Louisbourg 07 – O’Neill Wave 1

St Patrick’s Weekend

An epic forecast and swell heights of 10+ metres should have all added up to the best ever wave event in the history of mankind (slight exaggeration)!
 
What the weather men added in at the end proved that, two years running, Louisbourg is a brilliant place but somewhat cold.
 
Artic winds of 55 knots plus lashed the competitors for 2 of the 3 days and  only the bravest (or terminally insane) went on the water. Squalls and wind shifts made conditions very unpredictable and the hail stones were the size of small turkeys.
 
Apart from that, a fleet of 31`sailors made the trip and 2 rounds of competition plus one expression session were held
 
Wave heights varied all weekend but the average was solid logo high with the occasional mast high set rolling in. Out the back was mostly a no go zone as the waves were easily 20 feet and dumping but despite this both Oisin Van Gelderen and Finn Mullen sneaked out for the occasional wave.
 
Oisin paid the price on day one for his expeditions into looney land when he lost his gear in a mother and father of all sets (30ft plus) in the semi final and only managed to sail 3 minutes of an 8 minute heat. But talented sailor that he is, he still managed to impress the judges enough in those first 3 minutes to get through to the final. Oisin put his survival down to being able to swim breast, crawl and backstroke at the same time.
 
First day’s competition was won by Finn Mullen with Oisin in second and Morgan McGuire in 3rd.
 
This result was repeated on the second day with Oisin and Finn swapping places.
 
Overall results meant that there was a tie (Oisin and Finn) for first place and Morgan McGuire was awarded 3rd.
 
In the Fun Fleet, loads of new heads appeared.  Young guns from Galway – Fabian McGovern and Gavin Fox – and old sea dog Mark STORMIN Norman (first time in competition) were awarded the honours after 4 rounds of heats.
 
See full RESULTS.

Top prize in the raffle was a KMX Stunt Kart won by Patrick Kavanagh.

Noelle’s help with all the organisation before and throughout the whole weekend was magnificent.

Big thanks to all the staff at the weekend and especially to our new judge Brian McDowell and tabulator and rocket scientist Fergal Hourigan.

Cathal

Special Thanks to Sponsors

O’Neill Wetsuits
Tushingham sails – new Aeron continuous wave boom won by Fabian McGovern
Glenans Sailing School – weekend for 2 won by Finn Mullen
604 / North Sails / Prolimit
Magnettifoods.com
Portwest Westport
Exposure Castlebar
Hewetson Bros Westport
Tavern Bar & Restaurant Westport
Mat Mulloy’s Bar Westport
O’Connor’s Supervalue Westport
Country Fresh Westport
Mc Cormack’s Butchers Westport
Visual Marketing Westport
Hoban’s Centra Westport