Portrush Brothers Surfing Closer To Virgin Boss Grant

9th May 2015

#Surfing - Two enterprising surfing brothers are one step closer to a £50,000 business grant from Virgin boss Richard Branson.

According to the Belfast Telegraph, Ricky and Chris Martin secured enough votes through the online 'Pitch to Rich' campaign to come first out of 897 businesses in the initial round.

And if they make it through to the final, they could present their Skunk Works Surfboards company to Branson himself, with the chance to persuade him to back their idea.

The Portrush brothers were profiled earlier this year for making the most of Ireland's growing thirst for surfing with their key concept - a custom method for manufacturing much more durable foam surfboards, or 'foamies'.

Already the duo have a manufacturing set-up in place and orders for 200 boards on the books.

But Ricky Martin, who also owns the Alive Surf School in Portrush, says pitching to Branson "could ultimately change how we do things".

The Belfast Telegraph has more on the story HERE.

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MacDara Conroy

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MacDara Conroy is a contributor covering all things on the water, from boating and wildlife to science and business

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