Trip Report - Lacanau Coaching
Pippa Durham’s Lacanau report
“While skiing twice a day over the duration of my two-week stay, I feel my skiing has benefited so much. From the start of the trip skiing at 43km/h to now getting into 52km/h.”
I was very fortunate to be a skier awarded one of the €500 training grants from the Irish Water Ski Federation. Upon commencing my final year in my Marketing degree, I decided that I would put my grant towards a trip away to Lacanau with my Dad.
The ski site is located just 45 minutes from Bordeaux Airport. The site is absolutely amazing and has two lakes nestled in a wood of pine and oak trees. The club runs both Malibu and Ski Nautique boats.
On the first day of coaching, Geraldine Jamin, who is a former European slalom champion, assessed my abilities and straight away she was able to give me some very simple clear points for me to work on. From the moment I implemented these tips, it made significant differences in my skiing.
Alongside Geraldine, I was also under the watchful eye of Anthony Delpy. He continued to help me work toward the personal goals that I had set for myself at the beginning of the week. While incorporating Geraldine’s tips, Anthony also provided me with feedback and pointers that took my skiing to the next level.
Through both Geraldine’s and Anthony’s coaching, they always kept feedback simple and never overloaded me. Another thing that I found was both these coaches who I was fortunate enough to be coached by during my time in Lacanau are training some of the best in the world, while also competing at such a high level themselves. The time and dedication they put into each individual skier is equal amongst all levels and abilities. They are genuinely interested in seeing all levels of skiers develop and improve over the duration of your stay while always encouraging you.
While skiing twice a day over the duration of my two-week stay, I feel my skiing has benefited so much. From the start of the trip skiing at 43km/h to now getting into 52km/h. This can be attributed to the consistency of skiing behind different types of boats, skiing in different weather/water conditions, skiing on the two different lakes, top-class coaching and finally watching all other levels of skiers.
I want to not only say a massive thank you to Geraldine and Anthony but also to the Irish Water Ski Federation who have contributed to allowing me this opportunity and granting me as one of the recipients of the training voucher.
Pippa Durham.
