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IWA Wave Round 3 - Belmullet
Belmullet served up buckets of wind and waves for the final of the Irish Wavesailing Championships this past holiday weekend (24th- 26th October 2009). The crew at UISCEonce again pulled off a flawless wave competition in near nuclear 50 knot winds and large sea states. Oisin Van Gelderen took the event win with a superb display of experience and wavesailing.
Stephen Williams (IR66) - Loving this section!
(This time snapped by Tom)
Congratulations to our new 2009 champions! Finn Mullen who won the Overall Irish Wavesailing Championship for 2009, bigsurf.ie team rider Katie McAnena for winning the Overall Irish Ladies Championship for 2009, and Nathan Regan who took the 2009 Irish Youth Wave Sailing Championship Title!
Thanks to Cormac from Uisce for penning the following report on the action...
For anyone who has sailed here during one of the finals in the past few years will have noticed that it gets windy this time of the year around Belmullet and this year was no exception.
In total we sailed three rounds of Gold fleet competition and six rounds of Silver fleet competition, changed beach half way through Saturday, survived consistent 35 knot winds with 49 knot gusts and then basked in the sunny weather on Sunday while buzzing on Red Bull and background music!
Saturday
Saturday’s comp kicked off on Caisléan beach with a southwesterly, 4.5 metre wind and 2 foot waves. The first few rounds started off with nice big back loops and stalled forwards from Oisin, Finn and Dan Gardner, with Rob Creane spin looping on the way in to the beach. The waves were still small and the wind was going more onshore as the morning went on, so jumps were to count for the most part to get through the rounds.
Saturday’s comp kicked off on Caisléan beach with a southwesterly, 4.5 metre wind and 2 foot waves. The first few rounds started off with nice big back loops and stalled forwards from Oisin, Finn and Dan Gardner, with Rob Creane spin looping on the way in to the beach. The waves were still small and the wind was going more onshore as the morning went on, so jumps were to count for the most part to get through the rounds.
Rob Creane - Spin Looping
By the time the Silver fleet hit the water for their first heat (40 minutes into the comp), the wind was already at a 30 knot average, with the average sail size being 3.7m and the wind now completely onshore. Sailing out through the waves was still pretty exciting; hit a ramp and you were going skyward. The silver fleet sailors: Bartek, Ali B, Paul and James all sailed like champions with some pretty amazing jumps all through their heat.
By the time the Gold fleets 5th heat was started, the wind had gotten even windier, with 3.2m sails being the average size required...Oisin breaking out his secret weapon in the shape of a 2.9m! After a few more heats the wind was dead onshore, the waves had built to 4 or 5 feet and with the sailing becoming extreme, the first injury recorded over the weekend was Rob Creane, who dislocated his shoulder while sailing...but poped it back in again to finish his heat! After lunch, the decision was made to move location as the wind had swung around enough to make it sailable in Falmore, where the waves were smaller, but punchier, with the wind being more crosshore. Once in Falmore we quickly got start on finishing the rounds, the new conditions allowed for better wave riding, everyone was going for high speed down the line waves, with aerials at the end of the wave.
Stand out moves of the second have of the day was Mark Killeen getting 4 high speed turns on the wave and nearly taking Clodagh’s head during one! Amazing forwards from Mark Killeen, Dan Gardner, Finn Mullen and Oisin Van Gelderen, with table tops also from Finn, Dan and Chris. Dan Gardner after many attempts gets a one handed Goiter on the wave, Oisin intentionally or not (I’m not sure) almost landing a double pushloop, and also in the Gold fleet final, at the exact same time and only 20 feet away from each other, Finn Mullen pulling off a huge tweaked pushloop that was almost perfectly synchronized with Oisin as he floated around an equally high perfect Backloop.
Dan Gardner - Outstanding Performance at Falmore
The results of the gold fleet final and semi final after Saturday was:
1.Finn, 2.Oisin, 3.Dan Gardner, 4.Alex, 5.Mark, 6.Chris, 7.Jeff, 8.Katie
1.Finn, 2.Oisin, 3.Dan Gardner, 4.Alex, 5.Mark, 6.Chris, 7.Jeff, 8.Katie
Sunday
Sunday conditions in Falmore started off with waves being hard to find, but they formed to about waist high as the day continued. The wind suited 4.5m to 5.3m sails, directed cross to cross off by the end of the day, with sun shining and music pumping next to the judges van!
With less hectic conditions than the day before and a forecast for the wind to die by lunchtime, a knock out round was run for the gold fleet and as many silver fleet rounds as possible. With only two sailors getting through from each heat, we quickly flew through Round 2 of the gold fleet and Rounds 4 and 5 of the silver fleet before lunch. With conditions only allowing for wave’s to be scored, the competition between sailors was very close.
In the Silver fleet, while Bartek dominated, he still had to sail hard as young Galwegian James and not so young Dubliner Paul, fought hard to knock him from the first position, with Paul succeeding once or twice. Legend of the day has to be Ali B., who got taken out by a solid wave on the inside breaking a mast in her first heat. Shook it off, got a new mast and broke it too as she was cleaned out on the rocks in her second heat. Not someone to give up easily, she connected the two broken halves together (not sure if the warranty would cover that!!) and sailed a blinder in her third heat of the day!
Oisin Van Gelderen - Flexing to event victory last weekend
The gold fleet’s second round of the weekend finished by lunchtime, and with a waves only score, a shake up in the results of the final and semi final saw completely different results to the day before:
1.Oisin, 2.Mark, 3.Jeff, 4.Alex, 5.Finn, 6.Chris, 7.Dan, 8.Katie
With the wind still blowing and the sun still shining, Round 3 of the gold fleet and Round 6 of the silver were continued. The wind grew lighter and more cross off, while competitors went for broke on the waves. Oisin’s speed down the line was amazing, throwing loads of spray in his turns; Katie was going deep on some of the biggest sets of the day; while Alex and Chris showed that one handed waveriding scored well too! Dan Gardner proceeded to go for endless amounts of one handed goiters, while Finn then got 4 one-handed top turns, including one very stylish hair flick aerial over Dan Gardners head!
bigsurf.ie team rider Katie McAnena - Showed up a lot of the boys over the weekend!
At the end of round 3 the results were:
1.Finn, 2.Oisin, 3.Alex, 4.Jeff, 5.Dan, 6.Chris, 7.Nathan, 8.Katie
So with no competition on the Monday, the overall results for the event saw Oisin take first, Finn second and Alex Third. That leaves Finn overall champ for 2009, with Oisin in second position and Alex third.
Thanks are extended to the Uisce support crew, the Judges, Red Bull for the tent, drinks & mags, and both John Joes Pub and bigsurf.ie for product prizes!
See you all again next year.
All Photos clicked by: STEPHEN WILLIAMS (IR66)
