John Hibbard Pro Windsurfer and Stand Up Paddler

Living the dream!!

2009-05-15T02:30:00.000+01:00

It's been a busy year of travelling. It's May and I've already spent
what feels like a year sitting on planes.

Currently I'm in Peru and it's awesome. A long journey to get here,
but all worth it. Long peeling lefts, no crowds and a hot tub and
steam room for chilling afterwards. Does it get any better than this.

A huge thanks to Starboard for yet another awesome trip. A full 10
days still to go. Forecast is for big barrels later in the trip. I
can't wait.

:-)

2009-04-23T23:01:00.003+01:00

Not much wind around recently so I've been keeping my self busy paddling from Devizes to Westminster!! Here's the full story.

We made it! We took on the Devizes to Westminster Paddle Race and tamed it - 125 miles standing up. Here’s my story...

Day 1

We crossed the line a little after 8.30am to huge cheers from the crowd. No one could quite believe that we planned to paddle all the way to Westminster standing up! 99% off people had never seen anything like it. I tried not to focus on the full mileage and just split each day into 8 mile segments. Every 8 miles we would meet up with Gill our support for a refill of our camelbaks and a restock of energy gels and bars. Concentrating on 8 miles at a time was a great way to have something manageable to focus on. Day one was going well and despite having a lot of locks to portage around I was feeling strong. We were met with a constant wave of questions from spectators along the route.

Mainly these were:

• Are you going all the way to Westminster like that?
• What is that called? • Why are you standing up?
• How much can I get one of those for?

Mostly we were met with positive questions, but some people were total doubters, asking us what we thought we were doing and telling us we’d never make it the whole way, especially not on the tidal part of the Thames! We were written off on many occasions. My response was to laugh at them and tell him they didn’t know who they were dealing with!!

Most people’s comments though were really positive and supportive.

• “You’re our favourite”
• “That looks so cool”
• Etc, etc

The last ten miles of day one was pretty tough going, but we knew we had barely broken the back of the race distance so just buried those thoughts and pushed on to Newbury and the end of Day 1. I crossed the line after 32 miles of paddling in about 8 hrs and 15 minutes. Coops followed me in about 20-25 minutes behind. We ate a lot that night and went to bed early!

Day 2

We started at about 7am about 5 minutes apart and were pleased to now have some good river flow behind us. Reading came and went in a flash and spirits were high. The constant questions and pictures from spectators followed us along the route and it was a great way to pass the time! The first 20 miles were easy, but by 21/22 miles I was really starting to feel it.

Miles 22-30 were hell! I hit a really low point. I had stopped eating and grew progressively more tired and almost depressed about the job in hand. My speed dropped from an average of 5 mph down to 3.9 - 4 mph. I seemed to hit the wall. I was feeling dizzy and very low on energy and motivation.

By mile 29 I managed to force down a couple of carb gels and drink some carb water. By mile 30 things were looking up. My speed increased and although I wasn’t feeling 100% fresh I made good time to the finish and crossed the line in 2hrs 45mins after about 37 miles of paddling . Coops came in about 30 minutes behind me. Again we ate a lot that night and went to bed early ready for another early start.

Day 3

My body was aching a fair bit, but by our start time I was feeling better. We set off about 5 minutes apart and made great time on the first 15 or so miles. My low point today came at around 18 miles, but only lasted until about 25 miles. After that I seemed to really perk up and lifted my paddle rate on the way to Marlow. We were now on the Thames and the boat traffic was increasing.

Most boats passed wide and slow but at least one Chav Gin palace did it’s best to kick up a wake. I was swamped by one such boat’s wake just outside Marlow and had to pay full attention to stay upright. Thankfully the bailers on my board made short work of the flood. By mile 30 I was feeling really good and put the hammer down to try and up my time. Originally I wanted to finish the whole race in 30 hours, but it was now looking like I might finish in about 28 hrs. By the finish line at Teddington I was out of breath having pinned it for the last 5 or so miles. After 36 miles of paddling I crossed the line in about 7hrs 40 mins. Coops was about 30 mins behind be after having a similar day to me.

We were so happy to make it this far. All that lay ahead of us now was the Tidal Thames. Just as we were leaving the Day 3 finish site we met a Frenchman who basically told us we wouldn’t make. He told us he was a surfer and that there was no chance we’d be able to stand up all the way to Westminster. Apparently the water is way too rough and we there was no way we would do it. We were pretty livid and could not understand how this guy had the cheek to tell us that we wouldn’t make it. We knew we were going to make it and had no plans to sit down or worse still give up. We hadn’t paddled 107 miles to not finish the last 17 miles. We laughed at him and walked away as he continued to tell us it was an impossible task! After we got over the put down from our French friend we tucked into a big feed and went to bed early.

Day 4

4.30am is not my favourite time of day to get out of bed, but we were scheduled for a 6am start so up we got! We were on the water at first light and still people were trying to write us off saying we wouldn’t make it! I mean, dudes, do we look like we don’t know what we are doing??? We started at 6.05am and made exceptionally good time with a strong outgoing tide pushing us to the finish. I was up to about 8mph at times and the excitement was building as we made our way to Westminster.

Each Bridge was lined with spectators cheering us on. I passed a few single kayakers who were literally on their last ounce of energy, struggling to stay upright they were literally just drifting with the tide. I saw a junior double crew capsize about 1 mile from the finish, which must have been gutting for them. I hope they managed to get going again and cross the line. The first sign of the finish line was the towering London Eye Ferris wheel and a turn or so later Westminster Bridge and the houses of Parliament came into few.

Westminster Bridge was packed with spectators and they roared as I crossed the line, as they did for Coops who followed me in about 10 mins later. We’d done it, silenced all doubters and paddled standing up all the way from Devizes to Westminster in London. 125 miles from start to finish. I’d completed the course in 26 hours and 6 minutes and Coops did it in 27 Hrs 32 minutes. A huge thanks to the organisers and their event team for allowing us to enter and for making it a great weekend. Thanks to the hundreds of spectators along the route who cheered us on and congratulated us at the end of each day.

Thanks to the people that sent emails, text messages and Twitters to wish us luck. A big thank you to Gill our support who never failed to meet us at the planned stops and put up with my stress when wanting her to fill my camelback faster! It feels so good to have finished the race and to be the first Stand Up Paddlers to complete the DW. Hopefully our times are a respectable target for anyone following in our footsteps. The organisers were wary of letting us enter originally, but hopefully we have shown that SUP is a safe and fun way to do the DW. We were no trouble to them at all. We finished quicker than they could have imagined and were quick and hassle free at portages.

It’s my hope that we can make a case for a larger SUP entry next year. Don’t hold your breath, but I hope that more SUP paddlers can be allowed in next year. Although I encounted some hard times during the race it was generally a great experience and one that will stay with me for a long time. Paddling a 4 mile race won’t feel the same again!

Thanks to my sponsors Starboard SUP, Fat Face and Go Fast for getting me through this race. I used the Starboard K15 and Coops used the Starboard Point 14'8"

Follow me on Twitter

2009-02-12T04:57:00.001+00:00

I've had a Twitter Account since last summer, but pretty much did
nothing with it. I've had a couple if days of hanging around or
travelling so I thought I'd have a play with it.

I think like a lot of newbies to Twitter I've yet to really work out
the full benefits of it. Seems easy enough to give it a go so.......

You can either "follow me" on twitter via my username John_Hibbard or
check to the right on my blog and see the updates.

Let's just see how it goes.

You can also subscribe to this blog now - just fill in your details in
the subscribe box to the right.

Right, well I've got another plane to catch so bye for now.

John

Last day in Perth

2009-02-11T06:49:00.002+00:00

Well it's been a fun trip, but all good/fun things must come to an end. I fly out tonight at 11.30pm so just chilling and catching up on emails at Ben Severne's house (spying on the competition - joke!). Ben and Emma are always really accomodating and they have a very nice house. Nayra Alonso just popped round to escape the heat (it's 40 degrees here today). I think we will head out for a SUP session later. I'm travelling light with only two sails, but Ben has some plane for me to carry back a board for him to the UK, so bang goes my easy check in plans! Will see how heavy the excess bill is later on.

Starboard Windsurfing Shoot Australia

2009-02-11T06:20:00.004+00:00

For the past couple of weeks I have been hanging out in Western Australia with the Starboard crew. We've had some great sessions from mast high Margaret River to a very posh boat cruise and some perfect south coast 4wd sessions followed by empty beaches with Dolphins.

I should get round to making a short video of the trip as I filmed a heap of stuff from my camera - it's one of those Olympus waterproof stills camera but I've been using the video function and have captured some fun stuff.

Here's an unedited clip. Watch this space for more news on the finished video.

Ok, right, Now I promise to update this more regularly

2009-02-11T06:12:00.002+00:00

I know I've said it before but I do now promise to keep this blog a little more updated with what's going on in my world.

Fat Face offer you a 10% Discount

2008-12-01T13:12:00.005+00:00

Fat Face are one of my main sponsors. They are a great company to be involved with. For a limited time only they are offering you the chance to get 10% off their winter range when you shop online with them. Nice huh!

All you have to do is enter this code when you get to the check out page on the website XM8SW.

Go to http://www.fatface.com/ to start shopping.

2008-11-29T16:56:00.002+00:00

For a few days I'll be the main banner profile on the Starboard Website. Check it out here http://www.star-board-sup.com/

Svein's Olympic Dream

2008-09-19T09:39:00.001+01:00

Svein Rasmussen from Starboard has a dream for a new Olympic windsurfing board class. Click HERE to read the letter. He raises some interesting points. With the 2012 Olympics being held in Weymouth UK, this potential change could be very interesting to home waters.

Back to School

2008-06-25T18:19:00.002+01:00

Last night saw me back in the School Hall for a presentation and talk evening at South Molton Community College in North Devon. I was invited along to the Sports Presentation evening by the PE department and I gave a 30 minute talk about my life as a professional windsurfer and how I got to have that as a job title! It seemed to go well, but the only lights were on me so I couldn't see if the audience were awake or not, but they seemed to stir into life at the end with a big round of appaulse so I'm thinking (hoping) they liked it.

I love passing on my passion for windsurfing and next week I move on to Oxford Sailing Club on Tuesday night and Datchet Water on Thursday night for yet more evening demos and talks.

It's good to have something to occupy me at the moment as I have a back injury, which is keeping me off the water and away from any events. It's been howling recently and with such a long period of no wind it's hard to watch the trees bending and not be able to sail. I hope to be back in action for the European SUP Distance Champs at the Paddle Around the Pier event on the 5th July in Brighton.

1st place in BSUPA Contest

2008-06-20T09:37:00.004+01:00

After my 2nd place at event one in May I was pretty keen to try and make the top spot in event two.

Last weekend saw the second round of the BSUPA champs. The event was held at Gwithian Beach in Cornwall. The waves were tiny and although I had some good heats beating well known longboard surfers such as Ben Skinner, Tim Mellors and Elliott Dudley I could only manage 3rd in the final. Not too bad I guess, and it keeps me in contention for the rest of the season. Well done to Chris "Guts" Griffiths for taking the win in the surfing. My main focus considering the poor surf conditions was the Distance Race.......

Neal Gent stormed the win at the first event and after that I knew I had to work on my fitness and technique. I basically spent a month getting my paddle stroke more refined (still more work to be done) and concentrating on fitness. It seemed to work and although I was pushed the whole way around the course by Neal and Elliott Dudley. I managed to come out ahead and take the win in the distance comp. Neal is a super competitor though so if he can stay out of the bar the night before the next event I think he'll be back on course to try and take the win. The season is certainly shaping up to be a good one.

A big thanks to all the sponsors for putting on such a cool event, especially the team at the Sunset Cafe on the cliff top at Gwithian and the crew from the BSUPA. You can read more about it on www.standuppaddlesurf.co.uk

It looks windy now for a few days so I'll be back out on the windsurf gear before entering the European SUP Endurance event from Worthting to Brighton Piers in July.

2nd at first Stand Up Paddle Event of the year

2008-05-19T16:03:00.004+01:00

This weekend saw the first BSUPA event of the year. I came in 2nd in the distance event after three pretty gruelling races. I also came 2nd in the Surf Expression Session. The guy that one it (Patrice Guenole from France)has competed in the European Longboard Champs before though so I don't reckon I did too bad.

A couple of weeks back I was invited to the English Surf Nationals to compete in a SUP Exhibition comp. I placed 3rd in that so I'm getting better all the time. The next event is in Cornwall at Gwithian Beach, 14th-15th June. I'm hoping for some good swell and I'm hope to do well in this contest.

Heres a shot of my Starboard SUP boards (from L-R 9', 11'2" and 9'8"):

Brush Boarding

2008-05-13T00:11:00.002+01:00

I've been working with the creators of the Brush Boarding machine since January. It's all been top secret stuff - I was swarn to secrecy and most of the testing has been done at night in a locked warehouse. Finally the concept and the machine is ready for public consumption. It's a great work out (My heart rate hit 170BPM) when I was on the "ramp". It's great fun and has improved my boardriding already.

I love riding it. I think this could really hit the mainstream. It's pretty cheap to run and transportable. Check out the website www.brushboarding.co.uk and check out this Video

It's all being launched to the Public at two special events at the Crealy Leisure parks (Exeter and Wadebridge) nex week.
It's going to be great fun

Don't ask just vote it as sizzling

2008-05-06T21:18:00.002+01:00

Go to www.doritos.co.uk and rate "Lost Dog" very highly please..... You'll find it in the "gallery" section" - search for Lost Dogs. Post it in your status update or send them all a message

National Windsurfing Week is this week

2008-05-03T16:35:00.002+01:00

National Windsurfing Week starts on 3rd May. There are loads of special events taking place. I'm hoping to drop into a few during the week. The Second round of the UKWA Four Nations Event is happening next weekend up in Rhosneigr so I'll be there promoting the sport along with all the other entrants.

To find your local event check out the National Windsurfing Week Website HERE

It's been a while

2008-05-03T16:18:00.003+01:00

Sorry for the lack of updates. Life has just been hectic. So what's been going on you ask?

First off Maui was great fun. Not a classic trip but some good days of windsurfing and some nice paddle boarding sessions too. I got delayed by two days trying to get home, which sucked a little as I almost missed the first UKWA Four Nations Wave Sailing event of the year. As it was I had to drive for 24 hrs after landing from my 18 hr flight in order to get to the West Coast of Ireland in time for the event. As you can imagine my Jet Lag harsh and trying to get into a mast high bone cruncher while your body is trying to tell you it should be asleep is kind of hard.

I finished 3rd, which was ok and still leaves me in contention for the Overall title for 2008. It's going to be a tough year though as there are lots of guys gunning for the title. May the best man win.

I've updated a few of the pages on the site- events being the main one, so you can now see what I'm up to. I've got loads of pictures to go into the gallery but just got to find some time to get round to it.

Maui two days in

2008-04-06T19:28:00.003+01:00

Plenty of wind here on Maui, but not on the North Shore. So no Hookipa, Lanes, etc - the famouse Maui Beaches.

We've been out on the water everyday though, down on the south side at Kihei. We've done loads of Freeride shots on the Futura Boards and my 6.0 TBird has been getting alot of use. It's actually been howling to the point of overpowered - most of the freestylers have been on 4.7 sails! If anybody remembers the old Neil Pryde Videos (moving target, Rigmarole, etc) then they will recognise the shots we got as this is where a lot of the flat water shots were filmed for these vids

We had the helicopter up yesterday and had a great photo session pacing behind the chopper. It's pretty cool to be going at full whack with a helicopter going at the same speed, side ways only meters in front of you! We had photographers and video dudes in the chopper so I reckon we would have got some great shots.

Looks like a great day for sup today, so we are just about to pack the vans and head off.....

Maui

2008-04-04T19:27:00.002+01:00

I've been in Maui now for two days. So far we've had pretty minimal swell and wind, but I'm hopeful of some good conditions as we go into the weekend. I'm here for the Starboard SUP and windsurf photoshoot and staying literally meters from the famous North Shore of Maui, pretty much right next door to Mama's Fish House a famous North Shore restaurant. I'm here until the 13th April so I will try and bring you some more pictures as the days progress.

Spaintastic

2008-03-01T14:11:00.004+00:00

Ok, I'm back from Spain now. Didn't quite manage the daily updates but here's a few pics from the trip. Chris at Errant surf looked after us well and we got some great surf conditions for surfing and Stand Up Paddle. The wind has returned now I'm back home so I'm off down the beach. Enjoy the pictures. Film clip coming soon......
All pics http://www.willblair.com/

Bottom Turn

Pull in!

Paddle Session

Sunset Sessions

Northern Spain for some Fat Surf

2008-02-21T10:14:00.005+00:00

Today my travels have taken me to the stunning coastline of Northern Spain. I'm here with the Fat Face crew to do a photo shoot for their new range of surfboards as well as some Stand Up Paddle Surfing pictures. We are staying at Chris Thomson's Surf lodge "La Hosteria" in a small village HERE.

We arrived late yesterday afternoon to a rain filled sky and no waves. This morning the sun is filling the sky and the surf is on the up. We just cruised into the village for some breakfast and then did a beach check. There are so many cool beaches with high cliffs. Looking down on the surf there appears to be lots of different banks and a whole heap of different types of waves from cruisey, long board mellowness through to hollow point breaks. We are here until Sunday and the forecast for swell is looking good. I'll try and update each day from here.

The Hibbard Cargo Short!!!!

2008-01-17T18:14:00.000+00:00

Fat Face have named a pair of shorts after me!! You can now rush out and buy the Hibbard Cargo Short! They are available in their Spring range, which is in store and online now.

Pretty cool to have a item of clothing named after me. Pity I don't get royalty payments!!

FAT FACE ONLINE STORE

SeaSports Southwest

2008-01-15T11:09:00.000+00:00

A new era in windsurfing is happening in Teignmouth, South Devon: SeaSports SW are preparing to open their doors to one and all in March. They will be offering windsurfing tuition/hire/sales. It's owned and run by Tim and Sue Cox. I learnt to windsurf in Teignmouth so it's great to finally see a windsurfing operation arrive in town. Click on the logo above to find out more. Or go to www.seasports-sw.com

Driven By Wind - The quest for the World Record

2008-01-15T10:35:00.000+00:00

This event starts today from Southend in Essex. The aim is to break the world and mile speed records. Dave White, the UK's top speedsailor is running it and some of the world's best speedsailors are in attendance including Team Tushingham guys Bob Cunningham and Paul Simmons. You can keep up to date by following these links or clicking on the picture:

GPS Speedsurfing

Spectator Sport - this is a cool link. You can watch real time movements of the sailors

Pagham Provides!

2008-01-14T18:37:00.000+00:00

Had a good fun session at Pagham on Sunday along with about 50 other windsurfers!! Man it was busy out there, but I kind of like it when it's like that. It restores my faith in the sport. Not that it is really lacking anyway.

There was plenty of action going on with a high standard of sailing. Only saw one minor crash, which looked was more funny than painful. The cold is a funny thing - I always find that the first 45 mins is really good, I land most of my jumps and feel pretty good about everything. Then after that the cold starts to seep into my head and hands and it all gets a little more unpredictable. You can see it in other people too. Even Andy King, who is usually "Mr Back look consitstent" eventually starts to drop the jumps as the cold gets to work. Maybe I need a warmer wetsuit?

I almost didn't sail yesterday and was very close to turning round and going home when I relised that I had left my 4.7 and 5.2 down in Devon! Luckily for me as I was just about to leave the wind picked up and it was perfect on my 4.2 Rock and Evo 75. In fact I'd rather have been on my Evo 70 but that was in my van half a mile away from the beach (it was busy in the car park!). I've never left my sails behind before - Must be the cold affecting my brain!

I reckon Pagham would've been good today but I had other things to do. Back to Devon this week so hoping for some more great winter sailing.

You gotta love this sport for the variety it can give you. One day starboard tack onshore jumping and then 2 days later cross offshore down the line. Bring it on!!

Winter Wonderland

2008-01-12T19:20:00.000+00:00

It's been a great start to the New Year, with plenty of wind around. The past week has seen plenty of wind and rain (!) and tomorrow looks like it could be quite good. I'm up in Surrey for the weekend so will probably head for Pagham on Sunday.