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Check out the beaches on the Irish South Coast
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January '99
Surf Reports.
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March '99
Surf Reports.
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February 7th, 1999
Castlefreke, Ireland
The boys had a poor day yesterday down in Inchydony while I was landlocked in Kilkenny, so given the westerly swell we decided Castlefreke might be worth a look. We knew the swell would be small but were pleasently surprised to find some nice glassy 3 to 4 footers showing there heads above the sandbank on the eastern side of the beach. We popped over to Readstrand for a look, just in case, but all we found there was my carmat Eddie had left there a few months ago.We turned our backs on it once more and returned to Castlefreke.
Conditions were great with unseasonal sunshine and a firm offshore. Eddie and the Rookie plied the backhand while I concentrated on the slightly steeper forehand edge.The best of the waves were shoulder high and packed a great punch and everyone caught a couple of beauties with my best being one where I had to do a severe cutback up the lip to avoid the outcoming Rookie on his ocean-going tug, and regain the base for a 200 metre screamer.
Five others joined us after a couple of hours, but the best of the waves had died by then and we headed for the car happy that our low hopes had proved so wrong.
February 13th, 1999
The Golden Triangle, Ireland
A day of cruel blows. A decent south-westerly was forecast so we were up at the crack of dawn and reached Castlefreke in record-breaking time, despite the Cavaliers continuing decline into automotive arthritis. What a shock then to see a disappointing swell throwing up nothing but a bruising shorebreak. So on to Redstrand, which was worse, and finally Inchydoney, in the hope that the sandbar might throw up something on the falling tide. All we got though was an incoming rush of two-fooers with no discernible break at all. The Rookie got a few spins on the pop-out while myself and Eddie retired to the bar to try to figure the whole thing out.
February 20th, 1999
The Golden Triangle, Ireland
A big big westerly was hammering the coast so we headed for Castlefreke to check it out (three hours late due to Eddies hangover - the moan-volume and self-pity had to be a new world record), it being the west-facing beach of the Golden Triangle. The swell was big, but was being shoved over by the following north-westerly to create the mother of all messes. Nothing for it then but the sandbar and Inchydony, which sticks out far enough to catch a westerly while still ensuring an almost directly offshore. And so it was, with beautiful head-high waves being thrown up in glassy water. Over by the green bouy the most regular backhander ever seen came rolling in incessantly, providing some of the best rides of my surfing days. These waves were smooth and moved toward the beach like an express train. Eddie didn't fare as well though (no doubt blaming the delicate head), and contented himself with a few straight-line foamers with the rookie.
February 27th, 1999
Garretstown, Ireland
The east beach at Garretstown is normally flat as a pancake on a good swell, but on a high swell with a following wind, when other beaches are reduced to a foaming mess, it kills the waves enough to provide a few hours entertainment on what would otherwise be a barren days surfing. So today was a day of searching hard for a decent wave, but a half-hour of furious paddling among the sneaker sets almost always proved worthwhile. Eddie recoiled from his recent slump with a sheer drop down a roaring 6-footer and a high speed getaway parallel to the beach to escape the dump. I came down a few but invariably got walloped by a sneaker before really getting going, while the Rookie found the rough conditions a bit of a handful and satisfyed himself with bobbing up and down for the day. The cruelest blow of all came when we retired to the surfers lounge at the hotel to find that the whole thing had been closed down so we had to beat a chilly retreat to the Speckled Door for the coffees and toasted specials.
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