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Posts Tagged ‘Ireland’

Comments Off on Nissan Generation Next Vote!

Can’t believe it but I’m number 3 at the moment in the Nissan Brand Ambassador competition. I stand to win the use of a free Nissan for a year! Please continue to vote as there is only one week left. It’s a daily vote and you need to click on your confirmation e mail to validate your vote. Please check your spam/junk if you don’t see the ‘No reply’ e mail from Nissan. Thank you SOOO much everyone. https://www.nissangenerationnext.ie/entry/read_more?id=171

 

 

 

Comments Off on Wakeboarding – from Dublin to Orlando

It has been a really eventful couple of weeks! After finally finishing my exams, I had a week at home to ride and have the banter with all the lads. After this we had such a sick weekend riding at the Dublin Docklands Festival. There were about 50,000 people there over the whole weekend. Thanks to Des Burke-Kennedy for the photos.

Dublin Docklands Festival Wakeboarding

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Comments Off on Great wakeboarding weather!

 

It’s official! We’re on course for the coldest March in 50 years. Not only has it been cold but  it’s been really windy too. Another eight weeks (and all my college exams) before I head to Florida. Wish I could fast track the time. Details

Comments Off on Wakeboarding & Banter
11 February 2013

Wakeboarding & Banter

Hey Guys,

Just back from a really really fun weekend riding at my place in Cavan. Fortunately, the weather was actually okay for most of the weekend so we were able to get a good bit of shredding done!

On Saturday it was myself, Sian Hurst, Sam Carne (who hadn’t ridden in the cold for 7 years!!) and Brian Deegan who took his first set after 11 months off the water due to his knee surgery. We had a great time and the water was like glass, and the sun even popped out for about 12 minutes!

Then on Saturday we were joined by Ashley Murray (Big Ash) to come for a shred or two. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t quite as on par as Saturday, but none the less, we all managed to have a slick time in the rain, and do a few cool tricks and we had a lot of banter.

Looking forward to getting out to Xtreme Gene in Spain very soon before heading to Aus for the World Cup in March 🙂 Details

Comments Off on In memory of Cianne Naji
27 January 2013

In memory of Cianne Naji

This weekend the entire Wakeboard community worldwide, and all of Ci’s friends and family, were devastated when she passed away. Ci fought a long hard battle against Cystic Fibrosis for her whole life. Despite this she was still one of the most banterful and cheerful people anybody could ever come across. Ci was always up for having fun and really was a great example of living life to the fullest. Details

Comments Off on New 2013 O’Brien Gear
16 January 2013

New 2013 O’Brien Gear

So stoked to get my new 2013 gear out here in Florida. Have been shredding this week and the new Coda board and GTX bindings are sick!

O'Brien 2013 boards & bindings

Comments Off on Weekend before Wakeboard World Cup in Palembang

It was the last weekend to be able to ride before the World Cup. We had a few riders still brave enough to hit the cold water in Cavan on Saturday! David Coates was just back from Spain, Carro Djupso joined us all the way from Sweden en route to the World Cup. Ashley Murray came down from Northern Ireland and of course Sian and myself from Dublin. It was so cold that the first few feet of my rope was frozen solid – more like a bar than a rope!

Then yesterday we had the AGM of our Irish Wakeboard Federation where all kinds of issues get discussed and clubs book comps for next year.

Lough Sillan, Ireland


On Wednesday Sian and I fly out to Palembang in Indonesia. It’s a long long journey….. We fly Dublin to Dubai, then to Singapore and finally on to Palembang in South Sumatra. It’s 33 degrees there at the moment so that will be a nice change. Can’t wait for the last competition of the year and to see all the other riders again as everyone has been training in different countries – from Thailand to the USA.. Details

Comments Off on New Billabong gear!
25 October 2012

New Billabong gear!

Just got my new season Billabong gear! It looks so good and I’m so stoked. Big thanks to Nathan, Bernard, Hugh and all the crew at Billabong.

David

 

Comments Off on EA Wakeboard Championships, Kiev – Day 1

Hi everyone,
So stoked to let you know all the Open Men on the Irish Team qualified through to Semi Finals today! Not bad for a small cold and wet island! Paul Johnston, David Coates and I all got through qualifying rounds today to make Semis on Friday. We’re all so happy. Tomorrow the girls are riding, Aisling, Lindsay and Sian, as well as Jonny Crawford in Masters so good luck to them!
David




Comments Off on Irish Open Wakeboard Championships & Riverfest

Hi guys,

Last weekend to finish our little tour we went to Riverfest in Coleraine which was such a cool event and there were thousands of people on the riverside over the weekend. There was lots of entertainment for kids, jet ski demos, strong man and strong woman national championships and loads of other stuff.

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Comments Off on Irish Wakeboard Nationals 2012

Hi guys,

Just back home from another amazing weekend at the Irish nationals at Lough Muckno Wakeboard Club. We had ups and downs with the weather but when it came to finals yesterday the water was practically glass!

On Saturday we saw awesome riding from all the riders across all the categories and it was so great to see all the young guns killing it! It looks like a lot of them have bright futures ahead!!

After the first day of the Championships on Saturday we had a best trick, best attempt and best crash contest. Loads of new tricks were tried, and many edges too!! It was sick to see Sian Hurst stick the first ever mobe by a European athlete in a European contest when she nailed that whirly! Big congrats  Sian! Then I was also delighted to stick my first ever heel 9 straight after!! 🙂 So it was a contest well worthwhile for everybody 🙂 Details

Comments Off on Irish National Championships, Day 1

Wind, rain, cold and horrifically choppy water….. then the sun came out and the water calmed down…. a great start to our Nationals! Really happy that I qualified straight through to Finals and so stoked to see so many young kids competing and upping their game each year. Check out the photos below.
David

Comments Off on Riverfest – Waterways Ireland Open Wakeboard Championships

Check out Riverfest which is happening next month – Waterways Ireland Open Wakeboard Championships are being run over the weekend of 11th & 12th August. This is always a great event with thousands of people attending and there are lots of other activities on over the weekend. See the timetable here.

Comments Off on Monster New Sponsorship!

Hi everyone,

So stoked to announce that I have now signed with Monster Energy. Monster has a great crew and I love their energy drinks 🙂 They kept me going during my exams this past couple weeks as well as being brilliant when I’m riding! I look forward to working with Monster in the years ahead. Check them out on http://www.monsterenergy.com/

Thanks,

David

Comments Off on Finished school today!
20 June 2012

Finished school today!

YES, FINISHED! At last my final school exams are over. Heading to Xtreme Gene in Spain in 36 hours! Our boat is still broken so I can’t wait to get some riding in and some sunshine!

Cheers

David

Comments Off on Billabong summer gear
5 June 2012

Billabong summer gear

So stoked to get my new Billabong gear – as usual it looks so good this season. Thanks to Nathan, Hugh, Bernard and everyone at Billabong!!

Billabong Summer gear!

Comments Off on Wakeboarding at Dublin Docklands’ Festival

What an amazing hot weekend for the Dublin Docklands’ Festival. The sun shone for the entire time and there were thousands of people there. Jonny Crawford , from Mastercraft, gave slalom demos and Lindsay Whelan, from the Irish team, and I gave wakeboarding demos over the two days.  The water wasn’t the best as the area is very small and there is a backwash from the walls but we managed to throw a few things which kept the crowd cheering!
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Comments Off on Summer Wakeboarding in 9 Degrees Centigrade…..

It’s unbelievable here this month, really cold. Where is our summer? Last weekend in one day we hailstones and thunder and lightning, and this weekend we had hailstones again. Today the wind blew up to gale force and to cap it all our boat broke down for the first time ever since we bought it in 2007. It looks like breaking all records for the coldest May ever in Ireland if it keeps up like this for the rest of the month. I wish I could be in Florida or Xtreme Gene in Spain! Fingers crossed it picks up for next weekend.

A grey day in May!

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Comments Off on 3rd at Wake Games, Orlando

Hey everyone,

Just got back from the Wake Games in Orlando where I managed to make the podium and take 3rd place in Junior Pro Men. I’m so happy as I was very nervous riding with all those big names. I was even more stoked to have landed a toe back 7 and a heel back 7, back to back in semis.

Riding at Stew Mackie's place

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Comments Off on 5th at Wakeboard World Cup – Australia

Hi Guys,

The last few days I have been in Mandurah in Western Australia competing in the Wakeboard World Cup. They selected 20 of the top male and ten of the top female riders in the world.

Personally, I was just delighted to be invited to the event. There were loads of spectators on the banks when we kicked off at 8 o’clock on St. Patrick’s day. The water was quite choppy for Qualifying rounds but I managed to ride well and I was just over the moon to get through to semis.

Sian & David at the World Cup

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Comments Off on Practice – World Cup Australia

Hi guys,

Arrived in Perth, Australia a few days ago and managed to get a little training in at Bonney’s ski park, which is about half an hour outside the city. A big thanks to Jonny Crawford and Annette and Donough O’Donovan for looking after me so well!

Training at Bonney's ski park

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Comments Off on Gold Medal at Europe Africa Wakeboard Championships

Hi everybody,

Still can’t believe that I actually won the Gold at the Europe Africa Championships at the weekend. It was an amazing event and I’m still pumped.

The Championships were held on the Vaal River near Jo’burg. There were 124 Riders from 16 countries with two new countries competing for the first time this year – Namibia and Israel.

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Comments Off on South Africa – Training
15 February 2012

South Africa – Training

Hi everybody,

Last Tuesday, following my 9am Accounting exam, I got straight onto a flight to South Africa. Despite missing my connecting flight and not knowing when I could get another, I still managed to arrive at Kevin Dry’s place, Boardalign, on Wednesday night!

The Irish Team had already been there for a few days to get some training in. For the next few days we trained hard and everyone was doing so well! Sian Hurst had already got her contest pass to perfection and was working on some new tricks, Lindsay and Aisling were both landing 3’s consistently despite Lindsay falling previously and injuring her ribs. Then Aisling started to step it up and get some toeside backrolls and some tantrums! (I have high hope for both in the EA Championships). Brian Deegan, even with no ACL was still managing to get a lot of his old stuff back which was great to see as he was just so delighted to be on the water! Details

Comments Off on Irish Wakeboard Team at Xtreme Gene

The Irish Team

Hey everyone,

What a great way to start 2012. Straight after Christmas most of us on the Irish team headed over to Xtreme Gene in Cordoba in Spain, which is probably the best place to ride in Europe. After a dodgy drive down from Malaga (in a Volkswagen van with the wrong gearbox??) we all managed to get a set on the water before it got dark. It was a bit warmer there than in Ireland and we even had sunshine some days. With double ejections, front edges and lots of banter, it was a great ten days. Details

Comments Off on Winter riding in 0 degrees…..

Beautiful but cold!

Hi all,

Well it’s getting colder and colder here in Ireland and we have already had our first snowfall of the season! It’s woolly hat weather (on the water!) and we warm our feet in buckets of water before putting on our bindings! See the photos! We have also had a big problem with the wind. It’s been really difficult to get out the past few weekends and we spend a lot of time trying to find a spot on the lake where there aren’t white horses! Last Saturday and Sunday we had a team training weekend at our place in Cavan and we had over half the team there. One is in Australia and two were doing university exams so that wasn’t a half bad turnout considering the weather! Sunday was good though – no wind, but we did have cold, rain, sunshine and snow! Details