Lagoon Youth Windsurf Team Lucas Meldrum

Many of you will have seen young Lucas Meldrum windsurfing at Hove Lagoon windsurf club and his rapid progress over the last few seasons. Lagoon Watersports in partnership with North, Fanatic and ION (oh and Dad!) are pleased to offer him sponsorship to help his windsurfing and SUPing flourish. Here he tells us  a bit about his autumn on the National windsurf competition scene. In the October half term I went on a little road trip with my dad to Weymouth and Cornwall to compete in the UKWA freestyle and BWA wave, youth events. On the first day of our trip we were in Weymouth for the only UK freestyle championship after being reintroduced once again. The conditions were very marginal all day and it was tricky to get enough speed for Arial tricks but it was better than nothing. I was using a 4.0 hero hybrid and Max Rowes fanatic skate which was great once you got going. At the end of the day the pros, ams, ladies and youths heats were all completed. It was very nice to see all the old faces and watch Bubble, Max, Adam and the other competitors doing so well. The only other competitor in the youths was Johnny, who is the same age as me. He was sailing really well landing Vulcans and going for spocks and the heats were really tight but I just managed to beat him. I think if it was windier it would have been a lot more difficult! Unfortunately there was no wind for the second day and they had the prize giving ceremony. I am very happy to be the UK champion and freestyle is something I want to do more of, although it’s difficult sailing in onshore wavy Hove. I really hope freestyle grows in the UK and it would be great to have more kids come to these events. We then headed off to Cornwall on the Sunday afternoon for the final stop of BWA tour. We decided to go a week early so that I could get used to the conditions. The Pettit family was also there, which was great as we could hook up to go windsurfing and paddle boarding. On Monday we went windsurfing at Marazion which was very similar to Hove only the opposite tack. It took a while to get use to but I was soon trying forwards, but they didn’t go very well! In the afternoon we all went to Gwithian for a sup-surf but it ended up being horrendously windy offshore. Apart from that I had some amazing sup-surf sessions all week with my new Fanatic pro wave 7’6. Unluckily for us there was only two other windy days. On Wednesday, I and the fellow BWA youths Jack Pettit and James Arnell-smith and Sam Hall (who had both just come down) had a little fun windsurf at Gwithian. It was windy enough and there was waist high waves to practice some down the line sailing, which is a treat for me. The other windy day was Friday. This was the first day for the BWA pros and they had a good day for it too. There was a fair amount of wind, similar to Wednesday but with over mast high sets. I watched the pros for a bit and then went out later with the boys. It was my first experience in big down the line conditions and I stuck to the smaller waves, trying to avoid the big sets from destroying my new kit. Saturday and Sunday was meant to be the Youth event. With no wind and good swell they ran a fun youth sup-surf competition at Marazion on Saturday. It was really good as they ran it like a windsurf competition so that we could get used to heat times etc. In the end I came 3rd with Jack coming 1st, James 2nd and Jenna in 4th. With no wind again on Sunday another sup-surf comp was run for everyone at Gwithian. Unfortunately I didn’t make it past the first round as I didn’t catch the waves I was looking for. After that it was prize giving and there was no results for the Youths in Cornwall but somehow Jack Pettit won the overall, haha. Well done to Jack, defiantly deserved it after a 4th place in the ams in Tiree. Want to get windsurfing then why not take an adult learn to windsurf lesson or kids learn to windsurf course at Hove Lagoon. It was an amazing trip even though there was no competition in Cornwall. I would like to say a big thank you to my dad for driving me around and Ed and Harvey from Lagoon Watersports for supply the North, Fanatic and Ion kit with Alpha-force. Also thanks to Phil and Daniel for organising the freestyle and Max for lending me the board. Go cheack out my windsurf page, and give it a like for all the latest updates on my Facebook page.