Irish Open

Just back from a great weekend up north at the Irish surf kayak open in Tullan Strand, Bundoran. Originally the competition was supposed to be on at Easky right in Sligo only the swell didnt play ball and it had to be moved. Since the event had to be finished in one day due to the swell only three classes were run, open short boat, long boat and wave ski. I was competing in both kayak classes so I was busy enough for the day, with a few heats back to back.

I made the semis in both classes, happy out with it when you look at the standard of competition there, with 1st and 2nd juniors in the world and more top class paddlers coming from northern Ireland and making the trip over from england! The winners in the end were James Hawker in HP, Dessie Mc Glinchy in IC and Matthieu Babarit in waveski. (sorry about the spellings there, i'll fix them in a while!) Babarit especially was something else to watch, getting some savage waves even in those conditions.



After the prize giving we drove back to Strandhill and hit the town for the evening, starting with dinner, then onto the pub and finally finishing up in the countrys dodgiest night club at three in the morning! Two of the lads who have been paddling a bit with the scouts, Dozy Ryan and Oisin Mc Hugh, made the trip up to get some experience in competition. They did really well, both of them making the second round. Look out for them again at the Sluice rodeo next weekend!