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Published: October 23rd 2009
Oct 13
Today I had to finish packing and close down the house because tonight we are headed to Ireland. After I finsihed everything and was ready to go I had to bike about 3 miles with my 50 lb pack on me to jays house. Where we were supposed to get picked up by his friend Tom. However Tom had called and said he was running late and it would help if we could meet him on the mainland. So jay scrambled to call some people luckily chris pulled through for us and was able to get us to toms house. From there it was an easy drive up to metro park where we took the train to Penn station and met jays dad for dinner. We had a nice quick dinner in Penn plaza. Then we hoped on the LiRR to jamaca station then air tram to jfk. We made it with sufficent time. Our first flight was to London went smoothly as I slept the entire time. Then we had to go through immagrations in London which was weird because we were just fransfering. Then our second flight to Dublin was only about an hour which I again do not remember at all.
Upon arriving we went through a jovial immigration process then hit baggae claim. Jays bag my bag come through but no boardbag we walked around thinking they might have left it somewhere no luck. So we then had to file a claim the woman said it had happened eariler today, that oversized bags had gotten left in London. Aparently its a problem one that I say should be addressed. Anyway the woman took down shane's info (one of the bloaks we will be staying with.) Then jay and i found our way through a non existant customs area to the tourist booth were we picked up bus tickets to head to Galway. It's amazing how easy traveling is when they speak english. Hahah. Well that's it for now just gonna enjoy the country side on this bus ride.
So we made it to galway. We got off the bus and had a look around for shane's place. We asked a few people but no one seemed to have a definate directions. So we decided to go have a bite to eat. I had an awesome Irish lamb stew and jay had a burger but it had no bun just 2 scoops of mashed tatoes. After we ate we tried a road to find shane's place but decided it wasn't right so we headed back to the center. We were going over which road to try next when we head off in the distance a cry for our names. We turned around and the Shane was crossing the road. He was doing a walk about looking for us.
We headed back to his place just up one of the streets. Where we chatted a bit to catch up.
Shane was meant to go play soccer in a hour or so and their team was short handed so jay and I vouleentered to play. It was a debacle. Neither of us have played in years. The only thing we had was fitness, we could run around alot. Needless to say we weren't much help but we had good fun playing with some good Irish guys. When we were leaving the field I saw an LBI hoodie. I ran up to the guy and asked about he he was there for a few days this summer because he had been working in NYC. Pretty crazy small world. After soccer we headed back to shane's to have a shower and head out for a few drinks. Shane took us to a few pubs so jay could try an abundance of Irish Guiness. After our pub crawl jay and I grabed some grub at a supermacs. Irish mcy ds. Then we headed home and crashed.
Oct 15
This morning we were worken up by hyper anthony keaney at 11:30 the lastest we have slept in quite some time. It must have been, the travel time, soccer, and pub crawl that took it's toll on us.
We were bummed our boards still hadn't shown up yet but keaney had a few spares for us. I luckily had packed my wetsuit in my back pack jay had to barrow James(shane's roomates) suit. We managed to rangle some boards and gear to go have a surf.
We first stopped to call the airln,e they said our bags were clearing customs and would be delivered tonight, solid news
We then headed south to lahinch but it wasn't looking to go so we then checked Spanish Point and a few other unnamed loactions we just spotted along the way. We finally decided to surf doonbeg beach right next to doonbeg castle. It was alright fun little beach break, on random makeshift boards with half broken skegs but we managed to get a few good ones. But boy was it cold my body wasn't too bad but my feet were blue and white must have that disease raynoms phenom that dad has. It was pretty scray they were so numb and cold took forever to warm them up. We all finaly came in and headed back to Galway but stopped in lahinch for some kebas for dinner. When we got back James played a joke on us and said our boards n gear hadn't arrived yet. We ran in the house to talk to Shane jay walked right past the boards by the front door. It was a terrible joke.
Shane was keen to go for a drink so we mustarded up some energy and headed out for a few. Keaney was a riot trying to pimp us Americas out it was halarious. He managed to pick up a few birds actually an american that was from doyals town PA. Crazy and she was headed to Rome in an hour on a bus which seem crazy. We chatted up a few other girls until one of the boys dropped a bomb and killed the O2 supply in the area. After the pubs jay keaney and I hit poppa johns for some grubb. Then we headed home. Keaney and let's say got distracted by something on the way home and we lost jay. We went home hoping he made it there no such luck so we headed back out to find him we split up and keaney found him around the block. Thank god bed time
Oct 16
We did a 6 am wake up to head up to easky a few hours drive north. We were expecting to see some decent surf, it was suppsed to building over night and today. However when we rocked up we had no such luck. There was a small wave but very fat and mushy so we headed to town for some food hoping the swell would fill in and the high tide push would help as well but when we got back it still wasn't looking great so we decided to have a nap and catch up on some lost sleep from the night before. When we woke up it still wasn't up to our hopes of what we thought it was going to be but we decided to head out for a session any way. It was fat slow and mushy but we managed to snag some decent ones and it was much nicer being on our own board and my 7 mm booties made a huge difference. We surfed for and hour and half or so jay and I got out to warm up and rest for tomorrow. Were all banking on it being much better tomorrow. Keaney stayed out a bit longer than us he was having a grand ol time. We hung out on the beach a bit then headed in to town to pick up some stuff to fix one of keaneys boards and get some food supplies too. Then we grabbed some dinner I had boiled bacon and cabbage apparently a typical Irish dish. It was very plain but decent. We headed back to to the beach to set up for the night. We had a beatuiful sunset and in the afternoon I might add the sun actually came out today and was quite nice. Jay fixed up keaneys board and I hung out and caught up on this. Were just playing cards now and keaney is trying to hook up his gass grill to heat up the van a bit. Hopefully the surf will fill in tomorrow.
Oct 17
So last night was absolutely freezing. I was hot at one point but about an hour later I was frozen. I waited til 7 to get up have a slash and put some layers on. Unfortunately the surf was pretty non existant. There were a few nice lines coming through but smaller than yesterday, big upset. We went back to sleep after I thawed out abit. We crashed for another hour or so hoping it was goig to fill in when the tide swung around however no such luck. So keaney grilled up some sasuages ae had susage and peanutbutter. We decided to head to town for some coffee to warm up and pick up some water and kill some time. We then tried to find some Internet to check the swell and ring shane but didn't have any luck with that. We went back to easky but it was still small and no sign of swell. So we decided to venture out to a few breaks to find something to surf.
We did manage to see it was a west swell so we decided to head for ballet mullet a pinsula on the mid west coast. We searched high and low running through farmer's fields after farmers fields to find a spot working. We definately found spots with good potiental but unfortunately something was always missing from the equation weather it was crappy winds bad swell angle or simply not enough size for the spot to work well. We did eventually find a spot a few guys were out but it was fat and mushy. Keany was keen on giving it a go but it was getting dark and it was cold and windy out. Jay and I didn't think it was worh the effort. So then we headed to West port for the night shane's sister lived there and we were hoping to get a shower and good warm sleep at her place but she was out of town so we had no luck with that either. Shane did come up for the night though and we all went out to a few pubs for some pints and some comoradory time.
Oct 18
So we caught wind that we missed the swell by heading west yesterday apparently it had been going off further north so we made our way to Sligo where Anthony had a friend we had to drop a board off too. He said it was awesome yesterday best he had ever seen. Jay and I were skeptical seeing as the guy was a newbie and was an "over stoker". He claimed they were 8 ft and barrelling but we had our doubts. We headed off from there to check the main breaks around the area the 3 main expert ones being bundoran peak, pampa and inside lefts. Neither of them were working to well though. We decided to hit the local surf shop for some better info. He did confirm good surf yesterday but we still couldn't see it being that good. Keaney really wanted to take ua to his favorite spot lissddel. So we headed there. There were 2 waves there one was typical slow fat and mushy the other had some potiental but again the wind wasn't right and it was to sectional and not makeable enough to give it a go besides the sets were so far apart we would have froze waiting around for them. So we decided to chill out read a bit and see what would happen as the tide came in. Keaney decided after a while To give it a try. It was fun for him because it was slow and fat. Jay and I went back and forth on what to do finally we got ancy and decided to steal the truck to go back and check out the peak. It looked nice but the swell just wasn't big enough and the tide was to high for that location so back we went to keaneys spot. I got bored of waiting around and said let's just go for it so we suited up and went out for a half hour session. It was nice finally getting back in the water even though it was cold. We snaged a few fun ones but they defiantly didn't have much power. We headed in and made some tea to warm up. Then headed bcak out on the road to keanys house. We picked up some food to cook when we got there. But his mom and aunt had made some mashed potatoes and veggies and some left over pork with gravy, she also cooked up the meat bacon wrap we bought. It was nice to have a warm home cooked meal. We sat around the tv and watched some night time drama with his mom and aunt then we got a much needed shower and went off to bed.
Oct 19
Well finally an earlier morning we got up and had breaky with keanys family then headed back down to lahinch because of the current swell diretion it should be the biggest there even though the winds might not be great hopefully well find some spot with good size and steeper faces. Keep our fingers crossed.
We drove to doolin it took about 6 hours. It had some potential but was super windy and not organized. We decided to camp their for the night. It was nice we made a pasta dinner in the van and just hung out and talked about surfing all night. It was such a cool neat chill experience. Finally, we decided to hit the local pub so the boys could have a couple. It was a very nice low key Irish bar that has a small irish bad playing inside. We sat down and played cards for a while then shoved off to bed.
Oct 20
We woke up today and were getting excited today was the day. We checked a few spots but needed to wait for the tide to go out a bit. So we found this sweet spot to park than over looked some firing surf. We made some eggs, toast and tea. Then suited up and headed out at Haggertys. It was a long long walk around the point but we finally got there and there was a nice channell to head out in. Jay snuck out before us so he managed to snag a wave keaney and I paddles out just as I was trying to get a bearing on where we were and how far out we needed to be a huge set rolled through and keaney and I got caught on the inside and wound up paddleing for the next hour to try and make it out the back. It must have bee. Easy double to tripple over head. We went from the left point channell to the right shoulder we finally made it out but the sweep was so bad we were getting swept away from the surf. It was pretty massive, fast and hard to paddle into on a 6'0" board. We would have needed a rhino chaser to surf that spot propperly. So after literally and hour and half none stop paddeling we went in and found around the corner there was a beautiful left hander just peeling there. So we sat for a bit to watch it and catch our breadth. Then we headed out there.
It was sick a number of guys were out there but they weren't that good so pretty much any way we wanted we could get by just sitting further out at the peak. I rode my first wave about half way in which mind you was probably 100 yards or more. Then paddled out and snagged one all the way inside 2-300 yards inside. It was sick my legs felt tired from all the turning. It took me a solid 10 mins to paddle back out. It was crazy. So after that every other wave I just went to shore to walk around andn hop off the point. We spent a nother few hours in the water here and then headed in for lunch. We all were completly nackered, totally body was shot. I was to tired to even chew my food. We planned on heading to town to pick up some wax and water then possible do a sunset session but we were all to tired to bother. We did check a few spots in the way to town to see what other breaks were doing.
When we got to town I found a free wifi bar so we sat outside and checked email. Yesterday I tried booking airfare to portugal but when I did it the website crashed so jay did it for the both of us. Then I got an email today saying it got booked so I had to spend 15 mins sitting on tge phone on hold at a 10 cents per min to cancel the first booking. It was ridiculous. After that we had to find a place to park and sleep for the night. Jay mare us dinner more pasta and meet sauce. We hung out for a bit but were all super tired so we buggered off to bed.
Oct 21
So we got up around 8 am since that's about when the sun rises here. We headed to Spanish point to check it. It looked pretty good but jay wanted to see what doonbeg castle looked like. So we headed down further south. We wound up doing a bit of a goose chase. We drove around and around and drove down this shit dirt road with terrible pot holes only to have it end at a river just shy of where we needed to check the surf. We ended up drivig back to spanish point jay and I headed out. It was decent size 6-9ft moving pretty fast but the wind was on it and made it for a verry lumpy bumpy ride. It wasn't worht it. So we both snagged one in and told keaney we were just gonna check some where else. We checked barrtra but was flat as. So then we headed to doolin and crab island but we stopped at the cliffs of moher on the way. There was a few guys out below there, a few tow in and a few paddeling. It must have been at least triple over head. The Irish national champ was out there he was surfing barrtra with us yesterday. There were 2 spots sort of working below one of them must have Aileen's. It was pretty amazing and funny because we all were still in our wetsuit and we had to run through a farmer's severly pothole watery field to look over the cliff.
We watched for a bit then continued on our way to doolin and crab island where again we were meet with decent surf but the wind was on it. Doolin looked a foot or 2 over head and crab was probably double over head but to windy and choppy. So we decided to take off suits of and have breaky durring breaky a few showers rolled through and we had a beauriful bright full rainbow. After sitting there a while hoping the windy would swing or back of we decided to go check barrta which was still flat. I then said said let's make one more stop at haggertys the spot that we got hammered for an hour yesterday. We finally got lucky it was glassy head high left handers. It was beautiful there even was a rain bow that landed right over keaneys truck which he nick named the pot of gold. It was a great session we were working the waves with a good circular line up rotation and it was just the tree of us for about and hour. Then 3 more guys came outand it turned to shit the tide got to high and it just wasn't working that well any more so we all snagged waves in and called it a day.
As we headed out we decided to stop and ask a local farmer to fill our water juggs for us. He was an ol guy but nice enough and did it for us. Then we drove back to doolin only to stop to grab some coffee along the way. When we got back jay cooked dinner again more pasta but this time he made a butter pepper garlic sauce. It was pretty solid. We sat around watching a movie on my iPod then keaney got a call from his mom saying the police had called asking about him, if he owned a big yellow transit van, what he was doing down in Claire county and weither he was a good guy or not. It was funny. It must have either been someone saw us when we were parked outside a house that was for sale last night and thought we were robbing it, the old farmer was scared we were coming back to rob him or when we went to spanish point to surf we parked behind a house for sale jay took a crap in plain view of the road and I found this blue jumper/doctor suit in keanys van so I put it on and started wobbling around. It was halarious but someone might have seen that and not liked it. But it was no big deal his mother just said he's fine just out on a surf trip hahah. We all decided to head to the pub so the boys could have a few pints and to play dome cards. Good end to a long intresting day.
Oct 22
So today was a major waiting game. We woke up at doolin so we checked the point and crab island but it wasn't working so we headed to our secret spot haggertys. But the tide was way to low so we decided to wait to see if when the tide started pushing in a surfable wave would come in with it. So we sat and waited watched movies on my iPod, read, and then jay and I went for a walk around the point. It was a beautifuly day. We found this sweet cave it was georgous. After that we went back jay went back to read I did a jump rope and push up work out. When I finished I finally convinced the boys that there just wasnt enough swell in. The water worth waiting around for so we shoved off. We headed back to Galway for the night to hang with shane have a shower and a night out. Jay and I made the boys some dinner chicken and potatoes. We made due with little but it as pretty good. We all showered up and headed out to a few pubs.
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Andrew Stutz
non-member comment
Yuuueeeew!
FIRING!