The British posse invaded Posada Mariposa in the centre of town.  It’s an amazing little set up, your surrounded by trees from all angles and our little ‘office’ balcony overlooks the bustling pedestrian 5^th Avenue.  Playa del Carmen is a beach tourist’s dream, with endless streets of Mexican souvenir shops and outside bars with comfy lounging chairs lining the street.

The first PKRA event of 2008 was located on the beach two minutes from 5^th Avenue.  The beach has tempting slouching swing chairs and double beds on big wooden bases.  Wow, imagine that, chilling out on a pristine white double bed in 28 degrees watching the best of the PKRA action LIVE!  You can’t get better than that!

The event started gently with a light cross-on breeze from the right.  The PKRA big wigs decided that the 10 to 12 knots was enough to run the course racing, so three races followed in the light breeze.  The freestyle was put on hold until the next day.  Steph Bridge wiped the floor with the girls and won all three races.  The judges actually considered putting her in with the guys to give her more of a challenge!  Denzil Williams had a super consistent day finishing a very credible fourth in all the tough guy’s races.

On the second day there was more wind and so the freestyle kicked off.  I had an amazing day, everything went right AND I discovered we could get free sushi for lunch!!  You can’t get better than that!  I won my first heat and then lost the next to Gisela so I wasn’t too upset!  Tom won his first heat then came up against Aaron (unlucky!) and Lewis went out in the same round.  They both put up a good fight.  Aaron finished second to Kevin Langeree in the singles giving him big motivation for the doubles final.  There was then time for a quick two course races.  Somehow I managed to win the first!  I was so shocked I rode straight into the finishing buoy so crossed the line flying head first!  It was so hilarious I am still laughing about it now!  The win was so unexpected when Susi Mai came in third she asked me if I’d only been round once!  Steph won the next race and Denzil got a fourth and fifth.  Excellent day was finished off with a caramel macchiato and steak, perfect!

Friday morning was straight into the doubles.  The wind was stronger today and there were biggish rolling waves with nice flat sections between.  People were putting up bigger kites than normal though as there was a really strong rip running through the competition area.  Launching was a nightmare as there was little room on the beach with hundreds of spectators so you had to unwind your lines as you walk out but it was nearly impossible to stand up against the current!  What’s more you had to dash out in the three minutes between each heat whilst trying to maintain a calm, composed attitude ready for your heat!  The Brits all had a good day.  Lewis advanced through his first two heats and got knocked out in the third against Marc Jacobs so finished a credible thirteenth.  Tom Court also did the UK proud winning three heats before loosing to Alvaro so finished ninth.  Alvaro definitely deserves a mention as he was on fire!  He advanced through the rounds with the crowd loving his balls out attitude.  He was dragged up the beach on his back and then ripped his kite mid heat.  He was quickly given Aaron’s AH Pro kite which he proceeded to kick ass on even more!  Awesome fun to watch!  Steph put on a good solo show in her first doubles heat as Jadie Delille did not show for her heat.  She then put on an excellent fight against Julie Simsar but unfortunately it wasn’t quite enough for the judges.  I went straight into the same round after winning the first heat in the singles but lost to Audrey Meyer so Steph and I finished equal.  Aaron won both consecutive final heats against Kevin as the wind dropped to almost unkitable conditions to win the event.  Congratulations Aaron!  After a long day of freestyle the course racing was postponed for the next day so the freestylers got on a Friday night of celebration!

Saturday morning brought some bleary eyes and a super gusty offshore wind of 4 to 18 knots.  Spirits remained high as the past few days had been good so everyone made the most of a break and relaxed in the sun ready for a full day of course racing and freestyle demos to finish the event on Sunday.  It was gusty cross shore from the left and ‘mui frio!’ (VERY cold!).  Well for Mexico when you thought you didn’t need to take a wetsuit!  Four course races were planned and then a freestyle demonstration in the form of a couple of crowd-judged fun heats. Tom Court put his all into it with the crowds cheering him on.  Angela Peral was meant to be doing one but was cold and tired so I took her place and had great fun in a heat with Julie Simsar.  Aaron and Kevin concluded the show with an amazing heat.  Kevin went for some crowd pleasing old school moves and Aaron went massive with every trick huge and double!!  Prize giving followed with some champagne fights and the first PKRA of 2008 was over. 

A big thanks to everyone that made it possible for us all to get out here to compete and to all who put on the event, it had a great vibe and I hope the rest off the year runs in a similar way, I can’t wait for the next stop in France!  Personally I would also like to add a little thank you to Denzil for being so patient waiting for me as I love to have a super long shower and for waiting for Steph and I when we frequently got side tracked into a shop or two ;-)

Photos are courtesy of any of the UK clan who had the camera, namely me, Steph, Denzil and Tom and also Roberto Foresti for the course racing pics many thanks!