FM: You’re lining up against some of the biggest names in your sport, what are your thoughts before the heat and talk us through your heat strategies.
AL: Coming up against those names is the hardest part of competing I find. I started a little later than the other guys so it’s tough coming up against Ricardo, Braw, Philip, Victor or anyone in the top 16. It’s competing against guys I really looked up to and still do. It’s taken a few years to get over that. I think my main strategy is simply to never give up and keep plugging away. You only need 2 waves and 2 jumps, sometimes that can feel like an impossible task but you’ve just got to keep calm and get on with what the conditions give you. Use every second you can, I’ve had loads of heats I won on the last wave. If you don’t succeed just stay calm, try and try again.
FM: What was your standout ‘Rocky’ moment from the year?
AL: Feels like I’ve had so many this year but a few stand out right now. I won the opening 2017 British Wavesailing Association (BWA) event in Rhosneigr, it was the first time I’d sailed in over 3 months. I had worked so hard to be back in time for that event. But I hadn’t sailed beforehand and I was just happy to be sailing, but then to win was amazing! After that I guess a breakthrough moment was the heat against Brawzhino in Tenerife, it was a really close heat, just incredible to win. I think that changed my mindset to really believe I could beat those top guys.
FM: Was there ever a time when you thought things wouldn’t work out and how did you pick yourself up from it?
AL: With the injury I don’t think it crossed my mind, I was coming back stronger and that was that. Outside of that, I think there have been times in my career where I have thought it might not work. The guys on tour aren’t exactly making millions so there have been loads of times where I’ve thought about doing other things, normally when your stranded in a foreign country and down to your last £20 in the world. But I think two things keep me going, the first and most important is I honestly really love what I do. I’m so lucky and when I take it for granted I stop and pinch myself because it really is a dream come true. I guess the other is that I felt like I had more to give, I wasn’t happy with the results I’d had. I have a few goals I want to achieve and I don’t want to stop before I get them.
FM: What training change did you make this year that you think made a difference.
AL: Top secret ha ha. No I guess I stepped up the gym stuff just to be able to come back from the injury. I kept it up the whole time on tour, it’s definitely made a big difference to my sailing and given my confidence on the water a solid boost. Just knowing I will land and I have the strength to hold it. The guys I train with had some research regarding the forces that go through your body surfing, I think coming down from a normal top turn on a head high wave created a force of 8 x your body weight through you, that’s an insane amount of force. For windsurfing I imagine it’s a lot more, so just knowing you’re strong enough to deal with what happens after you hit a section is important. The gym work I’ve focussed on this year started with a lot of movement patterns, just to get my body moving better. That was one of my bigger weaknesses on testing. Then we focussed on basic strength movements, just building a strong robust system. A big mix of power squats, deadlifts, weighted pull-ups etc. Because of the ankle I did a lot of single leg work; the basic idea was just to get really strong through a good range of movement. We also worked with jumping and plyometric aspects to help with landing moves.