what a week !! what a month !!

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

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...

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

IWA Louisbourg

More pics on pol321.com

R.I.P Big Man

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 !

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

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

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

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



www.surfdock.ie

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.

www.surfdock.ie

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.

www.surfdock.ie

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!

www.surfdock.ie

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 !


www.surfdock.ie

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!
www.surfdock.ie

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....


www.surfdock.ie

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.

www.surfdock.ie

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 :)


www.surfdock.ie

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.

www.surfdock.ie

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 :-)


www.surfdock.ie

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.

www.surfdock.ie

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!

www.surfdock.ie