“So I’ll give you a shout around seven? High tide is around nine yeah?”
“No man we’re all leaving around four.”
“Dude, it’s quarter to twelve now, I’ve half a pint in my hand, I am not getting up in four hours.”
It had been a long day and we hadn’t gotten any surf despite driving half the country. I was going to enjoy my night and relax a little, sure it’s still dark at four o’clock what where they thinking?
I had barely been able to get sleep on Monday night I was so excited about the imminent swell. I eventually drifted off while wondering whether maybe it’s better to not live near the coast. That way you don’t have to put up with the awful onshore slop that most Irish breaks get a majority of the time. Sure you get to surf more but overall would you really be happier? Us weekend (or mid week if it’s good enough) warriors get the joy of sneaking off before the sun starts to creep over the horizon, we get to drive on nice quiet roads and watch glorious sunrises as we speed toward the coast. As well as the afore mentioned pre-trip excitement.
It had been a few weeks since I had been in the water and I was like a kid on Christmas Eve. I had spent the previous day trying to figure where to head to. I had a bit of a crew who I would picking up along the way and I could meet up with some others depending on which county we ended up in. We had eventually decided to make the call on Tuesday morning depending on what the wind did during the night.
The whole drive to the coast I was trying to make sense of the reports I was getting in from around the rugged west coastline of our fair isle, weather prediction sites are great but nothing beats a mate standing on the beach with a phone in his hand.
I had been shooting nothing but my home breaks for months so I wanted to head north and see what we could find. I picked up Damien in Lahinch. Quick check of the latest charts. Still inconclusive.
“Do you really need three boards? It’d be much more comfortable with two.”
“Yeah we might find a sick slab and I might need them all.”
Damien has a tendency to snap boards so three boards was probably right for a two day trip.
Onwards to Galway and Eoin McCarthy-Deering. As is always the case when Damo is in the car we cruised up coming Straight Outta Compton.
“Yeah man, those chicks were totally digging us.”
Up into Dubber’s room for another check of the latest buoy readings. Right, decision made, maybe. Maybe we should stick with what we know, but it’s always fun to try out new breaks as well. Hmmmm.
One thing that was definitely decided on was shotgun. Damo has a ridiculous knack for calling it, despite always being the smallest person in the car.
A few hours, and numerous conflicting reports, later we pulled up at a reef that had a possible wave. There was one bodyboarder out there already and he seemed to be catching a good few so we threw on the suits and jumped in. I then spent about an hour swimming in circles trying to gauge this new spot. Every set seemed to come from a different direction and when I did happen to be beside one of the boys the wave would inevitably go fat. Dan, the bodyboarder, reckoned it was better at a lower tide, i.e. fin scraping the reef low, definite booger wave then.
This combination of extensive driving, swimming and not getting any decent shots brings us back to the point of me enjoying my pint and arguing about what time we should be getting up. I was pretty annoyed anyway as Tuesday was meant to be the biggest day with the swell dropping off over night. Sure the winds were going to be light and southerly but what’s the point of light winds if there’s no waves?
Anyway the band is rocking and the landlord is crying out for an encore, the night is only starting. (Un)Fortunately my body was telling me that it needed rest so I grudgingly finished my pint and headed off to try and find a bed.
Why are you giving me this sword, I want to go surfing. What is that Knight doing on that horse and what the hell is that sound?
Oh yeah, alarm. Get up. Snap out of dreamland.
Quarter past five (it seemed a good compromise), oh look it’s still dark, what a surprise. I wander the streets searching for where the boys had bedded down and eventually stumble across them, actually waiting with boards out and everything. I scavenge an apple from somewhere in my car, just as good as brushing your teeth and better than a cup of coffee apparently. Boards, suits and surfers loaded we head off into the grey morning searching as always for that perfect set-up. But we’d probably settle for half decent waves.
We cruise up and down the coast for a while checking a few different spots
“Yeah that could work with a bit more tide.”
“No the swell doesn’t seem to be getting here.”
“What about that first spot we checked?”
We get a call that a spot a good bit down the coast might be doing it. Light is starting to break through the clouds and I’m anxious to make the most of it so we tear down along country roads trying to find half remembered turn-offs and listen to garbled voice messages, not good mobile coverage on this part of the coast.
Eventually we find a make shift car park with a good few cars we recognise, Hugh Galloway is here along with Dan the bodyboarder from yesterday and some others as well. We can see someone racing across a field in front of us so I jump out and start chasing after him, hastily shouting to the boys to lock up when they’re done. I don’t want to miss any action and it takes me longer to get my housing set up than it does to strap on a leash so I need the head start.
My quarry disappears over a hill and I lose him. I keep walking and come to the top of a twenty metre cliff. I can see Danny scrambling across some rocks at the bottom and head off in the direction he was walking from. I eventually make it down on to the rocks and head off after him. I’m starting to get excited now, there seems to be a good bit of swell around and there is absolutely no wind.
Finally I spot the heads of the Gillespie brothers. Shambles is here as well. It must be good if these boys are suiting up. These are the guys who really brought boogers admiration in my eyes, they seriously charge all the time. Mucho Respect.
When I scramble over the last mini cliff I’m greeted with spitting head high barrels. This place looks ridiculously mean but absolutely glorious. Dan is just paddling out and proceeds to take off and get slotted on a preposterously hollow beast. Luckily, Tom has his camera gear with him and he lets me borrow a lens to shoot from the channel, cheers Tom. It’s a new wave for me and appears crazily shallow so I don’t want to take any chances sitting in the impact zone. Hugo is next in the water and BAM, slotted straight away, this kid can ride.
I’m hopping like a lunatic trying to get into my suit and set up my housing at the same time, not wanting to miss another second in the water.
It’s really good to have this crew of bodyboarders out in the water as they push everybody to go that little bit harder. There’s a few slams, a couple of ripped wetsuits but nothing too serious, Dan seems in pain after one particularly mangled monster shut down on him, but keeps charging nonetheless. After filling up two memory cards I call it a day which is good timing as the tide is start to get too low anyway.
We amble back to the cars with crazy grins on our faces absolutely satisfied. But as with all surfers our hunger will return soon enough. We scoot back to town to refuel and recharge. After a short power nap we’re ready again, the destination this time is a reef I’ve been out to a handful of times so I’m fired up to get out there. Once again Danny boy is in the water when we arrive. We join him as quick as we can, but we kind of know this session isn’t going to be as magic as the mornings, the wind is up and the wave has a weird bump on it. Wrong swell direction maybe. A few barrels are still had by all and get out fairly satisfied. The stoke from the morning session is still keeping us ticking and no doubt will do so for the next few weeks. So maybe it’s a good thing to get out of your comfort zone and go explore once in a while.
From Fins last summer, the second shot is probably my favourite shot that I’ve taken.
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