Girls with BIG BALLS !

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

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

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'

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

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 !

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

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

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

A few Rhossy slalom pictures

A few more pictures of the Rhosneigor slalom event.
The first two shots show my preferred way of crossing the finishing line ;)
The next two show myself, Maurice Owens, and Irish Slalom Champ Pearse Geaney racing against the best the UK has to offer. Pearse and myself now share first place overall in the 'Neil Pryde - JP Irish Sea Challenge', which combined the results of the Dublin and Rhossy slalom events.
Thanks to Kathryn and Pearse from BigSurf for the pictures !

www.surfdock.ie

Rhosneigor rocks

Well the final day at Rhosneigor started almost calm and windless, and produced some very nice conditions for SUPboarding, with a light offshore breeze holding up the 3ft swell.
The wave event was cancelled, as it was clear we would not have the conditions to get the double elimination done, so that meant waiting to see if the wind would improve for the remaining slalom racing.
And sure enough it did pick up, with Ant Baker being the first to take to the water and plane around on a 9.0m. He's not one of the lighter guys, so it was clear there would be enough wind to race... so the boat was launched, and a course quickly set.
I rigged up a 7.8m RS Racing and JP Slalom 76 and joined the fleet for a more 'moderate' days racing.
The start line was on the water this time in small surf, with the outside gybe being in rolling swell out the back. But of course it turned out the wind was actually pretty light and gusty, and the first heat had to be abandoned due to wind dropping mid race - and half the fleet not event getting planing.
And that's how it ended. Despite waiting a couple of hours for conditions to improve (as the slalom guys were keen to race on their more 'regular gear'), eventually we had to call it a day and pack up.
It left me in 4th overall in the slalom, with the following results (and pictured above with Dave from Funsport)
1st Mat Pearch
2nd Jamie Hawkins
3rd Alan Jackson
4th emm, that would be me.

And also leaves me in Joint 1st in the 'Irish Sea Cup' with Irish buddy Pearse Geaney, when the results of the Dublin slalom and the Rhosneigor slalom are added up.

Thanks to BOARDSEEKER for the pictures. Action one shows myself, Richard Jones and Jamie Hawkins in one of the starts.

Next up, the VOLVO Ocean race is coming to Galway on the West coast of Ireland this weekend, and a buynch of windsurfers have been invited up by discoverireland.com to be part of the festival and event with some demonstration type racing in Galway Bay.

www.surfdock.ie

UKWA Rhossy day1 is over, and Im tired.

Well it has been a full day of action! Started by looking relatively flat this morning, and all the slalom boys were rigging huge barn door sails, and then of course the wind strted to pick up, the waves started to roll in, and soon we were into proper SURF-SLALOM... yeeharrr !

I entered both the waves event and slalom event... which are on at the same time... so it's a bit hectic to say the least.

My very first slalom race was on 4.5m FLY and JP Freestyle Pro 90!. The outside gybe mark was in logo high breaking waves and was carnage for some. Funniest thing today was seeing Maurice Owens (Team DiscoverIrleland.com) Wiping out from an involuntary jump on his 6.7m RS slalom and slalom board, while I was on the way back in on my 4.5, I nearly fell off laughing (sorry Mo!).

Anyway, got 2nd in that heat after Jamie Hawkins (on full racing kit), and that was the way most of the slalom went... though I had to change down to 4.2m FLY as it was getting even windier! I even managed to win a heat against Jamie on this kit, while he was still on 5.4 slalom or something. Surf-slalom is wicked fun :)... and of course you have to do the obligatory forward loop over the line.
I think I got 5th in both slalom finals, leaving me in 4th overall so far :)

Also doing the wave event, downwind of the slalom in the bigger waves, which were pushing in nicely at over mast high in the sets. Fully windy, on 3.6 fly and 68 twin, got through first heat, did some more slalom, and then in wave semi, up against John Skye. The wind decided to drop a bit just as we went out, and I got stuffed on 3.6, underpowered for almost all of the heat. Bit of a nightmare.. but there you go... it was always going to be hard beating Pozo-Skyeboy in a port tack jumping contest.. but at least he went on to get 4th, having to sail against Phil Horrocks in the losers-final.
Jamie Hancock was in the final against local boy Ben Proffitt, and this time Ben got the win, with some sweet doubles, takas, wave 360s, tweak pushies etc etc..

And if that wasn't enough exercise for the day, after a mammoth de-rig, we went to Llandudno SKi slope for some snowboarding and a party.

Bring on tomorrow... hope its windy!

Sorry no pics here (too busy sailing!).... but have a look at BOARDSEEKER magazine, who are doing live heat by heat updates from the beach.
Don't forget, you can also view the Rhosneigor webcam.

www.surfdock.ie

UKWA Rhosneigor webcam

Well its now time for the next event on the calendar, and I'm over in North Wales at Rhosneigor for the UKWA Wave & Slalom event. The Slalom is part of the Irish Sea Challenge - which we started in Dublin a month or so ago.
Because there are two fleets running here (and it's the 1st UK Slalom event of the year), there's expected to be a huge amount of entries. About a dozen Irish guys were on teh Stena Line HSS with me yesterday from Dublin, all of them entering the slalom.
I'm doing both disciplines, as is Jamie Hawkins, and also back on the scene is Nik and Ant Baker. Should be a fun weekend... the forecast is looking good so far.
If you want to have a look at the action, here's alink to the Funsport Webcam. The slalom should be running to the left of the rocks in the picture, and the waves to the right. You will see me running between the two!
www.surfdock.ie

Somewhere, a sheep on a distant hill farted

Well that's what it felt like!
As the full double had been completed, the final round of competition for the pros was a series of fun 'Expression Session heats' (not to count for main event), and the word gusty could not adequately describe how my heat went. It was like someone was up on the hills above flicking a wind switch. You could be fully sinking, while someone 20ft away was on a gust and flying.
I was on 4.5 and 76, and only got 1 planing run when there was nothing to jump off, Andy King was on 5.1 and 85 and sinking, Mikey on 4.0 and sinking, Dan Gardener on 4.7. But then, a sheep on a distant hill farted, Mikey caught the magic gust and popped a backloop, and bagged himself a place in the final. That's the way it goes I guess!
All credit to him.. he went and did the same thing in the Final, which was deemed enough to beat Phil Horrocks slightly wet Double loop! When the result was announced in the pub that night, the Galway boys made it their personal mission to ensure he celebrated in style !

Anyway, have a look at this shot I took of John Skye from Big Thursday, pretty much sums up the whole day on Thursday !

All in all though a pretty epic event by all counts... we sailed every single day from dawn till dusk, in a whole mix of conditions.. and even got 2 days full sunshine.. Though that's probably the Irish Summer over now.. check back next year ;)

Big thanks to Simon Crowther for the shot on this current background too. We had a sweet evening session after the expression session, when the wind picked up, the waves got cleaner and better, and a bunch of us (Proffit, Finn Mullen.. ripping as usual, James Cox from bigsalty) to name but a few, chased Simon through the waves for a couple of hours. This was probably one of the best sessions I had this week, and sure cheered me up anyway! Everyone came off the water buzzing !

Next up is the UKWA event in Rhosneigor next weekend. Forecast doesn't look great for waves at the moment, but it is early days. The slalom crew will be there too, so should be a big event by all counts.

www.surfdock.ie

Hancock wins it

News from yesterdays double elimination, the results were announced at
the pub last night where the fleet had gone to watch the video footage
from 'big thursday'.
Keep an eye out for Boardseekers next podcast.. The video will be
awesome!

Anyway, Jamie Hancock was announced yesterdays winner against John
Skye. It must have been close, none of us could call the result
yesterday. Well done Jamie!

After the pro final, the amateurs, ladies and masters was moved to
scraggane, but they didn't manage to get any results. We sailed
Fermoyle in the evening, and had a hell windy session on 3.6m!

This morning back at Fermoyle now, they are currently running the ams
and ladies, Irish Katie McAnena is up soon, to keep the battle going against
Boardseeker's Louise. Off now to try and get some pics of them.

Hopefully in the afternoon they will run more pro fleet sailing.
sent by carrier pigeon

Rob jones on 3.2

Profit beats king

Jones & horrocks out

Phil nailed the heat against rob jones, who was on a 3.2 zone and phil
on 3.5, both fully stacked. Waves absolutely massive, and some big
swims too. Got some good video I hope.

Phil then sailed against proffit who almost landed an involuntary
double pushloop.. On his face. It was close and proffit advances to
now sail against andy king, profit on 3.4, king in 4.1.

sent by carrier pigeon

Moved to stradbally

Ukwa brandon day two

Well we are sitting on the beach looking at well over mast high sets
rolling into gowlane, but the wind us tricky, and out the back is
wayyyyyyyy out the back!!

We went almost all the way through the double elimination yesterday in
cross off logo high and on 4,2m, though at times very gusty so quite
tricky conditions.

Coming back through the double, Phil Horrocks and rob jones fought their
way back into the comp, and are currently the first heat today, so are
out testing the conditions while the rest of us watch. Phil's first run
our took him 17 minutes to get near the back, but he never made it out.
Similarly, rob went out, got cleaned out by a monster and bust his
mast. He has re-rigged and is currently fighting his way out, for his
honor and local bragging rights!

The wind is kicking in better, and is due to get to 32 knots sw, so it
should be howling soon, and then we may be in action

sent by carrier pigeon

Ukwa brandon single elim

Just finished sailing the first complete round of the ukwa champs
event in brandon bay.
Great turnout with 25 in the pro fleet, including a good Irish crew:
katie mc, dan Gardner,dan king, mikey, mark Killeen, timo and Finn
mullen and local boys rob jones and niall Mellon.
About a dozen amateurs and 6 masters and 4 or 5 in the ladies fleet.
Top news: katie won the ladies with boardseekers louise emery in 2nd.
Irish crew all got through first heats, and in 2nd round, Iand there I
managed to beat Skye and dan g to get to the semis. Rob jones took out
phil horrocks to book his place in semi, but had to miss that heat as
he had to go and drive the school bus! Shame, as he was loving it.
Finn mullen joined myself, Skye, and proffit in the semi, but the
irish fun ended there as we both had a bad heat and didn't get to the
final 4.
Timo in the other semi had to resail against jamie hancock, as they
missed a wave if his.. But jamie got him again in the resail, and then
straight into the final.
Good for him though, as he then went on to win the final, Skye 2nd,
andy king 3rd and proffit 4th.
They are about to start running the double elimination, so better get
into a wetsuit!
Oh yes, conditions are typical gowlane, cross off and logo high in the
sets, using 4.2m fly and now it looks like I better rig 3.6.
Will try and get pics up later, or have a look at Boardseeker too for
updates.

sent by carrier pigeon

Fleadh Sheoil

Well we spent the entire weekend in Dublin at the Irish Windsurfing Festival.
The first day was light winds and sunshine, and most of the action was on SUP boards and generally enjoying the weather and chilling out.

Then Sunday brought nice wind for 6.1m Freestylin', or slalom blasting on 6.0-7.5m, and the sun stayed all day. We did a few fun races, some GPS speedsailing, and also some coaching at all levels. There were so many people sailing - all day. Great to see so many happy faces, new and old. Also congrats to Stevie Flanagan, who sailed almost non-stop from Dawn (5am) till Dusk (9.30pm) in aid of a cancer charity of a UK Windsurfer (sorry, I forgot the details right now).
Anyway - well done Stevie!
Today, the wind kicked in a bit stronger again, and was perfect for 5.1m freestyling for me, and later on 4.8m. Also got a chance to post the quickest time in the GPS speed (35.5), though cos Im a sponsored sailor... I don't win the title of King of the Estuary! booo! Aah well.

I expect to get loads of pictures of this event in the next couple of days, so I will post them up and links to galleries. For now though, back to work tomorrow, before bunking off and going to the UKWA Wave event in Brandon, which starts on wednesday, and the forecast looks sick!
Stay tuned here for updates, and also on Boardseeker Magazine.

www.surfdock.ie

If you don't go...

As they say: If you don't go... you will never know!

After only being there on Wednesday, the forecast quickly turned out for possibly another classic weekend in Belmullet. And boy did we get it.
We scored sweet cross off starboard tack sailing on Saturday, with a reef break linking to a beautiful beach break. Not that big - just about logo high in the sets - but we got sunshine, clean glassy waves, and great wind for 4.5/4.8m all day long.
Everyone could not believe how good it was to be out in sunshine and green waves. So much so, that no-one wanted to stop and take any pictures!
Good crew on the water too: Carlos the Mexican & his brother in-law Danger Man, Kidge, Tom Big Pole, Tom Little Pole, Laoise & Cormac from UISCE, Mikey & Brian (Mr.Beach-Telegraph).

After 6 hours wavesailing, I went down and joined the speed boys for the first round of the Irish Speed Champs. I probably should have gone sooner... but at the wave beach everyone had insisted on parking my van in (well thats my excuse and I'm sticking to it). Went for a burn on a borrowed Speed board, and then on a Slalom board - which was able to handle the choppy conditions better, and after an hour or so managed to squeeze a max of 32knots to get me 3rd overall. I would love to get my own speed gear and have a decent bash at some good times on a proper course.

On Sunday, it was back to the reef that is pictured in my last post from Wednesday, where Cormac & I got a nice session on 4.5's in the rain. Oh well, at least it was sunny on Saturday.
Belmullet - never fails to deliver!

www.surfdock.ie

Mullet with Bells

Firstly want to say thanks for all the positive feedback and comments on the Lucky Man video. Glad so many liked it!

Just back in the door from a day trip to Belmullet. Forecast was for 27 knots Southerly all day, so thought it was definitely time to hit the road again.

We scored a whole mix of conditions.... though all of them cross off and perfect for my 4.2fly and 68 twinser :) As the tide came in, the better waves were moving between 4 of Belmullet's reef breaks. And we finished the day with a sweet session on the reef in the picture. Really reminds me of Scarborough Point in SA, minus the sharks and sunshine. Though I can report it was sunny for at least 25 minutes of the 6 hours I sailed today !

My french buddy Tibo was unlucky to crash out a big pushloop, and ended lying winded out the back with suspected cracked ribs. We had to paddle out through the break to him on surfboards and help him swim back in. Bit of a mission, and also for his friend Francois who swam after Tibo's kit and finally caught it after 15 minutes in logo high waves and 30 knots cross off.

Anyway, lucky for us Tibo was so grateful.. after a quick rest and being peeled out his wetsuit, he even volunteered to sit beind the camera and fire off a few pics for us.

I did get the helmet cams out again, so will have a look through the footage and see if I managed to get a few good shots for another video.

UPDATE: Got a text from Tibo. Confirmed: he has 2 broken ribs. OUCH!
Get well soon Tibo !
www.surfdock.ie

Lucky Man

Lucky Man from Surfdock Watersports on Vimeo.
I finally finished editing the video footage from the windy day in Rush last week.
Join me on board for a day of full power on 3.9m FLY and JP 68l Twinser. Filmed using 2 GoPro Hero Cams (1wide & 1regular), this was my first decent day using the camera in the waves. It was the usual Rush day... a complete jump-fest!
Hope you enjoy the vid as much as I enjoyed the sailing.
www.surfdock.ie

Emerald Green Waves

Emerald Green Waves from Surfdock Watersports on Vimeo.
After a day of full on 3.9m cross-on jumping in Dublin on Thursday, Polish Tom and I flew the Vito on Auto-pilot to Magheroarty in Donegal, for some sweet cross-off waveriding in super-green waves. Light enough wind on 5.7m and 90l, but just look at the colour of that water ! The green ones are on the beach break, while the darker waves are up at the reef.
We have had a few more days sailing in Skerries since Good Friday, a couple of nice sunny days with good sea breezes for 6.1 and 99 Freestyle Pro (particularly Easter Sunday), and the last couple of days it's been North Easterly with Port tack waves.. but quite grey and wet.
That's Ireland... 4 seasons every hour!
Let me know what you think of the video in comments section. I will put up one from the windy Rush jumping session soon too.
www.surfdock.ie

Mmmmmm... agheroarty

Sweet session today in Magheroarty. Only light at first, but well worth the trip. Amazing green water and smooth waves, and plenty of wind for 5.7m and 90l board.

Polish Tom was a wavesailing virgin until today. First time he has been to the west coast, and he was blown away by it. He caught his first ever waves... and what a place to do it. !

Steve Thorp (Wavejam organiser) also there, and he got some sweet surfing in the morning, before joining us on the reef for some windsurfing.

8th day in a row now on the water..
Happy Days... Happy Easter.
www.surfdock.ie

On the seventh day.......

We went wavesailing.....

7 days sailing in a row now, and a few more before that... we sure are having a good spell.
Today was Rush beach, on 3.9m FLY full power on 68l Twinser. It was one of those days you didn't want to miss, and it just kept getting better and better.
Had 2 cameras on the run at the same time, one on mast tip, and the other on the helmet.
Sailed for nearly 7 hours, so should have some footage from that ! Probably take a while to edit, so here's a screen-grab for now. Off to the west tomorrow for some surfing and hopefully waveriding as the wind kicks in later on.

www.surfdock.ie

What comes around

What comes around from Surfdock Watersports on Vimeo.

Yesterday was a quick freestyle session on 5.1m and 99 FS Pro. Got to try out the mast tip mount of the GoPro, and I'm pretty happy with the results. I like the way you can see the movement of the board. 30 knots southerly today, so going wave-sailing at Rush again, and will try and get decent wave footage and see how that turns out.
www.surfdock.ie

Another day at the office

Just after the Slalom on Sunday, went and sailed LowRock on 5.1m. Soooo nice to be back on smaller gear again !

Monday brought yet more wind, and we went back to LowRock, a good crew of people there including a couple of the UK guys who had come for the slalom. 4.5m this time and more waves, but a bit colder.

Today Rush Beach was the place to be with Southerly winds, picking up as the day went on. Spent a load of time filming with the helmet cam, but ballsed it up when downloading the 2 hours of clips off the memory card. DOH!

Thursday is looking sweet for Rush again, so this time will see if I can get some better footage, and not mess it up this time.
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