So back on Friday the 13th I packed up the car with all my surfing gear, camping gear and, thankfully, some books and started on the drive up to Portrush. When I got there we were told by the competition organisers at the briefing that although the forecast for Saturday was ok Sunday was going to bring gale force winds and uncontestable conditions. The decision was made to try to run the competition off in one day, no small task when there was around 60 people competing between all the different categories and it meant we were on the beach from 7.30 in the morning till 8.30 at night! It was a really long day, especially for the organisers and judges who were on the go all day trying to keep everything running smoothly but it all ran off in the end. The lack of surf back in Clare over the summer showed pretty badly, my surfing was all over the place and I came away with no results worth mentioning. It was a great event all the same though, it was good to get back into the surf boat in some decent waves and surfing against some of the guys who were over from the UK was a real eye opener. And thankfully a meal in 55 Degrees North had been included in our entry fee so as soon as the prize giving was finished up we all headed off for a well earned dinner.
A well deserved meal in 55 North. It was great to catch up with everyone again, especially the Irish and Northern Irish paddlers that I hadn't seen for a long time.
Yeah, it was a long day!
Working on the slashed top turns in the IC boat.
As promised, the next few days were a complete write off with gale force winds and no decent waves to be had anywhere. We spent a few days hiding from the weather in hostels and coffee shops, and doing the tourist thing and driving along the coast and visiting the Bushmills whiskey distellery before the wind died down marginally and we headed for Donegal. When we got to Magheroaty on Tuesday there were great waves and we were delighted to get on the water after the few days of doing nothing. When we paddled out we were quickly reminded of the small/far away rule! The waves were surprisingly big with a very steep and heavy take off. It's difficult to put a number on how big the waves were but I'm going to guess at at least 10ft plus faces! Anyway I got some great waves in the HP boat before I got caught in the wrong place by a big set. I tried to roll under the first wave but the lip landed directly on the hull of the boat, giving me a heavy beating and splitting the seam of the boat for around 4 feet along the rail! I had the paddlesurf IC boat with me so I was able to get back on the water and make the most of the session but that's the last that boat's going to be surfed untill I manage to do some major repair work to it. Big thanks to Mickey and Aisling for being there to make sure I got to shore ok, I wouldn't like to have been in the same situation and with just myself in the water! Unfortunatly we got no pictures or videos of the waves that day, everyone was way too eager to get on the water for that kind of rubbish!
The wind came up again for the next few days which meant that was the last surf we got untill Easky on Friday. We travelled down to Easky for the Irish open on Thursday and when we got there the wind was so strong that you could lean pretty far into it and it would easily support you! Luckily the wind dropped on Friday and we got two great sessions in small, clean waves. I had a go on Paddlesurf Ireland's new KS One beginner Waveski which persuaded me to enter the waveski division in the open. This meant that I was going to be competing in all three divisions in the competition; waveski, long boat and short boat; it was going to be a busy weekend! I had another nice surf in the long boat too, although it sucks that I broke my HP boat it meant that I paddled the long boat way more than I would normally and that definatly let me figure a few things out in it.
We had some great waves on Friday, I made the most of it paddling the ski and IC boat.
All during the week, when we didn't have great access to the internet for forecasts, we were hearing rumours about an all time swell that was meant to be hitting on Saturday but we didn't really believe them. When someone said that Dessie McGlinchey was predicting double over head waves at Easky we took a little bit more notice but still didn't really think that we could get that lucky. But sure enough, we arrived at Easky bright and early on Saturday morning for the competition and it was epic! Perfectly clean, light offshore winds and head and a half high sets coming through at regular intervals, what more could you ask for!
Epic!
The event started off with the HP first round heats and mine was a complete disaster, I was paddling a borrowed boat that I'd never been in before and I just wasn't in tune with it at all, so it was into the reps for me. The IC and waveski first rounds went better, the KS beginners ski is definatly not designed for those conditions but despite some dodgy take offs and sliding out on steep take-offs the first round heat went pretty well and I made it through to the next round. And I had a brilliant time in the IC heat. The waves were perfect and after paddling the IC a few times before the competition I had got to know it pretty well. I got some great waves and was feeling so comfortable that I even attempted to helix the boat a few times, not that it ever actually worked! After borrowing a different HP boat that I got on slightly better with and a morning of being on and off the water in the various divisions I was through to the IC final and the waveski and HP semi finals. However all day the swell and wind were building drastically and by the afternoon the waves were double overhead plus and the wind was gusting 55/60 km/h offshore! The wind meant that trying to paddle into waves was extremily difficult and because of the spray in your face you couldn't see a thing! The whole thing definatly went way past fun and into scary territory!
Andy McClelland just visible on one of the monsters! Photo by Ian McClelland.
I took off slightly too deep on one of the bigger waves in my borrowed HP boat in the semi final and thought I'd just about be able to take a high line and make it around the section. However it turned out I was wrong. According to the judges afterwards I got barreled, and made ground in the barrel, before I slipped too low on the wave and the lip landed on my head! The paddles instantly got ripped out of my hands and it turns out I can't handroll a Mega Merlin, so for the first time in 6 years I was swimming. Thanks to Chris and the lads for getting me to the shore fairly quickly but by the time I was back in the boat it was too late to make up the deficit and I was out of the HP. And although I had made the waveski semi final the long boat final was on directly afterwards, and the beginner ski had barely been able to handle the smaller, less hollow waves that morning so I made the tactical decision not to paddle out. The long boat final was challenging! Huge waves, crazy wind, solid opposition, I got some nice waves and paddled fairly well on them but Chris and Andy are some tough competition and I ended up coming third. I'm happy enough with the result, and after we held the prizegiving and cleared up all the competition paraphernalia we headed back to Enniscrone for dinner and several well deserved pints of Guiness! For Sunday and Monday the wind dropped off, the swell died down a lot and I had a few more great chilled out sessions at Easky before I drove back home.
It feels like flying!
Managed some sweet roundhouse cutbacks in the HP boat before it all went wrong!
As I said, some of the IC heats were fuuun!
Scored a sweet trophy for taking 3rd in the IC. Huge thank to Morgan O'Sullivan for organising the Open for the last few years. Unfortunatly family committments have forced him to pull out of organising events for the moment. He'll be missed!
This week has been spent recovering, settling back into work and assessing the damage on my HP boat to see what it'll take to fix it. The college paddling season is in full flow too, with what feels like hundreds of first years and foreign students showing up to pool sessions every night mad to learn to paddle. So it's been a great week of going through the basics and having the craic with a new generation of paddlers. This weekend is the club trip to Lahinch, an annual weekend of paddling and partying. It's going to be epic, I can't wait! Plans are also in the works for this years freestyle and whitewater race leagues. Keep an eye out online, it looks like there's going to be a jam packed calender of kayaking events over the next few months, starting out with the Curragower freestyle competition that I'm organising on the 9th of October. Keep an eye on here or on facebook for updates on that one, it's going to be good!
