I was in so much pain the day before the competition, that I couldn’t kite. Every little wave or impact I encountered on the water was painful. My session lasted about 5 minutes, before I decided to pack up and write off my chances of competing the next day.
Rewind back to one week earlier, to how I injured my leg. I was doing a board-off and when I realised I hadn’t jumped high enough, I threw my board down but didn’t have enough time to throw it far enough so I ended up landing on my board! The pain in my shin was so bad that I forgot about my board and dragged myself to the water’s edge. For the rest of the week my shin continued to be in pain, so much so, that even putting pressure on my foot was difficult.
So as you can imagine, I was absolutely thrilled on the day of the competition when I was able to put my wetsuit on and walk around with no pain. And even better was when I went out on the water and kited pain free! The women’s pro freestyle heats started off early in the day and the wind was quite soft but I managed to go out on my 7m North Dice. Halfway through the heat I lost my board and spent some getting it back but still got a first place in the heat so was very happy with that! After about an hour we had our second heat and then after a few more hours it was on to the waveriding. The conditions were so pristine – steady wind, hot hot weather and shallow turquoise water – Cape Town at its best! The flat water didn’t really help the waveriding and with 6 ladies in my heat, I struggled to find any good waves! It was also my first time riding my new board so I wasn’t expecting much – I seriously need to work on my waveriding!
It had been a long day in the sun so I was glad when it came time to do the prize giving. I ended up coming first in the freestyle so I was ecstatic!
All in all it was a really great day. The competition was really well run; we always knew exactly what was going on and when our next heat would be. The weather was also beautiful and lots of new friends were made. I am looking forward to the next competition next month, but first it’s the Red Bull Kind of the Air coming up at the end of the month – it is always a great event to watch!!
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