Hi

I’m doing a charity paddle in aid of NI Chest heart and Stroke at the end of March from Northern ireland to the Scottish Island of Islay.

Please donate to them here http://www.justgiving.com/TheGiantsCrossing-byAlMennie

Thanks to all the support I’m getting from Surftech paddle boards, Chasers Surf Tours, www.bespoke-pt.co.uk, Gecko Head Gear, Bunk Campers, Futures, snugg wetsuits, little green fox, Pure Krav Maga Causeway.  Thanks also to those planning on helping in the boat and ski and during training including my bro and Leah and Jamie Russell and Conn Osborne among others.

Thanks also to the only surfer on Islay Marcus Covell who has been helping me with local info on his side of the channel.

Thanks to all you kind people who have already donated to the charity!

I still need a few things so we can all do it safely so if anyones businesses can help with fuel for the boat, fuel for us, warm weather gear for the whole crew and navigation equipment then we would be really appreciative of it.

Thanks

Al

http://www.justgiving.com/TheGiantsCrossing-byAlMennie

Bunk Campers, Ireland’s largest campervan rental company have come on board!

They have sponsored me with one of their ‘Ranger’ models.  No more changing in the back of the van and sleeping in the cold below boards.  My new wagon has 4 beds, a shower, a toilet, a tv, a full kitchen unit and wait for it….gas central heating!  Think I might start charging in the carpark for hot showers after the surf!

It’s pretty perfect for surfing, boards fit in, even my 10 footers and I can still use the double bed with quite a bit of stuff in it.  How lucky am I!!!!

I have a secret password that I can give you if you want to rent one that gets you a discount.  I know loads of you guys fly in, hire cars and houses but these work out cheaper and are all in one.  When i go to California I always rent campervans instead of house, car etc…its way better and you can stay anywhere so if you’re coming over for the winter or the summer let me know or go on their website. www.bunkcampers.com

I’ll put up some decent photos inside it in the next few days.

Bunk are sponsoring the raffle at the Boxing Night Big Wave Night too!

There she is!

I’ve always been into doing other forms of preparation and training for surfing. Some surfers just surf and that’s all they feel they need to do. Some surfers do all sorts of yoga, stretching, Pilates, weights, swimming etc but that’s what they feel they need to do. I fall somewhere in the middle and like to do certain things mainly for strength and confidence in big surf.

I have always found it difficult to stick to a routine, as I’m sure every surfer knows that when the surfs good you go surfing as that’s what’s most important. I especially find it really hard in winter to keep doing other forms of training when there is constant surf. I have always weight trained, done some under water stuff and some sea swimming and sand sprints.

There are two things I really dislike in life; running and doing the dishes. If I can avoid both those, on a daily basis, I’m a happy man.

In the past two years I hurt my shoulder and more recently my knee and so I’ve had to get a bit more serious about making sure I’m training properly and for the right things. I’ve always trained on my own and I don’t go to gyms. Is it just me or do 90% of people in gyms go there to either look at themselves in the mirror, to be seen there or to chat up girls? I feel so out of place in a gym and so do what I can at home with free weights and a few other bits of equipment.

When I hurt my knee, my friend Dave Holden, an exercise rehabilitation expert, checked me out a few times and gave me a bunch of weird things to do to strengthen my knee including standing on one leg on a cushion and squatting. Yes, it is as weird as it sounds, doing that in front of the tv on a Saturday afternoon was not exactly riveting. However, all the stuff he gave me really worked and made me feel a lot more confident until I was ready to build it up.

Since then I’ve enlisted the help of another mate, Richard Robinson. Richard is a former Mr. UK and has a top 10 finish in Mr. Universe. I could go on and list a million other reasons why I chose him but hopefully you get the idea. He has altered my diet and completely changed my weights program to really focus on the areas that are important to me in the surf. On top of that he has thrown in 4 circuits using very specific exercises to help me in the water. Some stuff is specific to tow surfing and other stuff more focused on big wave paddle in fitness and strength. If anyone wants to speak to Richard in a surfing capacity or for any other sort of fitness let me know and I’ll put you in touch with him. He knows his stuff and has trained all sorts of athletes and people just looking to lose weight. Or you can email him on ric.robinson@hotmail.co.uk  Likewise if anyone thinks Dave could help in some way I can put you in touch with him too via email.

Right, I’m off for a doing the dishes run.

Xmas Big Wave Night and Charity Fund raiser

The Playhouse in Portrush are combining their Boxing Night Funk and Soul Shakedown with the Irish Premier of Zon North Canyon Show.  It is a film produced in Portugal featuring Hawaiian surfer Garrett McNamara exploring a very unique location in Portugal that produces giant waves.  Cotty and I feature in the film working with Garrett to ride huge waves at Praia do Norte, Nazare, Portugal.  If you have seen the photos of the 90footer all over the place, this is where that happened.  This is from the first of a three year project down there.  The film shows all that has gone into being able to ride the giant waves at Nazare that have been feared for so long by local surfers and the fishing community.

There will also be screenings of a couple of short videos produced by local film makers Joe kennedy and Jamie Russell showing some of the sessions we have had at home.

When we premiered our first dvd ‘Driven’ we put on a photo exhibition and we are doing the same this time round too.  There will be a great photo exhibition from highly acclaimed photographers Conn Osborne and Gary McCall showing some of the giant waves we have ridden in this country and some shots showing all that goes into riding these huge waves.

I’m going to bring along a load of my big wave equipment.  I get asked quite a lot about the difference between the big wave kit we use and normal short boards.  It’s much better to show it than try and explain it.  There will be a few tow boards, big wave guns and lots of other stuff to check out.

We will also be doing a charity raffle in aid of ‘Grief Encounters’.  They are a charity for grieving children and do amazing work.  The proceeds from the sale of raffle tickets will go to them and in return a lot of the local surf businesses are throwing in some amazing prizes.  My sponsors are also throwing in some great deals and prizes too.  When I have the full list I will put it up here but its well worth a few quid for a raffle ticket!

http://www.griefencounter.org.uk/

Rosy and I with my new boards for the winter.

It’s always an exciting time for a surfer to go to the shaping bay and pick up new boards!  I love it!  It’s so exciting.  So today I drove to Rosy Surfboards in Londonderry to pick up a new 10’8″ gun and a new 6’0″ tow board.  Both have future fin boxes in them with options for both thruster and quad set ups so I can play about with what works at different spots.  My last big gun from Rosy worked well although I wanted a little more thickness all the way through it to allow me to catch bigger waves more easily on it.

Thes boards have been the result of me trying a few different boards from Rosy to date so in theory by working together these boards should perform better than anything I’ve already had.

I will be shipping the big 10’8″ (red and white) down Biarittz tomorrow for the La Vaca Gigante event to my friend Pilou’s house because the airlines don’t let us fly with anything over 9’2″ most of the time.

Tow board Future fins

In my tow board I generally use the Gerry Lopez tow fins which have two small side fins and one big trailer fin made from glass fibre but Futures have just sent me a simon anderson quad set which i’m looking forward to using.  In my guns I tend to change between a thruster and quad set up quite a lot but I prefer the glass models as they are stronger and handle speed well.

For anyone who is interested Rosy has done a full photo and video journal of making these boards which he will make available pretty soon and i’ll put it on here.