NO PAIN NO GAIN
The next morning we piled into the van at 7.30am after a tucking into a hearty full Irish breakfast from the hotel. The curtains were shut on yesterday’s sunny skies with a thick grey blanket of clouds which as the day progressed deteriorated into drizzly rain with poor visibility! On the positive side, Magheroarty was firing, a clean logo to mast high swell was rifling down the reef, groomed nicely by a steady cross off wind. Today there was no hesitation to hit the water, the conditions were pumping and we had the place all to ourselves. Looking at the two sides of the equation, all Adam and Timo had to do was to go out there and have fun in perfect waves whilst my side of the bargain was to trudge around in the drizzle whilst slowly becoming drenched to the bone. To add to my misery, news filtered through that Traversa was smashing it again, this time in Nazare, Portugal. By midday we were joined on the water by Finn Mellon (who had drove all the way from Dingle, Kerry), Megan Gayda, a hardy crew of locals plus some French visitors who apparently had been tempted over to Ireland after seeing one of Timo’s videos. Conditions were hot but the weather was not! With the wind very offshore the waves were butter smooth but at the same time slightly tricky for Timo and Adam to power through their top turns. Even though it was tough sailing there were some huge airs going down on the reef with Timo determined to show Adam that local knowledge can be a match for a top five world tour ranking any day of the week.
When the tide receded to dead low we were afforded a quick break to load up on snacks and try to warm up in front of the heater in the van. Ireland in the winter is certainly no Hawaii in terms of weather and consistency but it can more than make up for it when you strike it lucky with just a handful of other sailors. By the end of the next session, the rain had turned up another notch and with the light fading that was it for me as far as pictures were concerned. Of course Timo had just warmed up, and with his starter and main course taken care of, there was still plenty of time for dessert and one final session. Fair play to Adam, he was back out too for his third sail of the day and once again both sailors clocked up their wave count right through until dusk. The story didn’t quite finish there and then, when typically a forecast change introduced a new plan to head up to Northern Ireland the following day. We whisked ourselves right into the heartland of the Game of Thrones set and scored big time, but that is a whole other story!”
