Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Surf Info/Paddle Sandycove


Offshore Surf shop and G-Town Surf School have set the bar for fundraising having raised over 1200euro from two events run over 26/27Jan08 in aid of the Old Head Cliff and Rescue and the RNLI.

On the 26Jan they ran a Introductory surf night in the Speckled door for Beginner and Intermediate Surfers. Entry was free and there was plenty of prizes to encourage raffle tickets to be bought. Top prizes included a 7’9 BIC Board Package including bag, leash and wax and a Rip Curl Core wetsuit.

There were three speakers on the night first up was Jon Hynes from G-Town Surf school to discuss water safety, surf etiquette, water currents and other beach hazards to be made aware of. Presented on the big screen Jon’s talk was a great introduction to the evening with Jon’s humour coming through in spades.

It was an honor to have Jason Coniry’s company for the evening representing Rip Curl/Incide Surf Shop to talk us through the different technical aspects of wetsuits, booties and hoods and everything you need to stay warm in the water and innovations still in the pipeline with this leading wetsuit brand.

Local surfing legend Dr David Nagle was generous enough to donate his time and dare I say it ample years of surfing experience to explain common health issues for surfers who are spending a lot of time in the water and prevention methods. Dr Nagle has been surfing 37years, when he talks, everybody listens.

The evening ended with the raffle. Congratulations to Billy Nyhan who is the proud owner of the Rip Curl wetsuit and to Ed Leach who won the BIC Board Package.

The 27Jan was the date set for phase two of Operation ‘raise money’. Location was Sandycove Island, Time – 11am. Local Swimmers got to the water first and the surfers held back give them a head start.

Paddle Sandycove is in its first year and there was a great turnout from the local community to support the 1.1mile paddle.

The underaged took to the water first making it to the island and back in record time, the ‘Overaged’ joined them in the water for photos before taking on the journey around the island. Conditions were close to ideal with the sun making an appearance and very little swell made the event a huge success.

The Cliff and Rescue team and the RNLI were on hand offering support and a few rescue demonstrations to keep the crowds entertained during the event.

Hot Drinks were available from Coffeedock with all proceeds being donated to the cause.

Stand up paddleboards made a special appearance on the day courtesy of Offshore Surf Shop and G-Town Surf School offering participants a chance to try them out. Don’t worry if you did’nt get a chance. Watch this space for further details.

The RNLI/Cliff and Rescue Old Head are volunteers and are on call 24/7. As water users they watch over us, even though we don’t see them, if anything happened they would be there asap. Some interesting facts are that it costs 300euro to send a member of the group on a radio course, 1000 euro to train a rescue boat coxman and if it comes to the worst and a rescue has to be made it can cost upto 2000euro. Any further donations can be made at Offshore Surf Shop or G-Town Surf School.

Offshore Surf Shop and G-town Surf School would like to thank all the participants over the weekend, The Speckled door, Jason Coniry of Rip Curl, Dr David Nagle and all the people who supported this very worthy cause.

No comments: