The Land of Saints and Scholars

Logan: We really wanted to do a trip. Winter was dragging on for us in Wales. We had a bit of a lack of waves and me and Max were itching to get away. We had a look at the charts and nothing was looking that great, but there was a chance of a little blip in Ireland of some good winds and moderate swell, and being in such close proximity we just thought, "why not, let’s do it". We kept an eye on the chart and the week before we pulled the trigger, organised flights and booked a hire car and accommodation. We’d been before and we know how hard it is to score out there, and to be honest this trip was no different. We arrived and got to Bundoran and I think we surfed that evening - to be honest the whole trip is a bit of a blur. Each day be expecting one thing and the complete opposite would happen so we’d wake up expecting it to be bigger and it was small, and the one day we thought it was going to be small I’m pretty sure we managed to surf the peak. It was a proper wild goose chase over there. We had a few moments. There's one beach break, which is a bit of a swell magnet, and we scored that super fun. We drove down south and surfed a really fun beach break down there. But it was a lot of goose chasing. That chart was changing every day. We had some variable conditions that we had to deal with but we had all the time in the world so we just drove down all the little lanes and found some pretty fun waves. I felt like I stayed in my wetty all day most days, driving to different spots! We had a couple of magic moments in amongst all the rough. It was good, it was eye opening. We didn’t score it and it’s left us itching to go back. Every time you go to Ireland you learn something new. We learnt new things about conditions and variables, where to go on which tide, and we just armed ourselves with information and excitement for the next trip.

Logan: Ireland is one of the hardest places I’ve ever been to in terms of knowing where to go. I feel like you turn up at spots and there’s something in the back of your head that thinks the next beach or the next point over could be better. You’ve got to be pretty decisive and just think, “I’m going here and I’m getting in”. Also there’s a lot of driving involved – loads of driving down little country lanes to check spots, and that spot might indicate that back where you were is going to work. This trip I surfed a lot of beach breaks, and I know Ireland is mainly known for its really good points and reefs, but the beach breaks over there are quality and we did manage to score and get some really fun waves on the beachies as well as the well known reef breaks. But, oh my goodness, we were driving around a lot and it really made us work for it.

Logan: I think in Europe, at least the mainland Europeans, don’t tend to go there. You’ve got to pack a winter wetsuit, hire a car, drive from one of the main airports to surf... it’s not like when you fly into Biarritz and turn up at Hossegor and on any day you’ll have fun waves.The fact that you’ve got to work for it puts a lot of people off. And that’s what enticed us. We live in a place in Wales where we’re always hunting, we’re always on the look out for conditions and the wind and the tide, so we’re used to that battle. And just knowing how good that place can get... I just felt like it’s worth going because if it does all line up then you’re getting the best waves in Europe. The wave quality and the potential of the place is a big draw for me and still entices me to keep trying to get it good.
Plus there’s a certain charm to the place too – the pub culture’s really cool, the people are really friendly too – I love getting out from a surf and going to the petrol station and getting a breakfast sandwich and getting back in there. There’s just lots of little things about Ireland that make the place. I’ll definitely be back, as I was a bit frustrated that we didn’t score it really amazing this time.

Logan: We had a couple of really good days. We had one day at a sandbank down south that was really good. I’d got out the surf and had a bit of a shocker, and we looked down the beach and this sand bank just started firing so I went back in and I think I had 15 waves in an hour – just back to back. It was pumping and there was nobody else in. That was definitely a highlight moment, and then a little bit further up we kept checking these spots and there was a pod of dolphins and it just felt as though this pod of dolphins was following us to every single spot we’d go to. It was a real crystal clear day, the waves were a bit small but the sun was shining, there was clear blue sky and these dolphins were just following us from spot to spot. It was really magical. I was a little bit scared getting in the water with them, mind! It was just perfect though – we’d turn up, coffee in hand, no wind, it was a bit surreal how cool that experience was.

And then just the bits in between, you know – the laughs in the car, the times in the pubs at the end of the day when you’re just knackered from surfing all day, those moments that you don’t really get anywhere else and at other times. Obviously you have those feelings but when you’ve got cold and then you’re getting all cozy in a pub at the end of the day, that’s not like your normal surf trip experience.

Logan: They are so good that you don’t notice you’re putting on a natural rubber suit. It’s only until you see a little bit of NuWave branding on the wrist that you really look around you and realise you’re totally out in nature, and you’re wearing a natural rubber suit. It makes you feel happy that you’re doing your part for the environment and you’re supporting something that is natural and from the earth. In terms of the suit itself, there’s no lesser standard because it’s environmentally friendly. It’s a win win. The performance of NuWave suits compared to the original C-Skins wetsuits is the same, if not better. Really the only difference is that you’re stoked to be helping the environment a bit!

Max: The weather wasn’t too bad when we went, we lucked out. It was just coming into spring so in the daytime  we were mostly walking around in T-shirts, which was quite nice and surprising. There were some overcast days which were nice, as personally I don’t really want it to be really sunny because it’s pretty hard to shoot any sort of surfing when it’s like that. The contrast is just so high, the surfer is mostly in the black and I want to get some detail in the shots. Overcast skies is what I want, so that was perfect.

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