1. When you were growing up were you always sporty, and if so which sports were your favorite.
Yeah I did quite a bit as a kid with school sports like hockey but was very small and used more fitness and agression than skill!  I snow skiied for British Childrens team and spent 3 seasons at British ski academy in Chamonix before I started Wakeboarding.

2. When did you first strap yourself onto a wake-board and how did it all start.
After watching it at Wakestock I had my first go in August 02 at the end of the summer holidays and just wanted to do it again!

3. From that first go did you know you wanted to do this more and more, was it an addiction from day one.
The next year I decided I wanted to enter wakestock but as it is invitation only I had to work really hard with Offaxis, the school in Abersoch, between school finishing and the comp to get noticed, and only got asked two days before the event!

4. were many of your friends wake-boarding when you started, and if so were they girls or manly guys.
None really!  The guys I worked and rode with were 3 guys and one girl, now we have a good team of riders up at Lomond, both guys and girls, who are really keen and come more regularly and actually listen!

5.  Extreme sports can be thought of as male dominated, how do most guys react when they see you on your board or when you tell them what you do.
I don't really bring it up in a pub conversation that it's something I actively do, as I also work at Loch Lomond Wakeboard the school and run Loch Stock, the scottish wakeboard tour so they are easier to bring into a conversation to increase participation and awareness of the sport.  Not really sure how they react when they see me ride, i'm in the water!

6. How many hours do you practice a week, and has it changed thru your life.
It depends, i've been busy this week and my knee hasn't been good for the last bit so i've just been skating once a day max, if I could i'd ride every day but it's more like everyday for 3 days, then busy/rubbish weather/injured so have a couple of days off.  Been really unlucky with pathetic injuries last few years, broken toe, broken thumb (would have been fine but they put on a full arm cast!), kidney infection and repeatedly dodgy knees, every wakeboarders nightmare!

7. Do you always train on the water or are there any other techniques that you use.
At the moment it's always on the water, but I also do lots of skiing and snowboarding during the winter so that keeps me pretty board fit and similar muscles.  I should do more general fitness when i'm not on the water but i've got so much going on unless it;s riding it seems to take a back seat.


8. After all that training and dedication to the sport, when did you turn pro, and how is life as a pro rider, is it everything you thought it would be.
not sure this question really fits...

There wasn't really a moment when I turned pro, it just kinda happened as the level of riding increased.  I'm still me, it doesn't feel like anything has changed as if I were a guy i'd barely be on the circuit, there is still a massive gap in the standards and there are some youngsters starting to make a difference but there's still a long way to go.

9. Where has wake-boarding taken you, and what has been your best experience so far.
Lots of amazing places within the UK, remote lochs in Scotland, Spain and Orlando.  I think the best experience is riding at Wakestock with the crowds and the atmosphere, it's too much fun for it to be a serious competition!

10. As people push the bounders of what is possible in sport, do you feel a pressure to try more dangerous tricks, or is this some thing you love.
Nothing I am trying is too dangerous, it all is if you don't know what you're doing but usually you think about a trick and work it through your head before you go out and try it so the risk is minimised.  There are a couple of tricks i'm nervous of as i've hurt myself on them, but you can just as easily get hurt on one of the basic tricks if you're not concentrating, i took a massive edge on a toeside 180 the other day, no idea how but my head was spinning for days!

11. How long on average does it take you to learn a new trick, and what is your favorite trick and why.
This massively depends on what kind of trick and if it's a new rotation or just adding something onto an existing trick. Usually I try to get a new trick a season, it should be more but my riding is very solid if not as technical which means I can get away with worse conditions in a comp. At the moment i'm super close to landing a number of tricks just need the confidence to put it all together and ride away from them!

12. Style is as important as content, how would you describe your riding style
Style is a massive thing in Wakeboarding with so many different sports coming together.  I have been described as solid on many occasions when i've been out on the sea riding with much better guy riders yet i'm the only one who has landed a trick, that's a pretty good feeling.

13. When you live your life for your sport and push yourself to the limit you will no doubt get injured from time to time, what is your worst injury and tell us how it happened
I haven't had any massive injuries, just irritating ones!  I came down really hard and straight legged on a tantrum a couple years ago and put my foot through the front of the bindings, i had to get cut out of them so got some close-toe ones for the competition at the weekend.  Tried the same trick again a couple of weeks later and broke my big toe on the front of the bindings, i've only just started trying them again!

10. What would be your main advice to anyone thinking of starting in the sport.
Get down to your local school and have lessons!  It's so easy to get bad habits so even if you have your own boat, get the basics right then you're set to teach your friends.

11. Have you got any words of wisdom to any young aspiring wake-boarders out there.
Ride because you want to, not cos you feel you have to, make sure you push yourself cos no one else will!