Mayo Mayhem, Ireland’s biggest wave windsurfing competition scored it again. The decision to roll over the event from the previous weekend paid off big time. The competition was held on October 6th and 7th on Elly Beach, Belmullet, Co Mayo.

Windsurfing, Ireland: Mayo Mayhem, 2023

(Text by: Mayo Mayhem)

Photos credits: Wildatlanticmagesaok

This year’s Mayo Mayhem is ranked as a two-star event on the PWA /IWT world tour. Elly beach was filled with colour as the competition attracted close to 50 windsurfers competing in both the Pro and Amateur fleets. The event had a mix of the best of the Irish competing side-by-side with international competitors from France, Germany, Belgium, and Scotland.
The wind and swell arrived on Wednesday allowing riders who arrived early a few days to warm up. The Thursday warm-up session was crazy windy with riders overpowered on 3.0. Conditions on Friday were perfect with strong southerly winds and 3mtr waves. This produced perfect port tack side-shore conditions allowing excellent jumping and wave-riding conditions.There were lots of sail changes during the day with sails ranging from 4.7 to 3.2.
Throughout the day both fleets took turns showing off their skills. There was a round of the Am followed by a round of the Pro fleet.

The Women competed in either the Pro or Am and the overall results were calculated on their placement within each fleet.
Heats were 12 minutes long with a 2-minute change over. Riders were scored on their two best jumps and two best wave-rides. Conditions on the Saturday were still good with winds still from the south but a bit lighter and a lot more up and down. Many riders were caught out in their heats being either over or under powered. Due the lighter wind the decision was taken to score the best two waves and only one jump

Pro Fleet

In the Pro fleet two new entrants, PWA sailor Dieter Van der Eyken from Belgium and French Pro-windsurfer Nicolas Quemener pushed the level to new heights with double forwards and one-handed backies pushing the local Irish riders to their limits.
A single elimination was run on Day 1 resulting with: 4th Finn Mellon, 3rd Julius Byrne, 2nd Dieter Van der Eyken and 1st Nicolas Quemener .
With a second day of conditions on the Saturday a double elimination was run. Finn Mellon moved up from 4th to 3rd beating Julius Byrne. Finn then faced Dieter but didn't progress further to finish in 3rd place.
The final was between Dieter and Nicolas. Dieter had a super heat beating Nicolas, meaning that they had to sail one more heat in a Super Final. This was a very close heat with very little between Dieter and Nicolas.
In the dying seconds of the heat, Nicolas saw a big set out the back and blasted off downwind to throw a big stalled forward to take the win.

Am Fleet

The level this year had gone through the roof: forward loops, which used to be a rarity in the Am fleet were now being tried by a lot more competitors than ever before. On Day 1 a single elimination was run for the Am with Tom Lotocki in 1st, Cathal Clarke 2nd, Pawel Jankowski 3rd and David Cheyne 4th .
For Day 2 it was decided to run a single elimination again with the overall result decided on combined points. This format gives the Am fleet the most heats experience . Day 2 finished with Colin Colville 1st, Phil Hayden, 2nd Tom Lotocki 3rd and Aymeric De la Batie in 4th .
The overall position for the Am fleet was: 1st Tom Lotocki , 2nd Colin Colville. 3rd Phil Hayden. 4th Sean Keane.

Women's Fleet 

The Women’s fleet had only 3 riders , Katie competed in the Pro fleet and Amy and Aoife in the Am , with Amy only able to compete on day 1 . The level of windsurfer in this fleet is very high with the 3 women beating many of their male competitors. We are looking forward to watching this fleet grow in the future

Results

Women's Fleet

1st Katie McAnena (Ireland)
2nd Aoife Cooke (Ireland)
3rd Amy O'Donnell (Ireland)

Pro Fleet

1st Niclolas Quemener (France)( 5 Oceans, Flikka)
2nd Dieter Van Der Eyken (Belgium) (Severne)
3rd Finn Mellon (Ireland) (Goya, Quatro)
4th Julius Byrne (Ireland) (Starbaord Uk, Rusheen Bay ,
Severne)

Amateur Fleet

1st Tom Lotocki (Poland/Ireland)
2nd Colin Colville (Northern Ireland)
3rd Phil Hayden (Ireland)
4th Sean Keane (Ireland )