Photos of the event have now been added to our flickr account.
Click on the British Open section of our forum for more details.
2010 British Open Surf Kayak Championships
With the prizegiving for the Home Internationals and movie night in the Playhouse Cinema, Portrush on Thursday night, everyone was given a much needed lie in before the start of the British Open heats which were due to start at midday on Friday.
Lucky for the organisers, the majority of competitors for the British Open were already in Portrush for the Homes and this allowed the competition to start a day earlier than the planned Saturday start.
With consistent conditions forecast for the day, it was hoped that all of the 1st round heats could be run before darkness. With a wet and miserable day for all the spectators on the beach, the best place to be was on the water.
At the end of Friday, we had run a total of 22 heats and managed to leave enough time to finish the competition on Saturday.
After dinner on Friday night in 55 North in Portrush, everyone reappeared on Saturday morning bright and early as the Ladies were on the water at 8.15am to start the day. A welcome return of the sun on Saturday, allowed everyone a chance to dry off the wet kit that had accumulated all week.
After running through all the heats by lunchtime on Saturday, the Ladies HP final kicked off 3 hours of finals.
With the extremely high standard of surfing on display all week all of the finals were close and the Open HP final closed the day off with a spectacular display of Kayak Surfing.
The Northern Ireland Surf Kayak Club would like to thank all of the competitors and spectators for making the journey to the North Coast for both the Home Internationals and British Open.
We would also like to thank all of our sponsors for all of their assistance in running the competition, these are:
Coleraine Borough Council, Mega Surf Kayaks, Nookie, Yak, Kayaksurf.Net, Chasers Surf Tours, Troggs Surf Shop, Surfplugs, The Playhouse Portrush, 55 North and The Canoe Association of Northern Ireland.
2010 Home Internationals
After stopping the competition early yesterday due to the dying swell, the competition restarted again at 0800 hrs this morning.
With the waves better today the plan was to run all the remaining heats of Round 1 and then start Round 2.
When the final heat in Round 1 was over, the scores were :
1st - England - 25 points
2nd - Northern Ireland - 28 points
3rd - Ireland - 53 points
4th - Scotland - 55 points
With the competition between Northern Ireland and England still open at the beginning of Round 2 the lead changed many times with both countries notching up 1st or 2nd places.
Before the Mens HP & Mens IC heats, the lead had changed places with Northern Ireland leading England with 28 points against 26 points.
All the mens heats were close battles and it was left to the final heats to determine this years winners.
At the end of the final heat, the scores were:
1st - England - 53 points
2nd - Northern Ireland - 54 points
3rd - Republic of Ireland - 107 points
4th - Scotland - 108 points
Congratulations to England on retaining the Home Internationals trophy for another year.
Many thanks to all the team managers, competitors and supporters who travelled to the event. Hopefully we'll have the same luck with conditions for the British Open
Home Internationals Day 1
All the competitors have now arrived in Portrush for this years Home Internationals. With England, Scotland, Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland all having full squads the competition is expected to start later in the week when the swell is due to arrive.
The draw took place tonight in the Playhouse, Portrush with help from the Mayor of Coleraine.
Keep an eye on the website for up to date information on the competition
CANI Surf / Surfkayaks.com League Comp 1
Third time lucky and Competition one of the Northern Ireland Surf Kayak League was under way on a bright October morning at Whiterocks, Portrush.
With a big swell forecast and a good offshore wind to blow all day, the competitors and spectators alike were in for a treat.
The Open plastic class was run first and all credit to some of the new comers for going out and performing well in the powerful conditions.
There were was an excellent standard of surfing throughout the whole day, particularly towards the end when the surf really picked up with Andy McMurray pulling into a clean barrel, coming straight out into a powerful cut back.
Also a mention to Jonny Bingham who was able to utilise the big waves and hold some great speed, Ashley Hunter who’s brave efforts in the IC final saw his deck pop not once but twice and all the Ladies and Juniors who were surfing with confidence and skill, providing for some very tightly contested heats.
The men’s HP final was a treat to watch with all four men pushing the boundaries, leaving a 1.5 points between 1st and 3rd.
Big thank you to competition organiser Andy McMurray and everyone who helped set up. Thanks to Harry for his professional judging and also to the competitors for providing the top quality surfing.
Andy McClelland
Full results from the day are below:
Mens IC
1 Jonny Bingham
2 Dessie Mc Glinchey
3 Corin King
4 Ashley Hunter
5 Andy Mc Murray
Mens HP
1 Corin King
2 Dessie Mc Glinchey
3 Jonny Bingham
4 Andy McMurray
5 Lawrence Mc Bride
5 Jake King
7 Connor O'Donnell
7 James O'Donnell
9 Ashley Hunter
9 Andy Mc Clelland
9 Norman Woods
9 Shalene Ward
13 John Ridgeway
13 Vix Crawford
13 Matt Pothecary
Masters HP
1 Matt Pothecary
2 Lawrence Mc Bride
3 James O'Donnell
4 John Ridgeway
5 Dennis McDyre
5 Norman Woods
Masters IC
1 James O'Donnell
2 Matt Pothecary
3 Lawrence Mc Bride
4 John Ridge
Junior HP
1 Andy McClelland
2 Jake King
3 Jack Pothecary
4 Connor O'Donnell
5 Kieran McDyre
5 James McDyre
Junior IC
1 Jake King
2 Andy McClelland
3 Jack Pothecary
4 Connor O'Donnell
5 Kieran McDyre
Plastic
1 Dennis McDyre
2 James McDyre
3 Kieran McDyre
4 Ian Morrow
5 Harvey Fultcher
5 Tony Megaw
7 Vix Crawford
7 Catriona Woods
Womens IC and HP
1 Shalene Ward
2 Vix Crawford
Have a look at this video taken on the day by Paddy King.
The final league table is also now available in the competitions section of the website.
CANI Surf / Surfkayaks.com League Comp 4 / NI Open
Saturday 11th September saw the 2010 annual Northern Ireland Open. This year’s competition organised by Jonny Bingham was scheduled to run in Portrush but due to the small swell conditions the call was made to move to Portballintrae.
Unfortunately the surf deteriorated throughout the day but it still provided the competitors with enough to perform. The driving rain forced the spectators to huddle for cover in the judges tent.
There was a high standard of surfing on show with Jake King making the best of the small waves and taking both junior titles, Jonny Bingham managing to find good speed out of the waves and throw down some big turns, taking the Men’s Open Title. The men’s Long Boat was won by Corin King who was making plenty of spray with his big tail slashes.
It was nice to see Rhiannon making the trip from Wales, she was on top of her game and left with first prize in the ladies short and long boat.
An encouraging number of entries to the plastic class made for highly contested heats, congratulations to Kieran McDyre who came first.
Special mention goes to Matt Pothecary who was the only one to surf over the rocks!
A big thanks to Salomanzi for sponsoring the event and providing DVD’s and hoodies for prizes. Also thanks to head judge Harry and Paddy for scribing.
Results below
Open Short Boat
1 - Jonny Bingham (NISK)
2 - Corin King (NISK)
3 - Andy Mc Murray (NISK)
4 - Jake King (NISK)
5 - Gerry Mc Gahey (NISK)
5 - Andy Mc Clelland (CCKA)
7 - Rhiannon Woodman
7 - James O'Donnell (NISK)
9 - Matt Pothecary (CCKA)
9 - Conor O'Donnell (NISK)
11 - Ashley Hunter (NISK)
Open Long Boat
1 - Corin King
2 - Jonny Bingham
3 - Ashley Hunter
4 - Andy Mc Murray
5 - Gerry Mc Gahey
Masters Short Boat
1 - Laurence Mc Bride
2 - Matt Pothecary
3 - James O'Donnell
4 - Norman Woods
5 - Denis Mc Dyre
1 - Jake King (NISK)
2 - Andy Mc Clelland (CCKA)
3 - Conor O'Donnell (NISK)
4 - Kieran Mc Dyre (NISK)
5 - Jack Pothecary (CCKA)
5 - Richard Mc Dermott (Just Kayak)
7 - Kevin Foynes (Just Kayak)
7 - Adam Quigg (Just Kayak)
Junior IC
1 - Jake King
2 - Andy Mc Clelland
3 - Jack Pothecary
Plastic Class
1 - Kieran Mc Dyre
2 - Denis Mc Dyre
3 - Tony Megraw
4 - Vix Crawford
5 - Paddy Mc Clure
5 - Ian Morrow
7 - Owen Mc Auley
7 - Norman Woods
9 - John Poulson
2010 Home Internationals / British Open- Update
The Registration Form for the British Open is now available on the British Open section of the Forum.
A direct link to the registration form can be found here
Due to time constraints there will be a limit of 42 entries placed on the Open HP category and these positions will be allocated to the first entries received.
National squad managers are also asked to email homes2010@nisurfkayak.com with confirmation of their squads attendance at the Home Internationals.
Please note that entries will close on Thursday 30th September.
2010 Home Internationals / British Open
We are pleased to announce that the Northern Ireland Surf Kayak Club will be hosting the 2010 Home Internationals and British Open in Portrush.
The dates for the competition are :
Home Internationals - Monday 25th - Friday 29th October
British Open - Saturday 30th & Sunday 31st October
Further information, including registration forms and accomodation details will be available on our forum in the coming weeks, so keep an eye on the Forum for further updates.
In the meantime, have a look at some of the photos and video from the 2008 British Open held in Portrush and check out Portrush on Magicseaweed here
To see a Video from Andy Mc Clelland of the 2008 Competition, click here.
CANI Surf / Surfkayaks.com League Comp. 3
Competition 3 due to run in Magheroarty was switched early Sunday morning due to the better conditions in Falcarragh.
First on the water was the Masters with top battle between Laurence Mc Bride and James O Donnell with Laurence just catching the better waves to give him the 1st place.
The plastic class saw Kieran Dyer winning again which is going to make him hard to catch in the plastic open league class.
In the Juniors event Andy McClelland made it 1st in the IC and HP, with a fast improving Jack Porthecary getting 2 x 2nd places. It was sad to see the early retirement of Jake King due to ongoing wrist problems.
The senior IC final was a world class event with current mens IC world ranked no2 Dessie McGlinchey, world no3 Jonny Bingham, taking on world no1 and no2 juniors Corin King and Andy McClelland and also contesting the final was local favourite Gerald McGahey. It was keenly contested final which saw the more experienced seniors Jonny taking 1st place and Dessie grabbing 2nd.
Senior HP open heats saw the standout move of the day comming from Corin King with a huge aerial manouever and giving him the highest wave score of the day. The final saw conditions dying with Dessie getting 2 early waves in his new boat which proved to be enough for him to take 1st place. 2nd place saw a tie between Corin and Masters competitor Matt Pothecary. Corin was awarded 2nd on count back with Matt (one of the'aul boys') getting the 3rd which must have been the performance of the day.The waves just didnt come through for Jonny who had to settle for 4th place.
Saturday night's Camping and Barbeque was followed by Sunday's coaching which was available for all competitors.The smaller cleaner conditions proved ideal for coaching and gave Harry a chance to give feedback on what he had observed during the competition and give everyone one-2-one tuition and plenty to work on for the next competition.
The club would like to thank Gerry & The Kings for organising the event, and a special mention to Paddy for acting as scribe during the competition. Also a big thanks to I-CANOE for sponsoring the prizes for Saturdays competition.
CANI Surf / Surfkayaks.com League Comp. 3- Update
Competition 3 is CONFIRMED for Saturday 19th June.
Full details are:
Saturday 19th June, meeting at Magheraroarty Pier, Donegal.
**Registration closes 9.30am; £5 entry fee per class**
Prizes on the day will be provided by I-Canoe, Irelands online canoe store.
Anyone who cannot make the 9.30am deadline for registration can email their registration to surf@cani.org.uk by 3pm Friday 18th June.
COACHING session for all competitors planned for Sunday 20th June, details will be confirmed during the competition on Saturday.
ALL ARE WELCOME
Please bring your CANI or Club membership cards for insurance purposes.
For further information about this event, please email us on surf@cani.org.uk.
European Championships - Mundaka 2010
Yet another early start on Thursday 29th April morning started the trip to the annual European Surf Kayak Championships held in Mundaka, Spain.
After an unsure half hour checking in at the airport, not sure if we were going to reach the departure lounge in time (because of someone’s heavy baggage!) we made it and next thing we were in sunny Santander and the convoy of cars were leap-frogging up the motorway for Mundaka (with the occasional stop to make sure the Kings boats were still there)
Small swell meant that there were no waves to be had on Thursday but we managed to get some nice small waves in Sopelina on Friday. A fun surf was had by all and the boardies were glad to see the back of us!
The 1st day of competition was moved to Bakio as there were no waves on Mundaka. The weather was good and there were contestable waves. The standard was very high all day with this year having one of the biggest entries with over 60 people.
The Northern Ireland Surf Kayak Squad were on top form with some great performances and results: with all the juniors advancing to the finals day alongside Jonny and Dessie.
There was a bit more swell around on Sunday for the finals and so the call was made to run on the world famous left hand point break, Mundaka. Unfortunately when the tide started to push towards the later part of the day, the quality of surf deteriorated leaving the Men, Women and Masters very challenging conditions for their finals.
However, this was no problem for our talented Squad as shown in the results. Well done to everyone who competed and thank-you to everyone who helped make this years Europeans another success.
The NI medalist were as follows:
Junior HP - 1st Corin King, 3rd Andy Mc Clelland, 4th Jake King
Junior IC - 1st Andy Mc Clelland, 2nd Corin King, 4th Jake King, 5th Jack Pothecary
Mens IC - 2nd Jonny Bingham, 3rd Chris Hobson, 4th Dessie Mc Glinchey
Masters HP - 4th Matt Pothecary
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Words by Andy Mc Clelland, Photos by Gerry Mc Gahey
2010 CANI Surf / Surfkayaks.com League Competition 2
Half nine meeting on Saturday 10th April at Tullan strand car park in Bundoran, Co Donegal saw the start of the first Northern Ireland Surf Kayak league competition.
Conditions were on the surfer’s side with beautiful sunny weather, clean head high waves and a light offshore breeze. Some great surfing was on show from all competitors throughout the day with tight results in all classes.
Well done to all competitors and thank you to North South Marine & Leisure who kindly sponsored all categories.
The results from the competition are as follows:
Mens HP
1 - Dessie Mc Glinchey
2 - Jonny Bingham
3 - Corin King
4 - Ashley Hunter
=5 - Gerry Mc Gahey
=5 - Jake King
=7 - Andy Mc Clelland
=7 - Micheal Johnson
=7 - James O'Donnell
=10 - Laurence Mc Bride
=10 - Conor O'Donnell
=10 - Matt Pothecary
Mens IC
1 - Jonny Bingham
2 - Corin King
3 - Dessie Mc Glinchey
4 - Ashley Hunter
5 - Gerry Mc Gahey
Junior HP
1 - Andy Mc Clelland
2 - Jake King
3 - Jack Pothecary
4 - Conor O'Donnell
=5 - Kieran Mc Dyre
=5 - Pete Hodge
Junior IC
1 - Andy Mc Clelland
2 - Jake King
3 - Jack Pothecary
Master HP
1 - Richard Hobson
2 - Matt Pothecary
3 - James O'Donnell
4 - Laurence Mc Bride
=5 - Kevin Quinn
=5 - Dennis Mc Dyre
Master IC
1 - Richard Hobson
2 - Kevin Quinn
Plastic Class
1 - Kieran Mc Dyre
2 - Pete Hodge
3 - Denis Mc Dyre
4 - Tony Megraw
Click on any image to visit our flickr page
Prizegiving
And photos from the final of the Mens HP class featuring Jonny Bingham, Dessie Mc Glinchey
Corin King and Ashley Hunter
2010 CANI Surf / Surfkayaks.com League
Competition 2 of the CANI League is on for the weekend of 10th / 11th April in Bundoran.
We are pleased to announce that this competition will be sponsored by North South Marine & Leisure who will be providing prizes on the day.
For a full report and photos of the competition, check back here next week.
Competition 1 Re-Run date
It has now been agreed that competition 1 of the CANI Surf / Surfkayaks.com League will be held on
Saturday 21st & Sunday 22nd August, 2010.
Further details of the event will be published closer to the date.
2010 CANI Surf / Surfkayaks.com League
The first event of the 2010 league is scheduled to take place on Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th of February in Portrush.
We are pleased to announce that this competition will be sponsored by SOLAMANZI who will be providing prizes on the day.
The competition is open to anyone who can paddle at about 3 star standard and you don't need a surf specific boat to enter.
For more details of the competition, keep an eye on the NEWS section of the forum.
Some photos from the last competition held in Portrush.
2010 Calendar now updated.
The website has now been updated with the dates for the 2010 Surfkayaks.com League, these can be found here.
A full calendar of NI Surf Kayak Events is available for download here
If you have an event you wish to add to the calendar, please drop me an email at web@nisurfkayak.com
