Student Windsurfing Association (SWA)

== The Birth of the SWA ==

The Student Windsurfing Association (SWA) was formed and become a registered company in 2000 thanks to James Potten, Sarah Gebbett and Andy Bramah; three students that saw the huge potential of the Student Windsurf body and wanted to give it a chance to flourish. The concept they strived for was to increase the number of Student Windsurfing Clubs in the UK, to organise a calendar of events and to promote our student windsurfing way of life to the outside world…hopefully attracting more interest, sponsorship and students along the way. Windsurf clubs existed at universities before the SWA but there was little communication between clubs and when events were run they was a general lack of kit, prizes and safety (there were still massive parties though).

==The SWA Today==
Since it's humble beginnings, the SWA has come a long way and is now commonly regarded as the fastest developing windsurf organisation in the UK. The original concept still remains strong in the minds of the current directors; Anthony 'Beaker' Lindley, Philip Cutter and Sarah Cotton who have continued to expand and promote the SWA aided by a strong committee of current and ex-student windsurfers. Since the SWA now has 50+ universities which have windsurf clubs in it's database and more forming every year, it is possible to be at university at the most land-locked town in the UK but still find Student Windsurfers there.

==The SWA Online==
Everyone knows that to survive in the busy world today an organisation needs a logo and a website. The original SWA logo was small and simple and the website designed by Jim Downing using Python. Although the SWA was on the web, many of the original committee found it difficult to edit articles and edit the actual website code itself. [[Image:SWAorigianllogo.jpg|right|thumb|64px|The original SWA logo, 2002]] The site was re-worked by Michael Crisp (then SWA Web Manager) and James Potten (SWA Co-Founder) using the Joomla CMS that you see today. The site was designed to be more user friendly so that SWA committee members could easily add and edit articles without being Web Geeks! It allows for easier site development and the multiple Joomla Extensions mean that many externally developed components are now used within the site such as the forum, gallery and snazzy rotating sponsors logos module.

Since the website was first created, the SWA planned to develop and integrate an online event booking and payment system. James Potten, Michael Crisp and Dave Dawson all started to develop the necessary components at various stages in the SWA's history but university workloads always took over and it was never finished. Aron Tsang who joined the web team in 2006 was the person to finally integrate the Online Event Booking System developed by Anthony 'Beaker' Lindley with Nochex, an online payment system. Over the first half of 2007 testing was conducted on the system and just in time for the SWA festival in October 2007, the system was launched to the public. As with all new systems, multiple bugs were reported in the first 2 weeks of use but finally it was online and working after only 7 years of planning and hoping.

==Events==
The SWA event calender is made up of four 'Core' events, three Wave events and the SWA festival at the start of the academic year. The Core events are usually at inland lakes or reservoirs and are designed to get students of all standards on the water having fun. For beginners there is tuition and some fun racing out to a buoy and back, for Intermediates and Advanced windsurfers there is also racing and a Freestyle competition. The Beginner division ranges from those who have never stepped on a board before to those who are mastering staying upwind. Intermediates is for people that can generally Beach Start and keep themselves upwind. They race using any board that has a [[daggerboard]] and any sail smaller than a 6.5m. Advanced racing is one-design and uses a [[Bic Techno]] 283 board with a [[Tushingham]] Express 7.5m or any other sail under 7m. One of the major changes that the SWA brought to the sport was the idea of pooled kit. Kit is pooled from every windsurf club attending so it is possible through the SWA to attend events with no personal or club kit but still get on the water.
Each event follows a similar itinerary: Friday night eveyone arrives at the host university for registration. This is generally in the student union or another bar so sets the tone of the weekend. Saturday, everyone heads to the water and where there is the racing/freestyle/tuition etc. Saturday night, a meal is normally provided at the event, followed by one of the imfamous SWA saturday night partys. These are always fancy dress (with themes ranging from 'Plastic Fantastic', to 'Little Britain' or 'Superheros') and it has been known for event parties to be sponsored by vodka importers/aftershock etc. A combination of high spirits after a good day's windsurfing, a large concentration of like minded people and the 'different area code' effect means that these parties are always amazing! Sunday morning, hungover everyone heads down to the water again for more competition / tuition. This is then followed by the event prize giving, before saying sad goodbyes (until the next event) to your new found loves / friends and heading back home exhausted but happy.

==The SWA Festival==
[[Image:Aussiekiss6.jpg|right|thumb|260px|Students at the SWA Festival in Cornwall, October 2007]]
Commonly known as "Aussie Kiss", the concept of the festival as a massive training event was conceived in 2002 at the Student Europeans at La Tranche. In October 2007 'Aussie Kiss 6IX' took place with over 900 students in attendance. The Festival does not feature racing but focusses more on getting as many people on the water as possible over the course of the weekend. Tuition takes place for all standards of windsurfer with the beginners getting top tips for staying dry and the advanced and intermediates being shown how to 'go fast and look good' by various Pro sailors and GBR windsurf team members. Originally held in 2003 at the Sailing Academy at Portland harbour on the south coast, in 2005 it was decided to relocate to Roadford reservoir in [[Devon]] to cater for the ever increasing need for windsurf launch space, accommodation and party venues large enough to hold everyone!

==The SWA-Team==

Recently, the SWA has also started compiling the keenest windsurfers to join the SWA-Team of windsurfers. In return for promoting the SWA in the media, these hardcore windsurfers get entry into the [[UKWA]] events to compete on the UK circuit as part of a [[sponsorship]] deal.

==Affiliated Clubs==

[[Exeter University]] 
[[University of Southampton]], [http://www.suwc.net/ SUWC] 
[[University of Nottingham]] 
[[Imperial College, London]] 
[[University of Cambridge]] 
[[Cardiff University]] 
[[University of Bristol]] 
[[University of the West of England]] 
[[University of Oxford]] 
[[Durham University]] 
[[University of York]]

(Please add more)

==SWA History==
{| class="wikitable"
|- SWA History
!Year
!Committee
!Champion - Freestyle
!Champion - Racing
|-
|2007-2008
|"Fat" Sam Stevens - President
Phil Cutter
Anthony "Beaker" Lindley
Sarah Cotton
|
|
|-
|2006-2007
|
|Mens - 1st Sam Stevens, [[University of Southampton|Southampton]]
1st John Palmer, [[University of Bristol|Bristol]]
| Mens - 1st Timothy Staley, [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]]
2nd Alex Graham, [[University of Southampton|Southampton]]
|-
|2005-2006
|
|
|
|}

==External links==
* [http://www.studentwindsurfing.co.uk/ SWA Official Website] - The Official Website of The Student Windsurfing Association

[[Category:Student sport in the United Kingdom|Student Sport|Windsurfing| ]]