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2009 will be a busy year for the N.I squad with the world championships in Santa Cruz, Portugal fast approaching. Competitions are planned to run early in the year so that full efforts can be focused on the demanding competition in the summer and allow the squad to peak in their fitness and training. Competition and recreational event dates can be found on the events page.
Fundraising Event for 2009 Worlds
European Championships, Mundaka, 2009
Dessie pulls into a classic Mundaka barrell.
The NI Surfkayak squad return from Mundaka with great results for both Juniors and Seniors:
Corin King keeps his title of Junior HP Champion
Jake came runner up to his brother in Junior High Performance
Andy is the new Junior IC champion
Jonny Bingham finished 2nd in Open HP
Dessie McGlinchey came 2nd in Open IC.
Andy, Dessie, Jonny, Corin, Gerry and Jake
A full trip report and photos are now on the blog, click here.
2009, Comp 3 at Magheraroarty
A wet and windy morning was the start to competition 3 at Magheraroarty in Donegal. With poor surf on the main reef and surrounding beaches, the call was made to stick at the peer. First heat was on the water at 11am with the men’s plastics. Fortunately, the surf got better throughout the day as it cleaned up and increased in size for the finals. Great surfing on show all round with Corin King and Jonny Bingham taking the double in the juniors and men’s respectively. The full results and ranking points are now up on the Results Page.
click image for slideshow.
A Portrush British Open Classic!
Corin King, Jonny Bingham, Chris Hobson, Richard Hobson – British Open Champions 2008
This year Northern Ireland hosted the British Open in Portrush, Co. Antrim. It proved to be a event to remember, with many of the world’s top surf kayakers in attendance, quality and size of surf to match and top class facilities laid on by Coleraine Borough Council.
Saturday morning was an unknown prospect for all with a new break to many of the travelling competitors and a scary forecast for the organisers with a huge swell and high winds predicted. Fortune favoured the brave and conditions were windy but with perfectly peeling 3-4ft waves.
Men’s HP made up the first 21 heats of the day and with the tide pushing, the wave size slowly increased. The pro judging team were extremely impressed by the high standard on show and witnessed a super clean barrel from Mark Taylor, a perfectly executed and landed air from Chris Hobson, some super floaters from Jonny Bingham alongside a host of other world class manoeuvres.
When time came for the men’s IC, conditions had increased to 5-6ft (nearly double overhead sets). Hard hits were the order of the day and a lot of skill was needed to avoid "losing the tail" and even more nerve to "thump that lip".
The juniors finished off an exhilarating day with some fine surfing in big waves, proving that British Surf Kayaking has a really strong future.
After that it was hot showers (on site!) and all off for a fine feed at 55° North.
Sunday was slightly smaller with a lighter cross-shore breeze and it was also time to see the Ladies and Masters in action for the first time. There were some really hard fought battles to reach the last four and nobody had an easy ride. By 1pm all the qualifying had been done and it was a straight run of finals.
The crowds grew as the event continued and they were treated to some very high level, entertaining stuff. Some great rivalries returned for the 20 minutes duration of a heat including Robyn Pearcey and Tamsin Green (Ladies HP), Tracey Sherrington and Chloe Hamilton (Ladies IC), Richard Hobson, Jock Young and Ian Sherrington (Masters), Philip Watson, Sam Davenport and Corin King (Juniors HP and IC) and Chris Hobson and Jonny Bingham (Mens HP and IC) to name just a few.
The event was finished with a short prize giving ceremony at the East Strand Watersports centre with some super prizes from our very generous sponsors. A big thanks to all who travelled from England, Scotland and Wales and let hope it’s as good next year.
Full results and more photos can be found on the forum.
Surfkayaks.com are sponsoring the 2008 league with great prizes for the winners
of the mens and womens plastic classes. The next competition dates
are:
Comp 3 (re-run): 9,10 August
Comp 4: Sat 27 September in Portrush
*All dates and venues remain subject to alteration or cancellation
so please check the forum in the days leading up to events.
NI has two new World Champions! Kevin Quinn and Chris Hobson returned
home from the recent World Championships, held
in Mundaka, with gold prizes. The Squad, managed by Mike Barton,
also rejoiced by claiming runner's-up title out of 9 countries. Read more...
NI Surf Kayaker's
Profiles See how they started, what they're currently
surfing and where their favourite breaks are. Click on the surfer's
name to view their individual profile page.
The final
surfkayaks.com
league competition and NI Open took place in Portrush on Sat 17
Nov in the wind and rain. The winner of the Mens' Plastic Class
won a composite surf kayak and the winner of the Womens' Plastic
Class won a plastic surf kayak, both sponsored by surfkayaks.com.
The full league table and final rankings can be viewed here Final
Rankings 2007; plus see the photo
gallery.
The IRISH OPEN 2007, a joint waveski and surf
kayaking event, was held in Easkey on 22, 23 Sept and was a huge
success. Photos and video footage can be viewed by following the
links on the left-hand-side of this website. These results will
also contribute to the NI League
table as sponsored by Surfkayaks.com. Read
more...
...more news |
