Bodyboarding in Ireland.: August 2015

SUMMER 2015!

(Clem McInerny)

Photos: Clem McInerny (@clemymc)

Cian O Mahony (@cianxxii)

Conor McGuinness (@c.m.gram)

Gavin Cronin (@gavincronin14)

It has been an action packed summer, plenty of waves and plenty of great memories! My summer started with a few sessions at a well known slab in Clare. I have been making a lot of progress there and i'm getting more familiar with the place each time I go out! I got 2 of the best waves of my life there this summer so I can't wait to see what winter will bring!

(Clem McInerny)

At the end of July I went to Kerry with my family and a Spanish friend of mine, Jaime. Jaime and I planned on surfing for the 2 weeks while my family went did their own thing. This plan went well because over the 2 weeks I surfed for 70 hours! We got plenty of waves but only a handful of good days. I was working on getting my spins faster, inverts and backflips. My spins improved greatly and I was getting close to backflips but I hadn't really found a proper section to land one yet! I landed one nice invert and since then I have landed another few. I was really happy to see improvements in my surfing with the effort I was putting in!

(Conor McGuinness)

Coming to the end of the summer I had a competition up in Donegal. It was the last one of the 2015 tour so the category 2015 winners. The waves were due to be pumping so I was really looking forward to it. We woke up early, had some breakfast and were at the competition site for 8:50am and the waves looked unreal! Head and a half to double over head on the biggest ones and nice and clean with the offshore breeze! I was keen on a surf before my heat so I paddled out with David Hartley an under 16 shortboarder! It was great surfing with just the two of us out catching nice clean waves for about an hour! My heat was on at 12:30 against fellow Cork man Billy "Billzo" Cronin. I was looking forward to competing in good waves with just the two of us out. We paddled out and I caught a good few waves. I finished the heat in first place with two 8's and an overall heat total of 16.00. I was happy with how I surfed in the heat. One of my friends then text me saying that one of the reefs in Bundoran was pumping but I was trapped in Rossnowladh. To help my broken heart and to pass some time I went for a 2 hour surf in Rossnowladh and had a bit of fun trying drop knee! The presentation then started at 6:30 and everyone got medals. Then they announced the tour winners, I won the under 18 bodyboarding, so I was happy! We then shot over to Bundoran to surf one of the reefs by a housing estate and myself and Billy jumped in straight away! It was pumping and just us, Jason and Garbhan out, trading epic waves for an hour and a half! I would like to thank Jason for the help with positioning out there! I was delighted, we caught some really fun waves. After, I went into town and Conor Maguire the legend donated a wetsuit to me which I was very grateful for as my old 3:2 was a bit chilly!

Overall it was a fantastic weekend for me and my club! I would like to congratulate everyone on their wins and good luck next year! Here are some other photos from the summer!

(Clem McInerny)