Looking Forward to Sea Sessions

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IRELAND'S young guns are looking forward to pitching themselves against Europe's most progressive surfers at the the Barefoot Expression Session in association with Billabong on the 29th June till 1st July. Th event is an ASP Europe sanctioned speciality event and is part of the Sea Sessions Surf and Music Festival in Bundoran.

The Expression Session showcases the best Irish surfing talent on a European stage. Rob Gunning from ASP Europe says "It's great to see the young Irish guys mix it up with best in Europe and to see Barefoot Wines and Billabong support for the event". Irish surfing might be best known for big, heavy barrelling waves but the Emerald Isle has more to offer: a new hungry breed of young Irish surfers happy to mix it up in the stratosphere as well as 10 foot barrels.

Enter guys such as Ollie O'Flatherty, who shot to fame earlier this year when one of his waves at Mullaghmore was nominated for a Billabong XXL award. Ollie is as happy pulling new school airs as he is in the barrel. The Expression Session will also see Steven Kilfeather (current Irish Champion), Aaron Reid, Damien Conway, Andrew Meanie and Cain Kilcullan take on some of Europe’s best. Tradewind Adventures have offered a boat trip in the Mentawii Islands as a prize for the best Irish surfer at the event. This year French ripper William Atolli is joined by the top UK surfers Ryuben Ash, Oli Adams, Alan Stokes, Lewis Clinton, Sturart Campbell, Liam Turner and Kiwi, Levi O'Connor, with 3k as well as other prizes up for grabs.

This is the 5th year of the festival and the Expression Session format is used to maximise the chances of good waves, allowing competitors to essentially freesurf. You need to go big or go home with the single best move taking the prize. The competition can be run in 2 hours and they've got a three day window so the organisers can wait for the best conditions. It’s on when it’s on, so stay tuned to Facebook or the Sea Sessions app to find out when it’s happening. Last year we had a bad forecast for swell but got a spike of swell late on the Saturday evening, which local tow-in pioneer and contest co-ordinator Mikee Hamilton had predicted. Tullan turned on the goods and we had some sick waves and saw some amazing surfing with Alan Stokes punting a radical move to take away €3000 prize money.

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