If people look at me closely these days; they might mistake me for someone who has been ruthlessly beaten by their partner.

My legs are covered in bruises; I even have one on my stomach. My shoulders ache, I have whiplash on my neck, my eyes are red and my nose is full of salt water. Why? Because I am desperate to master riding a surfboard strapless.  Riding the board is not too difficult, it’s the jibing that causes the damage.

Jibing a surfboard whilst kiteboarding means that you have to turn the kite and board around, ending up with your feet kind of back to front. Once the turn has been achieved, you can either continue riding ‘toe-side’ or, you have to switch your feet; sounds so simple doesn’t it? I have to confess to being a bit tired of being ‘catapulted’ through the air and smacking down onto the water, losing the board and then dragging back to it to try again, but, I will not give up. In the end, it will be good for my back and my knees as unlike a twin-tip kite board, which rides in both directions without the need to turn the board, a surf board gives much more of a glide. There’s much less banging on the knees because the surf board cuts the water smoothly. My back and hips, which normally suffer after a kite session, have been largely unaffected. I hope that the wind holds up for the next week before I go to Miami to buy all the furniture for the surf camp.   If it does, I’ll be on the water every day………..