Earlier this year we caught up with Sam Sills, a fantastic talent in the windsurfing world, it was an eye-opening story to understand the fitness these guys need to compete at the highest level. Sam gives us a thrilling insight into his best day yet ...
Sam has just sent us this update from the RSX Youth World Championships:
What an awesome event!! I wasn't feeling too great going into the event, I'd been on antibiotics for a week and missed two weeks of training with a virus. But luckily we had a nice mix of winds and my fitness was still there from the last year's training.
Everything came down to the medal race, for me it was time to do or die, all or nothing. I knew if I focused and sailed smart then I had a chance to clinch a medal. All I needed was to put three people between me and FRA 7; the forecast looked in favour of the Frenchman, so the night before I eat double dinner to try to gain a little more weight to hold the board down. Not sure it really helped but it tasted awesome!
This would be my first medal race so I was quite excited to be sailing in it! The medal race is double points and only consists of the top 10 sailors, the idea is to have a bigger media focus. We waited on the beach for hours and the start wasn't until the afternoon but we had to be down in the morning for a briefing.
When the flag went up my team-mate Tom Squires and I sailed out, tuned up and made sure we were going fast. I knew what I had to do, a quick smile from coach told me he knew I could do it too. I hit the line perfect getting completely lunched in front of my opponent FRA 7, he soon was sucked into my dirty wind and was forced to tack out and find clean wind and sailing to completely the wrong side of the course.
I rounded the the first mark in first but got overtaken by FRA 155 on the downwind, and then by POL182 on the next upwind. I crossed the line in 3rd with 6 people already between me and FRA 7 and my coach was already celebrating! We went absolutely mental! I'd done it!! I'd WON THE BRONZE!!!
I dived off the boat and swam to the other two medalists to congratulate them, it felt amazing. I couldn't believe it. I sailed to beach with my coach and hugged my dad who has helped me so much and has always been there if anything went wrong or broke.
Soon the prize giving came and everyone was so happy and excited! It was just awesome. This had been a goal of mine for a long time and I was super happy to have finally achieved it. We partied and celebrated till the early hours of the next morning and everyone went mental! These moments I will treasure for the rest of my life.
Congratulations go to Fabian Pic (FRA 7), he sailed awesome all week and I really enjoyed racing with him! Looking forward to the next battle! Also congratluations to Pawel Tarnowski and Louis Giard, 1st and 2nd!
Thanks so much to Wattbike for supporting me, it has played a huge part in my leg strength and Cardio vascular fitness this year and seems to have really paid off at this event, Cant wait to get back on my wattbike for the winter training!!
Sam Sills
Sam, a great example of what can be achieved with hard work, focused training and a desire to be the best. Congratulations, enjoy the winter training and we look forward to hearing more of the same in 2012!