Tiree Future Pros 2021

The week started with a bang, the whole group met on Gott bay ready for the windiest day of the week. 30 knot gusts were coming through across the water with everyone ready to go. Day one was a real highlight for team “The Loch” with everyone trying their first forward loops and with a shoutout for Dylan Galloway being extremely close to landing on his very first attempt!  For many of those in the other groups the focus was sailing on the sea or a short board for the very first time.

Day two showed a promising forecast, with the wind increasing through out the day and some great flatwater blasting conditions to be had. Team “The Maze” made the most of the day with many of the group nailing their first ever waterstarts or getting out the back for the first time.  Team “Crossapol” were out enjoying the mellower conditions by catching their first waves.  By the afternoon almost everyone was up enjoying the planingconditions on Gott Bay and flying into some carve and duck gybes.

Day three began with the highlight of the week; the Disco Warmup lead by Mr motivator and head coach Sami Poole. The future pros hit the water and made the most of the light wind conditions to practice some heli-tacks and other light wind manoeuvres before having the opportunity to meet the pros.  This gave all the juniors an opportunity to ask any burning questions that they had to some of the biggest names in windsurfing.  The questions varied between the technical details on how to win heats in a competition and how to hit the biggest ariel to the big question of the day: “How much do you earn?” – Not as much as you would think apparently

Wednesday was competition day and after a warm up session getting used to a new beach, head judge Mike Archer and the main event came down.The Future Pros were given a crash course on the ins and outs of how a windsurfing competition works. With the wind being very light it was decided that the best two waves for each sailor would count. The elimination ladder was drawn up and everyone was ready to go with 18 competitors ready to hit the water.  The atmosphere on the beach was electric with everyone cheering everyone on. 

After an hour of competition we were whittled down to the final four riders.  The final was the closest heat of the event; the scores for first and third were both tied having to go to countback to determine the winner. The future pros winner for 2021 was Euan Lindsay, narrowly beating Dylan Galloway into second.  Both had caught some great waves throughout the day and showed some great competitive spirit in their selection of waves.  Third was Anna Thomsonwho was the standout sailor in the earlier rounds with Kai Beattie coming in fourth place.

For the final day of the camp Tiree presented us with the best conditions it could throw up, 20 knots cross-shore wind and hip high swell at Crossapol beach.  This gave everyone on the camp the opportunity to put everything into practice that they had learned throughout the week.  There were some big jumps thrown down and some great waves ridden.  The improvement from day one was amazing and everyone managed to hold their own in some of the most challenging conditions that the future pros have run in.