2012 Atko memorial round 1 4 March 2012 Venue: Secrets, St Ouens

Conditions: Cloudy, wind gusting 40+ kts

Air temp: 9 degrees, 

Sea Temp 9 degrees

The sets were coming in strong with great potential for what was to be an epic day, with ten sailors braving the conditions, with most spectators preferring to view from the warmth of the vans (very sensible too!).

Secrets is never the easiest place to rig up, however everyone trundled all their kit down the steps on to the beach right into the sand blast zone, which was later to take its toll on at least three masts being  'glued' together by the sand.  The consensus amongst the group was for 4m/4.2 sails. Dave Huelin and Mikey Surcouf were first into the water, they obviously had plenty of power on their chosen sails and once everyone saw how well they were going, they rushed down to the waters edge for the start of the half an hour heat.

 Justin suffered a broken mast, but returned to the water for the last five minutes in which he wave rode in his normal effortless looking style, with some big air time and loops thrown in for good measure. Myles also suffering a broken mast 20 mins in but was quick to rerig and return to the water.

Steve Pertigas -Melia was also sailing with style and picked up some great air time, and had skill getting out through some of the biggest sets.. Jono Gilmour was relentless accelerating up the ramps and executing loop after loop combined with some great wave riding. Rob Ayliff was taking no prisoners on the sleek and fast Goya, with some impressive transitions on the inside (see Robs GoPro footage on youtube or via the Jersey Windsurfing page on facebook). Steve Mahoney and Neil (?) coped well with the gusts and sailed well right to the end of the heat. Ross Le Cornu approached the water confidently only to have to return to the beach twenty minutes later, after having a particularly heavy landing on top of this kit, owch! 

So on form today, and for not only great airtime (in many forms) but for the number of manoeuvres attempted the winner's medal goes to Jono Gilmour!

Results for ATKO 1:

Current holder of Best Manoever: Justin for a 20 ft monster forward loop

Current holder of Biggest Wipeout: Ross LC

1st Jonno G

Equal 2nd Steve PM and Rob A

3rd Justin

4th Dave H

5th Myles

6th Mikey S

7th Ross

8th Steve MH

9th Neil