SEEND’S Trevor Hale is celebrating after coming top of the pile at the British Kite Surfing Association Wavemasters championships last month.

The 46-year-old, of Perrys Lane in Seend Cleeve, won the mens’ over-35 title at the national championships at Hayle Bay, Cornwall, which finished on October 22.

Hale, who works as a tree surgeon, is toasting his second British title after claiming victory in 2008 and the father-of-two says that he was delighted to become a national champion again.

“It might not mean that much to a lot of people around here because they may not know that much about kite surfing, but it’s a really important achievement to me,” said Hale, who has two daughters, Daisy, eight, and Lily, five.

“You get points for riding the top of lips and the biggest waves and you’ve got 10 minutes to do as much as you can – there’s a flag that lets you know that you’re in your last minute and that’s when you really go for it if you haven’t done that well.

“There are a lot of heats and when you get to the final, you don’t get told how you’ve got on until the presentation.

“People do say ‘oh, you did well’ but you never really take notice, so it was a big surprise when they announced that I’d won.

“There were some really good people there and they’d come from Devon, Norfolk and Scotland – it was a great result and I’m absolutely over the moon about it.”

Hale takes to the water at least once a week to practise and regularly competes in the BKSA Wavemasters event every year.

He says that the accessibility and the fun of the sport is what led to him kitesurfing.

“I’d been surfing and windsurfing for years and I got the chance to give kitesurfing a go one time – I’ve been doing it about 10 years now,” he said.

“It’s really good in the surf and you get a lot of power. It’s also a lot more free than windsurfing and it’s like towing because you’ve got the kite pulling you – you can get up on to waves earlier too because you don’t have to spend time paddling. I do a lot of running to keep fit and I do try to get down to Cornwall every week to practice.”