Jon's Surf Blog

ISA Girls Improver Surf Camp August 2008.

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:02:21 GMT

Irish Surfing Association
Girls Improver Surf Camp
Tuesday August 5th to Friday 8th 2008.

We are pleased to announce that we will be hosting The camps are designed to help women surfers develop their surfing skills. Two of Ireland’s top women surfers, Ashleigh Smith and Shauna Ward will be running the camps under the Irish Sports Council’s Women in Sport Initiative.

Any woman wishing to attend must be over eighteen, have there own surfboard and wetsuit and be capable of standing up in white water. The camp cost €10 and can be booked through the Irish Surfing Association (Tel 096 49428 or E-mail info@isasurf.ie). For girls under eighteen girls there will be a four day camp at Garrettstown from the 5th to 8th August inclusive.

Surfers are advised to bring all their surf gear, board, wetsuit, towel, leash, wax etc. Woolly hat and warm jacket that you don’t mind wearing over your wetsuit. Big bottle of water. Healthy energy snack eg nuts, raisins, fruit, cereal bars, wholemeal cookies etc. Big healthy packed lunch. Make sure you have a good breakfast before coming to the beach. Be prepared for lots of surfing.

Each day will kick off at 10.30am and finish at 4.30pm

Look forward to seeing you there.

Please note places are limited.

Check this out!

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 08:52:23 GMT

Check this out. A cool online surfing game with Bic!

BIC LEGENDS

Wetsuit / Board Clearance sale this Sunday at Garrettstown.

Fri, 23 May 2008 07:14:00 GMT

Wetsuit / Board Clearance sale this Sunday at Garrettstown.

We're having a massive sale on wetsuits this coming Sunday at Garrettstown beach to make way for our new fleet of suits which have just arrived.
They are all ex hire / surf school suits, most in very good condition. Most of them are C-skins suits but there some other odds & ends.
Prices from €20 to €100, we also have a few foam boards, body boards & other accessories to sell off also.
Haggling accepted!
Starts 9am til 6pm.
Spread the word & hope to see you there.

Jon

Fri, 16 May 2008 15:29:21 GMT

Please text a vote for SURF 2 HEAL
Surf 2 Heal Website

Hi everyone.
I am posting here to ask people if they would text a vote for our group, Surf 2 Heal. If you havent already heard we have set up a Surf Camp for Irish Kids with autism, this concept has proven to be very successful elsewhere abroad whereby some kids had gotten some great stoke from surfing!

As surfers ourselves we are trying to do something positive within the sport this year and give these kids the opportunity to experience the joy, peace, fun and learning that we regularly experience through surfing.

We entered for the AIB Better Ireland awards and have been fortunate enough to make the final 3 in the Kinsale District. Basically we now need friends, family, volunteers and the surf population of Cork / Ireland to support us by texting

Kinsale C to 53099

By doing this we will hopefully secure funds to complete our fundraising program and then its full steam ahead with other aspects of our program. Texts cost 60 cent and the closing date is June 6th. We thanks you for your support in advance and welcome you to browse our website to learn more about SURF 2 Heal.

www.surf2heal.com

Many thanks
Jon, Nollaig & Alayne - Surf 2 Heal.

Table Quiz results.

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 10:23:37 GMT

Table Quiz Results

	Team number	Team name	Points
1	32		93
2	27	Three and 1	87
3	2	Team Dennis	84
4	35	Surf's up	84
5	24	Off the lip	83
6	29	The Clubbies	83
7	20	Sir Lawns-a lot	80
8	21	The A Team	80
9	34	Sponge Heads	79
10	9	Cupid Stunts	78
11	30	Team Joe	77
12	7	The Kings	76
13	13	Ziggy	76
14	16	The Blahs	76
15	3	Pin Pals	75
16	15		75
17	17	Apple Sours	74
18	31	The Cats	73
19	10	Red Shirts	72
20	4	The Bugle	70
21	28		70
22	12	Masters	69
23	36		68
24	37	Handsome henries	68
25	26	The high numbers	66
26	33	The Bronking bucks	66
27	1	Wander in, Stagger Out	63
28	5	The winners	63
29	8	Blue Steel	63
30	6	The Texters	62
31	19	Three wise Men .. Plus 1	62
32	38	Twolie	60
33	18	The Speech Therapists	59
34	25	Sally's boys	59
35	14	The Muppets	56
36	23	Blessed art thou among women	56
37	11	Dutch Loverboysssss	55
38	22	The cake fairy	50

Table Quiz - Massive Success.

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 09:32:10 GMT

Table Quiz Massive Success!!!!

Results here!

The BIG THANKS goes to the 37 tables who participated and gave so generously! A great turn out for a Thursday night. This has really kicked the whole project off. We are very grateful to all sponsors and participants.

I will follow this post this evening with a full list of all results etc.

Thanks again to you all!!!!

Ps Congratulations to Peter Murphy & his wife. He surfs at Gtown regularly and kindly organised 2 barrels of Murphys free of charge for last night! (not that it lasted too long!) They were blessed with a beautiful baby Girl yesterday! All doin well!

All in all a good days work!

Jon, Nollaig & Alayne.
Surf 2 Heal.

Surf 2 heal Table Quiz

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 08:07:56 GMT

TABLE QUIZ

in aid of

Surf 2 Heal

(a non-profit organization for autistic children)

Thursday 17^th April @ 8pm

Scott’s Bar (upstairs)

Oliver Plunkett Street, Cork

€40 per table of four

Contact: Nollaig Hayes (085-8270090)

For more information about Surf 2 Heal, please visit www.surf2heal.com

Surf Lesson Special this Weekend.

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 09:36:18 GMT

Surf Lesson Special this Weekend

April 12th & 13th.

This weekend we are holding surf lessons at the following times:

Friday April 11th 6pm (Start your weekend off with a surf!)

Saturday April 12th 11am & 2pm

Sunday April 13th 11am & 2pm (the 2pm lesson is for under 16's only)

Anyone who books a lesson for this weekend can be in with a chance of winning a voucher for €30 to spend in Offshore Surf Shop Kinsale or winning a Voucher for a Surf lesson with us at Gtown. Just call or email us to book your place, info@surfgtown.com / 087 8768549.

Hope to see you on the water! Jon

Earth Hour

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 08:14:30 GMT

Earth Hour 2008

I just signed up for Earth Hour 2008 and I thought you might like to
take a look and possibly sign up too.

Earth Hour is on 29 March 2008 at 8pm. So far, as well as Sydney,
there'll also be Adelaide, Atlanta, Bangkok, Brisbane, Canberra,
Chicago, Christchurch, Copenhagen, Dublin, Manila, Melbourne,
Montreal, Odense, Ottawa, Perth, Phoenix, San Francisco, Suva, Tel
Aviv, Toronto and Vancouver all turning off their lights for an hour
in the name of fighting global warming.

Sign up for Earth Hour by visiting the website and joining the movement.

Also check out more about Earth Hour here.

Earth Hour Website

Learn to Stand Up Paddle Board

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 12:56:27 GMT

Learn to Stand Up Paddle Board
with Gtown Surf School.

This April we are launching a new element to our Surf School. Stand Up Paddle Boarding has been around a long time but has seen a recent explosion of interest. I took it up last year and found it to be a great addition to my mainstream surfing interest.

Sup / Supping for short is now hitting our shores following its growth in popularity in Hawaii & other European countries. The sport is rooted in surfing culture and combines many things such as balance, strength, tradition and endurance not forgetting to mention the thrill of surfing waves on these great boards.

However its not all about surfing as you can enjoy touring paddles on those flat days and Supping is probably one of the greatest fitness workouts you can get in all of the surf sports. Trust me it is physical but incredibly rewarding. The sport appeals to kitesurfers, windsurfers, surfers, waveskiers and other water sports.

Learning is fun and easy! We start the first of a busy season of courses this coming April 1st (Tuesday) The courses consist of 4 sessions at a variety of locations. The course is priced at €150 and includes the use of a Dave Kalama Southpoint SUP board, carbon paddle, surf helmet, wetsuit and of course top class tuition. This course aims to introduce people to Supping in a controlled and safe mannor and to teach proper paddle technique, surf safety & etiquette whilst getting fit and enjoying the thrill of these boards!

It is important to note that Supping can be a dangerous, particular in the hands of an inexperienced paddler. Therefore we will not be running any of our courses at mainstream surf beaches as the potential for causing injury / unease with other surf enthusiasts is too high. Our classes have a limit of 5 places per course and can be booked by emailing info@surfgtown.com

Look forward to seeing you on the water.

Monster Monday1

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 08:53:42 GMT

Monster Monday!

What a day yesterday was, It was definitely the biggest swell to hit our section of coastline this winter season. Garrettstown and Garrylucas were completely unsurfable as they were so big on Monday morning. There was a brief break in the winds in the mid morning and we took the opportunity to hit a secret spot we have been hopin on for quite a while.

Well we scored big time, perfect point break with some double overhead sets. A good crew in the water. Unfortunately the wind picked up pretty strong again, at least it was offshore. It was gusting so hard that it made it pretty hard to get down the wave faces. Anyhow got 5 memorable waves in the afternoon, certainly some of my biggest this winter.

Looks like there will still be plenty of swell all week, lets see what else we can score. I'm off to check another spot today that I've been hopin on.

My quiver gets a new addition.

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 17:10:48 GMT

Another Merrick in the quiver!

I have just bought a 6'6" Al Merrick Black Beauty. Got it 2nd hand in mint condition for €375. Bargain in my opinion. I had been curious about this board as I have never had so much enjoyment on a board as I have had on the 6'4" Red Beauty which I have been riding since October.

I wanted a board with more rail and a more agile tail. The Red Beauty is a great surf but the rounded square tail is nice to carve with but does feel a bit sluggish. The pin on the Black beauty gives way more bite to turns.

My first three sessions have been good, caught some fun waves on its maiden surf. I definitely have to work harder on the take off but whats a bit of work for a class wave!

Latest Issue of the Surfers Journal.

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 09:33:58 GMT

Latest Issue of the Surfers Journal.

Just got my latest issue of the Surfers Journal in the post before the weekend. This is the best subscription to have out of all the surf mags. The authenticity, love & attention to quality & detail that goes into every copy is just top notch. The photography leaves all other mags in its wake. There is a class article by Joel Tudor ( One of the worlds best Longboarders) "New Dogs, Old Tricks" which is a great piece. This magazine can lead to lots of thoughts of just abandoning normal every day life and hitting the road with your board.

Check it out at The Surfers Journal

Interested in Whales & Dolphins?

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 09:26:47 GMT

Interested in Whales & Dolphins?

Evening workshop for Surfers : Intro to Whale & Dolphin Watching. Why not learn about these great creatures that sometimes surf with us!

Title: Whales & Whale Watching in Co. Cork
Date: Friday 15th Feb 2008
Time: 19:00-22:00
Location: The Speckled Door, Old Head of Kinsale, Co. Cork
Admission €10, (€5 IWDG members)

The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) in association with Gtown Surf School invite you to attend an informal evening workshop comprising two sessions on whales and dolphins in West Cork. The opening session will cover Ireland's Whale Watching potential and how to observe, record and identify some of 24 species which can be seen in our waters. The 2nd session will cover the thorny issue of species identification and how you can make a contribution to cetacean conservation at local level by reporting your observations to IWDG.

This workshop will benefit those with a general interest in marine wildlife and conservation, and those who’d like to become more actively involved. Teas and Coffee will be provided at the break.

No booking required. A €10 admission will be charged at the door to cover costs, which will be discounted for IWDG members. Any queries to Jon Hynes Ph. 087-8768549

Hope to see you there.
Jon

Fundraising Success!

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 12:00:34 GMT

Offshore Surf Shop & Gtown Surf School

Joint press release.

Fundraising Surf Safety & Charity Paddle

Offshore Surf shop and G-Town Surf School have set the bar for fundraising, having raised over 1200euro from two events run over 26/27January 2008 in aid of the Old Head Coast & Cliff and Rescue and the RNLI.

On the 26^th Jan, they ran a “Introduction Surf Safety” night in the Speckled door pub for Beginner and Intermediate Surfers. Entry was free to all and entrants were encouraged to dig deep into their pockets to raise money through a great raffle for a mountain of surf goodies! Top prizes included a complete 7'9 BIC Board Package, a Rip Curl Core wetsuit and lots of other great prizes.

There were three speakers on the night, first up was Jon Hynes from G-Town Surf school to discuss Surf Safety, surf etiquette, rip currents and other safety issues. Presented on the big screen, Jon's talk was a great introduction to the evening with Jon's humour coming in throughout the talk. It also included some fun interactive models & video clips to help the audience take on board the key points.

Jason Coniry, from Rip Curl/Incide Surf Shop talked through the different technical aspects of Winter warmth ie wetsuits, booties and hoods and everything you need to stay warm in the water. His broad experience in the water and in retail provided a great range of knowledge and advice to all.

Local surfing legend Dr David Nagle was generous enough to donate his time and ample years of surfing experience to explain common health issues for surfers who are spending a lot of time in the water and prevention methods. Doc Nagle has been surfing 37years, when he talks, everybody listens! Whilst some of the content was alarming, all agreed that we all need to look after ourselves better in the water. Surfers ear and skin conditions being two of the most topical issues.

The evening ended with a big raffle. There were many winners but special congratulations to Billy Nyhan who is the proud owner of a brand new Rip Curl wetsuit and to Ed Leach who won the BIC Surf Board Package! We would really like to thank everyone who attended and who bought raffle tickets for their great support.

The 27^th Jan was the date set for phase two of Operation “Raise Money”. Location was Sandycove Island, Time 11am. Local Swimmers got to the water first and the
surfers held back give them a head start. The weather could not have been better for the event as we were blessed with light winds and gorgeous sunshine.

”Paddle Sandycove” is in its first year and there was a great turnout from the local community to support the 1.1mile paddle. The under-aged took to the water first making it to the island and back in record time, the 'Over-aged' joined
them in the water for photos before taking on the journey around the island. Conditions were ideal and the relaxed atmosphere on the journey helped those who participated make new friends and share surf stories!

The Old Head Coast & Cliff and Rescue team and the RNLI were on hand throughout the paddle offering support and a few rescue demonstrations to keep the crowds entertained during the event. Their two Ribs are spectacular and very capable craft, which allowed us all to appreciate their excellent work.

Hot Drinks were available from Coffeedock with all proceeds from the event being donated to the cause.

Stand up paddleboards made a special appearance on the day courtesy of Offshore Surf Shop and G-Town Surf School offering participants a chance to try them out.
Don't worry if you didn’t get a chance to have a go. Watch this space for further details. We will be launching our new Stand Up Paddle Board classes very soon!

The RNLI & Old Head Coast & Cliff Rescue are volunteers and are on call 24/7. As water users they watch over us, even though we don't see them, if anything happens us on the water they are on hand to help out.! Some interesting facts we should note, it costs 300 euro to send a member on a radio course, 1400 euro to train a rescue boat
coxswain and if it comes to the worst and a rescue has to be made it can cost thousands! Our joint efforts this last weekend have yielded over €1200 in raised funds! Any further donations can be made at Offshore Surf Shop or G-Town
Surf School

Offshore Surf Shop and G-town Surf School would sincerely like to thank all the participants over the weekend for their generosity and effort! Special thanks must also go to The Speckled door pub , Jason Coniry of Rip Curl / Incide, Dr David
Nagle, Bic Sport Ireland & all members of Kinsale Lifeboat and the Old Head Coast & Cliff Rescue Team.

See you all on the water soon.

Jon Hynes – Gtown Surf School

Andrew Lockington – Offshore Surf Shop Kinsale

Pilot whale stranding at Garrettstown

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 14:55:45 GMT

Pilot Whale strands at Garrettstown.
See images in the latest photo gallery.

On January 22nd (Yesterday) a young long finned Pilot Whale calf became stranded at Garrettstown beach on the right hand side rocky area. Efforts were made to refloat this beautiful creature as it was still alive at the time. Unfortunately these efforts were unsuccessful and as the tide rose it passed away and was taken above the high tide mark.

It is a young female calf which was confirmed this morning when Padraig Whooley of the Irish Whale and Dolphin group visited. Measurements, teeth count and a tissue sample were all conducted and will be submitted to the Natural history museum and this will be archived for future research purposes. The whale was then removed by the County Council for burial and to remove and public health threat it may cause.

This a rare occurence to see this species inshore as they are more accustomed to much deeper waters where they feed primarily on the likes of squid. They are very plentiful in deeper waters and the Irish Aer Corp spotter plane has witnessed them in very large groups.

A sad end for this poor individual but nonetheless an interesting event to us all.

Just to let you know we are organising a "Whale and Dolphin Watching" evening course on Friday February 15th from 7.30pm to 10.30pm at the Speckled Door pub on the Old Head of Kinsale. Entry is just €5 and it will be run by local members of the Irish Whale and Dolphin group. www.iwdg.ie

Email me if you would like to book a place info @surfgtown.com

Surf Info Night & Charity Paddle.

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 12:50:13 GMT

Offshore Surf Shop (Kinsale) and ourselves Gtown Surf School are hosting a Surf Info night at the Speckled Door pub on Saturday January 26th at 5.30pm.

It is specifically aimed at people that are new or relatively new to the sport of surfing. Our aim is to give some informal talks on the following:

Staying safe in the surf & Good Etiquette.
Winter warmth.
Basic surf forecasting & prediction.

The evening is FREE! and we have been donated some really good prizes including a top of the range winter wetsuit for the top prize. We are charging a small fee for the raffle tickets and all monies raised will be donated to the RNLI & Old Head Coast n Cliff Rescue.

The whole thing should be done by 7.30pm. We are hoping that people will get behind this event and use it as a means of getting into surfing in a safer way and raising some good awareness of surfing in Cork. We also hope that people will come out for a surf that afternoon at Gtown and then have the opportunity to meet up with others and move onto the event at 5.30pm.

We will have posters printed today and they will hit all the shops by the weekend and I'll get one hosted on the homepage here also.

If you need more info, either of these will do the job. Please spread the word.

info@surfgtown.com
andrew@offshorekinsale.com

We are also organising a Fun paddle around Sandycove Island ( just outside Kinsale ) the following day in the morning at 10.30am. Its a 1.1 mile paddle around the island. Some local surfers use it as a training spin during flat spells. Its a really nice bit of scenery too. The Lifeboat and Coast & cliff rescue boats are going to accompany surfers around the island for safety cover. You may even get a chance to have a spin in their boats!
We would like to invite as many surfers as possible to this event. Its strictly fun.

If you are less experienced and dont fancy the longer paddle we will have a shorter paddle on the inside of the island.

We are asking people to donate a €5er each towards the lifeboat and Coast & Cliff rescue on the day.

This should be a good networking opportunity for people looking for surf partners, buddies, future wives / husbands etc!

We'll keep you posted.

Jon - Gtown Surf School
Andrew - Offshore Surf Shop Kinsale

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 13:58:45 GMT

6'2" Factum Thruster for Sale.

This board is in mint Condition.
Comes with xm leash, deck pad and a bag all in mint!
The board has been cleaned and is as good as new! There are some deck compressions as the images show.
Nice bit of volume in it too!
It's portuguese made if you don't recognise the brand.
€300
Call me if interested 087 8768549

January & February Opening times.

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 15:53:36 GMT

Even though its Winter!
We are open!

So what if its colder! Wetsuits, boots, hoods & gloves are so good now that we can surf all year in Ireland.

FACT! It has been warmer on the south coast this winter than anywhere else in Ireland. There hasnt been one day yet where I felt I had to have gloves on!

We are open mid week for pre booked lessons, call or email to book. We are always at Garrettstown Beach every Saturday and Sunday from 9:30am til 5 pm for hire and lessons. To keeo you extra warm & toasty ..We have a full stock of

5/4/3 Winter Wetsuits in both mens and womens sizes .
6mm fleece lined booties to keep the toes toasty.
Winter hoods and gloves in all sizes.

So you have no excuse, come down for a winter dip and get fit for 2008!

See you at the beach

Jon

Got any Surfing Resolutions this year?

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 15:44:34 GMT

Now that Xmas is well and truly out of they way its time to focus on surf plans for this year!

I have a few resolutions.

To get as much surfing done as possible ( I think most people make this one)
To get even fitter on the water
To add a 6'3" Merrick to my quiver in the next two months.
To get back into photography and get some better surf pics from Garrettstown.

How about you?

Photo Album: 11 June

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:34:08 GMT

11 June

shane mc2.jpg