|
Check out the beaches on the Irish South Coast
Get back to
The Ultimate Wave
index page
Get back to the
South Coast Surfing Journal
Home Page
Check out
February '99
Surf Reports.
Check out
April '99
Surf Reports.
|
March 6th, 1999
Inchydoney, Ireland
There was only one place to be this weekend and that was out on the Dingle Penninsula,the most westerly finger of land in Ireland, jutting out into the big northerly swell and stopping it in its tracks to form the biggest boldest waves of the year so far. However, we were in Cork, 100 miles away, fighting off the hangover of the year, brought on by a heavy night in the Bodega welcoming Mary White home. A visit to Inchydoney proved our worst fears true and we resorted to watching Ireland getting steamrolled by England. A creul day.
March 12-15th, 1999
Inchydoney Island Hotel, Ireland
A whole weekend spent in the plush surrounds of the Inchydoney Island Hotel. How posh it was to be able to wake up and look out the window to see how the waves were behaving. Unfortunately, you can book hotels but not waves and we spent the three days struggling to find a decent one in the slop. To Niall Naughtons untrained eye, the Rookie seemed to be doing the best until we explained to him that his pop-out could catch a ride on the wake of a rowing boat. Still, enough proper waves came along to prevent the weekend becoming a write-off, and anyway, we always had the option of retiring to the sauna or steamroom or even indulge in a seaweed massage.
March 20th, 1999
Brandon Bay, Ireland
A north-westerly ruled out the south coast, so there was nothing for it but to bite the bullet and make our debut appearance on the west coast. Brandon Bay was the chosen spot and two hours after leaving Cork we were there. Down endless boreens we found a huge semi-circular beach, maybe 10 miles long, facing due north and capable of picking up anything resembling a swell coming from that direction. Given the size of the beach and our lack of time, we didn't have time to find the best breaks but after two hours surfing an endless supply of perfectly regular waves it was obvious that this place has massive potential and needs a whole weekend to do it justice. The trip was capped off with a visit to the Vaughan ancestral home in gloomy Tralee which had Eddie recounting memories of a misspent youth in the town that gave him his thick western brogue.
March 27th, 1999
Inchydoney, Ireland
The outlook was bad with Eddies Dublin buddies telling him not to go near the south coast - a waste of time they chanted as they headed west.My doubts were aroused however on watching the 9 o' clock news on Friday night where, during a report on Southampton football team spending a week training at the Inchydoney Island Hotel, I could see glassy 6-footers sweeping the length of the beach. Eddie and the Rookie were very sceptical as we headed down the following morning, but ate humble pie when we hit the Golden Triangle to see the best swell in months rolling into all three beaches. We eventually chose the west beach in Inchydoney. The waves were glassy and heavy with the biggest standing head-high plus. Eddie started the ball rolling with a flying forehand parallel to the beach, racing to escape the fast breaking wave behind him as he skimmed along the face until it closed out in front of him. My wave of the day was a 200 meter backhander which took off again just as I thought I had squeezed all it had out of it. The fast-moving, steep waves gave the Rookie some invaluable wipe-out practice in between the odd straight-line foamer. He's getting there though.
|
