corksurf.com

Portugese Man-O-War Alert

Apparently this was mentioned on Irish radio today also. I've heard reports of people seeing these things in Irish waters, and I saw one myself in France which isn't too far away really.

Here's some info taken from Wikipedia

Research suggests that in the normal course the best treatment for a Portuguese Man O' War sting is:
(a) to avoid any further contact with the Portuguese Man O' War and to carefully remove any remnants of the creature from the skin (taking care not to touch them directly with fingers or any other part of the skin to avoid secondary stinging) then
(b) to apply salt water to the affected area (not fresh water, which tends to make the affected area worse)
If eyes have been affected they should be irrigated with copious amounts of room temperature tap water for at least 15 minutes and if vision blurs, or the eyes continue to tear, hurt, swell, or are light sensitive after irrigating, or there is any concern, a doctor should be seen as soon as possible;
(c) to follow up with the application of hot water (45 �C/113 �F) to the affected area, which eases the pain of a sting by denaturing the toxins.
Vinegar dousing has been shown to cause strengthening of nematocysts from the larger (P. physalis) man-of-war species (that is, increasing the toxin and worsening the symptoms) while the effect of vinegar on the nematocysts of the smaller species (which has less severe stings) has been confirmed that will provoke hemorrhaging. Vinegar is therefore not recommended.

Hopefully it won't affect anyone but at least be prepared in case you do come across one.

Longboard Comp & Fish Fry

The West Coast Surf Club Longboard Competition is taking place this year in Lahinch on the 19th and 20th of September. This is always a great weekend out and a chance to see some of the countries best longboarders in action. The deadline for applications has been set for the 06th September 2009, with the first already received. Interested participants may download an entry form from The West Coast Surf Club Website or send their applications by post (to Lahinch Surf Shop, Old Promenade, Lahinch, Co. Clare c/o Cliodhna Fawl); a non-refundable entry fee of €15 is required on application as is current Irish Surfing Association membership.

For further details please contact Cliodhna Fawl 086-3366023 or Dave Flynn 087 629 2335, or visit The West Coast Surf Club Website.

The 2009 European Fish Fry will also be held the same weekend in Lahinch, this will be your chance to see and meet some of the best shapers in the world including Chris Christensen, Rich Pavel, Ian Zamora and Pat Rawson. Chris Christensen is also staying on to do some shaping so you can grab a Californian board from one of the world best shapers without the import duty and vat!
For more info contact paul@glidesurfboards.net or phone 087 7495680

All in all this weekend looks like it's going to be on of the biggest events in the Surfing Calendar.

Board Review - Jacobs 422 Performance Noserider

Having really only ridden traditional-style logs the Jacobs 422 Performance Noserider was a bit of a departure for me. Sure, it had the breeding of the original Jacobs 422 Noserider but that 'P' word in the middle had me a little cautious to say the least. Three days after I collected her, however, I was glad of it, glad of the pin tail, glad of the pulled in hips, I was even glad of the side bites!

What had looked like waist high peelers from the road had turned out to be solid 1.5x to 2x overhead monsters with a few bigger clean-up sets thrown in for good measure. This was truly a lesson in "small vs. far away". Now anybody who knows me knows I like my logs on smaller waves, anything under 2ft and I'm reaching for the log. A hint of anything over that and I'm on a fish or shortboard, no question. So half way out to the line-up when I started to hear the sets breaking I did start to question myself.

I had nothing to worry about, the board slipped into each wave perfectly without any struggle whatsoever. The side-bites took a little getting used to but I was thankful for them in the steeper sections where the board forgave me my mistakes more than once. There was no noseriding done that day, although I did manage one or two turns and cutbacks when the wave allowed it. Probably not the prettiest but hey, I wasn't killed, and that's the important thing :)

Since that first day out I've put that board through her paces in pretty wide range of conditions. From a beautiful 2ft glassy day on a right-hand reef up North to head-high onshore slop at home she hasn't let me down yet. I've kept the side-bites in for most days except the really small clean logging days where all you want to do is glide. All in all I'm delighted with the board so far, she's really earned a top spot in my quiver and opened my eyes up to the more subtle elements of longboard design.

The Jacobs 422 Performance Noserider is available in Ireland through californiadreamin.ie - prices start from € 860.

To discuss this board or post your own review, please check out the Review Forum

Kerry Surf Event

Update: This event will take place on Inch Beach, Co. Kerry on Sunday the 14th of June. The prizegiving will be in Sammys Bar afterwards.

AOR Surfboards in association with Bowlers Toyota Killarney will be running an Expression Session surfing event in Castlegregory on Sunday the 7th of June to celebrate the launch of aorsurfboards.com.

First prize will be a custom AOR surfboard worth €600 and there will be plenty of other spot prizes. Everyone who enters will receive a prize.

For more details see http://www.aorsurfboards.com

Alan O'Riordan is a gifted surfer and shaper who has been making boards for the last 15 years. His speciality is parabolic wooden railed surfboards.

Event Sponsors: Bowlers Toyota, Jamie Knox, E & D Marine, The Brehon Killarney.

Garrettstown Beach Cleanup

Summer is upon us and Gtown Surf School are hosting a Beach Clean up on Sunday May 17th. We are meeting at the Surf School trailer for 10am. Bags and cloves will be provided to all volunteers and all rubbish collected, will be disposed of appropriately by Cork County Council. We would like to invite all surfers who Surf Garrettstown to make the effort and give and hour or two to make the place fresh & clean. Coffee Dock will be treating anyone who helps out, to a free Tea / Coffee / Hot Chocolate afterwards.

It should only take a small while if we get enough people to help out and hopefully you will be rewarded with some good waves in return for your help!
We look forward to seeing you all there.