New Shop Opening

A new Puravida shop has opened in Penarth, featuring a full range of O'shea equipment and clothing. Be sure to check it out! You can visit the website HERE

West Coast Surf Contest

The West Coast Surf contest, sponsored by O'Shea, was held over two days on the weekend of the 10th/11th of October, in decent waves

Saturday was run at Porth Neigwl and sunday Porth Ceiriad. The standard of surfing was high with some great performances from several of the groms.

We donated all the prize packs including bits of clothing, beanies, stickers etc, to each of the groms that entered and to the top 3 of the ladies and open division.

And th keep the 'stoke alive' for the groms a brand spanking new surfboard!!

After some hard fought heats the eventual winner was local ripper Eilir Davies-Hughs. Here he is with his prize.

Dan Brook-Sutton joins the O'shea Team.

Dan is the newest member of the O'shea team, replacing Tom Fox, who moved on earlier this year. Dan makes a great cuppa!

Will Ward wins the Fuerta Wave Cup

On Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th May, I staged the first ever wave comp at Punta Blanca on the north shore of Fuerte- the "Get High Or Die" Wave classic! My idea was to bring together all the locals for a full weekend of windsurfing at Punta, throw in a bit of competition and have a huge party!
 
I devised a method of judging whereby the riders were judged by the riders from a different heat, based on their usual level of sailing, thus implementing a kind of "handicap" system. I was hoping that this would allow everyone a fairly equal chance of progressing and also encourage every single competitor, regardless of ability, to push their own personal limits- and how it worked!!!!!!!! Everybody, without exception gave it everything they had, guys who normally just cruise and chop-hop were throwing themselves into their first ever forward attempts and the top guys were attempting doubles at every opportunity! I have never, in my 14 years of sailing Punta, witnessed a spectacle like the sailing on the Sunday- it just went off!

Will Ward won the day with his crazy, high double attempts, with Victor Moncloa in 2nd showing off his consistency with an array of backloops, pushies, big stalled forwards and a couple of sneaky double attempts. In 3rd was big Pieter making it look easy with his big, classic backloops and forwards.

The biggest jump in the expression session was won by Machel with an enormous backloop and best crash went to Thijs for a huge stalled forward-to-earplant which must still be stinging today!

For me, though, probably the biggest performance of the comp came from italian Stefano, who has been thinking of learning forwards for the past two years but never actually tried one. He decided that it was now or never and went for it in his heats, landing his first clean one after only two rounds! Even the fact that he eventually tore the ligaments in his ankle and came to the prizegiving at the U-Turn on crutches couldn't wipe the grin of his face! Congratulations, mate, you should have been in the final.

I had a bit of a disaster (oh, yeah, here come the excuses) when my mastfoot broke after 1 minute of my quarter-final heat, trying a pretty lame double, spending the remaining 14 minutes swimming for shore. Fadi, an ex-Maui local, who won this heat and eventually finished 4th said to me later,"Yeah, man I saw you swimmin' and thought about helpin' ya, but I was just too busy beatin' ya, man!!". Wicked! This about summed up the entire mood of the competition, everyone had a smile on their face, on the water as well as on the beach. There was a party atmosphere all weekend and I have to say the comp exceeded all my expectations in every way. Be warned, boys, next year I will have a new mastfoot and will be looking for retribution.......... By Steve Gibson
Check the event video here..

Ben Proffitt Wins UKWA Rhosneigr, North Wales.

1st.. Wahooo.... get in!! Rhossy was firing too... I won.. yeahhhaaa.. wahooooo... Fanny bloody tastic... It was the 2nd round of the UKWA British wave tour this weekend and I managed to take home the win against some good opposition!!! Rhossy is my home spot (2hr drive.. haha) and it was firing so it felt really good to come away with the win! I have to be honest as well... after we'd scored it so good in Ireland last week I thought there was no chance of it happening again!! ...even on the Wednesday before the event i thought there was no chance! But how wrong could i have been... Rhossy delivered some awesome conditions and it was firing!!!

It was good in the morning.. 4.0m weather and built through the day. By midday i was on 3.7m and pretty stacked... and waves were getting on between logo to mast as the tide filled in!! I've been waiting for a Rhossy comp like this for ages... we've been unlucky in the past but we definitely scored it this time.. so anyone who missed out... unlucky!!! Just check the pics and video on Boardseeker.com when they update it this week... you'll be gutted!! The comp was really tight... I knew i was in with a chance of winning but also knew another 5 people could also take the title!! My biggest heat of the day was against Skyeboy in the semi... he sails really really good on port tack so i knew i was going to have to sail well... luckily I did!!! I managed to get 2 good waves with takas on the end of both of them... which i think just edged me ahead on a 2:1 decision... at last a bloody 2:1 decision went my way!!! ....it definitely felt good to have a decisions go my way for once!! I was pretty surprised to be in the final with fellow Quatro riding Hancock as it's not his preferred tack... but he's a slippery customer and took down Horrocks in the semi!!! I have to be honest it would have been cool to have 2 Rhossy boys in the final but it just wasn't to be!! So it was the 2 Quatro boys in the final... The conditions were perfect and i felt really at home in the conditions

. I sailed a pretty solid heat and kit was really working well... 4.0 icon and my trusty 75 twin fin.... I nailed all my jumps and got some good waves... although i was gutted not to nail my wave 360 as i had the perfect section... never mind just how it goes sometimes!! I got back to the beach to everyone saying.. 'In the bag my son' ...Shit... that usually is the kiss of death so I was relieved when i finally had the official word!!! Wahoooooooooooo... Bloody feels good winning on your home patch!!! So a big congrats has to go to everyone that turned up and made it such a good competition... cheers!!! Results: 1st: Ben Proffitt 2nd Jamie Hanock 3rd: Phil horrocks 4th John Skye

O'SHEA SLIDER GETS A FACE LIFT
The O'shea sliderat John Battleday Waterski has had a much needed face lift. It has been totally re-built from scratch and boasts new fiberglass sides, new pipes and of course some new logos. So next time you're down at JB Ski, the first thing you will see is the new slider and if you get some photos of you hitting it mail them to info@osheasurf.com and we will put them up on the site.

TOR YOUNG WINNING STREAK
Tor Young has been on a winning streak recently clocking up some impressive results in the UK and also in Europe. Tor was at the first Wakestock event of the year at Blenheim Palace. First up she had to qualify on the friday in order to make it through to the Pro Womens Final on the Saturday. Tor managed this in style throwing huge inverts to qualify in first place on the Friday which also gave her the title of Amateur winner. She then went on to the Finals on the Saturday to place a very respectful 4th place against some stiff international competition. The following weekend she made the trek all the way to Serbia for the European Pro Tour stop. Entering into the Junior womens catagory she managed to blitz the competition and take home the win. Its safe to say that tor is on a roll these titles are also backed up with the Junior Womens National title she took at Sheffield Cable a few  weeks back, watch this space for more updates.

LEE SHEAFF SPENDS ANOTHER WINTER IN SAMOA
O’shea Freerider Lee sheaf has just got back to the Isle of White after another stint as boat driver for the Salani Resort in Samoa.
It’s been a tough winter for Lee ferrying the guests out to the nearby breaks and also working hard on his Forehand tuberiding on salani rights as you can see from the photos.
Lee will be back in the UK for the summer now working hard and saving for his next trip.
Keep your eyes on the site for more pictures to come.

KIERAN EVANS PHOTO TRIP TO PAPA NEW GUINEA
Kizza has recently got back from a photo trip to PNG. He made the trip out with the guys from Carve magazine. The trip was aboard a yacht charter for 10 days cruising the islands of PNG checking known reef passes and also hitting some waves that have never been surfed before! You can catch the full write up in the next issue of Carve magazine.
Kizza also tied the not in January with long time girlfriend Vikki, blue sky’s and golden beaches were the backdrop for the wedding day, many congrats go out to Kieren and Vikki from all here at O’shea!

LEE SHEAFF RETURNS TO SAMOA FOR ANOTHER WINTER
Lee has yet again headed out to the surf camp in Samoa. He will spend another 3 months at the camp, driving visitors to the island out to the best breaks. This also means he gets to surf there as well as the guests, not bad hey?
Lee only just got back from a trip to Indonesia; we must be doing something wrong here!! Look out for photo updates soon.

TOR YOUNG SIGNED TO O'SHEA CLOTHING
One of Britain’s best up and coming wakeboarding ladies has just signed with us for the coming season.
Tor, who is based in Ashford, spends most of her riding time at princes club.
2007 saw Tor get 1st place in both the cable and boat nationals as well as a second place at the Europeans, and that is just the tip of the iceberg she has managed podium spots in almost every other domestic comp in her division.
So you can imagine we were very happy to welcome her aboard the team here at O’shea.
Look out for Tor this year she will be one to watch, and check back soon to see her rider bio and more photo’s!!

TIM WOODHEAD SPENDS WINTER IN THE SNOW
One of the teams most respected riders, Tim Woodhead, is spending this winter out in chamonix snowboarding, this is what you could call cross-training. He will be back in the spring to get back out on the water ready for the 2008 season where he will be heading up the Rococo Rail tour again and also both of the wakestocks.

NORTHERN EXPOSURE ON EXTREME TV
The Whitenosugar Productions documentary "Northern Exposure" gets it full premiere on this weekend on Extreme TV. You can check it out on Saturday 27th October at 14.00 with repeats at 21.30 and 2.00
The documentary was shot over 06/07 winter and features our own Northern Monkey Tim Woodhead hitting some mental locations and having some crazy winching adventures.
For a sneak preview click here

1st PLACE FOR PHILL HORROCKS AT TIREE WAVE CLASSIC
Phill is on fire at the moment when he's not inventing new moves he's winning comps!!
The Tiree Wave Classic is judged on 2 jumps and 1 wave ride. Due to some dodgy judging moments Horrocks had to go through the comp the hard way after his best wave ride was missed out of the scores.
Phill ended up in a death heat with O'Shea team mate Ben Proffitt and Andy King. Unfortunately Proffitt was knocked out and King and Horrocks advanced.
In the final Horrocks was against King again. King had no chance as Horrocks was on fire with a proper wave taka and to finish off nicely he scored a sick wave and smashed the crap out it.
For the full report check out http://www.boardseekermag.com/wnews/show-story/1/935

TIM WOODHEAD UPDATE
Our Timmy's been busy this summer. He started off with a month road trip around France hitting Lake Anncey and getting some surf time in Bay of Biscay. Once he was back in the UK Alliance Wakeboard Magazine wasted no time and snapped up the chance to have him organize the Vans Rococo Rail Tour. The rail tour was made up of 100,000 gallons of water, two pools, two winches, a gnarly step down rail, some of Europe's top skaters and strappers and a load of grafting. Transporting the largest U.K pool gap construction around the country hurt Tim's head a little and he's now having a few weeks rest here in Abersoch enjoying some of the autumn swells and helping with the magazine.
Keep an eye out in the new year for Tim's return to Windermere and a great Alliance article on Loch Lomond.

HORROCKS INVENTS NEW MOVE
For those who didn't know, O'Shea rider Phil Horrocks has been busy inventing new moves. The "Plum" - a kind of pushloop duck jibe, came into exhistance during a free ride session in his recent trip to Brazil.

HORROCKS UPDATE
Phill Horrocks has just finished off the final round of competition in Brazil.
Phill arrived 6 days early to try and get used to the conditions and get dialed in before the contest, unfortunately Air France didn't see it that way and his gear didn't arrive!! After spending 5 days of constantly calling and chasing up the whereabouts of his kit it turned up in Paris!! On the morning of the contest at 10 AM, 3 hrs before the start, it finally arrived!!!
“I was so happy! I thought I was going to have to compete on borrowed gear!”
“We had some great conditions, a bit like South Africa but with a slightly softer wave. It was good fun, port tack wave sailing.”
In the single elimination Phill was up in 9th place. After a good run and even beating Scott Mckercher (world champion in 2003) he was finally defeated by Levi Siver from Hawaii, who went on to get 2nd place.
With the double elimination Horrocks was not so lucky, He was up against the Frenchman Julien Taboulet and was having a good heat until he snapped his board landing a jump. Phill sailed into the beach to swap his broken board, unfortunately all this cost him time and when back out was pushed for time. “I was a bit gutted as I lost by a single point on the score sheet, had I been able to calm down and concentrate I would have been able to get the points I needed to advance”. Unfortunately Phill dropped down to 17th in the double elimination.
The next stop on the world tour is Germany starting on the 21st of September. We’ll keep you updated.

STEVE PHILLIPS JOINS THE OSHEA SURF TEAM
Steve is the local Llantwit Major ripper. He’s got several titles after his name including u14’s, u16’s and u18’s Welsh champ.

PHIL HORROCKS WINS GERMAN NATIONAL WAVE CHAMPIONSHIPS
Phil battled his way through two 48 men elimination rounds to win the event. He finished 3rd and 1st.
“It was an excellent event with huge spectator numbers, almost as the big as
the World cup event they have here in September”.
Phil is now back in the UK till the end of September, unless any other appealing windsurf trips come his way

BEN PROFFITT JOINS THE OSHEA WINDSURF TEAM Ben Proffitt has been welcomed into an already strong O'Shea windsurf team. Ben began windsurfing at the ripe old age of 9 and started racing at the age of 13. By 15 he had escalated to 3rd in the World. Ben went on to pick up numerous National Titles as well as the coveted ‘BT Yachtsman of the Year’ Award in 1995, picking up 2nd in the Triple Crown in 2003, 1st South African Freestyle Championships and 1st Bigbury Wave Classic. Ben is super stoked to be on the team and in his words "I can’t wait for the summer to don some of the crazy boardies I picked up!!"

KIERAN EVANS Kieran has been off on his travels again this winter, he has already stopped off in Thailand and western Oz, he has now found a place to settle down for a bit on the gold coast of Australia, here is what he has been up to in his own words:“I have been working for Michael 'munga' Barry who stared in bunyip dreaming etc up in burleigh where his schools based. I've been his head coach and running most of his lessons for him, he’s moving away from doing all the lessons, as he’s involved with the new firewire boards and shapes for them. So I have been doing most of his lessons either with him or running it myself. Its been great to coach with him and pick up some valuable coaching points etc, we do the lessons down on Burleigh beach next to where the point runs into the beach. It’s not bad coaching in boardies and then paddling out at burls when the lessons finished!!!!! It beats teaching in the freezing cold and climbing in and out of wetsuits!!!!...
The surfs been so consistent, I surf Snappa every day and its been 3ft or bigger most days. Its a crazy wave definitely crowded but you still get set waves of the end where the rock is so long as you work the crowd, some days you get one set after another other times you sit there for 30 mins watching people get the sickest barrels and you cant even catch a wave!!!!It can be frustrating!!
I've had some crazy waves though getting 4 barrels on one wave; you just sit in the pit come out and then straight back in!!!!!! We also go down the coast a lot to Byron area and Lennox head there's so many waves around there without the crowds so its good to go down there to get away from the hype!!!!! “
Kieran says he will be back at some point, but after that little write up who knows

LEE SHEAFF UPDATE
Lee has been back from the southern hemisphere for the winter, but got itchy feet straight away. Despite his girlfriend trying to hide his passport, lee has been off on his travels again, this time a road trip through Europe and into morocco.
Finding many new spots along the way Lee has probably caught the best winter for a while with swell, which lit up all the right hand points.
Lee is back in the Uk now, wrestling his passport back off his girlfriend as he tries to head back to Samoa for the season!!