Watch: Swell Chasing Mullaghmore - Ireland
Tim Bonython's been camped around Nazare all winter, but with a multiple week flat spell taking hold, he started to look further afield.
A good looking swell developed for the Irish coastline, and with most waves being below the tow threshold, the video details how tricky and compact the wave can get for paddlers. A case of the bigger it gets, the wider and more makeable the barrel becomes.
Comments
The double barrel on the lid from 4:07 was sick.
There’s a water angel clip doing the rounds on Instagram of that wave it’s mind bending.
Here it is..
Slab surfing is so much more fun to watch than skiing down those water mountains at Nazare imo.
Agreed, Tim should stay in Ireland, let the bandwagon have Nazare
Looked so much more pleasant at high tide :-)
total commitment from that crew .. reminds me of cloud break mixed with chopes...bunch of hell men
+ 12º water temp I'm giving these guys the nod for the most hell bound of the hell men!
Bet it's a fair bit colder than that. 8-9C or so.
(Very different waves, but we surfed -1C water in Denmark in winter. Only the salinity kept it from freezing.)
Woah IB. What suit were you rocking?
O'Neill used to make a drysuit called the O'Asis. 5/4, with a dry zip across the front of the shoulders. Old, stiff neoprene, but kept you warm.
The trick was to have good, thick diving gloves, and to leave your car unlocked with the keys in the ignition. Run back and get the engine running, praying for the heat As soon as you got out of the water and started fumbling around, your hands would curl into little icy balls.
This is back in the late 80s. Lots of winter surfing happening in the Baltic now, and wetsuits are a lot better, but it'd still be fucken cold.
Wow bit of a pioneer there IB!
He said it was about 12 and not too bad which is bearable although fricken cold even for a Victorian.
Did you listen to him? He didn't have a clue and just guessed 12C.
Yes I did listen to him (which is why I mentioned it) and thought as he was on site he had some clues however, from your very professional looking map which you have gratefully provided to prove your suspicion it was much lower, I would have to reevaluate my assessment and now I would agree he was clueless.
During the 2021 Melbourne winter lockdowns I could not get down to the surf but I swam in Port Phillip Bay all winter for my sanity and fitness.I was wearing 6 mm gloves and 6 mm booties and a 4/3 steamer wet suit plus a neoprene balaclava. The water temperature got down to about 10 degrees C. in August. It was really cold, so cold your face went numb after your teeth went through the pain barrier!
Thank goodness Tim has sped it up a bit.
Charging lads!
Music less revolting than usual
yeah I only had to mute the last 2 tracks, serious charging though.
Spent 2 years living in ireland and chasing waves on the west cost, 2007-2009, and I can honestly say we would often look at mullaghmore but almost always chose (surfed it maybe 3 times) other more perfect waves nearby.. there was no shortage of them - I surfed it once at around 6-8ft, and it was hectic.. had my hood ripped off and flushed with 6 degree water - sometime in feb I think..
The scariest thing about wipeing out at Mullahmore is that their are a number of mushroom shaped rocks that you can get stuck under.. yep can't swim up, gotta swim sideways then up....
In freezing dark water and big swell, that mushroom rock scenario sounds like absolute hell.
That sounds like a young man’s game Plastic. Hectic is an understatement!
Apart from the surf that must of been a great couple of years. Beautiful area and great people. I’ve only breezed through there and it’s awesome.
oh yeah it was awesome, surfing was still pretty new, so there were so many spots to explore - and the locals were awesome. we mostly surfed with bodyboarders as they were the ones finding all the waves....
spent some cold nights sleeping in the car though, as we spent a lot of time searching and driving....