The European FlowRider Championship 2011 is to take place on Saturday 10th September at FlowHouse Bedford.
Hopefully this year it won’t get changed to Cornwall. Really looking forward to this. I’ve already sent off my entry form!!!! Hoping my son and daughter will follow suit.
They did:)
We are going to be so late for practice tonight:(
The European Championships were held at FlowHouse Bedford on Saturday 10th September 2011. There were 39 competitors in 5 divisions. It was so good to see junior divisions this year and would be even better to see a masters next year:) Competitors came from around the UK including Channel Isles, Newcastle, Cornwall, Bedford, Portsmouth and of course The Disleys from the North West. The rest of Europe was represented by competitors from France, Germany, Holland and Sweden.
The event was tinged with sadness due to the absence of Flowhouse instructor Brett Anthony who is in hospital after suffering serious injuries in a zip wire accident. Brett would have certainly been in the final 4:)
The Bedford junior boys certainly did Brett proud by taking 1st, 2nd and 3rd places in Jr FB and 1st place in Jr BB and the junior girls took 7th and 8th in Jr FB
The open bodyboard final was dominated by Cornwall instructor Gethin Walters who decided not to enter Flowboard this year to concentrate on bodyboarding. Gethin told me he has always wanted to go to South Africa and now he gets his wish. The Merton Hotel’s instructor Neil Harrison battled it out with Ben Stephen and Sam Butler and managed to take 2nd place. This was Neil’s first comp and he absolutely loved it.
Ladies Flowboard was won for the second year running by Cornwall instructor Morwenna Berry. The battle for 2nd, 3rd and 4th places was very close with Merton Hotels’ Jodie le Maistre narrowly beating Bedfords Ruby Ellam to take 2nd place. Very close behind Ruby was Dutch rider Claire Ladage. This was the first comp for Jodie, Ruby and Claire and also for Bedford rider Jenny Coleman and Newcastle instructor Lorraine Dodsworth.
Mens Flowboard was won by Bedford instructor Sam Butler who certainly gave last years winner Quincy Vlijtig a run for his money. 3rd place went to Dutch rider Max Walraven and 4th to Joonas Wikberg from Sweden.
Gethin, Morwenna and Sam all win tickets to the World Championships in Durban courtesy of freesport brand Animal and Quincy also wins a trip to Durban as the winner of The Flying Frenchman Rider Development Award. They will be competing against the worlds best and I wish them all lots of luck:)
Superfunk Roller Disco was born in 2008. Although the roller disco in Manchester was going well the music was not our choice. Rachael came up with the name Superfunk and on 14th February the 1st Superfunk Roller Disco took place At Liverpool Guild of Students. Again attendance was massive. DJ Simba with his afro hair played classic roller disco anthems.The night was a great success despite an unusual number of accidents!!! Since that night Superfunk has gone from strength to strength putting on events at Universities, Corporate Events, nightclubs, leisure centres, schools and youth clubs around the UK.
The very first Rollerstrut roller disco at Pure in September 2007 was a huge success and totally overwhelmed us and the club!!! Over a thousand people attended and we all worked non stop.
In December 2006 Andrew visited the roller disco At Canvas, Kings Cross, London and was amazed by the skating and the atmosphere. Early in 2007 Andrew took Rachael to Canvas and they decided they wanted to start their own roller disco!!! Along with Rachael’s then partner Ian they set up Rollerstrut LLP. Rachael spent many months finding insurance to cover buying alcohol on skates!! Rachael, Andrew and Ian decided that Manchester would be a good place to start the roller disco and negotiated a deal with Pure at the Printworks.
We took Rachael, Rebecca and Andrew roller skating at Pleasure Island about 15 years ago. They absolutely loved it so I used to take them every Saturday until it closed in 1997. The kids took to skating like ducks to water. They started speed skating and then Roller Hockey. Rachael went on to play ice hockey. We were all devastated when Pleasure Island closed. We made so many good friends there and have happy memories.
We are still waiting for this one to happen, originally planned for 2011 now they are saying 2012. Wish they would hurry up as this one’s only about an hour and fifteen minutes away.
In February 2011 it was announced that the MoFlow is coming to Europe and that it will be bigger than the US version. Now that makes a change:) Really hoping that this wave will come to North West England at some point. On our roller disco travels we picked up a leaflet for Brean Leisure Park which states that the FlowRider will be there for 2 weeks in August and that it is coming from The Tour de France cycle race. So far that is all we know.
It has been announced today 10th June 2011 that the Mobile FlowRider will be at 53 Degrees North, Blanchardstown Shopping Centre, Dubin, Eire from 23nd June. This is just down the road fron the NAC!!
Temporary website for FlowRider Mobile launched.
This week from the 4th to 8th July the FlowRider Mobile will be at Broadgate Circle in London for the
Naked Urban Surf Event sponsored by Naked Juice.
Rachael, Alan and myself are going down to ride on Friday 8th representing Superfunk Roller Disco in the team event.
I made my second solo trip to the USA on 26th April 2011. Again I stayed at Fantasy World Resort and received a very warm welcome back at Fantasy Surf. On April 30th I was honoured and privileged to compete in Stop 2 of WaveLoch’s Flow Tour USA 2011 at Fantasy Surf. I entered Masters Flowboard and came 3rd in my semi-final.
I persuaded Debi to compete in Masters Bodyboard and she had an epic time, unfortunately Cathy was unable to join us this trip. Fantasy Surf were awesome hosts and provided lots of practice time and lots of food and drink:)
It was great to see again Steve Salmon and to meet his wife Heather,the Cook family, Andrew Shelton, Nicholas Sanchez, Sean Silveira, Luigi Vargas, Manny Rayo and of course Vanessa, Brad and the rest of the Fantasy Surf staff. I finally got to meet Tracy J Carroll, Jonathan Root, Shaun Hancock, Nick Nguyen, Amanda McCormick and her dad Mike, Kim Koyle, Cameron Lodge and his mom Traci, Eric Silverman, Cody Morrow and so many more great riders. I wish that Jessica Nichols, Cathy Seabert,Curtis Lam and The Furmans could have been there too. Wish I could make more stops on the tour:(
The atmosphere at the comp was amazing and all the finals were nail biting!!. Fantasy Surf has some amazing riders in Vanessa, Amanda, Abbie, Brad, Sean, Nick, Cody, Gilberto, Luis, some awesome young riders and not forgetting the masters Root, Mike and Matt.
Being part of the Flow Tour was one the best experiences of my life and I really hope I can do it again one day.
On 10th December 2010 I made my first solo trip to the USA. I had arranged to meet up with Cathy, Debi, Paige and Shelby. The first two nights I stayed on my own at Fantasy World Resort. Shortly after arriving I made my way to Fantasy Surf where I received a very warm welcome. I bought myself an annual pass and started riding. The wave is much faster than most and it took me a while to get used to it. Debi, Paige and Shelby arrived on 12th December and bought ride time with the discount pass you get if you stay on resort. Cathy arrived on the 14th. The staff at Fantasy Surf are so warm and friendly. I met two of the nicest instructors ever there – Vanessa Arroyo and Brad Spencer. I progressed so much during my week at Fantasy Surf finally managing to drop in from the top and landing a sex change!!! On the morning of the 16th December I wiped out and dislocated my knee:( I was treated at Celebration hospital and given crutches and a knee immobiliser. So no more riding for the rest of my trip. Fortunately I had only one day left before I flew home.
I can recommend Fantasy Surf to anyone visiting the Kissimmee, Orlando area. Much more fun than a day at the theme parks!!!! 
In March 2010, Kerry, Andrew, Mike and I took a trip down under via the Far East. We stayed on Sentosa Island, Singapore right opposite the WaveHouse:) This is an awesome location right on the beach and the staff and local riders are really friendly. Most of our time in Singapore was spent at WaveHouse. We booked out the Flowrider for 2 hours one day and Kerry and Mike both tried stand up:) Andrew and myself tried stand up on the barrel, we both managed to stay on for a short time. The wipeouts were really harsh – Andrew got hit on the head by his board!!!. Next we flew on to Australia to visit Darwin, Sydney, Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie and of course the Gold Coast. We went to 2 nightrider sessions at Dreamworld and also hired out the FlowRider for a couple of hours. At Dreamworld we met Justin Becker (JB), Boyd Cogzell, Stephen Townshend and Ben Ribes. Since our trip the Gold Coast has got it’s second FlowRider at Wet’n'Wild.