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​What an insane few weeks it’s been. I set out to have a successful month and what a month it was. Racing in NY, Scharbeutz, Quiberon & Japan in three short weeks has been such an amazing experience. Most recently I finished with a win in the overall title at the APP SUP Open in Osaka Japan. I’ve also placed 11th at the ICF ocean ski world championships in the past two weeks. And since I haven’t spoken to you about that I’ll start with that first. 

What a crazy trip it has been so far. To race in both New York and Scharbeutz in 24 hours was surreal. When I thought of the plan back in Greece earlier in the year I thought it was a pipe dream. After doing some numbers in Corfu I realised the Euro Tour was not secure. If Titouan won Scharbeutz, which he is very capable of doing, he would win the overall tour by 1.5 points. This was concerning for me as I really wanted to win it, so I started to work out how I could be in two places at once.

Molokai managed to beat up the body more than I expected. After the episode of cramping for over an hour during the race, recovery became ongoing for weeks. I was very tight and managed to sustain a few soft tissue tears in my oblique and my erector spinae. I’ve been able to continue to train but had to adjust my sessions to help try and not make the compromised areas worse. It’s the second soft tissue injury I’ve sustained this year and I guess I’m no longer as young as I think I am! But as we get older we get smarter as we have experienced more and we learn to manage everything differently. I’m pretty lucky to be able to work with Simon and the team at Stoke Physio to keep my body going with what I demand of it.

I was really happy with my preparation coming into M20. Even though it was a short 4 weeks in Perth, with zero wind every day, I felt like I had done enough to have a good race. It always hard bouncing around the world doing different events, distances and crafts but I enjoy the challenge and always do the best I can with the time I have. Normally I would like to do a 3-4month prep for a race like this but its just not possible with my hectic schedule. Coming home after Europe those long miles were tedious but after doing the Surf Ski Molokai with the Shaw and Partners Race Team in late May this year I knew it was a must. I conditioned the body the best I could, I paddled, ran, swam and got the kilometres right up to an exhausting level. It’s pretty lonely out there when doing 40km paddles so it was great to have fellow west Aussie Matt Bowbridge also preparing for his first crossing to join in on some of those long grinds. I was lucky to have Dede, Kristi, Denise and Gary driving me around.