A team from the Isle of Man competed at the World Surf Kayak Championships in Portrush, Northern Ireland.

Four of the island’s top surf paddlers travelled to the competition, competing both individually and combining with another small team of paddlers from Jersey to form a British Islands team.

Competitors at the event, held in a different location and hemisphere every two years since 1991, came from as far afield as Australia and Argentina to surf the Northern Irish waves.

The World Championships are considered the pinnacle of the sport.

The Isle of Man team comprised Daniel Shimmin - Open Short Boat, Open Long Boat; Richard Cregeen-Watson - Open Short Boat, Open Long Boat; George Shaw - Masters Short Boat; Gerry Quinn - Masters Short Boat.

The competition surf kayakers paddle surf specific enclosed cockpit craft with double-bladed paddles, with the intention of surfing the best, steepest and highest risk waves in the most dynamic way possible within the confines of competitive heats.

Paddlers are scored by judges on their manoeuvres on the waves and the two highest-scoring paddlers in each heat advance to the next round.

Paddlers are identified by colour-coded bibs allocated before the heats start.

The paddlers score most points by demonstrating edge to edge surfing, making turns, surfing the steepest sections of the waves and undertaking tricks such as snapped turns, cut backs, aerials and more.

Daniel Shimmin, the island’s highest finishing individual paddler, said: ’The competition was a fantastic opportunity for our small team to compete against the very best in the world.

’While the Manx surf can provide a fickle training ground, we proved that with focus and commitment we are able to hold our own with the world’s top surf paddlers.’ Conditions throughout the week were varied and provided new challenges at every stage - from huge 20-foot storm swell to clean hollow peeling waves.

’The best surfers were those who could excel in all conditions.

’Our ability to handle the cold certainly helped!’

Daniel, despite having only paddled for three years, successfully reached the third round in both long and short boat competitions, along with placing second in both long and short team play off heats.

George Shaw, coach at Sea Kayaking Isle of Man, competed in the Masters Short Boat.

He said: ’This was our first major championships and while we never expected to bring home any silverware we all surpassed our individual goals.

’Dan, Richard, Gerry and I all took a leap of faith and put ourselves out there.

’I think it’s fair to say we surprised a good few people. We know what we need to do to improve our results next time and we’re already eyeing up competitions in next year’s calendar.

’Hopefully this will inspire others to get involved.’

Open Short Boat, arguably the most coveted individual event, was eventually won by Frenchman Pablo Arrouays, while the Basque Country took overall victory in the team event.

Paddlers from Australia, France, Basque Country and England all took the various other the ladies’ and men’s individual titles on offer.

The Isle of Man team thanked the organisers from the World Surf Kayak Association and the Canoe Association of Northern Ireland for hosting the event, the RNLI for safety cover throughout the week, Outdoors Ramsey for the generous support provided to the team and their British Islands team mates from Jersey.

The next World Championships are due to be held in Peru in 2019.