Being able to survive in big sets was something I needed to achieve before the contest. If I wanted to windsurf on big waves, I needed to feel OK with the possibility of crashing in big waves. What scared me was being in big sets without a self-rescue plan. I had a bad habit of just chucking and ditching my gear when I was heading toward a massive wave of doom. To overcome this I practiced my pivot jibes to get out of scary situations, getting my feet in and out of the footsteps quickly, as well as diving the mast under big sets and trying my hardest to hold on. Once I knew how to handle crashing on the big sets, and realized it wasn’t that bad, I felt more confident sailing out on the bigger days. Joey and I are very fortunate to work in an environment where we get to host multiple windsurf clinics per year. Matt Pritchard, Jem Hall, and Joey were all a huge help in breaking me of bad habits, like reaching my top hand over instead of under on my jibes. They gave me technique goals to work on, like keeping my front arm straight and driving forward on my bottom turn, something I am still working hard at. Listening in on these windsurf camps helped me learn the right techniques.