Friday afternoon it was hot and sunny as I met Carlton (mate from Nelson, NZ) and Adrian (my new beach partner) and loaded into the van. We fought our way out of London and then up the M1. 6 hours later we pulled into Bridlington on the east Yorkshire coast. I hadnt managed to find room in a campsite so we drove around for an hour asking and looking before setting up on some grass right by the promenade and the beach! Probably not allowed but it was late! So nice falling asleep to the sound of the waves on the beach. Saturday was sunny but very windy. It made for challenging volleyball and Adrian and I (seeded 5th) won 2 out of 3 of our pool games which was enough to put us thru to the 1st div main draw. We won our first game in and lost the 2nd putting us onto the contenders bracket of the double elimination draw. The local promoter (Stu) hooked us up with a campsite for Sat nite meaning showers and dinner were on hand. Day 2 dawned with rain. We were told we could start late as our game was the first of the day. We were sitting in the van waiting when we got told we had forfeited our first set for being late!! Not happy! We got out into the rain and started playing (me wearing trackies and a jacket). We won the 2nd and 3rd sets tho saving the match and putting us into a semifinal. The weather improved and our semifinal was against the Scottish team who we had already lost to in our pool games. We lost in 2 sets although much closer scores than the previous day. Then we finally got onto centre court for our 3rd/4th playoff. Again it was a team we had played (and beaten) the previous day. By now the sun was shining and it was heating up. We won the first set although making it hard for ourselves with to many errors. Then we played worse and lost the 2nd set! 3rd set was an epic battle and we squandered a 12-9 lead to be down 12-14. So with 2 matchpoints to them we won the serve back (13-14) and then had to win a point on our serve. I had to make 3 diving pickups in that rally to keep it alive the last of which went not only back over the net but right into the back corner of their court and down for the point to deuce it! so 14 all and now must win by 2 points. we had 2 match points each i think before we finally won 21-19!! So for both of us it was our best finish ever and it felt so good to be finally playing with someone who can actually play beach well!

The 2 finals followed before we loaded the van and drove back to London via the Humber Bridge. We stopped at Damons for a huge feed of wings and big desserts to end the weekend in style. A great weekend all up and we are now geared up for Great Yarmouth next weekend--the final Grand Slam (although my first Grand Slam of the year!).