Surf’s up
From tomorrow, for a week, more than 80 of the world's top windsurfers from 20 countries, will be descend on Castlegregory with the aim of being crowned Wave World Champion and pocketing 65,000.
Leading the field will be last year's Andorran-based world champion Bjo¨rn Dunkerbeck while current Irish wavesurfing champion Oisín Van Gelderen, from Skerries, heads the Irish challenge.
This is the third year that the Professional Windsurfers Association has staged the event in Ireland in conjunction with Bord Fáilte, and this weekend's setting is considered by many windsurfers as one of the best spots in the world to ply their trade.
Indeed, leading Irish amateur Peter Nunan calls Brandon Bay the "Hawaii of Europe" for windsurfing. Here, Nunan, from Courtmacsherry, Co Cork, gives the lowdown on his sport and explains why windsurfing in this country is on the up and up.
Q: Tell us about the PWA Irish Wave Grand Prix.
PN: It's a leg of the whole PWA circuit so all the big guys are here as well as a lot wildcard entries like myself. The big names are delighted to come back here because the conditions are so good. Without doubt we have the Hawaii of Europe here along the west coast and Brandon is one of the best spots. We were lucky last year because there was a lot of waiting around initially but when it happened it happened big.
Q: And how does the competition work?
PN:The pros have participated in PWA World Tour events around the globe where they've picked up points and the Irish Wave Grand Prix is the climax to the season. Everyone competes in elimination heats, gradually progressing to a final.
They are three or four of you in a heat which is usually eight minutes long. So the idea is to be beyond the waves out the back until your time arrives and you can then go straight in and catch a wave. Then you can work on the wave, do your manoeuvres and impress the judges. They are looking for good wave-riding, good style, the airtime you get off a wave, and what you do in the air when you're jumping: combinations, forward loops, back loops, push loops, one-handed loops, table tops; it's got a language all of its own. But it's important to do your moves where they can see you. It's no good doing all your best stuff when you're way out the back.
Q: What should we be looking out for at Brandon?
PN: You'll see these guys performing unbelievable manoeuvres, maybe double, triple loops with grace and style. The speed at which they can perform these moves is mind-boggling. For me, as an amateur just in the back door, it's great to sail with these guys. Just being able to watch them brings up your own standards.
Q: How does the Irish scene stand in world terms?
PN: There isn't anybody in Ireland who is a professional, following the circuit round all year. Our best is Oisín Van Gelderen, who came first in the Irish Windsurfing Association events last year. He did well in last year's Grand Prix, I think he got through two of the heats, which is quite good.
The main guys are professionals, it's their job. Oisín's semi-pro, he works and he gets out as much as he can. But this event is good for the sport in this country. We have the conditions and I would think our standard is going to get better. The PWA are coming here for the third year and I'd say they'll be coming here again and again. because the conditions are so good and they haven't had a bad year yet. So I can see the Irish standards getting better and better, being dragged up and up just by having this event here every year.
We're getting 40-50 competitors in our IWA events. We'll have four events this year. We've already had one in Coolmain in Cork, one in Achill, Co Mayo. The next one is in Belmullet and then we go down to Brandon. The Grand Prix has an eight-day window so you are more likely to get the good conditions you need. Our windows for the Irish events are a lot smaller, we're all amateurs and we can only compete at weekends, so we have less chance of hitting the right conditions.
Q: What are the right conditions?
PN: You're looking for waves which are maybe half-mast to mast-high about shoulder height to four or five metres high with cross-shore winds of about force four or five. With those conditions everybody's happy. It can get too wild, too extreme and everyone gets a bit battered when they go out. You can get different boards and sails to fit the conditions and if you want to compete you'd have to have two or three wave boards and at least six rigs otherwise you're wasting your time.
You have to have them all rigged up and ready to go on the beach so that if the conditions change then you just grab a different rig and go. At the top it is a lot to do with that and fitting it all into your eight-minute heat as well as being able to perform.
There are a lot of guys on the Irish circuit who are good but they're just not trained up yet to getting it all into the eight minutes; getting out there, doing their moves and impressing the judges.
Q: Isn't it all a bit of a pose?
PN: The image thing you mean? There's a lot of that in it but then you find that some of the guys with all the image would not be the best guys sailing. As for me, I drive around in my white van with the boards on top looking for the right place to catch the surf. Image wouldn't be my thing either. The social side of it would be fairly relaxed as well. There will be lots going on down in Brandon next week but most of the guys down there sailing will be taking it nice and easy, having a meal at the end of the day, a beer or two and going to bed at nine or 10. But there's a lot of it about and, for instance, you can see that in the fact there are two surf shops in Cork now. I'd say a lot of their business is just in selling clothing to people who are never going to go out on a wave.
Q: For those who do go out and wave sail, how physically demanding is it?
PN: Wave sailing would be the most physically demanding aspect of the sport of windsurfing. You're constantly fighting with the waves, constantly fighting with the wind and after those eight minutes you feel you've done a round with Mike Tyson. You're constantly pumping it all the time.
Q: Does it ever get dangerous?
PN: Wave sailing can be a bit high-risk when you're going out in mast-high waves and launching yourself another 10 or 20 feet into the air. Potentially it can be very sore.
Q: So how does it feel when you're up on your board?
PN: When you're up on top of a big wave, playing with it, smacking off the lip, controlling it that's just a great feeling, one big adrenaline rush.
Q: So how would you sum up windsurfing?
PN: Vibrant, adrenaline-pumping, extreme and a little bit mad.
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