Sebastian Kornum reports from another successful Young Gun event in Klitmøller:

“The Danish school holidays in October made another great success for the annual youth windsurfing camp in Klitmøller.

This year’s JP Young Gun Classic was one of the best ever, since we started it back in 2007. We did not have a lot of wind this year, but that didn’t prevent the young guns from spending up to 6 hours daily in the 12 degree water. 70 young windsurfers and their parents had four great days of fun in Cold Hawaii.

I remember we were just a handful kids when my parents arranged the first JP Young Gun Classic in 2007. They wanted to make an active windsurfing holiday for me and my sister and a couple of our friends. The concept was basically the same as today, where it is all about having fun in the waters around Klitmøller and creating friendships across the sport. Any young windsurfer is welcome as long as they bring their parents to take care of practical stuff. Five of my windsurfing friends, including my sister Julie, are coaching the kids. It is good team work.

Young Gun Classic keeps growing, and this year we had to make a limit of 70 entrants because of limited space in the house where we have the daily meetings and social happenings. If we had more space, we could also take more entries, and we could easily make more junior camps during the season as well, because hundreds of kids get inspired by windsurfing and just need a club or some parents who want to spend their time on activities like the JP Young Gun Classic. I believe it is the same all over the world.

The weather was a bit warmer this year than usual for October, so with 5 mm wetsuits and a neoprene hood it was no problem spending up to 5-6 hours daily in the water. The wind was relatively light, which made it almost ideal for newcomers in the ocean. Usually, they have been sailing mainly in the lake nearby, but this year we had almost all young guns out in the waves.

We borrowed a number of SUP and paddle boards from the local surfshop on the two days where the wind was too light for windsurfing. The shop did also support us with a hot tub right on the beach. The hot tub water gets heated up to 40 C with wood and fire, and besides being comfortable, it is also great fun!

Mr. Neil Pryde visited the camp on the first day. He was quite impressed with the enthusiasm of the many entries, but nothing compared to the surprise of the young guns, who didn’t know that Neil Pryde was a person and not just a brand on their sails. Neil Pryde made an opening speech, signed autographs and had his picture taken with some of the young guns before he had to fly back to Hong Kong.

The sun was shining from a blue sky on the second day of YGC, and all young guns went out on SUP or surf boards. Many of them were riding their first wave ever, and we saw happy faces all over the reef of Klitmøller.

Third day was more windy and gave us almost ideal young gun waves. The whole group went to Hanstholm, just a short drive north of Klitmøller. In comparison to Klitmøller, there is much more space in Hanstholm, and it was quite easy for the coaches to help the kids in the waves. Many of them could not water start, but learned it after a while in the cold water.

Danish TV heard about JP Young Gun Classic and showed up with a crew. They loved the story of 70 young people spending their school holidays in the cold North Sea, and they broadcasted 2 minutes on national TV evening news that evening: http://www.dr.dk/Nyheder/Indland/2013/10/16/074203.htm

Fourth day was another sunny day with light winds, and while the young guns got a skate board seminar, we made a SUP clinic for parents. It was first time we made activities for parents during YGC, but certainly a thing we will look more into from next year, because it is important for the project that also parents are committed and have a good time. My sister Julie and another coach Sofie took the parents out on the ocean and gave them a great experience while a couple of seals were curiously watching.

As usual, we finished the JP Young Gun Classic with a nice dinner, and a total of 140 happy young guns and parents showed up. After the dinner, we made a sneak preview of the video that was made during the week by Christian Gøbel, who finished the editing just a few days after the camp.

JP Young Gun Classic has its own Facebook page where young guns and parents communicate during the year until they meet next year in October. Each family is requested to upload their best photos on the page in order to share the greatest moments. Some of the photos are being used in this report.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/173004952762657/

The dates for the 2014 JP Young Gun Classic are already fixed. It will be 11-15th October and it will be our 8th camp in a row. I would like to thank JP and NeilPryde, and also my other sponsors Quiksilver and WileyX for the great support. Big thanks also to the coaches and all the other people who are helping us run the world’s greatest camp for young guns.”

Thanks very much for the report Sebastian and congratulations on the successful organisation of another great event.