Four Nations Cup (Wave) Round 1

Four Nations Cup Round 1
When:	23-27 April
Where:	Brandon Bay, Ireland
Winners
Pro Men:	John Skye
Amatuers:	Louise Emery
Youths:	Graham Woods
Juniors:	Tom Knox

The Irish event must be one of the favourites on the UKWA Tour. It always seems to provide the conditions and get the results mainly because the dates are set using Jamie Knox's crystal ball! No kidding, he spends weeks studying the moon cycles, the tides and the long range forecasts before informing the UKWA when to hold the event.

This year's event was no exception; in one week the fleet had all Brandon Bay could throw at them from howling winds with horizontal rain to wall-to-wall sunshine and perfect surfing conditions.

Mad Monday

We went to bed to a gentle sea breeze, we woke up to a mad man's gale. It was hard enough to open the rented cottage door, let alone get to the beach and rig up in time for Round 1 of the Four Nations Cup.

The Head Jugde, Brian McDowell, along with Mr.Knox himself decided to run the contest at Dumps in cross onshore, port tack conditions. 3.7m sails and less was the order of the day as the Pro fleet were the first to start. The usual suspects got through the first rounds with John Skye showing off his takas in the onshore mush as well as solid push loops. John Hibbard was sailing really well especially in the jumps, scoring high for his forward loops & push loops. Jamie Hancock was trying table top push loops as was Andy King who looked like the guy to beat in the warm up session. Oisin Van Gelderen came over from Dublin to join in the fun and upset the visiting English with a fine display of onshore wave riding with the odd ponch thrown in for good measure.

Chris Audsley didn't look like he had spent a winter building on the south coast as he soon found form in the waves. James Cox was scoring high backloops and newcomer to the Pro fleet, Mark Bell, was doing impressive stalled forwards. Ben Proffitt, however, was stuck on the sidelines (or more appropriately in his van) as the day before the contest he wrecked his ankle doing a ponch. Looked like the rest of the fleet took a sigh of relief as these were Ben's beloved port tack conditions!

As the wind continued to howl, it was Jamie Hancock, Chris Audsley, John Skye & John Hibbard who made the final four. Andy King sailed a poor heat to be knocked out in the quarter finals and was unapproachable until Mr. Hibbard made him a nice cup of tea in the back of his van! Skye & Hibbard got through to the final which was run in the best conditions of the day. It was pretty close but Skyeboy came through to win Round 1.

Let's not forget about the Amateur & Youth/Junior fleets. Graham Woods was the better heat sailor in the Youths. Rich Woods was going for ponches but not landing them, therefore zero points. Graham stuck to what he knew and came out on top. In the Junior fleets, I couldn't believe such little scamps could go out in the gale force winds - I was very impressed as Aleksy Gayda & Tom Knox battled it out on their very, very small sails. Tom won this time around but the competition was far from over.

As there were no other Ladies wishing to compete, I was thrown in with the guys. No pressure saw me sail quite well (if I do say so myself). My jumping wasn't as good as the guys but as wave riding counted for more (x3) I was ripping it up, milking every wave, no matter how small, until my fin ground into the sand! Simon Crowther (event photographer and top amateur competitor) said such behaviour was beneath him until he lost the heat and then proceeded to join me in grinding away at anything with a white cap on. But it was to no avail, and Simon suddenly became less interested in taking photos and more interested in kicking my butt when the competition was moved to Strandbally for Round 2.

Change of Venue

The judges called for Round 2 to be held at Strandbally, the beach to the far right of Gowlane where the waves are nearly always bigger. They needed to be bigger! The wind was forecast to drop and it did; it was now 4.5m weather rather than 3.5m weather! But without a reasonable ground swell, the waves weren't what Brandon Bay usually delivers with head high sets but not a lot in between. But Round 2 started in the just about down-the-line conditions. The Pro fleet got down to the last 4 (Skye, Van Gelderen, King & Hibbard) and the other fleets had two more heats each before the wind became too fluky and the sets too few. It was, however, eight in the evening. It had been a very. long day.

Time for some Starboard Tack

Tuesday was a convienent rest day due to the lack of breeze but Wednesday morning saw a north/north-west chilly wind blow away the rain and Dumps was again the chosen venue. Well, we all parked at Dumps but in fact the sailing area was closer to Shitties (don't you just love these Irish beach names). But with Tom Knox giving lifts on his tractor in between his heats, the sailors + kit and in my case + baby, made it down to the correct area to finish off the semi-final of Round 2.

Skye beat Oisin to join Andy King in the final who had disposed of Hibbard and was now much happier! King was the better jumper in the final but Skye caught a wave right into the beach just before the heat's end to seal victory. Oisin beat Hibbard to take third place.

One more round of Amateurs, Youths & Juniors was ran before the wind & waves began to ease off.

We threw in a £150 Boardseeker Expression Session for good measure in the dying wind which was won by Andy King with Chris Audsley in second, Skye in third.

Jamie Knox tempted the wind Gods in the afternoon, this time at Shitties, but although the waves remained the wind did not so Round 3 never got started.

From that moment on, we had constant sunshine, good surfing and plenty of R&R. Awesome event, awesome location topped off with a splendid evening at the Seven Hogs pub just outside Castlegregory where the Boardseeker Movie of the event was shown to an appreciative public!

Thanks goes to Jamie Knox Watersports for running the event.

RESULTS

Pros (after two rounds)

1. John Skye

2. John Hibbard
3. Andy King

4. Oisin Van Gelderen

Amateurs (after 5 heats)

1. Louise Emery
2. Simon Crowther
3. Mark 'pirate' Seaney

Youths: 1. Graham Woods, 2. Rich Woods

Juniors: 1.Tom Knox, 2. Aleksy Gayda

NEXT STOP: Rhosneigr, North Wales (11-13 May)

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