Snapper Pro 2010

What can I say, I have been watching the worlds best surfers over the past few days and have been simply blown away! The wave at the infamous snapper rocks has been doing its thing and the pro's have been throwing down the madness maneuvers ever performed. It's a real inspiration to see some heroes of the sport, right in front of you on a shallow sandbar with awesome weather to top it off!

I was so stoked to see 9x world champion Kelly Slater take to the water in his first heat and he didn't disappoint. He is so unbelievably in tune with the ocean, he made impossible tube rides look easy and hit the lip so hard with carving 360s and huge tail throwing turns the crowds were going nuts!

Despite surfing so well he was knocked out the comp in round 4 by Jordy Smith who is surfing unreal. He has to face dane reynolds however in the semi finals. Dane is an amazing character, a true artist, a quirky guy who seems not to care about the competition, just pushing what can be performed on a wave in every...(and I mean every) turn. I have never seen so much commitment and power thrown at heaving sections of a wave and he makes impossible maneuvers come to life. Really in awe of the way these guys surf, sorry if you're not a surfer but seeing this live is just insane!

Narosa over and out.

Level 2 surf coach!

Hey folks, another wee update from Narosa in Aus. Still having a great time out here, the banks have improved and the swell this week has been really fun. I spent the last few days doing my level 2 coaching qualification which was an unreal experience. I was truly humbled on the course by the experience of the coaches and the others taking the qualification. There were a few professional surfers and even ex world champion Barton Lynch were taking the course with me!

There was a great deal of information to take in on all aspects of surfing from fitness and nutrition, to sports psychology and plenty on dynamic balance and surfing technique. They mixed up the course with a surfing assessment, beach and pool fitness and specific training techniqes. Everyone on the course was great fun and really good to talk to about surfing, the more you learn the more you appreciate the difficulty of this exceptional sport!

I am really looking forward to coaching surfers with Narosa this year from that novice stage right through to advanced maneuvers and competitive surfing. There are so many people that can improve their surfing ability with a few simple changes in technique and when it starts to work for you, the extra enjoyment you get from the waves is unreal!

I am back in a couple of weeks but looking forward to a trip up to the sunshine coast to see a good friend, visit australia zoo and get into some more good waves. Also got the first event of the world pro tour coming up just down the road at snapper rocks! The bank is looking good and Kelly Slater is in town!

Leeroy

So far so good

Ozland is an interesting place. We are currently just south of the gold coast and have been surfing a few different spots including, kingscliff, cudgen, kirra and waves at byron. It's a really different experience from back home, the points here seem to be off key at the minute, generally fat waves and a fair few closeouts. That said i have had a couple of screaming barrels at Kirra and have seen parko, luke egan and a fair few others in complete rhythm with the waves out here.

On our first morning out at Kirra I watched parko catch a wave from the point on what could only be described as a mediocre day in the surf, he snuck in and out of a completely unmakeable barrel and ripped five turns down the line. I was chatting to him for 5 mins or so walking back up the point and he was such a positive guy to chat to, chatting about waves in Scotland and Ireland and turns out he scored a wee session at my local break in Donegal and was so stoked on the wave! I then paddled back out into the line-up and on catching my next wave I see parko hands up hooting me and Luke Egan with a big smile on his face as I did a cutback past him! Really awesome to catch waves with some true heroes of the sport.

The thing about surfing waves like Kirra is the paddle. It is completely foreign to me to have to jump in the water half a kilometer up the beach because by the time you're out back you've been swept all the way back down to where the wave breaks! Once you are in position you have to paddle at about 70% strength to stay in position and you can easily do this for half an hour before getting a wave! Once you have caught a wave most guys will then get out and walk all the way back up and do the same over again! It's mad because you can literally be in the surf for 3 hours and get 5 or 6 waves!

I think we're definitely learning a lot out here and getting good paddle fitness, so far though the waves back home seem of higher quality, but its great to get inspiration from the best and take what you have learned back home. We have had a few coaching sessions from WQS (world qualifying series) surfer Samba Mann. The guy rips and is so chilled it makes a great environment for learning new techniques. We have also been doing dynamic yoga classes which are great, more work definitely needed at this though!

I picked up a new board after much deliberation from a famous shaped called Gary Dorrington. Buying a board from him involved a full learning experience of surfboard shaping and a few cold beers while I decided on the right one. We've been privileged so far to have met some of the best known shapers in the world and learn so much about board design. We've met DHD, Dorrington, Hammo, Chris Garret (a true innovator) and about 10 other amazing guys. Mike Peters and Stevo (who does unreal surfboard graphic technology-more info to follow) over here have introduced us to amazing people so the Narosa Shop will have some of the world's finest boards this year-cheers guys!

Plenty of more updates to come, oh and a note to say parko and the crew were towing right out front of the house into some sweeeet kegs, and a 5m tiger shark was also spotted at the local break, shaaaks eat fish tho maate!

over and oot.

Smiling faces

Well we've landed in ozzy land now but here is a pic or two from Thailand! Lots of fun over there, the highlights were the hectic traffic with hilarious tuk tuk drivers, insanely cheap and delicious food and amazing fruit, mad markets with unreal tees, temples and buddhas as tall as buildings, and most of all the peaceful nature of the thai people......even in hectic bangkok.

I think much of it has to do with their buddhist faith, any daily practice that involves meditative reflection on compassion for others, peace of mind and happiness has to be worth a second look. So here's an exercise for us all to have a better day and a warmer smile when meeting people, take 5 mins to yourself to think about how you can make someones day!

Next blog.....pumping surf!!!!yeah

Off Rambling

So we've locked the doors, packed up and off we go for 6 weeks in Australia! Just touched down in Bangkok for a few days.....donegal to Bangkok.....what a transition! So far so good with sensationally asian food, shopping centres which can only be descibed as disco......... and markets with people packed into every breathable space! Lots more to report but the flighty temptress of adventure is calling....so we're off!

p.s anyone know where to find this Buddha fellow?

Winter waves

The winter surf in Ireland and the UK is something else. Turned up to a spot today with pounding double overhead waves and howling offshore wind, freezing conditions and one lonesome charger out at the worlds edge. Paddling out you're stoked to know the guy in the lineup and realising it's a whole lot bigger, faster and choppier than appeared from the van. You get less waves, and its colder than in some places, but when that heavy peak rears up hugs the reef and you make the drop and rattle along the face....it truly doesn't matter!

Dusting off the shortboard

So if you are in Europe at the moment most of you will be pretty cold and many of you unhappy about shoveling off your drive.... and the road conditions.... and the queues of traffic into work...and the excess heating bills..... and organising the kids who are off school ....and so on.....however for the extreme sports folks you'll be pretty happy. There is buckets of snow up the mountains and waves have been good for all parts who like the north swell, and icy cold to keep the fair weather warriors in their arm chairs!
I have already heard great tales of waist deep powder in Scotland and we're all stoked to hear its being well taken care of by the Aberdeen crew amongst many others.
We've had a fairly calm few weeks for waves in ireland but the clear skies and starry nights have been mesmorising. Over the holidays there was small clean swell to get the fun foam boards out and enjoy the clear blue skies and snow on the hills.
Yesterday a small west swell came in and lit up at a few special places and allowed the few keen beans to dust off the shortboards and enjoy the spectacular sunset. Here is to the cold and making the most of it.cheers

Lets go Bloggo

The Narosa Team would like to welcome you to our blog....it's hard to know where to start after such an amazingly busy first year in Donegal, Ireland. We've got the surf school going strong and we're running a range of outdoor activities. Our shop in Dunfanaghy has gone great in 2009 and we hope for more of the same in 2010. Keep checking out what we are up to right here....