When windsurfing meets Wattbike

Posted by Matt Moran on Aug 29, 2011

I interviewed Sam Sills a few months ago, he's one of the UK's hottest windsurfing prospects and of course, he trains on a Wattbike. I'd done a bit of research prior to the interview as, despite being the ultimate sports geek, you could fit what I know about windsurfing on the back of a postage stamp. I'd come across the odd video interview with Sam online and to be honest, he is well out of my league when it comes to 'cool' so I knew this would be a really fun and interesting interview. What surprised me most was despite being just 18, Sam had a clear mind about what he wanted to achieve and how he was going to get there; he's also not afraid to try new things in training so I wanted to find out exactly how and why a Wattbike would help out a windsurfer.

Tell us a bit about yourself Sam, and when did you get into windsurfing?

I'm 18 and live in Cornwall, UK. I started off sailing on a local lake when I was about 7 or 8 years old, saw that they had windsurfing lessons and thought it looked like a lot of fun.

What level are you currently competing at?

I'm ranked No.1 in the UK at U19 level and I'm on the Olympic Transitional Team. I've also been World Champion at U17 and U15 level and finished 6th at this year's ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships in Croatia.

It's fair to say that most of the readers of the Wattbike blog won't know much about windsurfing so can you run us through the basics?

I compete in what's called RS:X windsurfing where a competition would usually be a week long with 2 races per day, each lasting for 40 minutes over a set course. RS:X is the windsurfing you'll see in the Olympic Games next summer. It's pretty exciting and every race is different depending on the water conditions and the wind.

Is the sport physically demanding as it's not something we'd automatically assume to be a 'hard' sport?

Yeah, it's really tough, it's definitely an aerobic sport and much tougher than most people think. The boards are really stiff so you end up spending lots of time pumping your arms and legs to change direction and increase speed. Leg strength is something you need to succeed in this sport.

So training must be quite important, not just on the water but also to increase your aerobic capacity?

Training off the water is getting more and more important as the people in the sport get fitter and fitter. I do a mix of on and off-water work, with the off-water work increasing during the winter.

And now you've got a Wattbike, how long have you had it and how are you using it?

I got the Wattbike last November and spent a big chunk of my winter training on it. The sessions vary but in the winter I'd be doing 2 hour sessions at 75%, twice per week and a session at 85%. I'd also mix in some interval training too. I compliment the Wattbike work with sessions on a rowing machine.

And in the summer, when you're competing, are you still using the Wattbike?

Definitely, I do some lower intensity intervals, it's important to keep the level of fitness I've worked so hard to get in the winter!

And what are you ambitions more long term?

I'm really looking ahead to the 2016 Olympics at the moment and keeping my place as a member of Skandia Team GBR.

Sam, thanks so much, great to hear about another individual benefiting from training on the Wattbike, you'll have to get me out on the water one day on one of your boards!