Billabong Co.Sligo Open

Saturday started small, onshore and pretty shapeless.

Ronan Oertzen made the most of it though and blazed through the early rounds

Steve, Aaron, Dan and myself made the trek and decided to have a bash at competition too. Steve looking pensive on his walk back...

Everybody loves a contest scene

Yours truly up demonstrating the versatility of a good board bag

Came up against John in my heat and got schooled as usual.

Conditions got a bit bigger on the push and so did the spray...

Ronan was the stand out surfer of the day and bagged wave of the day in the semis.

Not without some competition of course...

One under, one over

Ronan

Dan representing...

Nicole off the top and taking the title

Darkness falls for the first of the finals...

Big turn on a big board

Nose rising...

Few inches off.

Floating

Goodnight

Sorry guys. This post has been sitting in draft form for about 2 1/2 months. I don't whether it was because of the patchy coverage of the heats or my dreadful attempt at competing, that they never got published. However due to the recent publicity due to the success of the last contest at Easkey I thought it was about time these shots found the light of day too...

Rossnowlagh Longboard Contest ...

Arrived down Friday night and conditions were far from great. Headed out for a quick dip all the same in the onshore crumble, though getting to wear the old legless winter suit again felt great...

Yours truly getting down to some late night sliding...

O-bag and Steve made the trip down too. Owen stoked with his Desmond... (Owen affectionately nicknamed his 2:2 Desmond, after Desmond 'Tutu')

Round 1, Heat 4. Unfortunately my competitive streak in the comp didn't last too long when I got knocked out in heat 2 of the first round.

Bosco

Causeway representing. John in front, Bosco behind...

Conditions for the semi's deteriorated further and proved seriously hard going

Everyone did their best to make the most of it though. Craig Butler sticking it out.

Things started to relatively better on the push for the juniors and ladies final. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Hang-Five...

Butler taking the Juniors with a bit of style...

Your Judges for the finals...

Thankfully by the time of the mens final a few contestable waves came through. Emmet going right...

John Junior on the nose...

Nice finish

Emmett going broadside for John

Powerful surfing for tiny conditions...

Your Inaugural Rossnowlagh Longboard Contest winner - John McCurry Junior

Thanks to all who organised such a great comp. The waves may have been less than ideal but the craic and spirit of the thing was 1st class. Here's to many happy returns!

Full results

U 18
1st Craig Butler
2nd Christian McLeod
3rd Owen O’Malley-Daly
4th Bosco McAuley
5th Dan Britton

Ladies
1st Ione Byrne
2nd Naomi Britton
3rd Amy-May Garvey
4th Sophie Scott

Seniors

1st John McCurry
2nd Stephen Conwell
3rd Patrick Cassidy
4th Emmet O’Doherty

ISA Intervarsities

Saturday dawned small, still and clean.

Things remained much the same for the first heat of the mens open

Where lots of pumping went on

and even more sinking...

Some were able to make the most of it.
About as performance as you could get considering the conditions

Not your typical contest shortboard (mmm....)

Good from a far but far from good.

The tide started to fill and onshores blow as the day drew to an end and the finals commenced

Yours truly representing Coleraine and stoked to be in a final

Pretty in Pink

Your eventual longboard winner Stephen Kelleher

Easkey bringing home the goods for UUC in the womens final ran alongside the longboard

Sun down on Strandhill signalled an alternative source of liquid entertainment

Collecting 3rd in the Longboard (Buzzing)

Goofy superstar Stephen Murray in his post heat interview

El Capitano gracing us with a few words of wisdom

UUC on tour...

The morning after the night before

Sunday morning. Contest over and not a ripple...

Cheers to NUIG, the ISA and all involved for a great contest and a HUGE shout to Lauren, Eugene and Emmett from UUC for making the weekend such a success.