Farrel O'Shea (3 August 1963 – 2 June 2024) was a British professional

windsurfer Windsurfing is a wind-propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the Californian aerospace and surf culture. Windsurfing gain ...

. He holds the British speed sailing record for all sail powered craft, as recognised by the

World Sailing Speed Record Council The World Sailing Speed Record Council (WSSRC) was founded in 1972, initially to ratify records at the inaugural Weymouth Speed Week held every year since in Portland Harbor.The WSSRC is the body authorized by the World Sailing (formerly Internat ...

. Originally from

Wellington, Shropshire Wellington is a market town and a civil parish in the borough of Telford and Wrekin, Shropshire, England. It is situated northwest of Telford and east of Shrewsbury, near the western terminus of the M54 motorway. The summit of The Wrekin lie ...

, O'Shea settled in the Gwynedd area of Wales. He rose to fame in the mid 1980s as a radical wave sailor; the UK's most media friendly windsurfer of the period, one of the first Europeans to perform the holy grail of windsurfing moves the

front loop {{unreferenced, date=August 2011 Front loop is the name given to a trick performed by a windsurfer (also known as a forward loop) whereby the rider performs a jump from a wave face and forces the sail, board and rider to perform a forward somersaul ...

. Three times UK wave sailing vice champion he had successful career in speed sailing between 1986 and 1990. O'Shea wrote three books on windsurfing, including the global best seller an ''Introduction to Windsurfing'' in 1988. Persuaded out of retirement by Dave White in 2006, he rejoined the professional ISWC Speed World Cup tour. He broke the prestigious UK 500 m speed sailing record on 5 March 2008 during the Masters of speed event at St Marie de la Mer, France, achieving 44.34 knots, beating the previous record held by Dave White. With a trend towards GPS timing and a global speed ladder, O'Shea achieved second fastest speed in 2008, 8th in 2009 and 3rd worldwide in 2010, the highest placed UK athlete.http://www.gps-speedsurfing.com GPSS O'Shea lived and trained in

Abersoch Abersoch () is a village in the community of Llanengan in Gwynedd, Wales. It is a popular coastal seaside resort, with around 2,600 residents, on the east-facing south coast of the Llŷn Peninsula at the southern terminus of the A499. It is a ...

North Wales North Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdon ...

. He died suddenly in France on 2 June 2024, at the age of 60.

References

1963 births 2024 deaths Sportspeople from Wellington, Shropshire Welsh sportspeople Sportspeople from Gwynedd People from Llanengan {{UK-sport-bio-stub