Lewis Crathern Kitesurfer – November Update

“After digesting last month’s tough end to the tour I’ve been at full power in the UK. Speaking, networking, coaching and best of all kiting in my favourite conditions, which allowed me to reclaim the British record!” Lewis Crathern

Reclaiming the British Record

Last year in the UK I managed 19.8 meters, but Patrick Thornycroft pushed me off the top with a 20 meter jump. With the good wind we just had, I was able to smash my own personal record (21.4 in Cape Town) and take the British Record with a 21.7 meter jump in Worthing (pic below), my home town. It didn’t last long as a few days later I headed to Kent and recorded a 22.3 meter jump (seen right, from another rider’s perspective). I love strong 40mph+ conditions and really feel I can go higher if we receive the 50/60mph that dreams are made of!

As always with the media focusing on the ‘Bad Weather’ my exploits generated some great exposure. The London Metro, Worthing Herald, Juice FM Brighton & ITV News all featured the action.

I kept quite a nice video log running via my Facebook Page which also brought some good numbers in: 63,534 Video Views, 1496 Likes and 341 Shares the result of a week’s storm chasing. I now sit in 6th place in the WOO Sports Worldwide Leaderboard – 4.6 meters from the top spot!

Worthing High School Leavers’ Assembly

In early November Worthing High School invited me to be Guest Speaker at their High School Leavers Presentation. It was a great occasion to celebrate the successes of the students as well as wish them well on their journeys. I tailored a talk touching on my movements since High School and the importance of staying passionate about something amongst other messages.

For a change I started this talk with a slightly different approach – A question, “Why should you listen to me?” which got an interesting reaction. I followed up with, “Of course you don’t have to! Part of life’s journey is about deciding the credibility of advice, but please bear in mind I also sat where you are now”.

Fontwell Business Networking Speaker

‘Kitesurfing – It’s the Business!’ became the running title for my keynote speech at Fontwell Business Club’s Network Meeting. I love these sorts of events and especially relished the opportunity to explain how so many aspects of kiteboarding relate to everyday business. Using the sport in general and my own career, I talked about the importance of taking risks, challenging yourself, proper planning, staying focused and so on. I closed up with my biggest belief that ‘Face to Face is still number 1′. In my opinion this is often overlooked in the world we live in, with so many digital forms of communication available.

Whitstable Clinic

Coaching again! This time with the London Kitesurfers Group. In nearly sub zero temperatures we made it happen and had a great day of Kitesurfing in Whitstable/Kent. I find Coaching Clinics extremely enjoyable and love to challenge my participants to push themselves further. We must have spent well over 5 hours on the water in total and I’m glad everyone had a great time. Thanks also to BoardWorx for having us over; see you all again soon.

More news before 2016 is out – speak soon!

Lewis

Lewis Crathern Kitesurfer
www.lewiscrathern.com / Facebook