Archive for October, 2008

Tyrella Comp…!

Monday, October 13th, 2008

After driving 3 and a half hours from Sligo to Tyrella beach, Co. Down, in non stop torrential rain, by the time i had arrived the wind was no where to be seen or felt. Shorty (Stefan Vance) was the only kiter able to kite in the 5knots or so that was there so he tried his 12m and although had a few runs with a bit of juice, it didnt look great in fairness. I sure as hell wasnt going to get out in it so i headed on to the local town of Newcastle to hook up with Puremagic team riders Dominika, Ross and Rob who had just arrived from Dublin. We checked into our accommodation in the Golf Links House, located just at the edge of the Newcastle town. The place was nice enough and well priced even with its fancy golfing persona! We chilled for the evening and hit an early breakfast in the morning and then off to the beach. It was windy with a few kites already on the water, but we helped the organisers get the registration tent ready which was a massive tent that required a good team of about 10 people to try to piece it together with only a vague idea of what it should look like. We finally got it finished about an hour later then set up our own gear and hit the water. The wind dropped off unfortunately and became very gusty so eventually after many attempts we gave up on riding for the day and enjoyed the sunny weather.


That evening all the gang headed to Toscano’s pizzeria in Newcastle for pizza before the local kitersurfer band ‘Bad Wind’ tore up the stage with their first formal gig and truely played a blinder! Having hit the sauce a while before we arrived at Toscano’s I was wrecked tired and although I tried to keep the engine running for a few more hours, the lack of red bull or energy drinks in the pub saw that I was doomed to hit the bed at bit earlier than expected. A big up to the band who put on a solid show and hopefully we’ll see the lads jammin’ at the next one.Sunday morning we woke, it was wintery and windless for the bedroom window but upon arrival at the beach, apart from being the first ones there, we were greeted with solid 20knots, cross-on, and clear sky! EPIC! With no sign of anyone else we got ready and hit the water as a few others began to arrive. The wind dropped for lunch time and at 2pm it filled back in again and the organisers decided to run the competition.


…With a poorer turn out of competitors than normal we had the whole comp run off in about an hour and a half, starting with 1 heat of the 4 pro riders, Olivier Coubrun, Ross Harte, Ian Colgan, and myself. The competition was tiring as we had all been out on the water for a few hours already. I had a fairly bad heat with a small shifty 3 to start, then it went downhill from there as i proceeded to try Blind Judge 3 repeatedly and for some reason kept falling or loosing the bar. FINALLY on like my 6th attempt I got an alright one but with the kite fairly high. I did a few other smaller tricks like s-bend to blind, raily to blind, grabs, a few other tricks and 2 attempts at a back mobe but lacked power and water dept to fully commit to them. Tried a deadman as well to try beat Ian’s ‘The General’ move but i didnt ride away from it. The other lads in the heat appeared to be landing some decent moves all around me as i continuously swam for my board or relaunched my kite. The level was close and because i had fallen so much i figured i was out of the runnings.

…The Ams were up next and again only 4 riders. Stefan Vance, Rob Cooper, Mike Eller, and Bill. A close heat was had and Rob was really having a good session. Stefan had some great moves but unfortunately wiped close to the beach on a number of occasions. There was a good show put on by all the riders and the competition was close.

… The ladies also had some fantastic riding from Dominika Kupciw and Jennifer Kinnear. The girls were a little underpowered for the start of their heat but it seemed to pick up in the end. There was some high level moves, such as transitions, grabs and jumps but also many unhooked tricks with a lot of power. Dominika had a few great last tricks when the wind filled in with well powered railey and unhooked inverted backroll. It was clear at the end of the heat the girls were shattered as they had been riding about 4 hours straight on the water by this stage.

Chairman of the IKSA Eddie Hawkins gave out the results at the end of the day just before everyone left for home. The results are as follows:

Pros
1st Eamon Armstrong
2nd Olivier Coubrun
3rd Ross Harte
4th Ian Colgan

Mens ams
1st Robb Cooper
2nd Stefan Vance
3rd Bill
4th Mike Eller

Ladies
1st Dominika Kupciw
2nd Jennifer Kinnear

We also ran off the results from the last competition at Achill Island as we didnt get to run the finals in the Am’s and Ladies. There was no pro competition run for Achill.

Results ended up:

mens ams
1st Robb Cooper
2nd Stefan Vance
Joint 3rd Neil O Connor

Joint 3rd Ben


ladies
1st Dominika Kupciw

Joint 2nd Aleks Bondareva

Joint 2nd Kasia Yeates

Check out all the great photos from Tyrella by photographers Warren Vance and Treasa Lynch

Lookin forward to next years,

Eamo

Posted in My posts | No Comments »

El Medano, Tenerife: The Trip

Wednesday, October 8th, 2008

Well we left dublin airport at 6am Wednesday morning wrecked tired. After sitting on the plane for an hour (thanks ryanair) we took off and arrived to beautiful sunny but sadly windless Tenerife. We settled into the apartment and then at abut 12pm we walked to the spot to check it out and hook up with most of the other lads who were there joining us. Tony, Finn, Andy, Kieran, and myself decided to relax at the local beach bar Flashpoint for a ice cold local beer ‘Dorada’ to celebrate the arrival to our holiday destination. Of course being Irish lads we stayed for a second…and a third…then a fourth and very soon we lost count. Eventually the other members of the crew, Mark, Rory, Stefano and Dave, who had been out exploring El Medano village turned up at Flashpoint and its seemed they had also been sampling the local brew. At about 6 we decided a bit of a power nap was needed before heading for an evening meal so back to the apartments for some rest. On the walk back we began to notice the wind increasing (as you do when you’ve had a few on you) and although temptations were there we retired to the apartments. Upon arrival with my room mates Finn and Kieran, Finn hit the bed, but myself and Kieran stood on the balcony watching the kites start to hit the water. Pissed off that we had indulged in the alcoholic beverages all day we said fuck it and begun setting up our boards, putting on the fins etc. Next thing we see is a number of ‘familar’ looking kites hitting the water but we took no heed of it and said ‘Its windy but were drunk as fack so lets go to bed’, so we did. A few nameless members of the Irish crew did however decide to give it a go… reports at the dinner table that night suggested they would never do it again under any circumstances and proved that it was indeed impossible to kitesurf with a few beers on you. After dinner in ‘La Familar’ that night we were all destroyed after a day on the beer and hit the bed early enough.

The next morning we awoke to a building breeze and grabbed our gear and hit Flashpoint at 10am for the ‘Hangover Breakfast’ which of course we all went for. This was also to be our breakfast choice for the entire trip, bacon, sausage, (a huge amount of) scrambled egg, bread, small side salad, fresh orange juice and a coffee all for about €6. After breakfast the wind had hit about 25-30knot and we pumped our 9m’s and 7m’s. The water temp was great, morning sessions in boardies and rashvests and for the guy who feel the cold (mainly me) threw a shorty on for the afternoon session. After a fairly crazy morning on the water we hit Flashpoint again for lunch and a beer then back out for an afternoon session which was once again followed by beers and dinner at Flashpoint.

Myself, Mark, Finn, Kieran & Rory

Spinning in the hamock after a rake of beers! Dangerous, but FUN! Tony in a daze.

Spinning in the hamock after a rake of beers! Dangerous, but FUN! Tony in a daze.

Friday, same story, wind building over breakfast. After breakfast the remainder of our crew had just flown in, Alexis and Conskee with 9m/7m conditions greeting them. Another savage day on the water with many beers in Flashpoint afterward as we shite talked about our day on the water and the challenging conditions. Not much tricks were learned other than a few meaty kite loops and big big jumps. After, most of the lads stayed and ate (and drank) in Flashpoint, but Alexis, Kieran, Finn and Myself decided to go for a bit of culture and we hit the town for dinner and beers. We found this great pizzeria. The rest of the crew decided to hit the bed early but seeing as we were out and about we decided to visit a few other local hangouts. We checked out a bar called Que Pasa were we had a few beers and finn feeling tired went for a golden rum and orange juice haha. After Que Pasa we hit another pub, which had darkened windows and kinda looked like a strip club, called JEIP. It must have been the trend bar in town or trying to be at least. Anyway at this stage I was ready for bed but the boys had a few more golden rum and orange juice then we hit the road for bed.

Saturday morning we had slightly lighter wind, solid 9m wind which finally provided less gusty and crazy conditions to start trying a few moves. I had a pretty good day on the water practicing shifty 3’s, blind judge 3’s, and S-mobes which didnt go too well but getting closer. Even tried a few arm wrenching dangle passes for the craic. Great day on the water was had by all with everyone getting the most from the great warm and windy conditions. The next day everyone except Alexis and myself were due to flight out early so a good night on the town was called for! Again starting at Flashpoint after our session for a few beers, complementary shots of jagermiester and some celabratory champagne to mark the end of an awesome trip, we then hit the apartments for a shower before dinner. We grabbed takeout pizza from ‘Don Vito’s’ and eat them with a few cans of beer in the street in front of the beach before we realised the place was absolutely crawling with cockroaches! We swifty (hard to do when eating a calzone pizza with your fingers, Tony and Myself, idiots) finished our pizzas and then hit Que Pasa once again for some more debauchery. Some of the lads challenged a few local pool sharks to a few games as we all went mad on the beer, jagerbombs and later champagne (Andy good man!), followed by (a few waters for me due to the cheese sweats from the bloody calzone) more jagerbombs, beer, foosball and pool! The night is very hazzy at this point and after we partied out with a few crazy locals (hahaha), we somehow decided we had enough of the place we went in search of a nightclub. The night club was a tiny bar and was jammed full of locals, not sure how welcome we were there but we made ourselves at home with a few rounds of bacardi and orange juice! Finally at half 4am the place was closing and we got kicked out. We then proceeded to the red square outside and decided we’d do a bit of breakdancing. It resembled something from a vietnam war movie i think. All the lads wreck and in a heap on the ground rolling around in agony trying to learn a few moves from reborn B-boyer Andy! After an hour everyone was in so much pain that we called it a night and headed back to the beds considering most of the lads had to be up at 8 to get the taxi to the airport! Somehow they managed it!

The next day, Sunday, Alexis and myself were worse for wear to say the least and headed to a local creperie for breakfast and coffee. Still destroyed from the night before we were in no shape to kitesurf so it was back to bed for us. At 4pm we hit the beach for our last session and got some solid 11m riding in. Again a nice bit of training was had but no new tricks, just a few cuts and bruises from tryin blind judge 5. We kited late into the evening and then hit Flashpoint for the last time for few beers and a bit of food to keep us going till dinner. We grabbed more crepes at another creperie at about 11 that night and although we were keen to have a few beers elsewhere, everywhere was closed! Bed time!

Monday morning was windless so getting on the plane didnt feel so bad. We flew out at 10:30 and after a rather hairy landing in dublin we found the wind was howling so straight from the airport to Rush beach, it was howling 9m weather, we threw on our shorties (yes it was fackin freezing) and an hours session with some of the local Rush crew. Perfect way to end the trip!

A big shout out to the lads for an awesome time over in El Medano, next time though, maybe a few of the ladies would join us ;) Anyway, cant wait for the next one! BRING IT!!!

All the photos are courtesy of Tony Humpheries, Check out the rest of the action from the whole crew here

I’ll post more links to photos when the lads have them uploaded!

Eamo

The Damage:

Flights: €250-€300 including a sports bag, flight time 4 hours. Airport 10mins taxi to the spot €10-€25euro depending on amount of people and amount of boardbags.

Accom: €350 or there abouts for 5 nights 2 twin room apartment overlooking the spot (The view from our apartment is in my post below!)

Food: Breakfast €5-€6, Lunch €5-€7, Dinner €10-€20 for 2 course meal

Beer: Local brew, bottle of Dorada (especial black label ;) , 5.5%alc) €1.20-€1.80 and few more expensive beers

Posted in My posts | No Comments »