DR JAMES! Q&A WITH JAMES DINSMORE

In our new series highlighting some of the BSA’s most talented slalom sailors we kick off with the multi-talented; James Dinsmore. Not only does he hold down a full time job as a doctor specialising in anaesthetics, he has also been crowned UK slalom champion and also mixes it up with the PWA fleet whenever possible.

Words JOHN CARTER

Where and when did you learn to sail and why do you love windsurfing?
My father introduced me to windsurfing on a small gravel pit in Surrey when I was a teenager. I enjoyed the sense of freedom I got from flying across the water. A few years later I was lucky to find that the medical school I attended had an active university windsurfing club. A group of us would hire a van and a minibus and head down from London to Poole Harbour on long weekends. We would camp or stay in a caravan park. I remember the pain of rigging fifteen beginners’ sails at a time but the plus side was that I could borrow kit in between club trips.

How many years have you been racing on the BSA tour?
I did my first slalom competition in 2007 making it eight years!

How much equipment do you need to be able to compete at one of the BSA events and what do you typically take along?
When I started I bought a second hand racy 115L board as well as 7m and 8m sails and used a freestyle wave board and wave sails if it was too windy to sail the bigger board. I now have a full set of six Severne Reflex 6 slalom sails from 5.1m to 9.5m and three Starboard iSonic boards from 90L to 130L. This quiver is required to be competitive at international events but is absolutely not necessary when you are starting off in the BSA. The majority of racing that we do in the UK is in lighter winds so the most important thing is to have a board and sails that cover the range 12-18 knots. In order to be competitive when the winds are light I would suggest that a typical guy of 75-90kg goes initially for a largest sail of 8.0-9.0m and board 120-140L or 75-85cm wide. In the amateur fleet you can be very competitive on freerace or freeride equipment. In fact, as slalom equipment can be quite technical to sail, there is a lot to be said for starting to race on freerace or freeride equipment that is easy to sail around the marks and actually quicker around a course.

How much does a typical event cost?
The basic entry fee for a BSA event is £60 and you can get a 10% reduction for pre-entering online. At Weymouth there is an additional sailing academy charge for use of facilities (in the region of £10). Aside from that you need to factor in the cost of fuel, which will vary quite a bit depending on where you live. This year there are seven events, four on the South coast, two in East Anglia and one in Wales. Many sailors will sleep in their vehicles at events and venues are chosen so that this is possible. Others will pay for their accommodation – it rather depends on your vehicle and circumstances.

What do you do for a day job?
I am a doctor specialising in anaesthetics.

Where is your favourite location on tour besides the one closest to home!
Year to year the locations change a bit and the variety is welcome. I prefer open sea racing as opposed to harbour racing. This year we had a fantastic Worthing event run from the Baker Academy near the centre of the town and it was a great spectacle for the many locals thronging the promenade in the sunshine. Tenby is probably the most picturesque location on the tour this year and we will head there in late September. Wind or no wind it is a lovely location to spend a weekend.

Are there any equipment restrictions at a BSA event?
There is no restriction on boards that may be used in Amateur and Masterblaster fleets. Pro competitors may only use “production” boards which do not exceed 85cm in width. The maximum sail size in all fleets is 10m except juniors, where maximum is 7.8m.

What was it like stepping up from the competition at Worthing to the PWA in Costa Brava?
Difficult … as evidenced by me winning in Worthing and then being near the back of the pack in Spain. This year’s PWA Costa Brava was a particularly tricky event because of the very light winds that we experienced. Condition-wise it was probably the worst-case scenario for me as I have always done better when it is a bit windier. The light winds are also perhaps when having perfectly tuned kit makes the biggest difference. I discovered in Costa Brava I simply wasn’t tuned up enough in the borderline race-able conditions when everything has to be dialled in. It is somewhat understandable as not being a full time pro I haven’t tested masts and fins, tried different battens and done some of the things that help the top guys fly in the lightest puff. A second big factor was confidence and not having raced in the PWA at all in the previous season I wasn’t brimming with it. I started the competition off worrying about getting rolled by the big names and not sailing my own race. The way the course was set in Costa Brava, confident pin end starts were the way forward and it took me several rounds to work my way towards that end of the line. The World Tour is very competitive and a sailor’s results can vary dramatically race to race. A sequence of mishaps meant I ended up having to waterstart three times in the four races I did in Costa Brava which is not a good statistic. Sometimes things don’t go your way and you have to be philosophical about it. When I last raced in Costa Brava three years ago I had a finishing position twenty places higher than this year even though I know that I am a far better sailor now.

Is the BSA a good stepping-stone for the PWA world tour?
The PWA is undoubtedly the pinnacle of slalom racing but it is not easy to step straight to it from the BSA. Sailors without PWA rankings need to be given wildcards to enter and these are far from easy to get for popular events. Even if you do get one you only get a matter of a few weeks notice which makes forward planning very difficult indeed. The format of the PWA also means that if you struggle to make it past the first round (which is never an easy feat with the current strength in depth of the tour) then there is a danger that you don’t get all that much racing in during a competition. For that reason I would encourage up-and-coming sailors to enter Euro-Cup and IFCA international events as a stepping-stone which can offer the opportunity to race against some PWA-level sailors but with a better spread of abilities and more opportunity to make it through the first round.

Are you a very competitive person?
You have to be competitive to win slalom competitions and championships. Things don’t always go well on the racecourse and it is a trait that drives you to dig deep and turn it around when things are going badly. I have a healthy desire to win but it is not at all cost. The main thing is to have done my best.

What makes a winning racer?
A sailor has to make a lot of things come together to win in slalom. It is not just a question of sailing ability and this explains why older guys have won the last few world championships. The key areas are race craft, gear selection and tuning, and sailing performance. When I say race craft I think about the approach to the start, split second decisions made on the course such as ‘do I go for the gap?’, and knowing when to take risks and coolness under pressure. When it comes to gear the top guys have their set-up working for them to the extent that they feel comfortable even if conditions are difficult. For example they will have tested and chosen a fin that gives just the right amount of lift for the course and water state that day. It goes without saying that you have to be technically able to gybe well and sail fast but interestingly it is often not the fastest who win at the end of the day. Lastly it is worth noting that some people are very good at getting results whilst there are others who excel in some but not all aspects of the package and are unsuccessful in winning.

Why choose racing to get your kicks?
Racing is exciting and a fantastic way of de-stressing. You go out on the water and get absorbed in the battle with your friends and forget all about your daily troubles. One of the reasons that I started racing was that it suits me as a South Coast sailor. We don’t get all that much wind but even when the wind is only 12 knots I can be out on my big gear going pretty fast and training and focussing on how I can improve for the next event.

Do you ever test and train with any partners?
Not doing this often enough is probably my biggest Achilles heel as far as trying to improve my performance goes. Sailing in a structured fashion with a partner of a similar standard allows you to figure out your fastest set-up in terms of fins, sail settings, masts etc. I used to sail with Allan Cross and Anthony Todd but they are not sailing at Hayling very often anymore so in the last year I have done the majority of my sailing alone. With a young daughter at home my sessions tend to be short and snatched and so it is not so easy to fit in with anyone else. Recently Keith Atkinson and Leigh Kingaby have been kind enough to make the drive over and the sessions are doubly valuable when they are around.

Can you give us a few tips on how to tune up your slalom equipment?
You could write a book on this but the main thing is to actively try different settings. If you don’t try more or less downhaul than your norm then you won’t know if the sail might have the potential to perform better. Likewise try putting the boom up and down and move the mast track back and forward. Always change one thing at a time and work out a way that you can reproduce the settings for next time. For the downhaul this may involve taking a pen to the sail to mark how far it should twist off or even marking the downhaul rope.

How about a few tips for a first timer at a BSA race event?
The main thing is not to take it too seriously. It is relaxed, everyone is very friendly, and you have nothing to loose and everything to gain. Have fun and if you fall in at every gybe mark don’t worry about it. Any questions you should feel free to ask as people will be happy to advise. There is also an excellent guide here: https://ukwindsurfing.com/slalom/getting-started/

Any advice for the BSA organizers on how they might encourage more people to turn up at events?
The organisers already do an excellent job of putting on super events. Support from multinational companies and massive prize money would help!

Best and worst day ever on the BSA tour!
The worst day was at a Weymouth event in 2011 when everything that could go wrong did. I snapped a fin and then started trying too hard. After a catapult and a couple of dropped gybes I only managed to finish one of the four rounds and left feeling pretty disconsolate.

The best day was probably also at Weymouth a couple of years later when I won my first BSA title. It all came down to the final of the one round completed that weekend. To be honest things weren’t looking good on the first reach but I managed to overtake both my main title contender Simon Cofield and also Ross Williams at the first mark and hold on to the lead until the finish. I had pick-pocketed the championship from Simon. One thing about the BSA is that you are racing with guys who are your friends and your success may equate to their disappointment. That day I was thrilled to win but felt sad for Simon as he would have made an equally deserving champion.

Give us three words to describe yourself?
Calm under pressure (I hope!)

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