Team Bridge

What an Email to get on a Monday Morning- Guy gets an invite to the evening presentation of the Sports personality of The Year Award- whoop -whoop

Perhaps the biggest event in the race Calandar , the formula Hydrofoil Race World Championships in Aarhus, Denmark. The first time that Kiteboarding takes place in the World sailing finals – now as an olympic Sport.

3 days of qualifying followed by 2 days final series and medal races. A Mixed bag of wind and weather did not phase Olly and Guy who were 1st and 2nd going into Gold fleet following 3 days of qualifying.

Gold Medal Races took a toll on both of the boys with both having gear failure – Broken lines in 2 different races which cost them valuable time & races on a day when it all mattered. Guy managed to make it back into 2nd Place while Olly got to 7th Overall. There was still all to play for, with medal race day and 3 non – discardable races on the stadium course.

Amped & ready for action, the medal racing got postponed due to thunder & lightening which meant that Guy would finish with a Silver Medal in this- the first major event as an Olympic Sport.

Disappointed, Olly took 7th & in the womans – Steph in 4th Place. Another incredible performance for all the team who -travel back to the UK for preparations for the next big event in China. All the team thank the British Sailing Team for their support and a special thank you to 2 x Olympic Medal & 3 x Volvo World Sailor’ Ian Walker’. Ian took the role of Coach for this event & we were really fortunate to share time & his expertise for this event.

A show down of high octane drama amongst the worlds leading Hydrofoil racers took place in Warnemunde, Germany for the European Championships. Just 2 weeks before the world championships, this was an important event to get on top of the game. Leading from the start, Guy age 18 showed skill in all wind conditions against the huge French team and other European athletes.  Not easy being the younger brother and fighting for the 1st position against his brother, Olly. A close 1 point separating the 2 Bridge Brothers by the final day following 7 medal races.

Olly in silver position and Axel Mazilla Bronze, the excitement as this sport takes to the Olympic stage in 2024 now can be seen all over the world. More athletes getting support from their country and an opportunity for riders to become part of a team will be witness in August when world sailing will host the world championships in Denmark.

Guys Words:

Tom was invited to kite alongside Ross Edgley as he swam around lands end on his mission to swim around GB. Tom Foiled alongside with Andrew Cotton, also a RedBull athlete. Check The full episode here

Tom was invited to kite alongside Ross Edgley as he swam around lands end on his mission to swim around GB 

My first time to San Fransisco was certainly an experience.  The big city environment too the strong winds on the water with the wind blowing 25 knots plus every day. The biggest kite I  used all week was my 11 and that was always fully

lit up!!

The competition was incredibly tight over the whole event with Johnny Heineken, Nico Parlier and myself battling throughout the whole event. exchanging top 3 positions making it really exciting.local legend Johnny Heineken was very strong on home waters and also had the top speed recorded during the event of 48mph!! A couple of big vessels passed through making it very interesting!!Had a great event ended up finishing in 3rd place was really happy with my consistency during the event and was just 6 points of the top and 2 of second so overall, I felt it was a good event. Big thanks to Flysurfer kiteboarding for the continued support and Benni Boelli for the help during the event!!

The 4 day Hydrofoil Pro Tour stop kicked off with a 45 minute distance race around the bay of Montpellier. It was a British fight between Olly, Guy & Connor and the final leg Guy took an inside line near the shore to get the wind bend which enabled him to steal the lead & take the win. The next days were a series of 10 minute races in 5- 12 knots and superb close racing all across the fleet. A few mistakes on day 2, Guy sailed really consistently on day 3 putting hm a 10 point lead going into day 4. Meanwhile Olly took a different starting strategy on day 3 which put an end to his

We were super pleased to see the recent announcement of Kitesurfing in the Olympics 2024, and now Olly, Guy and Tom will likely be competing against each other to gain the honour of representing Team GB at the Olympics, so there will be some interesting times to come

Olly says – ‘I love the sport and it has always been my ambition to get to the Olympic games. Now this dream is closer and it’s going to be an exciting journey against my brothers to see who can qualify to represent Team GB. We train off Exmouth and are really lucky to have such a wide range of conditions to practice on.’

We already invest a huge amount of our personal time in training the next generation of British athletes to a world class level, all from our home in Exmouth, through Edge Watersports. Edge Youth Training scheme is already actively training and providing a pathway for up and coming youngsters, with support of FatFace.

But for us this decision is not only amazing for the sport, but has upped the pressure to try to secure funding. To keep Britain at the pinnacle of the sport, we need support from business. We won’t be able to train and have the right equipment without this funding. The sport offers many returns to sponsors, and we enjoy working with brands that have an emphasis on commitment to the environment, or to supporting youth. We are really keen to talk to any brands that would be interested in supporting our aims to bring gold home for Britain.

We really believe that Exmouth will become the Olympic training venue, complimented by the Grenadier planned new watersports centre, on the seafront. This isn’t just a proud moment for us as athletes, but it also is a great moment for Exmouth, and the South West. Exmouth provides a world class training location, and in turn this provide a positive boost for the economy in the region. It will firmly put Exmouth on the map as a watersports destination and also improve our tourism offering.

We hope to also be central to the expected 2020 Olympic kitesurfing demonstration event in Tokyo.

This decision followed lengthy discussions at a mid-year meeting of World Sailing at Stamford Bridge football stadium in London. The exact equipment and format will not be confirmed until later this year. The equipment and format will be officially confirmed in November at the World Sailing Annual General Meeting.
As many of you know, kitesurfing was at one stage due to replace windsurfing on the Rio 2016 Olympic programme before this decision was overturned. Kitesurfing is already due to feature at October’s Summer Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires. So we are super excited for our sport to finally be recognised. It has been a long time coming.
It is likely, but not yet confirmed, that the Formula Kite production model will be adopted in Marseille, with four foil kites and one hydrofoil used.
Watch this space.