favourite breaks for windsurfing and surfing around the notorious southern tip and west coast of the island. With his slalom addictions taken care of by various trips to the OTC at Weymouth and one short training trip to visit GA team mate Ben Van Der Steen in Tarifa, Ross is now perfectly
recharged and refuelled for the forthcoming season. So what brought on the decision to exchange warm trade winds, board shorts and T-shirts for 5mm wetsuit’s, frosty mornings and numb fingers? We dispatched the UK’s number one windsurfing investigative journalist, John ‘Snoop’ Carter, to find out.
Photos John Carter
JC: Come on then Ross, spill the beans, what swung you to stay home this winter on the Isle of Wight rather than travel to Cape Town or Maui to train?
Ross: I am the UK agent for Gaastra/Tabou/Vandal with Windsurfing, kitesurfing and SUP. This will be my 3rd year in the role and sales are starting to pick up. We are seeing much more of the brands in the shops and on the water. It has been a lot of work, and I take this role very seriously, I want to be the best in whatever I take on. It took a lot of time to build the relationships up with the shops, finding ways that you can work together for mutual benefit. I am lucky I have such strong brands and I can offer pretty much any type of equipment that a shop would need. I have been very fortunate to have been able to travel and compete all over the world in my career as a pro, and now as I am a little older, it is actually nice to be more settled. I was actually looking forward to spending more time sailing and surfing in the UK over the winter when usually as a pro I go overseas to work and train. I lucked out with some amazing conditions at home on the Isle of Wight this winter so I have been able to spend a lot of time on the water, while constantly working side by side on my UK network. It is also nice to be back with my family, my brothers and their little kids; it’s been great for my soul. So in short, yes it is cold and maybe a little harder to motivate yourself, but if you are strong in your mind you can achieve whatever you want. Family, UK, competing and building a lifestyle that I am happy with, that is all the motivation I need.
JC: Has it been beneficial to you to have a permanent base ?
Ross: It certainly has been a pleasure to be back at home. I still live with my parents as this makes the most financial sense at the moment. My mum has been a rock for me, I think she understands that I basically have very little free time and I am working towards my goals. My dad, my brothers and everyone around me have been amazing and I feel I really missed that aspect in my life for many years while I was selfishly running around the world (laughs)! It has been great connecting with everyone in the UK, both friends and family. I think it is important to be around those people that make you happy. It’s a real help when it comes to understanding yourself and finding your way through life. Sometimes the people or places that you push away from while you are growing up are the things that will be always be there for you and that is what has been great about being home. It is also very refreshing to come back in from the water to a nice warm house, and to be around people that love you and want the best for you. I am still living out of my bags or van as I travel around the UK, but it has still been beneficial for me to be in the UK and build up that thirst again for the competition season when you know you have a few months of travelling around the globe coming up again.
“ yes it is cold and maybe a little harder to motivate yourself, but if you are strong in your mind you can achieve whatever you want ”
JC: Where have you been doing your slalom tuning and training?
Ross: I have actually been doing more slalom sailing this winter then in the last couple of years. I realized I haven’t really been taking care to be prepared in time, unrolling new sails and untested masts and fins at the first events and things like that. I decided it was time to focus a little more on that area. I have been training in Weymouth and helping some of the guys on the UK Gaastra/Tabou team and in turn they have helped me a lot. Kev Greenslade and Simon Petitfer have been awesome and the whole crew down with Tris Best at the OTC. Weymouth is for sure one of the best locations you can be to test and train slalom here in the UK. I have also been working a lot on fins with Steve Cook from F-hot. I think F-hot now have some of the best designs for slalom and is largely due to all the effort Steve has personally put in. I also made a short trip down to Tarifa to see and train with Benny Van Der Steen. He has also been a big help to us at Gaastra and Tabou. I see positive things happening to all our race team this year, we have been able to already make the step forward for 2016 Vapours and Mantas and everyone is getting on nicely in the team which in turn will benefit us all.
JC: What about your local breaks we heard Niton and Ventnor have been on fire this winter?
Ross: It has been a pleasure to score those sessions. With the forecasting being so accurate these days it is possible to look on the internet, pick those two or three hours that will be the best, go, have fun and then get back to work knowing you scored it. As usual in the UK, we have had a lot of these low pressures moving over us, so I reckon most of the winter I could get in the water for good surfing and wave sailing at these spots three to four times a week. For sure we had a great run up to Christmas and most of January without it being too cold. I remember having a really fun session at Ventnor while the tide was low and pushing, with the wind being south west, lots of sun. So we knew as the day went on the waves would get bigger and the wind also was due to swing more Westerly, which it did! So towards high tide we drove around to Niton and surfed it at high on the drop, and later when there was less water, we sailed again! It was brilliant, and you could pretty much guarantee that you would be able to do this every time a low pressure would pass over.
JC: Do any sessions stand out in particular?
Ross: You know what, there has been so many that I really can’t pick one out. Maybe it was a sailing and then surfing session at Niton when Jamie Hawkins and Neil Gent were over, I had so many sick waves that day. We even went for a pint in the Buddle Inn up the hill; you know it has been epic when everybody wants to stop for a pint on the way home to relive the best moments of the day!
JC: What about Surfing, we heard you have been building up quite a quiver of surfboards?
Ross: Yes, it is my little collection thing I have going on. I have a rather large section of JS boards that my brother’s shop, ‘Earth, Wind and Water’, has been dangling in front of me like a carrot in front of a donkey. In all honesty I surf all the boards I own; I like some for small front side waves and others for backside or heavier waves. It’s actually helped me understand a lot more about board shapes and rockers, so hopefully I can put some of those feelings across into some new windsurfing shapes for Tabou.
JC: What about the cold water, has this reduced your normal amount
of water time?
Ross: I didn’t think it was really that cold this winter, and if you got the right equipment then you can deal with it. I was staying in the water for up to four hours a session. Essential to me is being warm, so make sure you choose a decent wetsuit. Mystic have totally styled me out and I know I am lucky for that. I am fortunate to have a few winter Mystic Majestic and Legend’s so I try and make sure I put on a dry wettie. A few times I have been caught out by being lazy and not taking them in to dry overnight and then surfed a dawnie and had to suck it up.
JC: Having spent a winter in the UK – what are your tips for maximising winter UK sessions
Ross: I think the most important thing is to be prepared, that means to be really on it with the forecast, the best tides, waves and wind. The conditions can change quickly and you might need to react and change spots. I also always make sure I have at least a couple of dry wetsuits, water and food, so I maximise my sessions. Wind and rain can be off putting if you are cold so being well rested and warm before and during your beach trips can help motivate. I find also that sailing with a bunch of your friends helps you stay motivated and not notice the harsh climate!
JC: You have a pretty trick van, does that make winter sailing more pleasant?
Ross: I have had my van a bit more kitted out for my UK demands, I wanted to be free to travel and make the most of conditions, so I need the van to be liveable in. I have a large storage space separate from the living area, as it’s no good having your wet gear in where you sleep and eat. This space can hold about 8 boards and 15 rolled up sails and masts, kites, surfboards, whatever you need. And then in the front is the living area. The van is insulated and has a sick heater and water tank that is connected to an outside shower, which is also heated . Then I have a sink and some hobs for cooking, lots of cupboard space for clothing and equipment, (cooking and camera.). Then the most important thing, the bed! It is the most comfortable big bed I have ever had with a memory foam mattress. There is also another pull out bed and small table for eating. I only really use these things when I am on the road and off the island. If I am going local, then I think the most useful thing has been the ability to get changed in the warm and not having to suffer the cold, wet, dirty ground outside!
JC: Do you tune your gear any differently for UK conditions ?
Ross: I don’t usually tune my gear differently, I have my style and that’s that. The wind is maybe more dense in the winter time so it can feel harder, so maybe you find yourself using slightly smaller equipment. This winter I found that the wind was actually pretty clean in the UK until the end of January, and then it seemed to become a little gustier and more unpredictable. I like to sail with a fully powered sail so I am always up and planing around.
So for me I look for a good, light feeling, controllable 5 batten sail that’s really comfortable to sail in the upper wind limits. From my experience, a good 5 batten sail is the key to enjoying your sailing in the maximum amount of wind ranges. That’s not to say that the 3 or 4 batten sails are not great sails, just that in the Manic 5 batten sail I feel we have the best of all worlds, it’s super light and soft, which helps let the sail breathe easily and pump to get the low end power, even if you do not feel the sail pulling, it’s discreetly efficient. At the high end, it’s for sure one of the fastest, most stable sails you can hope to use.
“ you know it has been epic when everybody wants to stop for a pint on the way home ! ”
JC: Thruster or quad for UK conditions?
Ross: Again this is quite a personal decision and depends on your board shapes. I use Thrusters, for my style they work the best with the compact ‘pocket’ shaped boards I ride. The Tabou pocket waves are easy planing, stable, flattish rocker and have thin rails that cut into the choppy water. This helps me get away with using lower volume boards. I would say that a lot of normal UK wave sailors would benefit from keeping it simple. Maybe too many of them get pushed too soon into taking multi fin boards, where they would actually make more progress if they kept to single fin boards that get going quickly and are stable.
JC: What are your ambitions for the forthcoming season?
Ross: Top five in slalom would be awesome! I would like our brands to be successful and for everyone who chooses one of our products to be stoked! Oh and maybe some surfing and wave travel trips! They are good for the mind!
JC: What about the future, how do you see your career developing?
Ross: The new role is great, I am very happy to be working within the company. Also the role as international team manager has been fun, I want to be useful and help out the company and the riders as best I can. I know how everything works, I have been with both brands now for fifteen years. We are becoming stronger and stronger each year. Thomas was world champion and Gaastra won the Constructor’s title, so 2014 was a solid year, I hope 2015 will be even better! I want to do what I am doing and keep windsurfing for as long as possible. At some point the international competing will stop, but I hope to continue to work and be of valuable service to the brands for many more years.
JC: Finally, what is your advice for budding young pros.
Ross: Watch the videos online, dream big, practice hard, always make sure you are enjoying your sailing and push your own limits every session!
The post ROSS WILLIAMS – WIGHT WINTER ! appeared first on Windsurf Magazine.