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Due to the cancellation of Wave 2 in Achill we are working to put together another possible event. Keep an eye on the windsurfireland egroup and also here on the calendar page for imminent updates. September, October and November are packing out with events across Slalom, Wave and Speed. The windy season is almost upon us!!
The IWA have been invited to hold a windsurfing display of racing and freestyle off the prom in Salthill Co. Galway. The event is to take place on Aug 21st-22nd. The times are as follows; Saturday 11am-4pm & Sunday 10:30am-2:30pm. Due to restrictions with rescue cover we are only allowed 20 sailors on the water. If you are interested in attending please contact IWA President, Gareth Nihill at the following address – gareth@nspace.ie
Round 4 of the Irish Slalom Series has been confirmed for Bantry Bay, West Cork
Check out the ISS website for more information
“For safety reasons, the location of Round 4 of the Irish Slalom Series, “the Cork event”, is likely to be changed from the calendared location of Garrylucas. The alternative location for the event is Bantry Bay, in West Cork. Confirmation will be posted to the ISS website by Thursday the 5th August.
A full brief for competitors on the event, including an accommodation list, location details, and event notes will be posted to the ISS website this week. We apologise if this causes any inconvenience, but safety will remain our number 1 priority, followed by providing an opportunity for competitors to windsurf in new and varied locations.”
Pearse Geaney leads the fleet
Over a hundred sailors turned out for another weekend of top class wind conditions for the annual Downings Windsurfing Event. Conditions in Sheephaven Bay on Saturday morning were perfect and looked good for a day of competitive sailing in Round 3 of the Irish Slalom Series event. Wind speeds of 20 knots were recorded and the fight was on for the title of Irish Champion.
Racing got underway with the novice fleet of around 30 sailors who completed a challenging slalom course in the safe and sheltered Sheephaven Bay. Guidance, support and encouragement was on hand from a team of experienced Gartan staff and many enthusiastic volunteers. Entrants ranged from nine year olds Jessica Hood from Newtownstewart and John Fletcher from Belfast to the oldest competitor in the senior age group aged over 70 years.
The Novice fleet managed a total of 10 races over the weekend with some challenging conditions including surf and gusting winds. Overall winner of the Novice fleet was Sophie Fletcher and Victoria Backus for the ladies.
The Silver fleet coped well with the same challenging conditions sailing beyond the harbour on the Saturday, on Sunday race director Ciaran O Brien made the decision to bring the fleet within the bay for a slightly more sheltered downwind slalom course. This fleet sailed a total of 10 races with Peter Stewart winning the fleet prize.
The Gold Fleet of over 50 entrants competed in a technical and gruelling six mile downwind slalom course across Sheephaven Bay. With inconsistent wind conditions the course presented a challenge for all competitors, sailors at the forefront of the Irish Windsurfing league demonstrated their skills both technically and physically to compete with the best windsurfers in Ireland.
For the spectators on the beach this was a colourful spectacle of sails and boards sailing majestically across the waves of Sheephaven Bay. Fighting throughout the weekend for the top position were Pearse Geaney from Cork and local based sailor Maurice Owens.
Atmosphere on the beach and in the water was friendly with many personal challenges taking place within each fleet of racers.
The local branch of the RNLI had organised a buffet and entertainment in the Downings Bay Hotel on Saturday night for sailors and their families, this was another successful event and a great opportunity to catch up after the days racing.
Following the two final Master Blaster events where every fleet launched from the beach, with guest appearance from Batman, there were lots of fabulous prizes to be distributed.
Organiser Nick Fletcher commented “ we like to encourage all our young, novice and up coming wind surfers so we try to ensure there is a prize for everyone in the novice fleet” younger entrants who were unable to compete due to strong wind conditions got party bags to encourage them to return next year.
The Downings Windsurfing Club would sincerely like to thank all the local businesses who sponsored, donated their services and helped with all the organising throughout the weekend. With special thanks to sponsors Jurys Inns, Boardwise and Tushingham. Nick Fletcher thanked all the competitors for taking the time to enter, travel the long journeys and compete to make this another fun and successful year. A special thank you as always to the Mulroy Sea and Cliff Rescue whose reassuring presence was in the water all weekend.
All Results are posted on the ISS website in the Results Page
Downings 2010
Fun for all the Family and the biggest windsurfing event in Ireland which attracts all standards and ages of competitors from the complete beginner to the expert and from the young (5 years of age ) to the old (over 70) This event is a ranking event for the Irish Windsurfing Association (IWA) slalom series.
Event Information
Saturday 17th July – Registration on Beach at 9.00am Racing starts at 11.00am.
Sunday 18th July – Racing starts at 10.30am. Prize giving on the Beach at 4.30pm.
Photo by Claire Metcalfe
After a long windless winter, and the postponements of round’s 1 & 2 of the Irish Speed Sailing Championship due to a lack of wind, the Irish Speed crew were finally in luck for Round 3 with a good wind forecast. The race organisers were monitoring the wind forecast earlier in the week and with good winds on the cards for Ireland’s West Coast, it was decided to try out Brandon Bay in Kerry. Brandon Bay being better known for its legendary wave sailing spots such as Gowlane and Garry William Point, proved that it also has speed potential when the swells are low for Speed Sailing. Fermoyle with its close proximity to the Connor Pass and its unique thermal effects in a S-SW wind was location of choice for the weekends action. (more…)
Fleadh 2010
Its that fun time of year again the WINDSURFING FLEADH !!!! As most of you know this year Fingal Sailing School & Wind & Wave have kindly been nominated to hold the festival from Malahide! We’re hoping it will be as successful as other years & will ensure everyone has a great time!
The dates were selected as usual for the May Bank holiday weekend, 1st, 2nd & 3rd May.
The Plan for the weekend so far is as follows:
It will kick off on Sat a.m with some sessions and dedicated clinics for all levels: these will be hugely popular as there have been loads of requests from people looking to learn & perfect gybing / start procedures & also to get some rules for racing. Then in the afternoon we can put this into practice with some full on racing!
Throughout the whole weekend we’ll have the speed wall in use with the KING and QUEEN of the lake prize coming back!!!
Then Sunday will we’ll have some more clinics / coaching sessions in the am followed with some more racing in the afternoon: with prizes on offer!
Round 2 of the BWA wave competition will be held at Brandon Bay, Kerry from the 17th to 21st of May. Everyone is welcome and the event is open to all level of sailors. For more info check out www.britishwavesailingassociation.com/ireland.php
And don’t forget if your down that way the 2nd round of the Irish Slalom starts on the Saturday 22nd at Brandon too. www.irishslalom.ie for more details.
That’s a full week…..
Slalom 2010
We’re back……!!!!!
The final events of the 2010 Irish Slalom Series Calendar have been put in place.
Due to the current situation and the big “R” word we have kept the number of events to a minimum. We have also attempted to space the events out as much as possible. On this calendar you will see the return of some familiar locations. The first event of the season will take us North to the new venue of Newtownards, Co. Down. Another new addition to the calendar is the moving of the Galway event back west to the legendary location of Roundstone…
The ISS rules and guidelines documents are currently being updated. A full set of 2010 rules will be released soon…
The following are the events which have been confirmed on the 2010 Irish Slalom Series calendar:
Event 1 March 27th /28th Newtownards, Co. Down
Event 2 May 22nd/ 23rd Castlegregory, Co. Kerry
Event 3 July 17th/ 18th Downings, Co. Donegal
Event 4 August 14th/ 15th Garylucas, Co. Cork
Event 5 Oct 23rd/24th/25th Roundstone, Co. Galway
There will also be several fun Irish Slalom Series Events in 2010. These will include the 2010 Fleadh, Masterblasts, local weekly racing and some coaching weekends…
Free Introduction to the Irish Slalom Series clinics will take place on March 6th 2010. Locations will include Dublin (Fintan Day), Donegal (Maurice Owens), Cork (Pearse Geaney) and Galway (Danny Mulryan). Details will be posted this week.
Keep your eyes on www.irishslalom.ie for more information..
