UKWA FOUR NATIONS CUP, IRELAND – DAY 2 & 3
Day 2 saw sun and surf but no wind at the Four Nations Cup in Brandon bay. However a Wacky Races type pursuit was instigated in order to get over to Inch reef to surf the perfect waves that were peeling off the reef there. Apart from that, no on water action happened on Day 2 but with a very promising forecast for Day 3 everything was set for another day on the water.
The wind was howling on Day 3 and at the 7.30am skippers meeting the rain was falling fast out of the sky. By 8.30am the rain had cleared and all sailors were rigging up at Dumps to finish off round 2, that had been started on Day one of the competition.
John Skye beat Oisin Van Gelderen to join Andy King in the final, leaving Oisin to scrap it out for 4th or 3rd place with John Hibbard. The final saw some big jumps from Andy King in the onshore conditions. Skyeboy was lacking any really high scoring jumps, but dropped into a perfect long wave that he rode all the way in to the beach. That was just enough for him to squeak ahead of King in the final seconds of the heat and claim his second win of the event. Oisin and 007 had a similar battle, but this time it was the jumping that was to split the two sailors with Oisin landing a clean, high backloop in the final minute of the heat to secure his 3rd place for the 2nd round.
Overall the rankings now see Skyeboy with a comfortable lead with John Hibbard in second and Andy King back in the action in 4th.
The other fleets also saw some action on Day 3. The youths was again dominated by Graham Woods as Rich Jones struggled for power in the onshore wind. Junior fleet sailors Tom Knox and Aleksy Gayda had another day of close run heats. Louise Emery scored another 1st place ahead of Simon Crowther who’s forward loops seemed not quite enough to get past Louise’s wave scores.
Next up was an Expression Session sponsored by Boardseeker.com. Andy King came through victorious with Chris Audsley in Second after pulling off a sweet backside 360. Skyeboy was in 3rd with John Hibbard 4th.
After a short break for lunch Jamie Knox gathered all sailors for the briefing for Round 3 but no sooner had the sailors headed off to get ready the wind died, leaving clean waves but no wind to attack them with. Not wanting to waste any of the perfect Brandon Bay waves many of the competitors grap their surf boards and paddled out for a sweet surf session
As it stands now, we have completed 2 rounds of Pros, 5 rounds of Ams, youth and Juniors, so even if the wind doesn’t return the event has still be a great success. Maybe now it’s time to experience some of that Irish Craic? Pint of Guinness anyone???
Thanks to Jamie Knox Watersports for organising all competition and Ultra Sport for their product support. Watch this space for more news as the UKWA Four Nations Cup enters it’s 4th day…….
