Foot Op

So I had the operation on Monday at the start of this week and have just been recovering. It seems like everything went to plan, except that I forgot to tell the surgeon that I'm flying today. This apparently is ok, except for the fact that I have a two week course of blood thinning injections which I have to inject into my stomach everyday! Not particularly enjoyable.

Went and had the follow up appointment last night and I got to see the damage for the first time. It actually looks pretty clean which is cool and my doctor told me exactly what he had done. For anyone who doesn;t want to know the minor details then I wouldn't read on.

The picture below shows the surface scar I will have. The work below the surface consists of clipping off the bumpy bits on top of the joint and then smoothing it down, then the joint was pulled apart and all the debris was cleaned out, following that some of the ligaments under the toe were snipped so I could increase my range of motion and then all stitched up....niiiiice!

So it's 4 weeks out of any impact sports, and really it won't be until Cape Town (all of Feb) that I'll be back on it again. Good time to get it done and I'll be sure to get some skiing in, in Jan, I hope.

A particular favourite snap of mine below... the colouring makes it look just that little bit more horrific... yum yum!

Nominated for UKWA Windsurfer of the year - WOOOOO

YEHHHHHHHHHHHH

http://ukwindsurfing.com/woty/

So sick! Everything I wanted to happen by the end of 2012 has all happened this year! Please head over to the UKWA site (link above) to register your vote for UK Windsurfer of the year for who ever you feel deserves it...

Some highlights of my year below:

Videos:

Egypt Road Trip: http://video.mpora.com/watch/DSUJK6EoF/
Fuerteventura: http://video.mpora.com/watch/iFPoKQ2mg/
UKWA Freestyle Tour stop no.5: http://video.mpora.com/watch/vSSOxF3AN/
One fully epic power hour at West Witterings: http://video.mpora.com/watch/IN4IMz197/
SWA Aussie Kiss (epic event): http://video.mpora.com/watch/mHdik6HBz/

Photos:

http://video.mpora.com/watch/mHdik6HBz/

Night tow-in, AK XXX, Witterings coaching, Austriaaa

With the competition season coming to a bit of a close and the student scene kicking off I figured now is a good time for a bit of an all round update.

So going back a bit now but Si Crowther just released these images from the night tow-in session at Hayling Island, some cool shots, thanks Si.

 Practice/qualifying during the day

Since then was obviously the Poole windfest where I was super happy to take the 2011 UK Freestyle title, something that I previously covered with pics but it really has only just sunk in! It's one of those few achievements in my life that I can't actually describe how happy I am about it, especially with the level UK Freestyle is at!

So moving on to the Student Windsurfing event - Aussie Kiss 10. The first in their series and something I am helping out with in terms of demo gear from RRD. It's cool to go back as a demo guy and not to have to think about competing, but at the same time I miss that side a little bit. It's such an awesome way into competition though. No pressure and you compete when the wind as it's best. This year the event was pretty messy as per usual, a big party on Saturday night but with wind on Sunday it gave us a good chance to get out on the water and clear the hangovers a bit... pics below from Jay Haysey (www.globalshots.co.uk)

The following weekend whilst the UK's wave fleet were scoring it at Gwithian, Jamie Drummond, Sam Ross and myself were doing a bit of a freestyle kids camp at West Witterings. It went really well, with alright wind on Saturday and Trevor and Julian from the UKWA turning up to do a bit of an intro to competing and judging on Sunday.

Now I'm out in Vienna, Austria, desperate for an 'under-the-bridge' session and with a good forecast on the way, it looks like a strong possibility! Then it's home for a couple of weeks, hopefully to hook up with Josh Willmot to get some shots for some (top secret) video plans we have, then it's the operation and a bit of time out!

More soon on the bridge session if it happens...

Operation operation

Sooo the date is set, I'll be going under the knife on the 21st November. It means I'm technically not allowed to windsurf for 6 weeks but who ever let that stop them...

To be honest considering the year I have had I feel like this is a small price to pay. With this kicking off in Egypt where I cut my head open and had 4 stitches in the local hospital, then started off the issues with the foot by crashing a ponch. Then Fuerte where I visited the doctor/hospital about 4 times in total; with a suspected broken leg (crashed clew first backloop), suspected ruptured appendix (crashed pushloop), a deep cut across my shin (fin across the shin after getting worked by a foot high wave.......) and further foot issues...then in the UK I had even more problems at events with my foot.

Soo the plan for Dec/Jan is to spend some time in Austria and hit up the ski slopes a bit, I figured a ski boot will be solid enough... then Cape Town is booked for all of February to train up for the following season. It's a bit annoying though because the rate freestyle windsurfing is moving on it won't take long to fall behind!

In the meantime I've got a few weeks before the Op so this weekend there is a kids freestyle camp at West Witterings which I will be demoing/working at... so come along and get involved if you want to learn a few moves... the forecast looks awesome....or head to BWA Cornwall for the epic forecast that the Wave sailors are heading to!

EFPT Interview

Dominque from the EFPT put this unique interview together when I met up with him Vienna a week or so ago.

Pretty different style to the traditional interview format, cool though. Have a read here....

http://www.efpt.net/newsdetails.php?n_id=451

Pics:
- Hanna Poschinger
- getwindsurfing.com

My massive foot issues!

So I'm sure quite a few people know already that I have had ongoing problems with my foot. In particular my left big toe. Now although this is a small part of the body it's become quite obvious that it is fairly useful when it comes to common day activities like standing/balancing/walking/etc... so when I'm trying to bust out the odd freestyle move here and there it doesn't really help that I have no tendon holding my big toe to the rest of my body anymore. It also doesn't help that the bone inside the joint has compressed so hard on a number of occasions that there are now floating bits of bone in the toe/foot...niiice!

So after 10 x-rays of the foot and a MRI scan the doctors have concluded that I will need an operation to clear the bits of bone and to part the joint a bit, they will also scrape inside the joint and drill holes in the bone (inside the joint) to promote growth and recovery. Should this fail, quite likely, then a second operation will be required to stop any movement in that toe forever, but that would be far off when I really can't stand the pain anymore. I suppose I should be a bit disappointed about this as it will take me off the water for a bit and could affect my windsurfing, except I spoke to Steven VB at EFPT Sardinia and he had some issue which meant he cannot bend his big toe at the same joint I may not be able to, and for anyone who has been hiding in a small hole in a Scottish mountain in the last year or so, he just became World Champion.

So all is not lost, but there are the details for those who might want to know... yum yum! First operation will be mid-November.

That said, I had an epic sail last week and got some decent snaps, which I'll throw up here as soon as I can convert these retarded .cr2 files that my mac is not liking...

Latest video

So I made this video recently from that epic session we had at West Witterings a couple of weeks ago. It's only a minute long but the session was so full power everyone just wanted to sail and also I think the camera battery ran out... so here it is.. 50 knots of full power freestyle windsurfing!

Thanks to Bubble for the camera and the others for filming: