West of Ireland was a bone fide charity sim with ties to real life charities. In the beginning, Linden Labs provided deeply discounted tier rates for charities. When they decided they could no longer provide those discounts, West of Ireland had to retire its sims. Three surfing sims were impacted; Bundoran Reef, Neart, and Crab Island.
The really (really) old time surfers in SL, especially Bobbi LaSalle (Laval), have many more memories then I do about the creation of Bundoran Reef and its sister surfing sim, Neart. But I was fortunate to be a Reef Rider when Bundy was our home. In those days, being a Reef Rider also meant spending some time as a service to the West of Ireland charity. I helped out at Nancy's Pub and had the honor of helping with management of the beaches.
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December of 2011 was Bundoran Reef's last appearance and was able to finish with an SL Surfing Association competition. Although there was much gnashing of teeth, bruises, broken bones and boards, the competition was set up with a combinations of pipeline waves with boulders in the water before reaching the beach. Bundy's last competition ended up being voted the best competition venue of the season.
Bobbi's current Bundy Reef wave design harkens back to those last days of Bundoran Reef and warms my heart (and brings more than a few tears) when I see how many people are enjoying it and especially the spontaneous and organic creation of the tribute to the rocks (my name for it).
Not many of you probably saw Bundoran Reef on its last day. I'm also including a picture of the sim from over head.
I'd also like to include a link to a Sun Sets on Neart video from earlier in the year. This was many SL surfers coming to show their support and surfing during Neart's last week. It's a little long for a youtube video, but a lot of surfers were there over those last few days.
