The oul boys worlds video

Mens Short Boat Final.
Andy

Junior Short Boat Final

Some waves from the 2009 world championships. Unfortunatly i didnt get everyone but i included everyone that i could.

Andy

A wee vid of me best waves at the worlds

welcome home to the ni surf kayak team. super trip had by all i think and a special thanks to the support team for beach dances, tlc, cheering, video and photos.

well done to corin, andy mcclelland, dessie and jonny for their podium spots in the finals and congrats also to the team half of which had never been to a worlds before - roll on 2011.


click on image for slideshow

Home now and have been asked the question "how did they compare to previous worlds?". Not really sure but thought I'd put down my thoughts on the positives and negatives.
Firstly the Ocean Spirit festival must be the biggest watersports festival in Europe and I don't even think the ASP get facilities like we enjoyed. This in turn gave us access to the judging system (refresh I think?) that allowed competitors to hear their scores and therefore what points were needed to take the lead. I thought this was brilliant and a major development for the sport (the down side for me was I struggled to hear anything at low tide). Coupling this with using the 2 highest scoring waves and we really are catching up with the standup community. On a negative note the festival's size and the involvement of the other sports ment that kayak surfing was constantly being pushed around meaning as a competitor it was difficult to known when you were competing at times. This in turn ment it was hard to know what time to be on the beach, if it was safe to leave and even when and how much to eat.
I was skeptical about the quality of the surf when the dates were announced but am delighted to say that there was always contestable waves and at times they where excellent (I'd possibly exclude some of the finals). This allowed the standard on display to be high and I think a good advertisement for our sport (especially with so many other watersports in attendance). I also thought the judges did an excellent job and showed consistency throughout. My only criticism was it appeared that a short wave with one big end manoeuvre was scoring high (7-9pts) while a decent wave shredded with quality top and bottom turns, floaters and cutbacks might struggle to get 6pts. Maybe I'm just being old fashioned but I think organisers of future contests need to decide if its a surfing contest or an expression session (and that's not to say that surfing a wave can't incorporate the big moves). I know I'm kind of contradicting myself but it was really good to see David Speller win the HP by surfing the waves.
I really enjoyed the past 2 weeks and would like to thank the Ocean Spirit guys and the WSKA committee for all their work. Even more important to me was the great NI squad who despite staying all over the place came together everyday on the beach to support each other. It was brilliant to see all the guys doing so well and bringing a World Champ home for the 3rd World's in a row was just fantastic. Finishing 3rd as a team also was a super achievement (especially with such a new and young team) and I applaud every single member.
Personally I was delighted to reach the IC final. Obviously I would have liked to have placed slightly better or seen Dessie take a very much deserved World title but I would like to congratulate Urko from the Basque country on an excellent final.
If you've bothered to read this far then well done. Said enough now but would be keen to hear other thoughts on Portugal.

Cheers

Jonny

Today rounded up an excellent event for NI. Was brilliant to see Corin doing so well and winning the Junior IC and Andy getting a second. Also enjoyed being in the final of the World Champs against Dessie. Was a tight heat with the lead swinging 3 different ways and finally the Basque surfer Urkto coming out on top. The only unfortunate part was the quality of the waves which have been excellent all week.
Big congratulations to all the winners of the other categories. Party tonight in Portugal!

The surfing at the world championships is over for another two years.
Corin King is the new junior IC world champion
Andy Mc Clelland is no2 in the Junior IC class.
Corin also surfed in the Junior HP final and finished 2nd behind Adam Harvey
Jonny and me just missed out on the IC title. I was 2nd and jonny 3rd. The winner was the Basque paddler Urko Otxoa.
The mens Open (hp) title went to David Spellar who surfed a storming heat to take 1st place ahead of Edu Extabarra with Nathan Eades in 3rd place.
The ladies hp went to Naomi James followed by Rhiannon Woodman
The standard of the ladies, juniors and Ic divisions at these worlds has stepped up several levels from the last worlds. The biggest landed ariel of the contest was in an IC boat.
The awards ceremoney is at 7 pm tonight and id reckon that a few people will end up in the pool.

Its 8 o clock in the morning and we are just getting ready to head up to the contest site. Jonny and me will be on in our semis sometime after 10 o clock. Im not sure if we are in the same heat or if we have managed to avoid each other. Wouldnt it be great if we managed to avoid each other and met for the first time in the final. The swell is down this morning and its the first morning that we havent been met with blue skies. Good luck to all the NI paddlers today in the semis and finals. Some of the team went out for a social drink last night as they were finished competing and juding by the time they arrived home it must have been a good night. More of the same tonight i hope.