Team Ireland are back in Ireland and taking the time to access the two weeks spent in Portugal.

It was an amazing event on every level.  The surf was fantastic 90+% of the time and it was a real surprise to all of us who were afraid of a summer event adnd small surf.  The judging was good and consistent and the implementation of the live scoring and announcement of scores during the heats was a huge plus.  It not only allowed surfers to know what they needed to do to place but it also sucked the crowd in more and did a lot to enhance the atmosphere.

The ocean spirit side was also a huge bonus for the competition.  There was constantly something going on during the daylight hours and even more once the sun went down.  At times there was some frustration as breaks and times were shuffled to suit all interested parties but it was well worth any hassle. 

Ive never seen so many swimmers in a worlds event but this isnt a reflection of the level of surfer dipping in fact its the complete opposite.  People were swimming because everyone was pushing things to the very limit of possibility and beyond the capabilities of some equipment.  Everyone were putting it all on the line and it was a pleasure to watch. 

The level of surfing jumps every worlds and this year was by no means different.  It was possible to slip through round one without an air, if you were lucky, but after that if you weren't getting air you were not moving on.   

Well done to all the organisers for this amazing event.  Thank you to the wska, oceanspirit and the Portuguese for putting on a great show.  The next worlds will be either east coast USA or Australia and good luck to both of them because itll be very hard to follow Portugal.

The Irish team finished in 9th over all, a dip on where we've been in the past and were we would like to be but we went in with a 10 point penalty for not having masters and yet were only 2 points off 6th place at the end of round one.  It really goes to show how important it is to have a full team and we hope we can continue to grow the sport over the next two years and field a full strong team for the next worlds.

Kayaksurf Ireland would like to thank again everyone for their support without whom it would not be possible to travel and compete.