Thursday - Darren, Sam, Chris Hobson and I were invited by Dessie to surf a session for the DVD that he's making. It was a perfect surf, on a left hander reef. We nearly had the spot to ourselves and the atmosphere out back was amazing. The only drawback was the wind, which prevented us surfing a second session in the afternoon.
With 5 video cameras (1 headcam, 1 in the water and 3 on the shore, 1 of them professional quality) trained on us, we braved the bigger sets out back with one or two impressive cover ups that were pulled into without a hope of getting out! The inside section walled nicely for some aggressive surfing. After that session I was the most tired (and happy!) that I can remember being after surfing.
A promo for the film can be seen at: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=pcm7jL9gXJk
On Friday Dessie took us north, unfortunately there was nowhere to film from here but we had a great surf, with estimations of 20ft faces on the bigger sets. It was COLD. My hands were numb by the time I got on the water, mainly due to the icy wind. The wave was slow and predictable but fairly heavy. The challenge was to take off progressively deeper and try to make it. It’s an intimidating place to surf with lines of swell appearing on the horizon looking like they’re going to break all the way along half a mile further out than you’re sitting. I had to put my trust completely in Dessie paddling into the break, relying on his knowledge of the break. It paid off and I had a really enjoyable surf.
As we got out to this break early, we had the rest of the day to get to Portrush for the competition. On the car journey over I fell straight to sleep. We decided against another surf to keep us fresh for competition; instead we visited the Giant’s Causeway. Here we half forgot about the rocks that we came to see, when we saw the huge waves in the bay. They were probably the biggest, heaviest waves I have ever seen, and were really close – tow in surf-able if you were crazy and didn’t mind rocks!
Saturday morning, competition time. The windy conditions were difficult to surf in but with the wind getting weaker throughout the day we saw the potential of the quality beach break. Chris Hobson, James Hawker and I all displayed our stupidity, taking some of the big clean up sets at the end of the day, which although were entertaining from the shore, were very heavy, and really painful! Chris Hobson also pulled an awesome air landing on the green, securing himself a place in the men’s semi finals. The excellent facilities at the venue were much appreciated, you could retreat out of the biting cold wind after your heat into warm showers and a changing room. There was also a meeting room that you could watch the surfing from (although most people seemed to prefer standing outside in the cold!).
That evening we had a meal at 55o North where we watched some footage from the day.
Sunday. We arrived an hour or two early as six people can’t get the clocks changing right! It was a long wait for me until my junior finals at the end of the day, leaving me time to get fairly nervous! After watching a day of high quality surfing, it was time for the finals. It was really motivating in the junior short boat final to take a good wave in, start the paddle out and see someone else ripping on a wave. I sprinted solidly throughout the heat, with sets fortunately coming to the peak that I was sitting on as soon as I got there. The set waves didn’t seem to close, giving some really long rides. Some great displays of surfing from Chris Hobson and Jonny saw them deservedly take the mens long and short finals. Coran surfed well all weekend, making three finals, coming up on top in the long boat juniors. Miss Mega was really pleased to retain the ladies short boat title and I was thrilled to win the juniors short boat.
British Open Champions 2008
Mens Short boat – Jonny Bingham
Mens Long boat – Chris Hobson
Juniors Short boat – Philip Watson
Juniors Long boat – Coran King
Ladies Short boat – Robyn Pearcey
Ladies Long boat – Tracy Sherrington
Masters Short boat – Richard Hobson
Masters Long boat – Jock Young
A big thanks to Jonny, Gerry and the Northern Irish team for the smoothly run and efficient competition that we have come to expect from the Northern Irish.
Good luck to Darren in Australia. It was a great farewell trip that he can look back on and remember why he moved to somewhere warm!
Philip
With 5 video cameras (1 headcam, 1 in the water and 3 on the shore, 1 of them professional quality) trained on us, we braved the bigger sets out back with one or two impressive cover ups that were pulled into without a hope of getting out! The inside section walled nicely for some aggressive surfing. After that session I was the most tired (and happy!) that I can remember being after surfing.
A promo for the film can be seen at: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=pcm7jL9gXJk
On Friday Dessie took us north, unfortunately there was nowhere to film from here but we had a great surf, with estimations of 20ft faces on the bigger sets. It was COLD. My hands were numb by the time I got on the water, mainly due to the icy wind. The wave was slow and predictable but fairly heavy. The challenge was to take off progressively deeper and try to make it. It’s an intimidating place to surf with lines of swell appearing on the horizon looking like they’re going to break all the way along half a mile further out than you’re sitting. I had to put my trust completely in Dessie paddling into the break, relying on his knowledge of the break. It paid off and I had a really enjoyable surf.
As we got out to this break early, we had the rest of the day to get to Portrush for the competition. On the car journey over I fell straight to sleep. We decided against another surf to keep us fresh for competition; instead we visited the Giant’s Causeway. Here we half forgot about the rocks that we came to see, when we saw the huge waves in the bay. They were probably the biggest, heaviest waves I have ever seen, and were really close – tow in surf-able if you were crazy and didn’t mind rocks!
Saturday morning, competition time. The windy conditions were difficult to surf in but with the wind getting weaker throughout the day we saw the potential of the quality beach break. Chris Hobson, James Hawker and I all displayed our stupidity, taking some of the big clean up sets at the end of the day, which although were entertaining from the shore, were very heavy, and really painful! Chris Hobson also pulled an awesome air landing on the green, securing himself a place in the men’s semi finals. The excellent facilities at the venue were much appreciated, you could retreat out of the biting cold wind after your heat into warm showers and a changing room. There was also a meeting room that you could watch the surfing from (although most people seemed to prefer standing outside in the cold!).
That evening we had a meal at 55o North where we watched some footage from the day.
Sunday. We arrived an hour or two early as six people can’t get the clocks changing right! It was a long wait for me until my junior finals at the end of the day, leaving me time to get fairly nervous! After watching a day of high quality surfing, it was time for the finals. It was really motivating in the junior short boat final to take a good wave in, start the paddle out and see someone else ripping on a wave. I sprinted solidly throughout the heat, with sets fortunately coming to the peak that I was sitting on as soon as I got there. The set waves didn’t seem to close, giving some really long rides. Some great displays of surfing from Chris Hobson and Jonny saw them deservedly take the mens long and short finals. Coran surfed well all weekend, making three finals, coming up on top in the long boat juniors. Miss Mega was really pleased to retain the ladies short boat title and I was thrilled to win the juniors short boat.
British Open Champions 2008
Mens Short boat – Jonny Bingham
Mens Long boat – Chris Hobson
Juniors Short boat – Philip Watson
Juniors Long boat – Coran King
Ladies Short boat – Robyn Pearcey
Ladies Long boat – Tracy Sherrington
Masters Short boat – Richard Hobson
Masters Long boat – Jock Young
A big thanks to Jonny, Gerry and the Northern Irish team for the smoothly run and efficient competition that we have come to expect from the Northern Irish.
Good luck to Darren in Australia. It was a great farewell trip that he can look back on and remember why he moved to somewhere warm!
Philip
