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Dublin based windsurfer Eoin Kelly caught up with Ireland`s only 2009 PWA World Tour competitor, the young and very talented, Mikey Clancy (IR253).  A warm cuppa in hand on a cold January evening, heres how they got on...

 

 

Mikey Clancy...
 
Who are you?

Mikey Clancy – my dad is Michael so it was less confusing. It’s Michael on my birth cert so that is what they called me in the hospital, it sometimes took while to realise they were talking to me when they called me Micheal.  So yeah, it’s Mikey, and it rhymes with my cat, Nike.

 

 

Raheny. Five minutes drive from Dollymount strand in Dublin.

 

I started in Fingal Sailing School in the Malahide estuary at a summer camp a few years ago, maybe six or seven.  The first time I tried it I hated it, I wasn’t strong enough to get the sail out of the water, so my dad gave me a note saying I didn’t have to do it anymore.  I tried it out a few more times and spent a few summers helping out in Fingal sailing school after that and picked things up there.

 

I attended a Peter Hart wave sailing clinic in Donegal when I was in 4th year in school, so was 16, and that was the first time I was in waves.  I started to get really into it after that,  I quit playing rugby as it was eating into my windsurfing time (and even had to dodge off school to get sessions in Dollymount in!)

 

 

I’m definitely a wave sailor.  But I have done a good bit of freestyle as I used to leave my gear in Fingal sailing school and take the train out to Malahide.  I’ve had a go at speed sailing at the event in Dungarvan before.  Starboard sent me over a board to use for that.  I also took a spin on Stevie Flanagan’s kit at one of the speed events in Belmullet last year.  I was knackered though cause I had been wave sailing for a few hours before that.  I enjoyed it but it’s definitely wave sailing for me.

 

Most of them – did dingy sailing, kayaking, power boating during my time in Fingal sailing school.  I’ve SUPed a bit more recently and would like to try out kitesurfng.  I love the sea, so will try anything.

 

 

Dollymount – it’s my home beach, you can’t beat driving home in your wetsuit!  It’s great to get west or up north but I really like the sailing at Dollymount.  The conditions are not always the best, on shore and mushy but if you can sail well in crappy conditions then you can sail even better in really good conditions.

 

I thought about going to college in Sligo.  I decided to stay in Dublin though, you can get to any beach in Ireland from here in about 4 hours and I like the city.  So I guess it’s got the best of everything for me.

 

 

My dad takes most of the pics and videos – he’s very interested in photography and is retired so he’s always supported my windsurfing.  He used to drive me to the beach before I got my license and then take pictures and videos.  I’d do the editing on the videos and the website just grew out of that really.  The video blog is a new idea, I’m still not used to talking to a camera. We’ll just have to see how it goes.

 

Van – it’s a mobile shed.  I have a SWB Nissan Primastar that takes all my kit and still has room to sleep.  My mam was close to breaking point with me carrying my wet sandy kit through the house all the time so the van is great, no more boards in the living room!  I think I’d like a transit though.

 

 

Well, I guess so – ‘pro’ is really just a name.  I love to windsurf and get great support from my sponsors.  Starboard, Severne, Chinook, Plain Lazy and MFC.  I’ve a new deal with starboard where I get paid and get kit.

 

Yeah, my mum kind of insisted that I go to college.  I’d probably have just finished the leaving cert and gone windsurfing but I’m happy to be getting a degree.  It gives some good balance to life and will hopefully open doors in the industry.  I’m in DIT doing a marketing degree.  I get a sports scholarship there which gives me some financial aid and some flexibility when it comes to assignments and exams.

 

 

Reasonably – I’ve broken a few boards, but if you are not crashing you are not learning and I sail a lot so the kit gets well used.

 

Again, if you are not crashing you are not learning – If I was a bmxer I’d be in trouble; at least I get to crash into water!  I broke my ankle in Magheroarty and did my knee in there too.  I smashed my nose up trying a double loop in Sylt, and obviously my current ankle injury from the event in Tiree.

 

 

At this stage it looks like I’ll get the brace off in March, then there’s a few months of physio and all that and hopefully I’ll be back sailing in September or October, which is a great time to be getting back on the water.  This injury has been very tough, physically there was the pain element, I was in constant pain until they figured out what damage I had done and how to fix it.  The lifestyle adjustment has been hard mentally too.  Going from sailing nearly every day to not sailing for months has been very tough.  I used to clear my head by going sailing and I can’t do that right now.  For a while before I got the surgery done I was doing everything the doctors were telling me to do but I was not getting any better, and that was tough to deal with.

 

On the bright side though the pain is over, I’ve started to enjoy having a normal life again, taking the down time from the injury as an opportunity to catch up with friends.  There’s a plus side to every situation.  I guess everyone gets injured; mine was just a really good one!  My sponsors have been really supportive and understanding and I’ll be back to pick up where I left off.

 

It was a dream year.  When I started windsurfing I used to read the magazines and dream about competing in the PWA.  I got to do that in Pozo and Sylt.  I got invited to the Wave Classic event on Reunion Island, windsurfed in South Africa and Denmark, went skydiving in Spain……..amazing year.  I was due to fly to Australia for a Starboard photoshoot in December, the injury interfered but there’ll be lots more opportunities like that in the future.

 

 

There are an awful lot of sailors out there who just want to sail.  There’s plenty of guys good enough to compete but a lot of people don’t know what a competition is like, or don’t want to find out.  Some just want to sail when they can and don’t like the idea of being told when to go out.  Then there’s the guys who don’t think they could compete in a heat, ‘what would I do for the ten minutes?’, that sort of thing.  The WAM seems like a great idea, but they may be setting their sights too high – waiting for the perfect conditions.  The short notice doesn’t suit a lot of people who can’t drop everything and head off.  Maybe a big day out at a Dublin beach with a BBQ afterwards might suit be good.

 

Simple – get back on the water.  Pass another college year too and hope for the best.  I’ve had plenty of time to think over the past few months so have a lot of plans, I’m thinking along the lines of a wave classic event in Ireland in the future.  Hopefully I’ll manage to get used to the video blogging too!