We have recently taken on the Starboard SUP range in the shop and are delighted that Lewis Eickholt has agreed to represent Surfdock on Starboard SUP.

Lewis won the Surfdock SUP Spring Race Series in the crossover board class, which has impressed all of us. At 16 years he is not only a great SUP racer, but is also a keen sailor and windsurfer and has started to compete in local and national competitions.

We are looking forward to working with Lewis in the future and most importantly can’t wait to see him perform in the ranked SUP race events across the country this year. He has just received his new Starboard 12’6 Race BOP and he can’t wait to try it out in the Dublin Bay SUP Classic.

Check out the Starboard SUP product range on their website.

Docklands Summer Festival 26th/27th May

As a special promotion on May 26th and 27th we are running great value “come and try it” sessions as part of the Dublin Docklands Festival.

If you fancy trying the exciting new sport of stand up paddling or have a go at kayaking then we have half hour classes running over the course of two days from 10am-4pm.

Classes are only €5 per person.

If you would like to participate in this great offer then pre-booking and payment is recommended. Please contact us on 01-6683945.

We will supply all equipment necessary, kayaks, SUPs, wetsuits and buoyancy aids. You may wish to bring old runners for your feet if you do not have wetsuit booties.

Please note that the minimum age for going on the water is 8 years and anyone aged under 16 must be accompanied by an adult who is also going on the water.

All participants must also sign waivers. Waivers for those under 18 must be signed by a parent or guardian.

For other activities happening on the Docklands area that weekend, have a look at the Festival website.

We are ready for the summer (when it finally arrives!) with a new delivery of O’Neill short and full length wetsuits for toddlers, children and teenagers. We stock all sizes from ages 1 to 16.

Our O’Neill Reactor 3/2 mm suit for €65 (full suit) or €49 (shorty) is a great suit for any water sports activity like sailing, windsurfing, surfing, stand up paddleboarding or kayaking in the summer. For the younger kids the Reactor Toddler full suit for €45 is a great option.

A warmer suit for year round use is the O’Neill Epic 5/3 which is the same construction as the O’Neill Epic wetsuit for adults. The extra level of warmth thanks to the thicker neoprene means the kids can spend more time in and on the water. The price for this suit is €109.

We also have neoprene booties and slippers for children in store.

We have just unpacked our new range of 2012 surfboards and they are looking pretty darn special!

There are some well known favourites like the 7S Super Fish II range that has been updated for 2012 and is now available in a really nice looking blue tint. Its generous outline and smooth rocker makes this board incredibly easy to ride. If you’re looking for a high volume, easy to ride surfboard that will increase your wave count then the Super Fish II is the board for you.

Another favourite in the shop has been Greg Webber’s The Pulse, a fish based hybrid and the most versatile board in the Webber range. Greg’s latest innovation is the Webber Gutter Lover, the shortest and fullest of the small wave boards. It feels alive and responsive and comes with a tri/quad option that allows you to tune the board to your local conditions.

We also have some brand new additions to our surfboard range and are stoked to stock the new Haydenshapes boards. Both the Hypto Krypto and Psychedelic Germ are built with Futureflex Technology, using high density EPS foam with a parabolic carbon fiber frame to create a board with a high energy, rapid spring back resulting in ultimate speed and drive. The Hypto Krypto is the one stop board that you can travel all around the world having fun in average conditions, as well as taking to the barrel and open face when the swell pumps! The Psychedelic Germ is a board that can be ridden in all conditions up to 4ft. It is fast, responsive and easy to ride.

The Aloha board range has been around for 30 years, but is new to our shop and we are excited about the Aloha Bean. This progressive shortboard transfers the performance features of a standard shortboard into a more compact design that’s incredibly fast and responsive in small-to-medium size waves. Fast and full of spark as a thruster or a quad; the Bean offers acrobatic performance in the smaller sizes, and reliability in the higher volume sizes. As a general rule you can ride the Bean 3-to-6 inches shorter than your regular shortboard.

For beginners we have two sizes of Gnaraloo softboards in stock. These boards are super durable and their forgiving shape is great for people who are just learning their skills in the waves. The Gnaraloo boards are the top tier of soft surfboard performance and durability.

And last but not least, we have a new addition to our SUP range, Walden’s Magic Model SUP in a 9’11″. The 9’11″ is an excellent all round performance board that is as comfortable performing on a wave, noseriding in trim or paddling on flat water. It is wider to provide the stability for a beginner to intermediate SUP enthusiast.

Surfdock Fun Watersports Camp for children 8-16 years

The Surfdock Summer Camp is an action filled week of water sports and fun for children aged 8-16 years. The children learn sailing, windsurfing, kayaking and stand up paddleboarding in the safe surroundings of the Grand Canal Basin.

We offer great discounts for bookings for multiple weeks/children.

More details about the camp are on our Summer Camp Website.

If you have any questions, call us on 01-6683945 or email courses@surfdock.ie

During April we ran the Surfdock SUP Spring Race Series here in the Grand Canal Dock and were delighted to see a total of 40 racers compete over 4 race nights. Despite tough conditions including gale force winds, rain and cold temperatures we never had less than 18 racers on the water with 27 on the busiest night. It is worth checking out some of the pictures/videos from the different races, all of which can be found on our Facebook page.

The competitors were divided into four categories based on board and gender:

Race Board (12’6) Men’s & Ladies’
Crossover Board (all round boards of any size smaller than 12’6) Men’s & Ladies’

Paul Byrne and Jane Downes won their respective classes on the race boards, with Lewis Eickholt and Nina Boeker winning the crossover board classes. The fight for the title in the men’s crossover board class was a tight battle between Lewis, Brendan Meaney and Colin Harris, who all had a chance to grab the title on the last race night. In the end, Lewis paddled a blinder and won the division.

On the third race night we were joined by journalist Heather Irvine from the Sunday Times, who had just taken a crash course in stand up paddleboarding. This was her first ever SUP race experience and she wrote up a great piece based on her experiences for the Sunday Times Magazine, have a look at what she wrote here.

Our feedback from competitors was that the Dock is a fantastic spot for the races with easy access, free parking and even in strong winds racing is still possible thanks to its sheltered location. This makes it an ideal race location for experienced racers as well as those that are new to the sport.

We are now planning the next race series, which will include fun races for everyone who has not had much experience with SUP races and longer distance races for the more experienced competitors. Watch this space!

In order to get in shape for the races, we will also offer race training sessions for €10/hour, where you can join Surfdock Team riders for a paddle in the Dock to get advice and tips on racing. Dates and times will be announced shortly.

Don’t have any SUP experience at all? Check out our flat water introduction class that runs regularly on weekday evenings and weekends.

Nationally ranked race event – Dublin Bay SUP Classic 26th/27th May,
Dollymount Strand

On the 26th & 27th of May the Dublin Bay SUP Classic will take place in Dollymount.

The event will include races in the following categories:

•Team Relay 6km total. (Crossover boards 12ft and shorter only.)
•Technical Sprint Novice 2.25km. (Crossover boards 12ft and shorter only.)
•Technical Sprint 4.5km. (ISA Ranking Event. 12ft 6 or shorter.)
•6-8km Novice Marathon. (Crossover boards 12ft and shorter only.)
•18km Marathon. (ISA Ranking Event. 12ft 6 or shorter.)

Surfdock are proud sponsor of the team relay race.

More information on the race days can be found on the Dublin Bay SUP Classic Facebook page.

We are looking forward to a great summer of SUP racing and will hopefully see a lot of racers – experienced and new – on the water.

If you have any questions or would like to know more about stand up paddleboarding, the equipment and races, get in touch with us in the shop on 01-6683945 or email shop@surfdock.ie.

Dead handy to have for charging your GoPro on the go and at home. With the wall charger you will be able to charge two cameras at once, twice as fast as before. It now only takes 2 hours to fully charge them.

Go Pro Auto Charger €35

Go Pro Wall Charger €49

We also have the HD Hero 2 Outdoor and Surf back in stock again.

Professional windsurfer and Surfdock Team Rider, Mikey Clancy, has signed up as a sailor for the chase and has made it his mission to seek and challenge the biggest storms in the world!

Check out his profile page for the Red Bull Storm Chase and show him your support by spreading the news. You can follow Mikey on Facebook and on his blog.

Mikey in action in Portmarnock. Photo: Michael Clancy

Here’s a little teaser for the Red Bull Storm Chase:

The cold northerlies we have been getting this last month may be keeping less hardy souls in doors, but they certainly made for a great day speed sailing at Burrow Beach yesterday.

Congratulations to Surfdock Team Rider Oisin van Gelderen on winning the event with a maximum speed of 44.747 knots. Well done also to Oisin’s team mate Steve Flanagan who came in second place with a maximum speed of 42.590 knots.

The full results are up on the Speedsailing website.

Have a look at some impressions of the day captured by Eoghan Redmond.

The news also made it into the online edition of Boards Magazine, check it out here.

If you are interested in booking a lesson, just give us a call on 01-6683945, we regularly run flat water and wave classes.

After four races the overall winners for the Mens and Womens are Paul Byrne and Jane Downes on their raceboards. Congratulations!! Well done as well to Lewis Eickholt and Nina Boeker for coming first in the Crossover Board Mens and Womens classes. It certainly was a close call between the first three men in the crossover board class with Brendan Meaney, Lewis Eickholt and Colin Harris all with a chance to win the class depending on their performance in this last race. Lewis showed the endurance and strength that got him over the line in first, with Colin and Brendan following him closely.

We are very happy to have seen 40 people competing over the course of the first Surfdock SUP Race Series and particularly enjoyed welcoming new faces to every race and introducing them to SUP racing. Thanks to everyone for coming out to the races, despite the wind and rain we had and also a big thanks to everyone who helped us with the organisation: Dave and Ed for judging, Keith for his advice and laying out the race courses, Brendan for organising the centre on the nights and Martin, Eric and Michael for taking some great photos.

Haven’t got enough of racing? The guys from IrishSUP are organising 4 nights of open water racing starting next Monday, 30th April. We will definitely be there!

If you would like to try out SUP, call us on 01-6683945 or email courses@surfdock.ie, we offer classes for all levels in flat and open water. If you have some experience already (for example completed the flat water introduction class with us) you can rent an SUP from us for €10/hour to go for a paddle in the Dock.

Over the course of the summer we will also be organising more races here in the Dock so watch this space!

Well done again everyone,
Colin & Nina

Now over to the most important bit – the results for the 4th race (women 2k, men 3k) are:

Raceboard Mens:

1. Keith Gorman
2. Paul Byrne
3. Steve Flanagan

Crossover Board Mens:

1. Lewis Eickholt
2. Colin Harris
3. Brendan Meaney
4. Leon van Tonder
5. David Mangan
6. Paul Kiernan
7. Claude Mollard
8. Brian Moore
9. Jonathan Sibley
10. Hugh Walsh
11. Eric Pomeranz
12. Yannik Knipprath
13. John O’Doherty
13. Darrag McDonagh

Raceboard Womens:

1. Jane Downes

Crossover Board Womens:

1. Triona McMenamin
2. Nina Boeker
3. Ysabel Pheifer

The results for the race series overall are:

Pretty stormy out there now. However, it is forecast to moderate later in the day, so we have decided that the race tonight is on. We will tailor the race format to the conditions this evening.

A BBQ doesn’t look like an option so the prize giving has been moved to Ocean Bar where we have lined up some finger food instead. We will announce the overall winners and prizes will be raffled among those contestants who have attended at least 3 races.

We hope to see everyone tonight.

The results so far are:

Again, well done to everyone for taking part in the technical race last night. It was fantastic to see 27 competitors on the water! Next Wednesday will be the last race of our Spring Race Series and we will finish it up with a prize giving and BBQ for all the participants, fingers crossed for some sunshine.

For anyone who is interested in taking part in next week’s race and doesn’t have their own board, please remember to book in advance as we only have a limited number of rental boards available.

Results for the Technical Race (2k for women, 3k for men):

Race Board Men’s:

1. Paul Byrne
2. Keith Gorman
3. Steve Flanagan

Crossover Board Men’s:

1. Colin Harris
2. Brendan Meaney
3. Lewis Eickholt
4. Leon van Tonder
5. Cormac O’Brien
6. Samir Naji
7. Paul Kiernan
8. Jonathan Coyle
9. Paddy Benson
10. Claude Mollard
11. Eoghan Redmond
12. Jonathan Sibley
13. Hugh Walsh
13. Brian Moore

Race Board Women’s:

1. Jane Downes

Crossover Board Women’s:

1. Triona McMenamin
2. Nina Boeker
3. Ysabel Pheifer
4. Vanessa Lawrenson
5. Alice Ward
6. Roisin Finlay
7. Heather Irvine
8. Catriona Ni Liathain
9. Claire Metcalfe

Well done to everyone who took part in the 4k race last night, it was great to see 18 competitors on the water again. The next race night is on Wednesday, 18th April and will be a technical race. We will meet at 6.30pm, aiming to start the race at 7pm.

Full Results 2nd Race Night:

Race Board Men’s:

1. Paul Byrne
2. Keith Gorman

Race Board Women’s:

1. Jane Downes

Crossover Board Men’s:

1. Colin Harris
2. Brendan Meaney
3. Lewis Eickholt
4. David Mangan
5. Leon van Tonder
6. Samir Naji
7. Paul Kiernan
8. Steve Flanagan
9. Cameron McMullan
10. Oran Murphy
11. Cormac O’Brien
12. Idris Naji
13. Jonathan Sibley

Crossover Board Women’s:

1. Nina Boeker
2. Lynsey Flanagan

Thanks to Dave Owens for judging and to Eric for providing us with the photos he took last night. We will put up the photos on our Facebook page.

We are running our Fun Water Sports Camp for children aged between 8 – 16 years during June, July and August.

A fun-filled week of action on the water, including windsurfing, sailing, stand up paddleboarding and kayaking.

We offer a great Early Bird price of €175 for the camp if you book on or before the 30th April.

Have a look at our summer camp website for more details.