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ir777 (64 unread)

Moving home

Posted: August 8th, 2011, 1:23am CEST

This blog has moved to: www.surfdock.ie/ir777

www.surfdock.ie

Permalink for 'ir777/2011/07/08/Punta_Warm_up'

Just a quick shot of todays warm up in Punta Blanca. Nicely powered on 5.0 and 74 quad. The next few days promise stronger wind, so fingers cross for better action.
Had the camera out for 15 minutes, and happy enough with this shot... but ppity about the water drop on lens. Will keep on working on that... I like this angle, but it's a bit hit or miss when the GoPro shoots every 2 seconds to get the right shot.
Will just have to try again tomorrow :)

[surfdock.ie]

Get High or Die !!

Posted: July 6th, 2011, 7:51pm CEST

Well I just couldn't resist....

My very good buddy Stephen Gibson in Fuerte organised this awesome event on Fuerte's north shore, and I always said I'd try and get over for it... just for some fun.

Get High Or Die!!!!!!!! from Stephen Gibson on Vimeo.

With a forecast like this... it's just unmissable... and it's my birthday...

so in the end a very easy choice: Flights booked... Punta here we come !

time to get high, or err... die !

www.surfdock.ie

Back in the saddle

Posted: June 23rd, 2011, 6:39pm CEST

Been far too long I know !!

Here's a taster of some recent action, thanks to a great new GoPro mount made for me by Steve Thorpe from K4 fins.

More to come..

www.surfdock.ie

assume the recovery position

Posted: March 3rd, 2011, 9:54pm CET

Finally managed to recover some pictures off a dodgy memory card in my SLR camera.
Here's a few shots from one of the bigger days in Louisbourg I blogged about in the last week or two. Bit grey and shaky, but you get the general idea :)

Myself and Andreas

Some nice sets on the main reef at the beach

We sailed the offshore reef, but it was too bumpy on the face

Worth a look though !

Some nice lumps of water moving around :)

Not much wind around at the moment, though the surf is good on the west coast.
I have to stay home though, as I'm nominated for ISA Sailing Achievement of the year, so it's off to the awards ball on Saturday.
Naturally for the Irish Sailing Association it's a Black Tie dinner, some I'm going to have to get a Tux... the only suit I own is a wetsuit !

From the ISA site:
And the nominees for ISA Sailing Achievement of the Year are...
• Anthony O'Leary – Winner of the Rolex Commodore’s Cup 2010
• Peter O'Leary – Winner of the Skandia Sail For Gold Regatta
• Nicholas O'Leary – Only competitor to win 3 consecutive titles at the ISA All Ireland Sailing Championships
• Mark Pollack and Mick Liddy – Round Ireland Yacht Race
• Oisín Van Gelderen – Irish Speed Sailing Champion

Don't know who all these O'Learys are.. but they are damn good sailors !

And speaking of which, check out my Surfdock team-mate Ryan O'Leary's blog: ir999.blogspot.com
He's just had some great sessions in Fuerte and Donegal.

www.surfdock.ie

Fanoretastic & freestylin'

Posted: March 1st, 2011, 1:34am CET

A distinct lack of pictures for this post due to my Nikon still being sick, but no lack of action in the last week. We scored a great session in Fanore (also known as Louisbourgorfanore) with a great crew on the water. The usual Galway crew including Dan G & Katie were loving it, and good to see Brian from Beach Telegraph on the water too.

This spot works best in SE winds for full cross offshore, and has a mix of beach and reef break, though the beach is rocky and shelvy, so it packs a punch.

Fanoretastic

This first pic (a shaky frame grab) gives a hint of what it's like on the beach break, clean punchy and hollow. In total 4 masts and sails were claimed by this wave... happily none of them mine. The reefs upwind were cleaner still, but the pics will have to wait for another time.

A bit of a view upwind towards the reefs. Pics don't do it justice.

Then this weekend I watched some of the live freestyle from Vietnam, and realised it's been a long time since I have been on my JP freestyle board. Full of inspiration, got a nice sunny day down at Burrow on 5.0 Combat.

freestylin

After a full day slippin' and sliding... realised my bones are not as bendy as they used to be ! Good fun though... think I can just about remember how to freestyle.

As usual, enjoyed messing around with the GoPro. This pic shows how flat the water is here, though this is down the end of the course in a NW wind, which is a bit short for a decent speed run.

Forecast not great rest for the rest of the week, though it looks like it will be OK for getting the SUPs out again.

www.surfdock.ie

normal service has been resumed

Posted: February 14th, 2011, 12:23am CET

With all the talk of speedsailing, hardly had time to mention the wave sessions of the last week.

The day after the speedsailing in Dungarvan, we had the first round of our Irish Wave Champs in Coolmaine in Cork. The wind that I had got for the speed continued all weekend, and by Coolmaine standards, the swell was pumping about as good as it gets there... bit over logo high cross-on ramp central, and nice for some good rides too.

The first day was set aside for newcomers to the wave series, and the turnout was great, with loads of new faces having a go, even some who had never wave-sailed before.
We had a few fun expression sessions for the silver fleet... and a couple for us too, one was for biggest jump, the other for general 'express yourself' type stuff. It was an absolute jump-fest, and also nice to get a couple of takas in there, and generally loosen the muscles up after the speed marathon the day before.

Ryan, Jeff C, Myself (Pearse in background) Mark Killeen in the rain.

Then Sunday was comp proper, and we got through the whole round pretty quickly before the wind eventually died, and left us de-rigging in the pissing rain.

The newcomer to the Surfdock Team Ryan O'Leary was right at home in the starboard tack conditions, and generally loving life. Before you knew it, there he was in the final with myself, Jeff Cochrane (also team Surfdock) and Mark Killeen. Mark actually might have never made it, after breaking his boom 1 minute before his first heat.. luckly I was on the beach with one in my hand at the time rigging the 3.2m for Ryan. Unlucky to miss a place in the final was Dan Gardener, whose equipment decided enough was enough after all his jumping, and a shredded sail left him out of the running after his semifinal.

The final itself turned out to be a bit of an anticlimax after a great day of jumping and riding, as after about 4 minutes in, the wind started to drop, and we were left trying to keep moving, rather then giving it everything. Just a shame after 3 days of solid wind, for the last few minutes to be a bit frustrating. In the end though, I'm glad to say I got the win, Mark 2nd, Ryan 3rd and Jeff 4th (see pic).

Big thanks has to go to Pearse, for running the whole thing, arranging the non-stop wind and waves, and also getting a great crew of newcomers to try their first event!
Wish I had some pics of the event, but my Nikon is having memory card issues which need to be sorted out, and so I don't have any stills shots of this event, or of the Louisbourg session below. The shots are on the card... just need to find a way to get them.

Louisbourg... boots are back on :(

Anyway... yesterday was another great forecast for the westcoast. 6.3m swell and 30 knots Southerly :) That was the good news. The bad news was it's got colder again, and it was booties and hood back on, and I even got the full re-heats in the hands :(
Louisbourg was breaking the biggest I have ever sailed it, with some mast+ sets rolling through, an making getting out tricky at times. We tried sailing the outer reefs, which were absolutely firing, but they were actually a bit too bumpy to even think about turning on. The inside reef was breaking really heavy, and apart from Tibo having his usual 25 minute swim after his equipment, it was damn good fun. He didn't manage to break anything (again), but did manage to lose his mast off the top of his car on the way home. DOH!

The shot above is as usual from my trusty GoPro HD. I'm liking that nose mount angle, and just playing around to see what I can capture shooting stills every 2 secs. It's a bit hit and miss, but always good fun.

Hope you had a good one.

www.surfdock.ie

records fall !

Posted: February 9th, 2011, 8:21am CET

What a windy week we have just had, and it's still blowing !!

After the Louisbourg session I posted about last week, we got a couple of wavesailing sessions in Dublin, before starting to look ahead to the forecast for the first round of the Irish wave Championships, which was set to take place in Cork last weekend.

A massive storm was on the way, with most of Ireland promised 30 to 60 knots of wind, 13m swell, and very mild temperatures. Could this be the end of the arctic winter and freezing windsurfing sessions we have been having?

Where to go, and where to sail before the wave event was proving to be a hard choice. Go to Donegal or Sligo to find massive waves, but then have and drive to Cork for the event at the far end of the country? That seemed like too much of a mission, and still manage to get work done too (yes I do actually work too !).

Another choice presented itself, and is one I have been waiting for, for a long time. Dungarvan Speed strip was forecast for Friday last with SW winds from 30 to 55knots, and the tide absolutely perfect for speedsailing all day. Better still, it's kind of on the way to Cork from Dublin, so in the end it was an easy choice... time to pack the speed board again and see how good Dungarvan might actually be for speed in the right conditions.

I have to say I got pretty excited at the prospect of possible record breaking conditions, so spent most of the night before checking gps equipment and settings, updating firmware, and getting all the speed gear together too. And of course packing and getting ready for the wave event afterwards in Cork.

After an early start to get down there, I was greeted with the flattest water I have ever seen, with sure enough - 35 to 50 knots blowing down the course. Rigging was a mission in the howling wind, and luckily enough a local sailor Oliver Clancy turned up for a sail too, which meant I could hit the water straight away, while my friend Dave Garvey followed me down (who while on the way discovered he had forgotten his wetsuit - which was pointed out by his young daughter, and a cross Dublin mission was set up with his very understanding and brilliant wife Cora).

For me it was time to put all 12kgs of lead in the weight jacket, and go and try out the conditions. First run down the course was pretty maxed out on my 4.7m RS Racing, and the GPS hit 43.5 knots max speed. This was going to be an interesting day indeed ! Run after run the speeds increased, with the top of the course being perfectly flat but still broad, until you get to the second red marker bouy, and then the course goes broader, and seems to increase 10 knots at the same time. Quite a few high 44s appeared, and then eventually a 46.34 !

My mission all along was to try and improve my 5x10 second average (which is what the gps-speedsurfing.com ranking is based on, and of course try and beat my 500m speed, and see if I could also break John Kenny's (R.I.P) 500m record at the same time. It's no secret that I have been chasing that speed for a long time.

With these times coming up, it looked pretty likely, as the course is sooo long, that it's pretty easy to wind up to top speed and hold it for a long time, with room to spare.

Dave eventually turned up, and had his first ever go of a speed board and small speed sail in strong conditions. It was a bit trickier when he got out, as the oncoming tide was pushing a lot of water through the starting area. He had a blast though, and got a good few runs in and started to get the hang of the speedboard. He definitely wants to come back for more.

The whole day I kept thinking that it would eventually have to be time to man-up, and go and try the 5.5m, and see if it was any faster. As it turned out, for me it was slower, only managing to get 43.5s on it. I think there was too much drag in such a strong wind, and for my bodyweight, the smaller sail was just more efficient.

Anyway, if I haven't bored you by now, you might be interested to see the speeds, which I could only find out that night when I got to Cork and could put them on a friends computer to analise.

Top Max Speeds

Top 10 second speeds, with the 5x10 averaged at the bottom.

Top 500m speeds.

Mission accomplised, or so I thought, as after Dave did all the GPS record witness stuff for me, I uploaded the wrong files to gps-speedsuring, and found the speeds to be slower than I thought. Eventually we sorted it out with great help from Roger in Holland, and then I could claim a new Irish GPS record, which was then sent for verification.

I found out last night that everything is in order, and I have got official word that I now hold the National GPS speed record, which is based on the fastest 10 second run of 45.02knots.

At 78kgs, I would be considered a lightweight in speedsailing terms, and looking at that list of top speed guys from the Netherlands, I'm keeping fine company.
Have so say, not bad for a guy with 1 speed-board and 2 sails.

And finally.... here is the video of the day !!!
Hope you enjoy it !

Dungarvan Irish GPS Speed Record from Surfdock Watersports on Vimeo.

I will have to write about the wave event in the next post.
That one well really well too, and I'm glad to say the strong winds continued and we had a great competition ! Also happy to report I won the event too :)

Hope you got to catch some of that great wind over the weekend !

www.surfdock.ie

Monday waves

Posted: February 2nd, 2011, 9:51am CET

Had a fun session in Louisbourg on Monday, with Dan G and PK from Galway, and Cormac from Belmullet. Wasn't massive waves - that's for later this week - but just so much fun powered up nicely on 4.5 Combat and 74 JP Quad all day.
Best of all, it's getting warm enough now to lose the booties, which is such a pleasure.
Thanks to PK for getting tired and taking the shots.

www.surfdock.ie

It's gone all purple

Posted: January 29th, 2011, 12:35pm CET

It's looks like it's going to be an interesting week ahead :)

www.surfdock.ie

warm and windyyyyyy photofest

Posted: January 20th, 2011, 2:38am CET

With all the freezing weather over the start of this month, we were all pretty excited to see the forecast for mild temperatures in double figures, and wind speeds in the PURPLE range for last weekend !

With such strong winds for Saturday, I was dying to try out a speed spot in Wexford to see if it had record breaking potential. We were greeted with winds in the 30-45 knot range. Pretty windy... so time to rig the 5.5m and throw all the lead into my weight jacket !

The course was certainly flat, like this for the entire run - 1600m end to end. Unfortunately it proved to be just too square on the course to go downwind enough to be "fast-fast".
As they say though: "If you don't go... you won't know" and it was still definitely worth it to go to try out this wind direction.. and now we are more prepared for the next time.

My good friend and Team-mate Noelle Doran came down to try and beat her personal records. She has been multiple Irish Wave and Freestyle Champion, but injury forced her to stop competing in waves. Speed-sailing in a straight line though... how hard can that be on the body? Yep.. she is Speed Champion too !

At around 55kgs, Noelle is not exactly built like your 'typical' speed-sailor. Neither am I for that matter and with 10kgs in my weight jacket - I still was pretty maxed out on the 5.5m. I have got to say I was impressed that Noelle still managed to hang on to her 5.0m in 40 knots, and she certainly showed some of the boys how it should be done !

Good to see Keith Gorman also made the trip, and dragged down Big Brendan Meaney, who should have been in Keith's house fitting a kitchen for him. That's what I call a nice Boss !

Anyway... Saturday flat water mission done and dusted... so Sunday could only mean one thing.... time to hit the West Coast and find some waves :-)
I could tell you where this is... but I'd have to kill you !

Colin from Surfdock loving the conditions and sunshine lighting up his baby blue NP ATLAS.

Tibo getting one of the best sets of the day, and probably the prize for best picture too. He lost his kit twice, and swam after it for 20 minutes, but still came in smiling.

Andreas was also on form, falling more and more in love with his JP Quad on every wave.

There's Tibo in the water watching Andreas and screaming his approval. If only we had given him a GoPro to take some shots from there!

Quads = turns like this...

This shot of Paula, sums up how we all felt after this session !

Hope you got out somewhere too :-)

www.surfdock.ie

Irish Speed Champ

Posted: January 3rd, 2011, 10:13pm CET

With the start of a new year, the 2010 speed-season is now complete, I'm happy to report that I have taken the Irish Speed-sailing Championships title for 2010.
The years results are calculated from all rounds of competition held throughout the year, and also from our best 2010 results posted on gps-speedsurfing.com. I had a clean slate of results, with bullets in every round!

Part of the trick to going fast is finding the best conditions (the flattest water with the strongest wind), and the Irish Championships runs on a rolling venue theme, where the event location is decided at the last minute to find the best wind/water conditions on the planned weekend. This worked well this year, with wind strong enough for me to use my JP Speed 45 at each round.

Without a doubt though, the highlight of my speed year was smashing my own personal records during a trip to West Kirby in the UK, where I got a Max GPS speed of 47.17knots (54.3mph), and a 5x10 sec GPS average of 43.19knots. This also gave me the Irish GPS records, now becoming the fastest Irish Sailor.

It has been an extremely difficult year, both for me personally and many Irish Windsurfers, as we continue to mourn the tragic loss of two legends in Irish windsurfing. Alan Harris, founder of Surfdock and a very close personal friend was my biggest supporter for longer than I can remember.
Then very soon after setting my top speed, we also lost John Kenny, who to this day remains the Irish 500m Speed Record Holder. In life JK always pushed me to go faster, and now in death his record remains the goal that I want to try and better.

I would like to dedicate this Championship to the memory of Alan and John.
I am looking forward to 2011, and hope to improve my speeds, and spend a lot more time back in the waves this year too.

pic by: Steven Cassidy.

www.surfdock.ie

Speed in the snow

Posted: November 29th, 2010, 8:55pm CET

Had a good morning speedsailing on Saturday at Burrow Beach. The drive there was in interesting in a snow storm and lightning, but once that had passed over, it turned out to be not *too cold and windier than expected.

*Had to post this pic for comedy value - it wasnt cold as I was wearing a new Elite Wetsuit, weight jacket (which is nice and warm too), mitts, and two hoods. Despite looking like a penguin, no re-heats though!

Also a nice pic as it shows Burrow on a good windy day. It's 30 knots here and I'm on my 5.5, and the water is sooo flat !

www.surfdock.ie

3.2m's in Dollymount

Posted: November 11th, 2010, 10:01pm CET

Here's a few shots from a very windy fun session in Dollymount beach today.
I was using my 3.2m FLY which most of the time was 'fooool powahhhhh'!! Some of the squalls going through were mental, around 40-50 knots, but mostly it was manageable on 3.2m for me.

I should have been on a 68l board, but don't have one yet, so I finned down my 74 Twinser Quad with K4 Quad fins, and control was no problemo at all. Thanks Steve!

There was a good crew out, with people on 4.0m or bigger being sent back to the beach suffering.... but still smiling.
Big THANKS to Mikey's Dad for taking the shots below!

www.surfdock.ie

what a week !! what a month !!

Posted: November 11th, 2010, 9:22am CET

Since the trip to Magheroarty, the wind has been pretty much non-stop here in Ireland. I enjoyed enjoyed a few good sessions in Dublin, and made the trip over to Belmullet to catch a good forecast last weekend.

Met up with Andreas from Sligo, Cormac from UISCE, and Colin and Carlos came out of retirement - for possibly their best days waveriding in a long time.
Young Ryan came over with me - for his 3rd ever time wavesailing on the westcoast - and once again was blown away by how good the waves are.

We had a great day starboard tack waveriding on the reef and point at Drum on Saturday, followed by a mental day on Sunday down at Elly Beach. 4.5m... overpowered. 4.0m... overpowered. 3.6m... overpowered. 3.2m... overpowered !! Was good to test out all the sails though !

Here's a quick video of my first out on the water on the Sunday. I like this camera angle, so I didnt bother editing any clips, just gave you the whole run as it happened.

First Run from Surfdock Watersports on Vimeo.

Yesterday then was great for speedsailing at Burrow Beach in Dublin. Only problem being the tide was low at 6.30am - so I got up at stupid o'clock and was down there rigging at 6am in the dark, to be ready for first light.
It turned out to be well worth it, with 30-35 knots blowing down the course, and the water just deep enough to get straight in at first light. Sailed on my 5.5m RS EvoII, and got a couple of runs around 42, and and the rest all over 40. Nice start to the day! There was a good crew out all keen to catch the low-tide and improve on their PBs.

Speeds are here.

Ah yes, speaking of speed... This picture below was from the Speed event in Ladie's Island speed event - which I never blogged about. Huge thanks to Steven Cassidy for taking the pics!

After the speed in Burrow, the strong NE winds meant that Dublin would have waves everywhere, so I headed up the coast to find some swell. I'm sure every Dublin wavesailor was out from somewhere between Seapoint and Balbriggan, in fact the whole coast was on flood alert because of high tides and big wind/swell warning... as the tail end of a hurricaine went through.

Rush looked like the best option for me, with port tack cross offshore. The way the wave bent on the beach meant you could ride all the way from the sandbar on the outside in to the beach, and get 10 or 12 turns. OK, it wasn't the west coast... but always nice to see some decent waves only 5 mins from my house !

Here's a pic of Ryan out on his 4.5 and Quatro KT.

Other hurricaine news hit the papers too that day - with the west coast Tow-in crews finally surfing a new secret spot.. located off the coast of Donegal/Sligo.
Here's a shot that was on the front cover of the Irish Times newspaper - which meant that TV and Radio went crazy over covering the tow in surfers.

Far more interesting to hear though is that Finn Mullen Windsurfed AILEENS !! and is obviously the first person EVER to do that!! HUGE respect Finn !!! What an absolute ledgend !!
It was caught on video by Brian from Windsurfer International Magazine and Beach Telegraph, and you can also catch a quick shot of him here on the RTE news
Six One News - RTÉ News Player
No doubt Brian is keeping the footage for the next edition of Windsurfer International. I can't wait to see that one !

Here is the current forecast for Belmullet, check out today's wind !! I was going to head over, but might be TOO windy to be any fun. Also it's still supposed to be gales in Dublin, so I guess that will have to do :)

We have the finals of the IWA Wave champs in Belmulet this weekend, so will be heading over for that. The forecast keeps changing though - but it looks like we should get at least one days action in. Belmullet usually never fails to deliver... so fingers crossed for more and more wind - I like my 3.2m FLY :)

www.surfdock.ie

Some Donegal shots

Posted: November 3rd, 2010, 12:04am CET

Nice chunky swell in Magheroarty today! Started on 4.5 Combat, then changed down to 4.0 on 74 quad.
Good crew out, Benny G, Gerard & Brendan, Colin, Andreas, Tibo, Tom, Mikey, Timo, & Finn.

Great Day, and looks like more to come !

All the shots apart from first one are courtesy of Tom & Paula. Check out his website: www.pol321.com for more pics.

Been down this road more than once...

Posted: November 1st, 2010, 7:26pm CET

9 metre swell and 16 sec period... Van packed and on the road again :-)

IWA Louisbourg

Posted: October 9th, 2010, 9:14am CEST

More pics on pol321.com

R.I.P Big Man

Posted: October 4th, 2010, 8:46am CEST

With all this talk of speed in the last couple of posts, the latest news is very hard to blog. A couple of weeks ago, we all tragically lost another friend and legend in Irish Windsurfing.

John Kenny, (JK) was a big man in every sense of the word - larger than life, larger than all of us.
First Irish man to break 40 knots, and then 45knots (on a day I shared with him at Burrow).
We both pushed each-other hard on the water, to speeds we had only dreamed of. Neither of us would have had it any other way.
Rest in Peace Big Man, you will be sorely missed.

www.surfdock.ie

47 knots !

Posted: September 17th, 2010, 9:50am CEST

Just had an awesome day on Wednesday speedsailing. The forecast was looking really good for West Kirby in the UK, and my mate Steve Thorp was texting me saying he was on the way there.

I just got two new RS Racing sails on Friday, and was absolutely itching to use them on my JP Speed 45 and finally find out what speeds this board is capable of, so it was a really easy decision.... Time to book a Stena-Line ferry from Dublin and head go and try out my gear !

When we got there, the wind was pretty strong - 30-40 knots, and we saw Steve Thorp and Farrell O' Shea flying down the course and clocking in and around 48 knots!

I took my time rigging my brand new 4.7m RSRacing - just to get the hang things, and also had a slight delay, while I bashed the sh*t out of a roll of lead and stuffed it into my weight jacket !
Martin Waldron who travelled with me had already got a few runs, and returned dazed, with his carbon boom in 2 pieces... but smiling anyway.

As it turned out, the 4.7 was perfect for me all day (I'm not the heaviest speed-sailor at 78 kgs).. but smaller can be very efficient too ! You don't have to be f*t to be fast :) - and certainly Steve is proof of this - he's the same weight as me.

Here's a video of one of the runs from the GoPro. I didn't keep it on for long, as it was distracting, and as you can probably see, I was concentrating pretty hard ! Going down the famous Kirby wall at 45 knots needs every bit of concentration you have :) I did get closer to the wall on some runs..

Kirby 45 knots from Surfdock Watersports on Vimeo.

I know this run on the video peaked at just over 45knots, and I'm pretty sure I broke the Irish Speed Sailing record too! (This is of course subject to verification) - but I know for sure my Max Speed of 47.17 knots is the fastest any Irish sailor has ever done, and my 5 x 10second average is also the highest. Unfortunately the course was too rough to get 500m runs, which is hard in Kirby, so JK keeps his Irish 500m record.

GPS tracks are here.

After another ferry trip home, tired but happy, I could see on the computer I got 2 runs with peaks over 45 knots, and 8 runs in total peaking over 43knots, which was my previous personal best. Job done, a new PB for me, and a great days sailing at an awesome location. First day trying my RS Racing sails, and 47 knots instantly with a sail brand new out of the bag and no tuning... I can't wait to get this gear back to Burrow beach and go get some 500m runs ;)

www.surfdock.ie

Bring on the wind

Posted: September 12th, 2010, 6:48pm CEST

I have been waiting a while for these sails to turn up!!
This is the 5.5m, and I also got a 4.7...... in case there is a hurricane!
Suddenly speedsailing is going to get very interesting indeed :)
We have a bunch of competitions kicking off next weekend - wave - speed - wave - speed.
Going to be busy

Surfdock / DMG IWA Wave event

Posted: September 11th, 2010, 10:44pm CEST

It looks like the windy Autumn weather is kicking off nicely, just in time for the first IWA Wave event on 16/17th September, and hopefully then a great run for the following Wave, Speed and Slalom events too.

It's certainly going to be a busy Autumn, and hopefully great windy fun for everyone – no matter what your style of windsurfing ! Surfdock and DMG Sailsports are delighted to be hosting the next event in the calendar - The IWA Wave Champs, and are working hard behind the scenes to make sure you have a great event with great sailing.

Some preliminary information about the event for you:

What's it all about?: Getting out there and having some fun in the waves, pushing your skills and learning how to shred with like minded people.  There are fleets for everyone – you dont have to be a wave guru – you just need to be interested in getting out in the waves and trying it out.  You always come away inspired and ready for more action !

Dates:   September 18th-19th      or if no wind – rollover option:  October 2nd-3rd.

Venue:     In order to get good wind, and fun wavesailing conditions, we wanted to try something new this year, and we hope you will think it is worth it !   We have chosen from 3 venues,  and will decide on which one, depending on forecast a few days before the event.

Option 1. - Magheroarty Beach, Donegal.
Possibly the most beautiful beach in Ireland, Magheroarty has a great mix of waves on the beachbreak, and on the world famous reef – which is surfing and waveriding heaven (and easy to sail even in a big swell).
This works best in SW or W wind.

Option 2. -  Westport area – Co Mayo.
Basing an event out of Westport, gives us the option to change venue each day depending on the forecast – where we can choose from Louisbourg, Achill, Mulranny or event Belmullet.  All wind directions are covered, and Westport is a great party town too !

Option 3 – Dublin.
In strong SE, South or SW-W wind, Dublin has great wavesailing (also North and NE), with plenty of jumping and riding.  It's our backyard, and it would be great to bring a comp to Dublin for the first time.  Our fun coaching wave event was good fun – and showed us the number of wavesailors who are looking for some fun

The venue notification: will be posted by Lunchtime on Wednesday, and finally confirmed by lunchtime Thursday before the event.  This information will be posted on Surfdock Website & Facebook Page, DMG Website and Facebook Page, IWA website and windsurfireland egroups.

Registration info:  To make it easier to organise, we would really really really appreciate that you pre-register your interest in the event by sending an email to:  events@..., with your name, and mobile number.  This ensures we can get you the most accurate information about venues, and also give us an idea of numbers.

Entry requirements:  Everyone is welcome! But you must be a member of the IWA to compete in any IWA event.  Membership also provides you with personal insurance.
Forms will be available at registration, or you can join beforehand by visiting:  www.windsurfing.ie

We are working on putting together accomadation information, and will post this in the next couple of days.
Hope to see you out on the water !!

2011 Pryde Vid

Posted: September 7th, 2010, 1:02am CEST

Here's a nice vid of the 2011 Pryde sail collection!

www.surfdock.ie

7 days in Fuerte makes one weak

Posted: August 17th, 2010, 9:45am CEST

At this time of year I always love getting over to Fuerteventura to see my good friend Steve Gibson. Steve lives in Corralejo, and we hit the North shore in search of waves and freestyle conditions - our favourite spot being Punta Blanca.. a great mix of jumping, riding, and a sweet freestyle channel on the inside for slippin and sliding. It's just a fun jumpfest - I have been going there for 20 years.. and I love it.
Somehow we always end up pushing eachother loads, trading moves and sailing till either of us literally cannot walk!
This year was no different... I only got away for a week, but we had wind every day at Punta, apart from one day with a session at Glass Beach on the other side.

I always try and get down to Sotavento too (if the wind is not great up North) and see the PWA freestyle, but this time the wind was too good up North to leave, and I hadn't the time to get down.

Cant wait till next time back to Fuerte already.

www.surfdock.ie

Gear for sale

Posted: July 24th, 2010, 2:40pm CEST

All of the following gear is for sale in the second week of August.
If you are interested in anything, or want more info, contact me by leaving a comment on this post.

BOARDS
2010 JP Australia Freestyle 98 Pro Edition - SOLD
2010 JP Australia Twinser wave 92l Pro Edition - SOLD
2010 JP Australia Quad/Twin 74l Pro Edition - SOLD
2010 JP Australia Quad/Twin 68l Pro Edition - SOLD
2010 JP Australia SPEED 45 (53l)

SAILS
2010 Neil Pryde FIREFLY 6.1m - SOLD
2010 Neil Pryde FIREFLY 5.7m - SOLD
2010 Neil Pryde FIREFLY 5.3m - SOLD
2010 Neil Pryde COMBAT Wave 5.0m - SOLD
2010 Neil Pryde COMBAT Wave 4.5m - SOLD
2010 Neil Pryde COMBAT Wave 4.0m- SOLD

MASTS
2010 Neil Pryde X9 Ultrawave 100% carbon SDM - 370cms -1 left
2010 Neil Pryde X9 Ultrawave 100% carbon SDM - 430cms -1 left

BOOMS
2010 Neil Pryde X9 Carbon booms - 140-190 cms -1 left
2010 Neil Pryde X9 Carbon booms - 160-220 cms - SOLD

www.surfdock.ie

Sailed at Seafood Chowder

Posted: July 16th, 2010, 10:12am CEST

Small but fun waves yesterday at Seafood Chowder, which is the new name for Dollymount beach in Dublin. In the summer, there's a lot of weed and algae in close at the shoreline, so it's not the most European Blue Flag friendly place you will find :/

Still good fun though, as I met up with goof friend Jeff Cochrane, who borrowed a spare set of gear from me - and is featured in all these pictures. There was plenty for 5.3m and 92 twinser.

It was hardly a reeling reef break on the west coast, but we both still really enjoyed it, as it is rare enough that we get to sail together apart from at events.

More wind for the weekend I hope... happy days!

www.surfdock.ie

west coast shots

Posted: July 9th, 2010, 2:25am CEST

Got a few more shots from Steve Thorp from the weekend at Magheroarty. These are from the smaller winder day on 4.0 Combat and 68 quad.

Back on the road again on Wednesday, for a quick sprint to catch a 6.5m swell. These shots are from the 'warm up' beach on the high tide, which turned out to be great fun, a fast beach break with a fun close out after 2 or 3 hits, full power on 5.0 Combat and 74 quad.

We then moved on from here to sail the real deal further along the coast, once the tide had backed off a bit.
This final shot is of Colin, son of Alan Harris from Surfdock, dropping into a nice one. I got a few bombs, but the camera was not rolling for these... so they will have to stay in my memory !

www.surfdock.ie

Nose job in Donegal

Posted: July 5th, 2010, 10:30am CEST

Just had a great weekend in Donegal sailing at Magheroarty with good friends. July has been non-stop wind so far, and after a few good days wave and freestyle sailing at home, it was time to hit the road to the west coast. An old friend Steve Thorp (Mr. Fastest man in the world on Gps speedsurfing) is always super keen for a road trip, and was already in Ireland searching for waves with Steve King and Murray Saunders.

They had already sailed Belmullet, and Easkey, but now the forecast was pointing towards Magheroarty as the spot that might get the best wind direction.

I met them up there, and seemed like everyone else had the same idea too. Timo was up and had brought over Jamie Hawkins, Mikey was up with his Dad, and of course a good crew of locals like the Kelly brothers (thanks Gerard for saving my day) and a few guys over from Northern Ireland including young Alex Duggan.

On the first day conditions were perfect for 5.0, with nice logo high sets rolling in on the reef, and also the beach break was getting a lot of goiter action from Timo and Steve King. Eventually the wind died off in the evening, giving the Steves x2 a good surf on the reef. As you can see I strapped on the GoPro and left it to run taking still shots every 2 seconds, to see what would come out. 900 shots later, these are a selection :)

The following day, the wind kicked up a notch or three, and it was full power 4.0m all the way. The early session was OK, until the tide came up too high for the dropping swell, but still good fun. Once the Steves had escaped their Irish B'n'B breakfast (will you have another cup of tea father?), they joined us for a fun session on the reef as the tide dropped back. Glen and Kian from Dundalk were back too for another session, and both took out my JP Quads to test out.

This week looks like much more of the same... where to go next is the question?
Looks like I will have a Happy Birthday this week!
www.surfdock.ie

riding with dolphins on safari

Posted: June 29th, 2010, 10:06am CEST

On Sunday we hit the road to Cross Strand in Mayo for a Surfdock / DMG Surf Safari. The idea of the Safari (this one titled FUNDAY SUNDAY) was to get everyone together, whether experienced or new to wave-sailing, and have a fun day exploring the west coast with like minded people. Along the way, we would provide some coaching, tips or demo gear if needed, but mostly it's just an excuse to get together and have some fun.

A good crowd of people made the trip, in fact it didn't take much convincing... everyone was dying to get some wave action, and we are in the middle of a some really warm weather here in Ireland... 22 to 24 degrees at times and windy! We got great conditions too, I was on 4.5m Combat and 68 & JP Quad all day. The waves were head to logo at times, pretty moch cross shore, so we could get down the line and some good jumping too. We all sailed in the sun for 7 hours, literally until the body couldn't take any more!!

The highlight for me was while catching a wave back upwind, I glanced down and spotted 2 dolphins surfing inside the same wave directly below my board. Absolutely beautiful!
This has happened to me once before, but that was in South Africa, where I almost instantly s**t myself, as if you see large black fish under your board.. it usually means the angry type :-/

It was a great day for all - really cool to see so many friends having fun.... nobody could stop smiling. Also we got a few people out for their first west coast wave-riding sessions, and this coming week is looking great for wind and waves for the whole coast. Watch this space....

www.surfdock.ie

Burrow Lightwind session

Posted: May 27th, 2010, 8:52am CEST

Just a quick video to show the flat water conditions in Burrow beach, Dublin. It was only about 10 knots, but even when it is blowing 40 knots here, it's almost as flat as this!

Burrow Beach Lightwind Session from Surfdock Watersports on Vimeo.

www.surfdock.ie

2.5mile speed runs

Posted: April 26th, 2010, 9:03pm CEST

Went to Brandon Bay on Saturday for the 3rd round of Irish Speed Champs. In fact, it's the first one with wind so far this year, and other results so far being taken from the GPS speedsurfing website for this year's speeds.

The forecast looked like we would get good wind up the Fermoyle end of the bay, with SE and then SW winds forecast - meaning the wind should be howling off the mountains and giving good offshore conditions.

Sure enough, when I got there it was cross-off about 30 knots and super flat, with a port course. No sooner than I could rig and get some breakfast in, the wind died a bit and swung more to the South.

It picked up again quick enough, and we got great sailing for a couple of hours. The size of Brandon Bay meant that you could sail as far as you like to try and squeeze a few more knots out of the board.

Measured the longest run on Google Earth, and it's just over 2.5 miles in one run, starting at the very top of Fermoyle, and going almost all the way to Stradbally. The best gusts were at Gowlane, and this is where I got my peak speeds.

Spent the whole session on 6.2m and JP Speed 45, but the course was a bit square as the wind was south, so max was just over 36knots. Would have got better if the wind had gone fully to SW, meaning broader course, and probably more wind too.

Still, great to get out sailing in such a stunning location, and one that I have wave-sailing at for almost 24 years. First time I have ever got a speed board out here.

Keith had a great run down to Stradbally, but got caught out in dying wind to get back. Thats the problem.. sail 2.5 miles in one direction, you have to make sure there's wind to get back, or it's a long walk to your van.

I did the decent thing and went down and got him.

Forecast looks great for next few days, and warmer too. It was 19 degrees in Dublin today :)

www.surfdock.ie

friends gone by

Posted: April 16th, 2010, 12:16am CEST

It has been far too long since I have posted something on this blog, and if I'm entirely honest I don't really feel like it now, but I need to break the ice.

Those who know me even slightly, will know that we all lost a very good friend earlier this year - Alan Harris from Surfdock. Alan has been a massive part of my life for most of my windsurfing life, and I cannot express here what his loss means to me.

Tragically, another good friend Andrew Erban CZ-O, also left us earlier than his time on earth. I didn't know Andrew as well as Alan, but his loss is no less easy to take.

My main priority over the last couple of months has been to get on the water as much as possible... rather than talk about it, my only goal has been to do it - no pictures, no stress.. just get out there and sail.
I have traveled every corner of Ireland chasing conditions, from flat water speed-sessions to nuclear wave-sailing, and I'm glad to say slowly the fog is clearing. This blog has always been my diary of the sessions I enjoy, and I hope to have many more of them soon.

Hope to see you on the water somewhere soon.

www.surfdock.ie/alan

New Year, new speed strip

Posted: January 10th, 2010, 11:48pm CET

Well finally got out on the water this year. Even though most of Dublin is under a lot of snow, up around Skerries it was warmer and hardly a snowflake in sight (shame really).

I had hopes to get down to Burrow beach for the NE winds in the morning, but the tide was still too high, and the wind quickly turned Easterly, which is useless in Burrow.

So I went down to check out Rush beach, which has good cross-on port-tack wavesailing in an Easterly wind. Wasn't that windy, probably 5.0m weather, but no-one else around as they were stuck in snow. Looking down the beach though, I thought the river in Rogerstown looked like it could have a good direction for speed, so went to check it out.

The wind angle looked well worth a try, so hit the water with 6.2 and JP speed board and got a few runs in, think about 10 in total. It was very broad (in fact ideal), but a bit underpowered once the board got wound up to speed, and had to tack 2 or 3 times to get back up course after every run.

Glad I went out though, got a peak just over 40 knots, a nice start to the year.
Roll on the gales on Tuesday.

www.surfdock.ie

Hailstones anyone?

Posted: January 8th, 2010, 11:48pm CET

In case you hadn't heard.. it's been snowing in Ireland a LOT lately !
No sailing so far this year... I missed a good day on Wednesday... as I got stuck in a snowstorm coming out of the city.. and took ages to get home with the bad traffic.

This shot is of the sunset today in Skerries, lighting up the Mountains of Mourne way in the distance to the North.. looking somewhat Alpine.

Here's a funny video clip from a session we had on New Year's Eve, sailing right outside my house in Skerries. Wind was NE cross-on port tack, and quite a high tide. It was about 4 degrees, and actually good fun most of the time. As you will see in the video though... this hail shower went over, which was bloody painful on the face! I have a load of footage, but had to post this bit up as it's good for comic effect ! I swear I was having fun !

Hailstones on New Year's Eve from Surfdock Watersports on Vimeo.

A still shot from the same day.

Bit of a jump in Rush the day before.. fully maxed on 4.0, felt totally out of control. It was pretty mental, blowing 40-50knots. Wish I had my 3.5m... but it's still not turned up. Probably get it in July.

And a couple of shots of Low Rock (thanks to Ryan's Mum) from the day before that.
4.0m nicely powered, and warm too at about 5 or 6 degrees :-)

www.surfdock.ie

Pastrana New Year's Jump

Posted: January 8th, 2010, 12:01pm CET

I might try this in my van later on. Maybe I could jump over SurfDock?

www.surfdock.ie

Freestyling in 1.5 degrees

Posted: December 23rd, 2009, 3:26am CET

Got my hands on a new GoPro HD the other day, and couldn't resist going to test it out straight away. It was freezing, but worth it for fun to get out there... as you will see from the title, it was 1.5 degrees ! As it was a test, I edited it very quickly to see how the footage would turn out (trying iMovie for the first time too instead of Final Cut Pro), but happy with the results so far.
Ali & Paul both forgot their gloves, so it was a bit harsh... but still worth the pain to get out there and feel alive. Happy X-Mas !

Click on links below video to watch in HD.

1.5 degrees from Surfdock Watersports on Vimeo.

www.surfdock.ie

Who's your inspiration?

Posted: December 8th, 2009, 5:42pm CET

I had a decidedly average days wave-sailing today at Dollymount ( a bit too S-SE for my liking), the highlight of which was trying out my new 5.3m Firefly. I have had it a while, and also a new 5.7 & 6.1, but recently I have been sailing overpowered on 4.0 almost all of the time, so have never got the chance to try them out. I probably won't use the 5.7 or 6.1 until next spring!! All good though with the 5.3, great power, really nice and light and maneuverable.

Anyways, not really the point of my post...
While I was rigging, I met a very familiar face - Johnny Lee - who I have known for a long long time, as will most people who have sailed in Dollymount (or even Achill).
Johnny is the oldest wave-sailor in Ireland - at around 73 years of age ! He is also one of the very first original surfers in Ireland, and was one of the 'silver surfers' documented on RTE television a while back.

Johnny is now enjoying his retirement from being one of AirLingus's longest serving 747 pilots. In fact, as part of his pre-retirement package, Johnny was farmed out to fly a Pacific route between Bali (I think) and Honolulu, where he went surfing and windsurfing at either end during his down time. Nice !

At the beach today he was a bit frustrated at first, and also the last time I saw him last week, as at his age, he takes a little more time to warm up his joints before getting into the water... and it didn't help that the wind was up and down a bit.
His knee is at him... from get this - a snowboarding injury last year (at 72!!) The bit that frustrates him, is that he was just jumping off the lift, with the front boot binding attached to the board as you do, when an out of control ski-er ran into him and span his board (and leg attached) from under him, twisting and breaking his leg.

Not to be disheartened, he recovered, and kept on going with all the things he loves so much.
After a while today, Johnny was rigged and got out there today taking on pretty tricky conditions. He didn't get a great run as the wind had died a little, but he was out the back, and rode a wave or two back in, before we all called it a day in the dying wind.
Today he told me he had actually planned a weeks snowboarding this week, but the snow is not falling right yet, and he will only go when it's proper powder off-piste.

What will you be doing when you are in your 70s? I know I want to follow Johnny's fine example, so I can only wish that when I'm Johnny's age, I will still be trying to ride waves and get excited at the prospect of a decent windy session.

Over the years there have been many people who have inspired me in windsurfing, sometimes from their style, their skills, passion or attitude...

So I have to say today, Johnny is my inspiration !

I also made sure I told him.
If you see him on Dollymount and you feel the same way, don't forget to say so too!

www.surfdock.ie

Speedsailing! New personal best :)

Posted: November 30th, 2009, 12:54am CET

Well after a full week of wave-sailing in Dollymount.. literally 7 days in a row sailing on 4.0 to 5.0m's, I spotted the forecast was looking good for today for Burrow Beach in Dublin.

I have mentioned this spot many times on the blog (mostly for freestyle), but today was the first time I finally got to do some decent speed-sailing there, and also while wearing a proper GPS for logging the speeds.

The wind was initially the ideal direction - NE about 30-35 knots, and I got there early before low tide to allow time for rigging the in the pissing rain (and 6 degrees C). JK was already there too, and we were joined by Keith Gorman. I rigged 5.6, JK went 5.9, and Keith 5.5.

The first few runs were the usual for me.. 38-39knots and wondering how to go faster... but then the wind swung more to the North as the tide dropped even further.. and finally the magic started to happen.
It's been my goal to get a chance to break that bloody 40knot barrier since getting my JP speed board, and I have not had the opportunity to get on a decent course until today. Once we got into the swing of things, the 40's just kept coming and coming. Soon enough I was dissapointed if I could not break 41, then 42, and finally got a peak over 43 knots (just). That's a new PB for me, so I am very happy!

JK (who is 40kg heavier than me) was using those tree-trunk legs to good effect and peaked over 45, with a good bunch of 43s and 44s, giving him plenty of 500m runs over 40 knots. At this stage I had borrowed Keith's weight jacket, increasing my weight from 78kg upto about 85 I think. Not sure if it made me faster, but did help me keep the sail more in control anyway, so I guess it was a help all-right. Possibly should have changed down, but it was so cold I couldn't feel my feet and couldn't be bothered walking back to the van. I tried a couple of runs without the jacket, and they were still just under 42, so guess I was just getting the hang of it.

In the end, analysing the tracks on the computer, I was happy to see about 8 runs over 40, 8 over 41, and 8 over 42, giving me a very nice average, and also a 500m of nearly 41knots.

Happy Days !

ps - thanks Keith for the lend of the mast & jacket, & Alan for the sail.

pps - getting back to the wavesailing, definitely worth mentioning that the day after the looping clinic, Ali landed her first forward loop. Nice 1 Ali !!!!!
Not to be outdone, Paul was back the next day and giving it loads more.... the race is on now to see who is the first to sail away properly !

www.surfdock.ie

Windyyyyyyy!!

Posted: November 23rd, 2009, 9:30am CET

Well the looping clinic certainly could not complain about a lack of wind on the weekend!
Apart from driving rain on Saturday morning, we couldn't have asked for more. 4.0m weather from the start, and one of the best swells I have seen in Dollymount all year.

A good bunch of 9 guys & 1 girl all signed up to break the fear barrier. I spend a lot of time at the start on pointing out the reasons that are stopping you looping, and getting rid of all the negatives.
A lot of people will tell you loads of reasons why they CAN'T loop, rather than just concentrating on one reason why the CAN... and then just focusing on that and getting on with it.
Once we had got that sorted out, it was into the water for some non-planing practice loops, or 'chicken dippers' as we like to call them. The aim of this is to learn how to program your head to keep sheeting in no matter what, and how turning your head to look back helps that (and stops you from crashing or letting go), and also how the angle of the mast makes all the difference. Once you land under the sail, the suprise that you haven't broken anything (body or gear) is enough to make most people see that there was nothing to be worried about. The more you practice chicken dippers, the easier doing a real loop will be.

As the swell built up the wind died a little so we had to re-rig to 5.0m, but still all good. For some it was their first time in bigger waves, and despite this there was no lack of commitment or trying from anyone, so I have to say well done all round! Once 1 person starts going for it, the buzz that creates is infectious, and soon they are all at it. Everyone went home sore but happy, with a good frame of mind to build onto bigger and better things for the next session.

Brilliant too to see so many people in Dollymount, it was like the good old days - I have not seen so many faces new and old there in a long time. Must have been about 30-40 people out during the day.

Sunday the wind went more cross shore, meaning getting out the back was easier (which in Dollymount is about 30 waves out), and some nice overpowered down the line wave-riding could also be had (see pic).

I'm getting more into my quad fin after this weekend, and despite not having the right size back fins in yet (too big), I'm still amazed at the control this board has on overpowered waveriding. Like Julia Roberts once said to Richard Gere: 'This baby corners like it's on rails'.

In onshore I'm thinking I may prefer twin fins - as I'm really loving takas, but for cross-off riding with super tight turns and unbelievable control... so far I am in love with this board. I suspect in bigger waves this will be even better.
The beauty with the JP quad is that it can also be used as a twin fin, so I'm not limited to one or the other.. I just have to get busy with the screwdriver.

The loopers though fewer in number, were super-keen to keep going, and did us proud. Ali B has absolutely non fear - that's official, while Mark Grennan was the star of the show, landing quite a few his first loops that he sailed away from properly. He got so into it, he started thinking about push-loops next, which I'm sure he will get in a matter of minutes. He has the right attitude now, and that makes all the difference.
Paul Reid wins the prize for determination, as he was not going home till he had rotated a full loop. I'm not sure if its the two cans of RedBull I gave him, but this meant that we were both still sailing 5pm on Sunday, in almost pitch dark. But sure enough finally got he got one where he jumped, rotated with the board properly and rolled onto his back. Well done Paul!
If if had not been dark, he would have kept going, and I'm sure he will be sailing away from them in the next session.

No animals were harmed during this weekends production. There were no injuries, and no equipment was broken, only pre-conceptions. This weekend was sponsored by Ibuprofen (for the slight bruising) and Specsavers (Paul lost a contact lens every 20 minutes).

I will run another one of these clinics before Christmas, so if you want to join in the fun, get in touch.

Loads more wind this week... hope you have fun wherever you are.

www.surfdock.ie

Want to Loop?

Posted: November 19th, 2009, 8:36pm CET

I'm running another jumping and looping this weekend in Dublin.

If you have ever wanted to loop, and in particular forward loop... then you will probably know about the mental blocks that stop you from going for it. The clinic is designed to get rid of all these fears and problems, and get you straight into DOING loops, rather than wishing about it!

In case you hadn't seen it, here's a from one of the first clinics I did about a year ago. If you want to join in this weekend, contact me through the email at the end of the video.

New Year's Loopers from Surfdock Watersports on Vimeo.

www.surfdock.ie

My first foursome

Posted: November 16th, 2009, 8:48am CET

Looks like its going to be an interesting week :-)

www.surfdock.ie

Back to Belmullet

Posted: November 9th, 2009, 9:59am CET

Well it seems like it has been all about Belmullet lately. Well I cant help that... I love the place !
With a 9.7m swell forecast from the NW, and wind upto 30 knots, Falmore was looking like a good call yet again. Driving down, we saw the main beaches at Elly and Drum were closed out with massive swell, which was breaking over the islands offshore, but Falmore would get a wraparound swell and cross off wind.

When we arrived the tide was still pretty high, and the big sets were closing out the bay. But as the tide retreated, the waves looked more manageable and definitely worth a go.
As it turned out the wind was pretty offshore, so it was hard to hook into the really clean bowl at the start of the wave up at the point, as it meant sailing straight into the wind, while trying to find the speed to drop down the face stay in front of the wave.

In Falmore, the wave is horse-shoe shaped, and if you start high, it's a super clean cross-off racetrack all the way down the beach to the pit of death at the end, or kickout before the closeout on the beachbreak. After my 2nd wave I got eaten by a set and had a nice 10 minute swim after my kit, but nothing broken... so straight back into the action.

Carlos the mexican joined me after a watching for a while, and got the wave of his life with a good few decent snaps before finally getting blown off the back with too much power on the lip. Even though he swam back, he could not help smiling, which sums up the day :-)

The local crew (Cormac, Laoise, Michheal) hit the water around the back of the penninsula at Blacksod, and caught the smaller wraparound swell.

Pic is a frame grab from the video camera, as my Nikon is broken at the moment (probably 5 years worth of salt water spray inside the body is not helping)

www.surfdock.ie

A few more Belmullet pictures

Posted: November 4th, 2009, 10:12am CET

Big thanks to Paulina and Stiff-on for taking these pictures.

www.surfdock.ie

Trading Places

Posted: November 2nd, 2009, 10:03am CET

50 knots of wind, hanging onto 2.9m sails, 3 full rounds of competition, sailing all day every day.
Needless to say Belmullet lived up to it's reputation as a full on seriously windy event, and marks the start of hopefully a very windy Autumn. (This week has been good so far)

The short story: I won the event.
The longer story: As usual, the whole championships came down to the very last round of the year, and the 3rd and last final of the event. Who ever won the final between Finn Mullen and myself would walk away with the title for the year. This year it seems it was Finns turn.

More text and pics on the way.

www.surfdock.ie

Get set for the weekend

Posted: October 21st, 2009, 9:35pm CEST

After what seems like an endless spell of flat calm weekdays and occasional windy days here and there, there is no doubt now that Autumn is in full swing. Just had 3 good windy days in a row now in Dublin, sailing mostly on 4.0m, either at Low Rock (pictured), or outside my house in Skerries.

The forecast for the Belmullet wave event this weekend changes every-time I look at it. There are 3 low pressure centres very close off the Atlantic coast, and depending on which way they track will determine whether we had a good weekend or not.
I think I'm just going to stop looking.. what ever comes will come.

Its not really going to matter until the green flag goes up, and there's not much I can do about it but try and be ready for anything!

www.surfdock.ie

speed-wavesailing & catch up

Posted: October 6th, 2009, 3:04pm CEST

Well it seems like it has been a long time since posting, in fact it's almost a month.
I have been really busy working (yes despite what people think, I do actually have a job!), and in-between that I have been catching some wicked windy-boarding sessions all over the country.

Also I have received the rest of my JP boards, and some of my new sails, so I have been more interested in getting out there and trying my new toys.. than writing about them!

I think I will dedicate another post to my findings on the new equipment, and just fill you in on what's been happening in this one. If you want to know anything in particular about the gear... just leave a comment at the bottom of the post and ask away.

Where to start? Well I guess probably at the beginning is a good place...

ACHILL
The last post left off at the Achill wave competition (see gallerys), where we competed two rounds of waves in fun sized cross-on starboard tack on Keel Beach. As the forecast on the second day was hopeless for Achill, we hit the road to Louisbourg and the entire fleet went free-sailing for the day in cross off 4.0m weather. Got to sail my new 68 twinser in cross-off for the first time, so I was loving life :)

BRANDON
The following weekend was spent in Brandon Bay, for WOWI's 10th birthday party. www.wowi.ws
We had a chilled out time in glorious sunny summer weather (in Sept!), and had good fun catching up with a few old friends. The party on the Saturday night went on till the wee hours, helped in no small part by the presence of the Limerick University windsurfing club.

Not much wind though, so myself and Megan had a great SUP session on Sunday morning in Fermoyle.
By Sunday evening though, the SW wind had kicked in Brandon style. Which in case you don't know... means if it's SW... it's windy! Although only forecast for 12 knots, there was easily enough to get out on 5.0m in Gowlane, and ride some sweet waves down the line on my new 92l JP twinser.
Alan from Surfdock was also out, and was blown away with his new twin-fin board. He was so happy with the immediate improvement in his wave-riding, he took me out to dinner and could not stop grinning about his session.

The following days forecast looked even better.. 25 knots SW, so I stayed over, and was rigging up again at 8am with a crowd of excited locals and tourists. 25 knots SW means 4.0m sails in Gowlane, and we had an awesome session, hooking into wave after wave for about 4 hours.

There was a good crowd out, and there was action everywhere you looked. The local crew were in full force, with Niall, Rose Rob and Knoxie all. One of the best waves I had was shared with Rob and Knoxie, all of us screaming and shouting as we charged down separate sections of the same wave. Up the beach at Kilcummin, Peter Hart was out with a wave clinic, and Rob's brother Rik was out with his crew of friends from the UK, all over for ther Autumn dose of Irish waves.

I have got to say Rob and Rose looked good too with their matching gear, sharing a quiver of 2010 FLY sails, it will be hard to tell them apart now. And I mean it.. standing in the shallows, I watched Rose rip a wave up, and I honestly thought it was Rob sailing. That girl can RIP!

Rob was also obviously loving his new quad-fin board. The effects of which are blindingly obvious:

Eventually the wind got too much. Rob had changed down to 3.2m FLY and was even struggling on that in the gusts, while Niall and I were still hanging onto 4.0m sails. Knoxie had decided to check out Stradbally further downwind in the hope of finding less wind (imagine that!), but when we de-rigged and got down, the wind still looked too much to be any fun waveriding. Fine if you are in Pozo cross-on jumping, but 3.2m weather cross-off is another thing.

Eventually we found more manageable wind in Stoney Gap, where it was pozo-esque cross-on jumping on 4.0m sails. Peter Hart and his crew had come down, and Knoxie also hit the water again, with Rob joining us as soon as he ad finished driving the school bus again.
Here's a fun forward on the way in off the backwash off the rocks:

Despite the pole-vault looking effect, I can report that I landed this and with everything intact :)

MAGHEROARTY
The following weekend, the only place in the country showing wind was NW Donegal, which is my favourite place in Ireland to windsurf. With a forecast for 18-20 knots W-SW and a NW swell, I had no problem convincing a few friends to hit the road. Dave from DMG sailsports is my usual travel buddy in the Vito on the road to Magheroarty, and sure enough this stealth mission was too hard to resist.
Still buzzed up after the previous weeks twin-fin sessions, Alan from Surfdock was also in no doubt he wanted more, and told a few more people in the shop about his plans. Even Peter Hart made an appearance (is that guy following me??).
We were rewarded with perfect cross off conditions on 5.0m sails and logo to mast high sets of perfection on the reef. No pictures this time.. we were having too much fun sailing, so you will have to take my word for it!

BELMULLET
Competition time again..... but not the usual Belmullet affair. This time a round of the Irish Speedsailing Championships!

The forecast was for the best wind early in the morning, so I hit the road from Dublin early, and arrived at 8am to find a good crew already rigging. JK was already about to hit the water, and even Rob Jones had driven up overnight from Kerry, as he was also super keen to try out his new JP Speed45.

It was not flat water by any means, just the usual blasting on chop in Elly Bay, but it was really good fun to see so many guys and girls out blasting around. Myself and Rob had a good session chasing each other around the bay. It was tricky to find the flattest bit of water to go really broad and get the board flying, but overall it was absolutely brilliant fun. I have always loved going fast on a tiny boards in strong wind, and add that into how good the gear is nowadays and it's smiles all over. With the advent of GPS speedsailing, it's now so easy to find out just how fast you are really going. (Thanks Stevie for the lend of the GPS)

I managed to to hit a peak of 38.5 knots, and try as I might, I couldn't get the board to go any faster in the chop. It seemed to me that the wind was dropping (as was the tide), so it was time to pack up the speed needle and go in search of more waves.

At the end of the penninsula is Falmore, which works best on a low tide and W or NW wind (strange co-incidence that !) and sure enough when we arrived there were lovely sets of head high joy rolling into the bay.
We wasted no time in joining locals Cormac and Laoise from UISCE in sharing a few waves, and some of the speed/wave guys came down too; Dan Gardener, Katie McAnena, Rob Creane, Stephen OBrien, Woodsy. Rob Jones had to have a quick siesta in his van before hitting the water again at the wave beach.

The shore break can get quite punchy here as the tide rises, and sure enough it claimed a couple of masts from those who timed it wrong. I don't think the guys were even disappointed though, as the riding was so smooth and fast. All worth it at the end of the day.

Oh yes, I'm glad to report my top speed was enough for me to win the speed event, which was a very nice end to the day.

Next up is a freestyle event in 'The puddle' - Rusheen Bay in Galway, where every kid and his dog is trying to learn the latest trick. In fact if the place was sunny, you could almost believe it was Bonaire (well if you try hard!)

Till next time....

www.surfdock.ie

Achill Day1 & Louisbourg Gallery

Posted: September 8th, 2009, 9:41am CEST

Here's a couple of slideshows from the IWA Achill event last weekend. Will write more when I get a chance.

www.surfdock.ie

Double forward loops

Posted: August 26th, 2009, 10:22pm CEST

First double front flip on BMX - Anthony Napolitan
With all the talk of forward looping lately, this video may add a little bit perspective to those who think falling into water might be a bad thing.

Is been very interesting posting about Ryan's first loops after only windsurfing for one year. Some good feedback on comments, email and phone calls from friends and people who all want to do it, but need help. There's probably a whole book in it, but I will endeavor to post something about the psychology of looping lessons.

For now though, I will finish with a quote from Aaron's blog: http://thehumancatapult.blogspot.com
"The only reason you aren't looping is because you aren't trying them"

www.surfdock.ie

little and large

Posted: August 26th, 2009, 12:18am CEST

I'm now on the search for a hurricane and a seriously flat piece of water to try out my speed board ;)

www.surfdock.ie

One Year old looper in 15 minutes

Posted: August 25th, 2009, 8:36am CEST

I got my new JP Freestyle board and Speed board yesterday, so couldn't wait to get out and try them. Luckily when I got to the beach, it was perfect for the freestyle board with small swell and cross-shore.
The main difference from last years board is the shape of the deck, and also that the board carves so much better. I think they have reduced the tail width and given slightly more tail rocker or vee, while sharpening up the rails and flatting out the mid section for speed. The shape of the deck makes it SO much easier to transfer your weight from heel to toes, so combining this with the tail shape makes carving into a pop for shaka, or even just gybing in choppy water so much easier. The shape of the deck too means that when you are in the straps, it feels like you are wearing a pair of shoes. SO comfortable :)
I'm looking now for a gale to go and try the speed board ! Its tiny !

Anyway, the point of this post... as I got my new FS board, I was able to deliver my old one to Ryan - a 15 year old windsurfer who is getting into a bit of waves and freestyle. He was waiting at Dollymount beach with his friend and sailing buddy Lewis. The two of them usually sail together at their home spot of burrow beach, which I mentioned quite a few times in this blog.

Ryan was super keen to try his new board (FS Pro 90), and had been telling me that he had tried a forward loop the previous week but got nowhere and needed help. So I started chasing him around and looping all over the place to try and inspire him to go for it. Sure enough it worked, and he pulled the trigger and went straight over the front, landing under the sail (the safest place to be).
A few top-tips later on technique, and there was no stopping him. Practically every run out, Ryan was flying through the air, and then blasting back in screaming because he was so buzzed up with joy. Sure enough, a couple of quick tips later, and he water-started away from one !

Now here's the impressive bit... next week will be Ryan's 1st anniversary of when he started windsurfing !! Sailing away from your first forward loop after 1 year... that is seriously impressive !! CONGRATULATIONS RYAN !!

I really enjoy getting a buzz from teaching loops like this. It's brilliant to see people break the fear barrier, and just get on with it. Once they get over that hurdle, they are always SO surprised to find out how easy it is to do... and the elation on their face says it all. Sweet!
Its interesting to see how teaching a 15 year old is so much easier, as they have not had the time to come up with excuses not to do it, or have no fear or bad habits.
When it comes to forward loops, the technique can take 10-15 minutes to master, but learning how to avoid all the fear and negative thoughts, and then focus on all the positives of why you CAN do it. With some people that can take longer.
But the end result is always the same... it IS possible & it IS easy.

See you on the beach!

ps - Ryan and Lewis's blog is here.

www.surfdock.ie

I made it

Posted: August 17th, 2009, 10:20pm CEST

Well it seems like ages since I blogged, and I'm glad to say it has been down to too much windsurfing :)
I made it to Fuerte via the Holy-land (Knock airport... don't ask) and Lanzarote (I said don't ask!)... and in the end it turned out that it was good I got there a week late. The previous week had no wind and a stinking heatwave, and on the first evening I arrived it was still 38 degrees.

Seems however I did bring the wind (as usual), which meant that next morning straight away it was onto the bumpy road to Punta Blanca. Good news for Gareth (IWA President), who had been there for a week with his lovely and heavily pregnant wife Louise. Their plan was to chill out for a week, and hopefully get some sailing in too... so Gareth (not Louise obviously) booked some looping lessons with my buddy Steve Gibson ( gibboinfuerte.blogspot.com ), who is a damn fine windsurfer, coach, and... he will even cook your dinner in the evening at his restaraunt GIBSONS.

Gareth was pretty fired up as it was his last day, and he went for quite a few loops, but suffered the problem of feet coming out of the straps. It was a pretty intense session (as he had been looking forward to wind all week), and in the end I think despite his best efforts... he had to admit defeat for now, as he just ran out of time to refine his technique.
He pretty much had to jump in the car, pick up Louise and drive straight to the airport. You will get them next time Gareth!... see you in Rush for the next session!

For me and Steve though, that's pretty much how the next two weeks went. Wind every day, and on the beach at Punta from 10am till 8.30pm. On the days there was not much wind up North, we would hit the road to Sotavento, where you can guaranteed that it will be windy enough for some freestyle trickery. Some days on 5.4m, and most on 4.5m.
It was cool to see a few of the good guys still there from the PWA event, like EFPT leader Stephen van Broekhoven. He had all the tricks... spock-kono, burner-puneta, air funnell etc.. Inspiring stuff! Was also really cool to see so many young kids ripping around in Sotavento. By young.. I mean 6yr olds, blasting in 30 knots on 1.5m and 2.0m sails, on tiny boards like JP Young-Guns. I saw an Austrian kid of about 10, who was with his 'older' freestyle friends of around 17-18 who had all the moves. But the 10 year old was going for spocks and flakas. The future of windsurfing is pretty bright when kids are going straight into stuff like this.

Steve and I spent a lot of time filming with the GoPro Wide Helmet cam, and below is just a taster of the footage. We shot about 18 gigs in total from every angle... mast tip, boom mounts front and back, nose of board, helmet and in the water. I now have the task of sorting through the lot and seeing what I can come up with for a movie. Watch this space as I will post up a few frame grabs.

www.surfdock.ie

DOH

Posted: July 26th, 2009, 11:17pm CEST

Well I should be in Fuerteventura right now, enjoying some waves on the North shore. I booked my flight on Wednesday night, and the following morning checked my passport.... 2weeks out of date!! DOHHHHHHHH! So I rushed to the Dutch Embassy... got the paperwork done, and now I'm waiting for my new passport to arrive back from Holland. As soon as it's here... I'm on a plane outta here.

Still... got a nice day wavesailing today in Dublin. The forecast was for SW winds, so I headed to Dollymount and had a long day. At first on 90l and 5.7m, and then on twinser. It picked up as the day went on, and the waves got better with the rising tide. Changed down to 5.1m and got a few nice waves in the bag. Plenty of people out, think about 20, which was cool to see.
Im sure the west coast will have been firing today.. but I didnt feel like the drive... and I'm on standby for my passport to arrive!

Best bit about the day: Ice cream van on the beach... nice :)

www.surfdock.ie

Out with the old, in with the new

Posted: July 22nd, 2009, 1:02am CEST

Its getting that time of year when I sell my gear, to make room for new kit coming.

Here's what I currently have for sale:
Everything available straight away.

2009 JP AUSTRALIA BOARDS
JP Freestyle Pro Edition 99l - €725 SOLD
JP Freestyle Pro Edition 90l - €725 SOLD
JP Twinser Wave Pro Edition 84l - €725
JP Twinser Wave Pro Edition 76l - €725
JP Twinser Wave Pro Edition 68l - €725 SOLD

2009 NEIL PRYDE SAILS

The FLY 4/5 batten wavesails - superlight in the hands, compact and powerful.
3.6m - €200 SOLD
3.9m - €205
4.2m - €215 SOLD
4.5m - €220 SOLD
4.8m - €225 SOLD
5.1m - €230 SOLD
5.4m - €240 SOLD
FIREFLY - 5 batten wave/freestyle crossover sails. Great power, light and maneuverable
5.7m - €230 SOLD
6.1m - €240 SOLD

2009 NEIL PRYDE MASTS & BOOMS

X9 ultrawave 400cms, 100% carbon sdm - €290 SOLD
X9 ultrawave 430cms, 100% carbon sdm - €320 SOLD

X9 carbon boom 135-178cms - €320 SOLD
X9 carbon booms 145-198cms - €330 SOLD
X9 carbon booms 160-210cms - €340 SOLD

If you are interested in anything, or want to book it / see it / try it out, pls contact me here:
ir777 at hotmail dot com

www.surfdock.ie

Starboard tack Pozo & road trip west

Posted: July 14th, 2009, 6:35pm CEST

While waiting for the wind to pick up at home, I spent some of Saturday watching the PWA Pozo event live on their webcam which was pretty cool. You can watch the live action, while refreshing the PWA live ticker and heat boards, and get a pretty good idea of what is going on.

Pretty inspired, I watched up until the quarter finals, and then went in search of wind and waves myself. Eventually we hit the water in a local spot called Low Rock, with the wind coming cross-on from the right and small waves (starboard Pozo?). Started on 4.8m fly and bigger twinser, but the rain soon kicked in with the increasing forecasted wind, and soon we were hanging onto 3.9metres :) The rain was damn hard though... so it was a pain to throw yourself into backloops or pushloops, as every time you looked upwind.... you would get your face jet-washed! Packed up at 9pm and retired home to a warm shower.

The next morning we decided to hit the road at 6am and head west in search of real waves. Most of the west coast was looking good for wind, but I wanted to try somewhere different, so hit the road for Clare. I had heard about a spot that breaks well on a rocky reef and point, so hopes were high to find some good cross off riding.
Unfortunately when we arrived, the wind was good, but the direction was too westerly for the spot to work properly. So we sailed at the other side of the bay for a couple of hours... in guess what: cross on starboard tack... like I need the practice in that!

There was a good crew of Galway guys 'n' girls on the water though, so it was good fun. Katie McAnena was the first to hit the water - she raced out and bust a perfect forward loop, which got everyone else excited to rig. She is going to be the one to watch in this Autumns Irish wave events, though I hope Noelle Doran will be back in fighting form after her bad injury earlier this year.

The wind swung more onshore, meaning the other spot might finally be sailable... so a quick break for food, we packed up and drove around to the reef. It looked OK and we all hit the water, but unfortunately still too onshore to get good rides.

It was worth the drive though, I can see how this spot can work, and have a better idea of swell and wind direction that will make it work. We hit the road home through the Burren, which was pretty cool. It's been a long time since I have been in this part of the country (usually going further North), so it's always nice to find a change of scenery. I will definately be back to this spot on the next good forecast.

PICS:
1. Nice swell, wrong wind direction to be classic :(
2. Typical Burren
3. Check out the mast bend on that back loop landing

www.surfdock.ie

Married!!!!

Posted: July 3rd, 2009, 10:06pm CEST

And here is the happy couple!!
Congratulations Helen and Andy!!

The sailing was sweet too, full power 5.4 , warm water and 24 degrees
c air temp. Not bad for Ireland!!

EDIT/UPDATE:
Later that night, Andy skipped the usual speeches and decided to treat us to his best impression of Marty McFLY.
You can check out the video from Andy's wedding here on Andy's blog: McFLY

Sail before wedding

Posted: July 3rd, 2009, 4:33pm CEST

What do you do when the wind picks up on your wedding day?

Go sailing of course!!!!!!!!

Here's Andy Radley on his way onto the water 4 hours before getting
married this evening!

I better rig up too

Andy's blog

Girls with BIG BALLS !

Posted: June 28th, 2009, 10:52pm CEST

Ha ha, well that post got your attention, though probably for the wrong reasons !

Due to a lack of wind, most of this week I have been cruising around on a SUP, and also a lot of wake-boarding which has been pretty cool. On Tuesday we got out on the sea and found nice flat water beside Lambay Island - which is a few miles offshore from Rush Beach.
Then on Wednesday and Friday, I spent the evenings wake-boarding at Camlough lake, which is in the hills beside Newry. I was invited up to do some coaching, and who was I to refuse? Camlough is a great spot for really flat water, and the water is so nice and warm that it makes the whole experience a real pleasure. It's always a strange sensation for me to crash into fresh water for a change.

On one of the evenings, the girls with big balls turned up!
Let me explain... the ball is a giant pvc see through ball with a zip. You climb in, zip it up, and then inflate the ball with a leaf-blower. Then you are kicked into the water, and attempt to make the ball move, by adopting the style of a very pissed hampster who has just finished drinking 5 pints of vodka and RedBull. Priceless!

This weekend was spent teaching wake-boarding and windsurfing (thanks DMG) to my nephew Dubhghall (who is pictured in the first wakeboard pic) Then today I joined a SUP safari around the islands at Skerries. It was really foggy at first, but the sky cleared so we could find our way back home again.

Hope we get wind soon.... I'm getting sunburned and sore from too many crashes on the wakeboard while trying to learn Tantrums and Heelside flips.

www.surfdock.ie

New Wavesailing DVD

Posted: June 25th, 2009, 9:47am CEST

My Danish buddy Lars Petersen has just announced the release of his latest instructional DVD: WINNER TO WAVESAILOR.

I know how much hard work Lars has put into this project over the last few years, and just like his Free your Style video, I'm sure it's going to be the best instructional movie ever made.
Have a look at the trailer, and get yourself a copy in July!

Here's what Lars has to say about the DVD:

"Dear all,

We are proud to announce that our eagerly anticipated and last film in Feed Your Soul Instructional Trilogy is finally complete! The name is WINNER TO WAVESAILOR. Our aim have been clear: To create a wave sailing instructional masterpiece!

To read more about the contents and to see the trailer please go here and help us spread the word about the movie: TRAILER

Winner to Wavesailor is the most comprehensive wavesailing instructional DVD ever produced.
It’s aim is to guide people to be the best wavesailors they can be. From first day getting out in the waves to first loops, from down the line in cross off perfection to making the most of cross on waves, this movie has it all.

Rotations are covered both backwards and forwards right up to doubles. Forward loops, back loops, push loops and more are covered in depth and from all angles, with special live coaching sections by our instructional Guru Jem Hall. The red-hot action demos are by the JP/ Pryde international team including Kauli Seadi and Jason Polakow in footage from Brazil, Chile, Maui and Europe.

The DVD will be going out to the shops around mid July."

www.surfdock.ie

So many waves, so little time

Posted: June 19th, 2009, 1:25am CEST

Well I hit the road west, and met up with a local Surfer-Windurfer friend of mine. He had already done the recce mission, and discovered the wind was not quite right for the spot I had driven over for, so our first session was at this beach break in Sligo (pic 1) for a couple of hours until the tide came in.
As the wind turned more to the West, we hit the North Mayo coast, and checked out a few different reef breaks, and settled on the one in pic 2 & 3. Sailed at this one for 4 hours, starting on 4.2m FLY & 68twinser, and then on 4.8m and 76. I had not sailed this one before, and I gotta say it blew my mind! Will definitely be back along this coast in the very near future. There are so many uncrowded perfect reef breaks and point breaks, you are almost spoiled for choice!
After over 20 years exploring the Irish Coastline, it's such a cool feeling to have sailed a completely new break that is firing on it's good day.
So many waves... so little time :-)
www.surfdock.ie

Sea Breeze Slippin' n slidin'

Posted: June 18th, 2009, 12:10am CEST

Skerries Kono from Surfdock Watersports on Vimeo.

OK, so it's not going to make Kiri Thode worried, but it's the first Kono I have on video, so I'm happy :-)

The stills pics and video were shot at Shenick Island, just off my home beach at Skerries. It's cross-shore in a SE wind, and we have been getting a good few days in the last week where this was perfect for super smooth freestyle sliding. On the sunny days, the SE sea breeze has been kicking in around lunchtime till 5 or 6, and it's usually good enough for 6.1m to 5.4m sails if we are lucky.
I love sailing here... obviously because its right outside my front door... but also because we get a huge variety of conditions. Apart from my freestyle spot, tt's good for just blasting around, and we can get fun waves here too (especially in a NE wind) - though when it is South wind they are always better in Rush.

I have loads more video from a couple of sessions over the last few days, will have a look at putting together a new video. For now though, the swell looks sweet for the West Coast tomorrow. Time to hit the road and find some real waves !

www.surfdock.ie

Speeeeeeeed-freeeeeestyler

Posted: June 10th, 2009, 9:28am CEST

After wavesailing all weekend at Rush and Skerries, I sailed the burrow speed strip on Monday.... and can confirm its absolutely awesome for freeeestyle!
In went in about an hour and a half after high tide, and the sandbar was just getting exposed.
Reminds me of Sotavento, without the sunshine and blue water... but the potential for sliding freestyle is amazing (with a bit of speed thrown in!)
First run down: spock (planing), one handed spock (planing), grubby (planing), finish with 1 hand clew 1st spock 540 to exit... and there's still a couple of hundred metres of flat water to slide or speedsail on. Started working on double spocks, and was trying konos, but a little too underpowered in the end to go switch properly.
The rest of the day went on much the same.. only 2 of us out, and then more kiters appeared.... but as usual they were on the downwind side doing jumps onto the sand.
One tried to race me down the strip, so I spocked right in front of him... his shorts nearly fell off he was so suprised!
Ali B got her 1st duck gybe too, so she is loving it.
See ya next time !

www.surfdock.ie

Summer is here !

Posted: June 8th, 2009, 12:40am CEST

Summertime really hit us last week, with a heat wave over the Bank Holiday weekend, and for most of the week. Daytime temperatures hit an all time high of 28-29 degrees C, which is practically unheard of in Ireland !
The centre of the country must have been like a ghost town, as it seemed like the entire country hit the beach, as they were in disbelief at the non stop sun for 5-6 days.

The first couple of shots show my favourite freestyle spot, where we sail at one of the islands just off the beach where I live in Skerries (you can just see my home in the background). The water is really flat in the shelter of this beach on the island.. and we have a great time here in S or SE winds when the tide is right. The colour of the water made me think it even looked a little like the canaries (in my mind anyway!!)
The sailor is Tom Lotocki, who also lives in Skerries.

In contrast, this Saturday was back to super windy conditions from the NE, over logo high waves at RUSH, and certainly NOT green water! The day started out on 4.8m sails, but I soon had to change down to down to 4.2, and finally ended up on 3.9m FLY.
The air temperature had dropped down to about 10 degrees, and it was weird, as the water was actually warmer than the air. The contrast made it feel like you were sailing in a bath.. while standing on the beach was cold. Everyone was in shock at the air temperature, but once you got into it... the jumping was really good fun, and by the end of the day, the sets were rolling on at over mast high - which is always nice to see on the East coast ! Also got my first clean Takas on this tack.. so I went home happy :)

Today, it was back to Skerries, and sailed from about 11am till 6pm. At first on 5.7 Firefly and 99 freestyle, and then on 5.1 FLY. It was fun freestyle conditions, with some small waves good for shakas and looping, and then some super flat freestyle conditions at each end of the beach for a bit of spinning sliding action.

Looks like more NE this week too... hope it's not too busy at work!

Pics:
1 & 2. Tom Lotocki at Skerries freestyle heaven.
3. Me at Rush.
4. Dave Garvey at Rush.
5. Tom Lotocki at Rush.

www.surfdock.ie

BOARDS Magazine interview

Posted: May 27th, 2009, 9:21am CEST

Got a nice 3 page interview in the latest edition of BOARDS Magazine, as part of the 'Ireland Scene' by Sue Honan. Thanks Sue and Boards!
Congrats too to Dave White, who has just taken over at Boards as the new 'editor at large', while longstanding editor Bill Dawes takes a role more in the background. Should be interesting to see Dave's input in future issues.

www.surfdock.ie

Galway Ocean Race

Posted: May 25th, 2009, 9:55am CEST

Well we spent the weekend in Galway for the Volvo Ocean Race festival, and the arrival of the Volvo boats after their race across the Atlantic. We were invited by DiscoverIreland.com to do some demonsration racing in Galway Bay off the prom.
It went really well - on Saturday it looked windless and raining.. but the skies cleared, the wind picked up and we sailed all day on 15-18 knots of wind. We ran a load of slalom races and also had a great freestyling session afterwards.

Pictures:
1. Rusheen Bay flaka
2. Telefonica in Galway Docks
3. Racing in Galway Bay (Hannes Louet with the wirlds biggest streamer)
4. Me (with the worlds biggest Surfdock sticker)
5. Pearse Geaney & myself freestyling after the racing on Saturday

In Galway at the Docks, the event Village is set up and the whole town was buzzing !
Galway never needs an excuse to party or go on the piss... so with this event in town - the party factor was about 250%, as everyone drank on the quayside and waited for the first boats to arrive. There was live music on a huge stage, 50m from where the boats are moored, and loads of pubs, food stands, it was like a rock cooncert with errr.. yachting!

The first boats arrvied about 2am to huge fireworks and jubilant crowds, with the last boat getting in before most people were out of bed. Apparently the boats took only about 5 minutes to fly down Galway Bay, running at over 25 knots on Spinnaker. These boats are amazing!

On Sunday.. sore heads meant the windsurf racing went at a more relaxed pace, but we had better wind, so were all keen to get on the water.
I got up to 'The Puddle' for a sweet freestyle session with Tom Big Pole, who was amazed with the fun that can be had in Rusheen Bay. It is no wonder all the Galway guys are so good at freestyle !

If you are in Ireland and can make it over to Galway, the Volvo festival runs for two weeks, and next Saturday they will be Racing in Galway Bay.
www.surfdock.ie

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Posted: January 3rd, 2011, 10:13pm CET

Posted: November 29th, 2010, 8:55pm CET

Posted: November 11th, 2010, 10:01pm CET

Posted: November 11th, 2010, 9:22am CET

Posted: November 3rd, 2010, 12:04am CET

Posted: November 1st, 2010, 7:26pm CET

Posted: October 9th, 2010, 9:14am CEST

Posted: October 4th, 2010, 8:46am CEST

Posted: September 17th, 2010, 9:50am CEST

Posted: September 12th, 2010, 6:48pm CEST

Posted: September 11th, 2010, 10:44pm CEST

Posted: September 7th, 2010, 1:02am CEST

Posted: August 17th, 2010, 9:45am CEST

Posted: July 24th, 2010, 2:40pm CEST

Posted: July 16th, 2010, 10:12am CEST

Posted: July 9th, 2010, 2:25am CEST

Posted: July 5th, 2010, 10:30am CEST

Posted: June 29th, 2010, 10:06am CEST

Posted: May 27th, 2010, 8:52am CEST

Posted: April 26th, 2010, 9:03pm CEST

Posted: April 16th, 2010, 12:16am CEST

Posted: January 10th, 2010, 11:48pm CET

Posted: January 8th, 2010, 11:48pm CET

Posted: January 8th, 2010, 12:01pm CET

Posted: December 23rd, 2009, 3:26am CET

Posted: December 8th, 2009, 5:42pm CET

Posted: November 30th, 2009, 12:54am CET

Posted: November 23rd, 2009, 9:30am CET

Posted: November 19th, 2009, 8:36pm CET

Posted: November 16th, 2009, 8:48am CET

Posted: November 9th, 2009, 9:59am CET

Posted: November 4th, 2009, 10:12am CET

Posted: November 2nd, 2009, 10:03am CET

Posted: October 21st, 2009, 9:35pm CEST

Posted: October 6th, 2009, 3:04pm CEST

Posted: September 8th, 2009, 9:41am CEST

Posted: August 26th, 2009, 10:22pm CEST

Posted: August 26th, 2009, 12:18am CEST

Posted: August 25th, 2009, 8:36am CEST

Posted: August 17th, 2009, 10:20pm CEST

Posted: July 26th, 2009, 11:17pm CEST

Posted: July 22nd, 2009, 1:02am CEST

Posted: July 14th, 2009, 6:35pm CEST

Posted: July 3rd, 2009, 10:06pm CEST

Posted: July 3rd, 2009, 4:33pm CEST

Posted: June 28th, 2009, 10:52pm CEST

Posted: June 25th, 2009, 9:47am CEST

Posted: June 19th, 2009, 1:25am CEST

Posted: June 18th, 2009, 12:10am CEST

Posted: June 10th, 2009, 9:28am CEST

Posted: June 8th, 2009, 12:40am CEST

Posted: May 27th, 2009, 9:21am CEST

Posted: May 25th, 2009, 9:55am CEST