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July 9th and 10th
British National Championships Thorpe Park
(London, England)
A Foreigners Perspective in a Difficult Time for Britain
Man the Brits are tough! I couldn’t help but think this as I watched the preliminary round of the British Nationals on Saturday July 9th, 2005. Only two days after the London bomb attacks and about an hour or less away from central London, life had resumed to normal and Britain’s best water skiers were on the water competing for the right to say they were the best skiers in Britain. I had heard the foreign news reporters praise the Brit’s resilience and refusal to be beaten down by the terrorist attacks, but I didn’t really understand their unique ability to move on until I experienced it myself.
After spending a little less than a year in central London working and studying, the London bomb attacks came as a big surprise to me. My everyday tube route while living in London was Russell Square to Kings Cross, the route where the most fatal underground attack took place. When I turned on the television that Thursday morning I was shocked and saddened for a place I had come to know and love. I assumed the British would react like Americans have in the wake of the terrorist attacks we have suffered in the past, but they did not. They did their mourning in a different way. Their ‘we will continue’ attitude inspired me and made me think of the overall toughness I have seen in the British people while spending time here and getting to know so many British water skiers.
Perhaps it is the weather that makes them so tough, because I can tell you that the American Nationals would probably be postponed if they had to suffer through some of the weather I have seen at British water ski events. In the preliminary rounds of the British Nationals on Saturday it felt like winter in Florida. I had on several coats and a snow ski jacket and I was still cold. It wasn’t snowing but sometimes the damp wind in Britain is worse. I used to think I was tough, but now I realize that many of the Americans skiing in our U.S. Nationals at Okeeheelee Park in West Palm Beach, Florida do not understand the meaning of ‘tough water skiing conditions.’
I was allowed to ski in the British Nationals as a ‘visitor,’ and it was the first time they had ever allowed foreigners to compete in their nationals. I was not eligible for the national title, but they let me ski for a score and I enjoyed the experience tremendously. I was the first skier on the water on Saturday morning followed by about ten more women’s slalom skiers. Sarah Green won the women’s slalom Saturday with a score of 2 ½ @ 11 meters. Just behind her were two Scottish girls Nicole Arthur with 4 @ 12 meters and Jaki Hunter with 3 @ 12 meters.
In the men’s slalom preliminary round Glenn Campbell had the best score of the day with 2 @ 10.25 meters followed by Will Asher with 4 ½ @ 10.75
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 Glenn Campbell 2nd Place British Nationals,
1st Place Will Asher
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meters. Will Asher won the British Slalom title for 2005 after a runoff with my boyfriend Glenn Campbell. The jump and trick events were equally exciting with Sarah Green and Chris Sumner winning women’s and men’s tricks and Jason Seels and Jacklyn Hunter winning the men’s and women’s jump titles.
Overall I was quite pleased with my weekend scores. My first round I ran 2 ½ @ 38off (11.25 meters) and then in the second round I completed the 11.25 meter pass (38off) and I got ½ buoy at 10.75 meters (390ff). I think I can definitely say that my little slump is over and I am gaining tournament confidence with each event this year.
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