The Irish Surfing Association was boosted yesterday by a threeyear sponsorship from Guinness that will take the Irish team to the World Surfing Games later this year in Portugal.

More than 45 countries will participate in Costa Da Caparica from Octo ber 20th to November 2nd and Ireland will be hoping to improve on their current world ranking of 18th. Earlier this year the team took silver and individual bronze at the World Big Wave Championships in Mexico.

Association president Brian Britton said: "The Australian coach Peter Cook has made all the difference to our preparation and we now have the self-belief and experience that only professional coaching can bring."