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Ireland - Magheroarty - 07-08.05.2007 |
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A= Stink Nugget Production—Special Report |
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WindSurfing |
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The ‘Nob= les’ Posse have been conducting an annual pilgrimage to Brandon Bay f= or the past five years or so and every year I get an invite, which is very = nice. It wasn’t until this year (2007) that the forecast looked= good enough for me to follow up on that invite. Having decided the w= eather was up to the task I needed to find other friends to share the expen= se of the travelling. I phoned around and Steve Thorpe and Wayne Mund= en were up for it. Steve co-invited Jamie Hay, an accomplished surfer= and windsurfer who likes nothing better than to get stuck into a nice big = meaty wave, a power sailor who like’s to time his transition so he= 217;s right under the lip, yep, Hay like’s bustin his kit alrighty. <= /span> |
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Thorpe and Way= ne Munden were up for it. Steve co-invited Jamie Hay, an accomplished= surfer and windsurfer who likes nothing better than to get stuck into a ni= ce big meaty wave, a power sailor who like’s to time his transition s= o he’s right under the lip, yep, Hay like’s bustin his kit alri= ghty. <= /p> |
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No sooner is t= he ferry booked, when the weather changes. It’s still windy, bu= t now the wind has moved north, from the SW at Brandon, to the Mid West Cou= nty of Mayo, Belmullet province. From here Steve takes the helm using= his contacts in Ireland to find us the best break for this travelling wind= pattern. With Steve at the helm I can just sit back, relax and enjoy= the ride, I don’t have to worry about the wind, location or anything= , makes for a nice laid back start. |
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As it turns ou= t Wayne, who prefers to travel on his own, has a question about an online w= eather site. Ensnared into the web of looking at the weather, it is h= ere that I get the first insight into where I think we’re going to be= heading, looks like Andy King’s playground, County Mayo. Board= s readers will be familiar with Andy’s article about Mayo from earlie= r in 2007. On the morning of the off, we load up at Steve’= ;s place, recheck the weather on theyr.tv at his place, and its all looking= good, two solid days with a third at force 5. I can’t wait. |
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We get off the= ferry in Ireland and after several miles we stop at a roadside dinner for = some breakfast. While we’re there, we get the map out to see wh= ich bit of Mayo we’re heading for. Its here that I’m told= that were not heading for Mayo at all, were off to County Donegal, some pl= ace called Magority (Magheroarty). I don’t get it? The wi= nd says go to Mayo, but we are heading further North, a lot further North.&= nbsp; I don’t like it, I’m pr= etty sure I had the wind dialled, so why are we heading elsewhere? I&= #8217;m sure Steve explained it to me, but I just couldn’t pin point = when, a bit like when the missus give’s you a thorough explanation ab= out non wind surfing plans and a second/minute/day/week later you don’= ;t recall her saying a thing? I don’t remember meeting Jamie Ha= y much before this trip, both Jamie and Steve are accomplished surfers and = I got the distinct impression that to them it didn’t matter if the wi= nd blew or not, they had their surf boards, a surfers guide to the planet a= nd if it didn’t blow, hey what the hell. This was not a good tu= rn of events, to the non surfer, surfing is like skiing but without the tow= lift, I don’t even own a surf board, if the wind didn’t blow, = I would be stood around twiddling my thumbs, blow that! |
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Anyway, concer= ns ignored, we finally arrive at this grotty looking, nowhere you’d d= rive hundreds of miles to get to, abandoned looking concrete break water in= the bay at Meenlaragh. The break water acts as shelter for the ferry= which goes out to Torry Island, parked out front of the ferry office is An= dy King’s van, away to the right and across the tundra parked facing = the sea is both the Boardseeker and Brendan Pyatt’s vans. Brend= an is the Boardseeker video man. We drive over to join them so that w= e’re sat facing a very pretty looking beach, with nice iridescent gre= en water, but not a breath of wind. It would appear Steve’s tip= off merchant had been busy, but after nine and a half hours driving and a = ferry crossing, the last thing you want to hear is ‘Oh you should hav= e been here last night’. |
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Steve Rigs a 5= .8 and I go with a 6.5, but no sooner do we hit the water when a weather fr= ont passes over and out of nowhere in comes the wind. A quick change = of sail and soon Jamie and Steve are over the water enjoying a low water se= ssion on the reef, it’s a rare thing to see two windsurfers sail so w= ell together, they were shredding those waves to pieces. By the time = I got over to join them the tide had gone further out and huge boulders wer= e sucking out from the sea bed, so I turned tail and went and joined Wayne = where the going was a little easier. Steve and Jamie followed me acro= ss, and after 30 minutes or so came in and went for a sleep in the front of= the van. They were saving themselves for the tide coming in and the = reef coming back into play, it was like we had a couple of Sage’s who= knew the wind was going to last so they could just sit back and relax. Unc= onvinced, Wayne and I took it upon ourselves to make do with the waist high= sets we had, figuring a bird in the hand and all that, 5.2 metre stuff. |
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Well we were h= ere, so may as well rig up while Dave Horrocks and Adrian Jones filled us i= n on what we had missed the night before, a brilliant 4.7 down the liner.&n= bsp; The break to the left of the break water is one of those secret spots = were all trying to keep under wraps, whatever you do, don’t tell Timo= I mentioned this! He’ll be diddling mi missus and cancelling m= i ferry pass if he finds out? |
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Come about 4pm= ish, Timo and Finn Mullet turn up. Whilst Wayne and I had been pithi= ng around with waist high sets on what was a lovely beach, they had been ju= st around the corner, scoring some logo to ¾ mast high sets on their= 4.7’s enjoying aerials etc all bleeding day. They had packed u= p at just the right time and were now here just as the tide got to the righ= t height for the reef to start working again. First on the water and = last off, very impressive stuff. Steve and Jamie soon |
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joined them an= d Wayne left me on the beach faffing around with incorrect kit choices.&nbs= p; 5.2 over 75 or 4.5 over 85 Ooh what do I do. I went out, I came ba= ck, and I went out again. Wayne had had enough and packed up, whilst = I went out and joined the bigger boys. |
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Andy King was = out on the wave, so I figure he had also been waiting in his van and we all= six put ourselves to the test. It was big, and it was sweet, Jamie w= ent in deep under the lips, likes a good swim does our Jamie, while Timo st= ole Steve’s waves and I scored one huge Back Loop straight after a ni= ce big Pushie, respeck. It was a joy to be out there sharing such a s= weet little playground, and it got big, easily logo to mast, but without an= y |
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boulders rearing their ugly heads. All too soon though, I he= aded off in; knackered, but them boys were still there when we left as the = sun was setting. |
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Earlier in the= day, Adrian had told us about the B&B he had stayed in the night befor= e, owned by this completely off the wall Landlady. He couldn’t = get over how crazy she had been, but in a nice way, so Wayne and I decided = to get in there early whilst Steve and Jamie got their fill out on the reef= . |
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Crazy seems to= be a relative, but somewhat over used term in my mind, we were greeted by = a lovely, open minded and very chatty middle aged Irish lady, called Marion= Sweeney. She was warm and polite and not, in my opinio= n t= he slightest bit bonkers. Her B&B sits in the village of Gortahor= k, 0749162718. We were invited in and shown to two very comfortable r= ooms, one for the two of us, and another for Steve and Jamie. I could= n’t understand why, as part of her introductions she made such a big = thing about the power of the water in her showers; both Wayne and I didn= 217;t give it much thought, until I mentioned it in the morning. Norm= ally you pull the shower cord for the red power light to come on, or the sh= ower doesn’t work. In our circumstance, the red light was alrea= dy on. I mentioned this to Marion and she explained; the next evening= I pulled the switch before taking my shower and Oh my goodness, it was lik= e showering under a fire hose, it was insanely over the top, a man could dr= own under one of those showers. |
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Me and Wayne w= aited around in the local Pub for the boys to show so that we could all gra= b a pizza together, Marion told us that there was no rush as the pizza̵= 7;s were made by a local boy who’s pizza place was just at the back o= f the Pub which stayed open until midnight or so. Only on this partic= ular evening, the pizza man was having a night off! Its just as well = that Guinness is a meal in a glass, or we would have all gone to bed hungry= ? |
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In the morning= over a wholesome Full English, Marion told us she couldn’t believe w= e had all gone to bed with no supper. Apparently it would have been f= ine for us to wake her up when we got in and she in turn would have been mo= re than happy to rustle us up something to eat. With this I suggested= she might like to put a Spag-Boll together for 10/10.30pm the following ev= ening, if the day’s windsurfing was to finish as successfully as the = last one we wouldn’t be back in before 9/9.30 pm. Throw a coupl= e of bottles of wine in for good measure as well I suggested and we would s= plit the cost of the ingredients and add it to the bill as we left. O= K. That was the evening meal sorted…..or so we thought?<= /p> |
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Today we were = to join Timo and Finn at the break they had used the day before, Logo high = sets with the forecast for the wind to drop. Timo was out, back in, b= oard changed and back out again before any of the lads even had their wetsu= its on, I was on camera duty and was not too impressed with their laissez-f= aire approach, but eventually they got out there. Timo was ripping, g= auging and shredding, putting some |
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nice Aerials i= n for good measure and Steve and Fin soon followed, but the wind was fickle= and they all struggled at times to get out, Andy King was upstaging their = underpowered efforts by banging in back-loop after back-loop courtesy of hi= s 5.8 with Jamie Hay struggling with his choice of kit. Wayne made a = show, but never really scored a whole lot, choosing to transfer his attack = to Kite sailing, but the less said about that, the better, how the hell he ever got on the Christmas list in the fir= st place is beyond me? = Timo bust a mast and having borrowed off Andy was back on the water again q= uicker than you can curry fart your pants full. |
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By the time I = got on the water with my 5.8 the wind had all but gone, setting out to play= on powerful dumping waves with no wind is not the smartest of ideas, espec= ially as every one else had now packed up to leave me to play with the gay = on the tray? However, I ticked all the boxes before calling it a day.= After 45 to 60 minutes I got wet, blubbed out, tack |
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plopped, caugh= t a couple of rides, got a drilling, job done. With the wind now depa= rted we set out to find something to surf, but eventually, whilst passing t= he B&B for the seventh time, I decided to jump out to join Wayne and le= ft the hardcore surfers to it. |
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After making o= ur ablution it was still very early, about 8.30pm, so Marion made the three= of us a very potent, very tasty Whiskey Irish Coffee. The three of u= s then headed off in the direction of the pub, which Marion was supposed to= be bypassing to buy the ingredients for the Spag-Boll. Out of courte= sy we suggested she join us for a quick drink, then across the road to the = next |
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boozer for ano= ther one. She then realised that she had forgotten that she was suppo= sed to be in a village meeting and off she went. |
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Having finishe= d their Surfing and having run out of daylight, Steve and Jamie turned up a= t the pub to join us in Guinness and JD chasers. A couple of musician= s turned up to beat their thangs and the pub started to fill. Having = returned from her meeting with the shopping under her arm Marion was tempte= d to have another wee dram at the bar, |
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followed by an= other. 1030pm came and went and both Marion and I couldn’t get = over how bloody miserable the musicians were, so come 11pm I decided to lea= ve the now drunk Wayne under Steve’s watchful eye and dragged Marion = up the road to see if we couldn’t get this Spag-Boll sorted out. = ; I probably should have left Marion to get on with what she was making, bu= t it most definitely wasn’t Spag-Boll, I mean, since when do you make= Spag-Boll with meat balls and pasta swirls? So I took over using Mar= ion as my Hell’s Kitchen assistant, grating the cheese, putting utens= ils out, setting the table, well actually I set the table as well, but ther= e you go? |
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The mobile pho= ne signal was off and the meal was all but done so I had to hot foot it bac= k to the bar and drag the boys away from their goings on at the pub. = We got back to the B&B to enjoy a very entertaining meal over three bot= tles of red, Wayne was well hammered, and by the time we started on the cof= fee he couldn’t even stand up, it was soo funny. |
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The next morni= ng Wayne was out at the crack of dawn, it was a long way back to the ferry,= and he was on the early crossing. With the complete non existence of= wind or wave, we were a little jealous of Wayne’s early crossing, an= d felt our noses getting pushed out of place as he gloated, but retribution= came in the form of his crossing getting cancelled leaving us to slip by i= n his wake. The weather that day was so atypically Irish, a day of st= artling contrasts, the heavens would open one minute and then the next it w= as as though it was the first day of creation. The air over there is = so incredibly clear; it’s like running what you see through Hi defini= tion, made more impressive by the fantastic scenery with the route taking y= ou past the likes of the Poison Glen amidst the Errigal Mountains. |
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The trip cost = about £300.00 for the three days, which to my reckoning is way too ex= pensive and until we can figure out a cheaper way of getting and staying ov= er there our trips to Ireland are going to be numbered. But time is a= great healer and with it comes the urge to find new spots. So you ne= ver know where the old |
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Crazy Horse is= gonna turn up next? I’m sure Timo will be that chuffed about m= e letting yawl in on one of his own spots that he’ll be offering us f= ree accommodation and having a word with his ferry company so that we get a= discount? |
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R= uss ‘Crazy Horse’ Tetlow S= ponsored by SeaSpriteSports.com - Spartan Wetsuits and StinkNP.co.uk= S= hop. www.roho.co.uk
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