Oisin van Gelderen and Timo Mullen are firing on all cylinders as the Red Bull Storm Chase alert is sounded for Ireland.
This report from Oisin and Timo...
What a week it has been !
The final event in our Irish Championship was last wekeend in Belmullet on the West Coast of Ireland. I got up a few days early and scored great wavesailing with 3.5 and 3.2m sails.
For the event we had 2 rounds of freestyle (using 5.6 combat and JP FS100 pro), in which I cames 1st overall. Competition was tough, particularly from a Slovenian friend of mine who came with me to the event (he competes on the EFPT). Training with him has really helped push my freestyle.
Then 2 rounds of wave competition (using mostly 4.0 and 4.5m combat and JP Rad Wave 69). I won the first final, but messed up a semi-final heat in the second round, and so ended up 2nd overall in waves behind UK sailor Mark Hosegood. The conditions were pretty good, about head high to logo at best, with good maxed out jumping too. Duncan Coombes (PWA head judges) was brought in to make sure everything ran smoothly, which was great.
Still, the 2nd in waves (combined with my previous 1st places in Achill) was more than enough to secure me the 2006 IWA Wave Championships Title (6th in a row), and the IWA Freestyle Championships title too !!!!
I am absolutely delighted, it has been a long season with some frustrating light wind events, so to finally end on a high, with some good strong wind and wave conditions was a great way to go ! A camera crew was there on the final wave day, and we are trying to get footage shown on Irish TV once it is edited.
And if that wasn't enough... the next day the RedBull Storm Chase was called !
I drove straight from the Belmullet event towards the North Coast, as it looked like that would get the best wind for us. I made it half way and crashed out in Sligo before heading on very early the next morning. The storm was raging and I very nearly wrote the van off avoiding a fallen tree on the main road at 5.30am. Thank god my Vito has ABS brakes.
Anyway, en route to our location, the conditions changed and we re-routed to Malin Head, the most northerly point of Ireland, which should be getting cross shore as the wind swung to the North. When I arrived, it was still onshore, about 40 knots and way over mast-high shorebreak ! So I scouted around for another beach while waiting for the film crew and photographer to turn up (Timo was collecting him from the airport).
I found a better beach nearby, and while the wind swung, it dropped a bit, so we actually returned to the original beach but at a better launch site further up the beach.
Oisin van Gelderen and Timo Mullen - pushing each other to the limits
To say the conditions were stuning would be an understatement. The wind has droped from storm force, but this in fact made the windsurfing better. The swell had stayed, and the waves cleaned up a bit, and the sun was shining ! (This is Ireland remember). We got straight to work, Timo on the water first while I got kitted up. We sailed for a few hours, 2 video cameras shooting, I wore a helmet cam and mastcam, and John Carter shot the stills (I have attached a few). Sure it's true we didnt get to sail in crazy winds, but we did get sailing in very radical conditions - one that most windsurfers would only dream of !
Personally I think our shots are some of the most stunning and scenic too.
Timo Mullen adds his thoughts .....
"With the wind coming from the North we were really stuck for locations to go to for good wavesailing in Ireland, basically the wind is never from the North so already we were looking for somewhere new to sail the storm. Back to basics, get out a map, look for where the swell will hit biggest and where the wind is sideshore! The only option seemed a west facing bay in the most northerly point in Ireland, Pollan Bay on the Malin Head Penninsula.
Neither myself or Oisin had ever been there before so we were both pretty anxious as if it turned out to be a pile of shit then we had blown the whole day driving and wasting everyones time, to say this was a gamble would be a massive understatement!!! Oisin arrived at the beach first and his report back wasn't the best...''Its double mast high and onshore, looks impossible to sail!!''
Fortunately within half an hour the wind swung more cross shore and the waves dropped in size, so by the time we both had rigged up it was looking pretty good!!
It seemed windier than it was, and with such a big swell we had to rig big sails to plane due to the very strong rip currents that day. Both of us enjoyed about 3 hours jumping and riding trying to better each other for biggest wave and biggest back loop!!
Oisin van Gelderen mid rotation through a back loop
Timo showing that anything you can do ....
All in all it wasn't the most classic down the line wavesailing day ever in Ireland, but for an adrenaline fix and chasing the Storm I think we have to win the award for the most out of the way location and taking the biggest gamble!!!“
Oisin van Gelderen and Timo Mullen - after a hard days storm chasing in Ireland
Some of these shots are now on www.redbullstormchase.com/gallery
Don't forget the Red Bull Storm Chase is a competition and winning the coveted prize of Red Bull Storm Chaser 2006 can't be done without your help - so don't forget to add your votes - once all of the video footage is in.
Check out the Red Bull Storm Chase website for the very latest video footage - brilliant.
More info:: www.redbullstormchase.com
All photos: John Carter / Red Bull Storm Chase
