hellwoman
12-29-2007, 08:00 PM
EMERALD ERUPTION: Irish big wave surfing ignites on a record breaking North Atlantic swell
Another mega emerald volcano erupting in Ireland.
The highlights reel was further marked by Gabe Davies, who somehow finessed his way through a frothing, whitewater cascade on a bomb, which ended his session on a high note.
Scott adopted a simple approach: “Go left. Go fast. Don’t die!” It seemed to work for him.
With adverse winds, lightning strikes and burnt-out thighs slowing down the session after a few intense hours, the flotilla headed safely homewards.
It seemed fitting that they had been joined for this session by intrepid water photographers Tony Plant, and the inimitable Mickey Smith, himself a pioneer of many recent Irish heavy-water discoveries.
Safety ski driver Dylan Prickett also kept a watchful eye on the assembled watermen, and the surfers’ steady communications with the local Coast Guards under Small Craft Warning conditions will assist in keeping this remarkable location open to towsurfers in the future.
Despite the numerical significance of this record-breaking swell and session, the lasting satisfactions where a little more subtle, and personal. Davies and Fitzgerald had started their towsurfing attempts here together, and reuniting for this session culminated in them riding the best waves of their lives, and a grand finale for their upcoming production ‘Wave Riders.’
For Ritchie Fitzgerald, the opportunity to charge his neighbourhood break in once-in-a-lifetime form with friends, provided a huge dose of stoke in an otherwise testing year for the Fitzgerald clan.
For the ginger giant Alistair Mennie, it was an overdue reward for great commitment. He’d logged hundreds of hours of driving, both in a van and on a jetski, cold nights of overnight parking in lay-byes and boat harbours—all to make good on his vow to never miss a big swell anywhere in Ireland. Having sacrificed one jetski at Mullaghmore before in a training session with Andrew Cotton, the 1 December mega-swell rewarded him with the setting of a new benchmark in British and Irish big-wave surfing.
With widespread interest already generated by the recent discovery of “Aileens” the formidable righthander under the Cliffs of Moher in County Clare, the re-eruption of Mullaghmore has further laid down the Irish mantle as a legitimate heavy-water destination, with much untapped potential.
With surfers from Jersey to Johanna now clutching tenuously at Irish roots and booking flights to Dublin International, the enduring question begs answering: When will the Emerald Isles get this good again?
As an Irish surf-themed Guinness advert sagely proclaims, “Good things come to those who wait.”
(The surfers would like to dedicate this session to the memory of Richard Fitzgerald Senior, and to the speedy recovery of Cape Town towsurfer Glenn Bee.)
Another mega emerald volcano erupting in Ireland.
The highlights reel was further marked by Gabe Davies, who somehow finessed his way through a frothing, whitewater cascade on a bomb, which ended his session on a high note.
Scott adopted a simple approach: “Go left. Go fast. Don’t die!” It seemed to work for him.
With adverse winds, lightning strikes and burnt-out thighs slowing down the session after a few intense hours, the flotilla headed safely homewards.
It seemed fitting that they had been joined for this session by intrepid water photographers Tony Plant, and the inimitable Mickey Smith, himself a pioneer of many recent Irish heavy-water discoveries.
Safety ski driver Dylan Prickett also kept a watchful eye on the assembled watermen, and the surfers’ steady communications with the local Coast Guards under Small Craft Warning conditions will assist in keeping this remarkable location open to towsurfers in the future.
Despite the numerical significance of this record-breaking swell and session, the lasting satisfactions where a little more subtle, and personal. Davies and Fitzgerald had started their towsurfing attempts here together, and reuniting for this session culminated in them riding the best waves of their lives, and a grand finale for their upcoming production ‘Wave Riders.’
For Ritchie Fitzgerald, the opportunity to charge his neighbourhood break in once-in-a-lifetime form with friends, provided a huge dose of stoke in an otherwise testing year for the Fitzgerald clan.
For the ginger giant Alistair Mennie, it was an overdue reward for great commitment. He’d logged hundreds of hours of driving, both in a van and on a jetski, cold nights of overnight parking in lay-byes and boat harbours—all to make good on his vow to never miss a big swell anywhere in Ireland. Having sacrificed one jetski at Mullaghmore before in a training session with Andrew Cotton, the 1 December mega-swell rewarded him with the setting of a new benchmark in British and Irish big-wave surfing.
With widespread interest already generated by the recent discovery of “Aileens” the formidable righthander under the Cliffs of Moher in County Clare, the re-eruption of Mullaghmore has further laid down the Irish mantle as a legitimate heavy-water destination, with much untapped potential.
With surfers from Jersey to Johanna now clutching tenuously at Irish roots and booking flights to Dublin International, the enduring question begs answering: When will the Emerald Isles get this good again?
As an Irish surf-themed Guinness advert sagely proclaims, “Good things come to those who wait.”
(The surfers would like to dedicate this session to the memory of Richard Fitzgerald Senior, and to the speedy recovery of Cape Town towsurfer Glenn Bee.)