Cold wind. Warm water.

Morning Thom...

Easkey left

Raging I lost focus abit...

Nice lines...

Kieran enjoying the view...

Really struggled to get to will myself into my cold, damp wetsuit this morning. So I went and took a few shots as means of motivation. Pity my philosophy was a tad flawed. Turned out being in the water was a heck of load warmer than taking photos of it. Some nice waves today though, but the crazy rip, super shifty peaks and struggle adapting between longboard and fish, meant after an hour or so I headed down the road to catch something a little bit more user friendly...

Big, Brown and Closing out...

Yesterday looked pretty good from the shore but was one of those evenings when every wave you paddle for turns into unmakable closeout. Still good to be out in some decent sized surf again...

A long overdue update...

Although I've been blogged in nearly 6 weeks I've probably been surfing as much if not more than ever. Yours truly enjoying some Friday night fishing after some truly leg breaking footy.

The locals been having its days.

Different means of enjoying a late summer golden hour

Rick my housemate has well and truly caught the surf bug. Here he is crusing on the longboard.

Rickenjoying the view.

Yours truly pumping out the last of the long evenings

Whats the view from your sofa like?

The end of a great weekend...

Last orders. Twilight wave on Sunday night.

Owen trying to out run the horizon

Contrast

At least we won't be waiting long till the next run of swell

Had a great weekend surfing 6 times in 4 days. It wasn't always perfect but it was alot of fun. My Saturday morning on the fish and Sunday morning on the new longboard (I know, I've bought a longboard...) being the standouts. Looks like theres alot more to come aswell...

Moving...

Been some surprisingly good waves and weather over the weekend
and some stunning sunsets with the odd glassy wall at the local.

Moved back up to the North Coast late last week to start my PhD. Lack of internet access has meant I haven't been updating as regularly as I usually do but its damn good being back. 4 sessions in 4 days has totalled a mighty 8 miles of driving, compared to the minimum of a 60 mile return journey per session when I was living in Derry. The local hasn't exactly been firing but at same time I haven't been finding it anywhere near as fustrating as I did a couple of weeks ago!

Morning Mess...

Was bigger than expected this morning but also alot messier

The odd fun shoulder was still to be had though

North Coast pleasure cruiser

Wobbly rights (pt II) and some afternoon delight....

Afternoon delight

Shared some short frustrating peaks earlier in the week that were very similar to nearly a year ago...

Yours truly. September singlefin loving.

Awog bottom turn

Air Aaron (minus the board)

Another left in context.

Meu amigo peludo

Horse v Adam.

Had a short frustrating session on Monday sharing some super short low tide peaks. Combined with last weeks sketchy session I've been feeling pretty apathetic and lacking a lot of confidence about my surfing. And whilst today my surfing was still far from where I want or where it should be, I began to solely concentrate on what I should be doing when I'm out there. Having Fun. And true enough as I loosened up mentally so too did my surfing. Demonstrating to me once again that most of my frustrations and inabilities are to do with whats going on upstairs rather than underneath my feet.

(Cheers to Ads again for the shots of me and Aaron!)

Getting reacquainted (with fustration...)

Bodyboarder making the most of it early

Aaron finding a wave with a view

I just found frustration for the most part

Face wash and a hand barrel
Picking his spot on a glassy one

Bic and a fish.

Moving up north again next week as I start my PhD so I decided to get reintroduced with the soon to be local. This break has had some magic moments for me but also some highly frustrating ones. Today was unfortunately closer to the latter. Slow to pop, lacking confidence and constantly getting stuck behind the section. Bummed. Aaron however was having a ball on the bic. Early entry into the wave and trying to squeeze his 6'3 frame into 1 ft barrels and coming out grinning. Cheers to Ads too for taking the shots, stoked for ya bro getting along the face for the first time. Now there's no turning back to the land loving life...

I just couldn't sit still...

Could only manage to stay home a few hours after this mornings session before I headed out again at high tide. Enjoyed a few playful clean walls for about 30/45 minutes before the forecasted westerlies turned up. Above: What might've been a nice wave before the wind.

At least it was a bit bigger than earlier.

Trying to get a different perspective of a familiar scene on another golden evening.

Back for more...

Cleaner than last night but not any bigger...

Air temps made it feel a bit crisp this morning

Aaron's 6'2 wasn't quite in full flow on the pretty small, flat wave faces. At least he found a bit more success on the fish.

Aaron's girlfriend Laura (who is also my next door neighbour) , supastyling. Found out Laura's currently painting one of my older shots onto a three piece canvas at the minute too. Stoked!

Awok trying to unrun another section on the fish

Yours truly lining up a wee one.

Light Head

Nothing spectacular but ridable...

Few waves and Aaron's ever increasingly pimped out wagon

Turned into a beautiful evening

From sea to shining sea...

Found a few waves after touching down from Scotland at midday. My 12th flight in 21 days. Not quite the lifestyle of the ecologically minded Environmental Scientist. My head was spinning and was feeling pretty lethargic for the first hour or so until the pushing tide started to add a little more size to the small waves and Aaron arrived to share a few laughs. Cheers for the stoke as always bud!

Day Tripping...

Yours truly enjoying to be out again...

The Blondie Bro.

Three Amigos

Marty looking for some fish

He was getting there though

But surfing a 6'2 and 6'6 on your first surf is a steep learning curve

Shorty got low...

(Thanks Anne and Ads for the shots!)

Played tourguide on a wee trip up North today with the cousin, her boyfriend Martin, the bro and his lady.Took Marty for his first ever surf en route too. Not easy on sub 7 foot boards but he seemed to enjoy giving it a whack. Despite being tiny t'was fun getting out for the first time in three weeks. Was starting to feel the land locked blues in Africa. Was also my first time having a sesh in the "shorty" I made and was really impressed by the warmth and extra flex. Definitely be giving it a few more sessions before the water temp drops...