At the age of 10, Olly Maidment joined a BoPSaT ‘Have a go at windsurfing’ session at the Tauranga Yacht and Power Boat Club, and he has been windsurfing ever since.

lly sailed Optimist and P-Class before he tried windsurfing.

“It’s definitely an advantage to have been involved in sailing,” says Olly.

“When I trained in my Opti, I got to learn the various conditions, like wind shifts, tide and starts which I have been able to use in windsurfing too.

“But the reason I wanted to continue windsurfing is because of the speed, as speed is the best of windsurfing I can think of. ”Olly went to Brisbane in January for his first overseas regatta.

“It was very hot, with temperatures of 32C, and one day it reached 38C.

he water wasn’t much cooler being 30C.

uring the regatta the wind averaged 10 knots, but for two days we were getting gusts of 25 knots. ” As he currently sails with a 6.

sail on his Techno293 board, Olly competed in the mixed fleet of Techno’s 5.

/6.

and 7.

.

“My goal was to finish in the top five, and I finished sixth overall.

was really happy with this, but I was the happiest with finishing second and thrid on the last day of the regatta.

“The most valuable lesson I learned from going to Australia was to start all the races.

hen the wind picked up I came ashore to change to my smaller sail, but I didn’t get back out to the course for the start, so I got a DNC score.

“The Race Officer then called off the races for the day and I was unable to race. ” Overall, it was a great event and Olly liked being able to sail with sailors of his own age.

e also made many new friends.

is goals for this year include winning the nationals, which are being held in Tauranga in April

Last year I was first boy at U17, and this year I want to finish first overall,” says Olly.

“I train as often as I can after school and when possible alongside Veerle and Max (NZ representatives at the 2017 and 2018 Youth Worlds).

“When our coach Alex Hart is in Tauranga, he runs clinics for us.

’ve also had a lot of tips and encouragement from the BOP Windsurfers and Bruce Kendall. ” Olly’s role models include Dorian van Rijsselberghe, who won Gold at the London and Rio Olympics for the Netherlands, and Lawrence Carey, who was the first New Zealander in many years to compete in the Professional Windsurfing Association World Tour.

“And that’s my dream goal: to compete in the PWA World Tour. ”

Olly Maidment, 13 years old, a member of TYPBC and a keen windsurfer.