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Displaying items by tag: Aileens

#Surfing - One of big wave surfing's best kept secrets off the Clare coast has seen the area named among the top surf spots in the UK and Ireland, as the Clare Herald reports.

Easkey in Co Sligo and The Peak in Bundoran, Co Donegal also made the grade alongside Aileens, a renowned offshore swell only accessible to those in the know, in the list put together by Surfholidays.com.

The Clare Herald has more on the story HERE.

Published in Surfing
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#Surfing - Iceland, of all places, may not be known as a surfing hot-spot - but Irish wave rider Eoin McCarthy Deering has made something of the freezing swell, as the video above demonstrates.

The clip, via IrishCentral, was captured using one of the now ubiquitous GoPro portable HD cameras that enable extreme sports enthusiasts to record footage right from the centre of the action.

Closer to home, Epic TV reports on yet more incredible sessions at Mullaghmore Head and Aileens, this time by visiting surf pros Kohl Christiansen and Aritz Aranburu - see the videos below.

Christiansen took on the giant waves off Sligo - which are featured once again among the nominees for the Billabong XXL Big Wave Awards - while Aranburu headed to Clare with British rider Tom Lowe for a run at the famed surf break.

Kohl Christiansen at Mullaghmore Part 1:



Kohl Christiansen at Mullaghmore Part 2:



Aritz Aranburu at Aileens:

Published in Surfing

#SURFING - Surfing website MagicSeaweed captured French surf pro Justine Dupont in top form at Aileens off the West of Ireland on Sunday 21 October.

The 21-year-old paddled out to the secret big wave surfing spot with 2011 Billabong XXL Biggest Wave Award winner Benjamin Sanchis, where they promptly broke their boards caught in the biggest barrels of the day.

Turning their attentions instead to the "infamous cold water right-hander", Dupont was towed into a stunning 12-foot tunnel of water - as the video above shows.

"It was more than a session, it was a mission," said Dupont. "From getting smashed paddling out to surfing that perfect beautiful wave, it was a day I’ll never forget."

MagicSeaweed has photos and video of Dupont's Aileens adventure HERE.

Published in Surfing

The Dragon was designed by Johan Anker in 1929 as an entry for a competition run by the Royal Yacht Club of Gothenburg, to find a small keel-boat that could be used for simple weekend cruising among the islands and fjords of the Scandinavian seaboard. The original design had two berths and was ideally suited for cruising in his home waters of Norway. The boat quickly attracted owners and within ten years it had spread all over Europe.

The Dragon's long keel and elegant metre-boat lines remain unchanged, but today Dragons are constructed using the latest technology to make the boat durable and easy to maintain. GRP is the most popular material, but both new and old wooden boats regularly win major competitions while looking as beautiful as any craft afloat. Exotic materials are banned throughout the boat, and strict rules are applied to all areas of construction to avoid sacrificing value for a fractional increase in speed.

The key to the Dragon's enduring appeal lies in the careful development of its rig. Its well-balanced sail plan makes boat handling easy for lightweights, while a controlled process of development has produced one of the most flexible and controllable rigs of any racing boat.