Here are the photos from the latest squad training. Tullen was big and powerful and yes the sun was out

Here is some of the footage from Saturday. I would have loved to have got more water footage but the lens steamed up after 20 mins in the water.
Surfers include Jonny, Edu, Andre, Bruno and others.

Heres the footage from the mens final at this years kayaksurf contest from the Basque Country. Sorry its a bit shaky all the footage was handheld and not on a tripod. Damm i wish id brought the tripod.

12 o’clock midnight on the 22nd of April saw the start of what was to be a super trip to Mundaka for the annual European surf kayak championships. Dad and I collected Jonny in Bushmills and headed to Belfast to meet the King boys and Gerry. Despite the careful planning from Gerry, making sure the car park would be open, we managed to encounter the first problem of the trip... the car park was closed! But by good luck, we were able to park up at Jonny’s folks’ and continue on the empty road onward to Dublin airport, looking like the Flintstones with the five boats on the roof! After Juke making sure the planes had woken up, we boarded and were heading for the Basque country!

Arriving in sunny Santander, we got the hire cars sorted out and after some banter about who would get up the road first, it wasn’t long till we were in Bilbao getting a spot of lunch in the 20 degrees of heat! Dessie made the call that we would forget about getting a wave in Mundaka as the swell forecast wasn’t looking great, so we checked into the hotel and soaked up some sun.

A very well rested squad on Friday morning were once again on the search for waves, as the promising swell had not yet reached the Basque coast, we got a few waves in a poor, small Mundaka. After making the most of the poor waves and sunshine, we headed to Sopelina to catch some good, heavy onshore waves.

Saturday morning started early for everyone and with Mundaka firing a consisent head high wave, everyone was eager to get the competition started and get on the water! A very high standard was on display from everyone, with tube rides from Dessie, airs from Jonny and re-entries from Jake! Lorin and Juke both making it through the Junior HP, Jonny made it through the HP and Dessie qualified through in both classes.

Mundaka lost some of it's size on Sunday but still provided the world class waves needed for the finals. Team Northern Ireland showing yet again that they are a force to be reckoned with:

Corin King keeps his title of HP Champion
Jake came runner up to his brother in High performance
Andy is the new IC champion
Jonny finished 2nd in HP
Dessie came 2nd in IC.

Andy McClelland

Thanks to Oskar, Txema and the rest of the organisers for a great event again this year.

Congratulations to the Juniors who once again proved that the NI Team will be a force to be reckoned with in the future.

The NI results were:

Corin King 1st place Junior HP
Jake King 2nd place Junior HP
Andy Mc Clelland 1st place Junior IC
Dessie Mc Glinchey 2nd place Open IC
Jonny Bingham 2nd place Open HP

I've posted a load of photos onto our flickr account of the weekend, links below

Gerry

Thursday / Friday

click on image for slideshow

Saturday

click on image for slideshow

Sunday

click on image for slideshow

Prizegiving

click on image for slideshow

Finally, the first part of the British Open. Action from the men's semis, ladies, masters and junior finals. Not everyones waves were on the tape so if you were in one of these heats and your not in the movie, apologies.
Thanks to Mark Taylor for the footage.

Action from the mens finals. Thanks to Mark Taylor for the footage.

Fun Session Down in Sligo today. Only had a 45mins in the water. There was so much power in the waves today. Got my ass handed to me 5 times one after another. They didnt make the edited down movie. It sure was cold, Check out the face after the first roll.

Scored a great session today. Check out the clean swell. I havent had a day surfing like that in so long. Went in to work with a smile from ear to ear.
Sorry about the music on the british open movie. Ive taken it off and will change the music. No Rage against the machine this time.