7 days in Fuerte makes one weak

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.

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Gear for sale

It's all sold, so nothing available at this time.
You can of course check the second hand list of the Surfdock website below.

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Sailed at Seafood Chowder

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!

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west coast shots

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 !


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Nose job in Donegal

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!
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riding with dolphins on safari

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....


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Burrow Lightwind session

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.

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2.5mile speed runs

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 :)


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friends gone by

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

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.

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Hailstones anyone?

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 :-)


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Pastrana New Year's Jump

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



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Freestyling in 1.5 degrees

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.

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Who's your inspiration?

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!

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Speedsailing! New personal best :)

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 !


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Windyyyyyyy!!

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?

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.


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My first foursome

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

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Back to Belmullet

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)

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A few more Belmullet pictures

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

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Trading Places

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.

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