I've been framed...

Everyone has the occasional sneaky little drop in amongst friends, but rarely are they caught on camera. Massive thanks to Dara Oh who anonymously snapped a few shots and was good enough to leave a note and email address under the wiper. Thanks mate!

Stevey off the top when there wasn't a longboard in the way

Yours truly eyeing up a wee wan...


Thanks again to Dara and check out www.daraohphotography.com

ps. There also seems to be a bit of a problem with confessionsofasurfer.com So if you still want to check out my infrequent updates point your browers to www.confessionsofasurfer.blogspot.com!

Part Deux.

Part II as promised. Steve took over the camera whilst I went back in to enjoy the mornings remainders.

Walking to the temple.

Getting there. Just need to learn to it with style!

Autumn textures.

Big thanks to Steve for the shots. You took some beauties!

Smoke on the water.

Stoked and speculating!

Derry Dawnie...

Back in Derry for the weekend visiting the folks and decided to head out for an early sesh with the bro, Aaron and Luke before they went to work. Was empty early but by the time Adam had a surf and grabbed the camera it had filled up...

Yours truly (though a few inches of hair shorter) coming from the the bottom...

and sitting off the top!

Kildare come Inishowen man, making the most of his morning before real life begins...

Pulling out and dropping in...

Luke and Aaron coming back up the beach from an apparently "far bigger, far better wave". The grass is always greener boys, but Lukes rye smile tells me there may have been some truth to the tale...

Aaron and his trusty...

For all you Eagle eyed Tonnta readers out there you may notice I've got three different spellings of my name in the latest issue, Thom Smyth, Thom Smythe and Tom Smyth. Well here I am again, not quite making it...

Luke going left on the bendy Bic. (Just take a closeup at the nose of the board!)

Bump!Another wave, another Westbay

Dropping in...

The crew and the trusty overloaded fiesta. Massive thanks to the bro for cutting short his sesh to run in and grab the camera to give us some pics. Nice one Bruva!

Getting easier...

After Tuesdays clear skies and sunrise, Wednesday dawned foggy cold and small...

Waited a couple of hours till the push this am and scored a couple of real fun loggable lines just before the wind picked up. Spotted this guy heading into the water just as I was leaving. Real men don't wear wetsuits...

Got up at 5.45 for my third dawnie in a row this week. I often write about losing the battle of the duvet but its definately getting easier, one factor is simple routine and the second is chasing the stoke that was found on Tuesday morning. 30-45 minutes of sunrise, clear skies and chest to head high glass. Awesome...

My cross-stepping seems to also be slowly getting better too. Well, to the front of the board anyway, I still can't help shuffling my way back. Just gotta stick at it I guess...

Rossnowlagh Longboard Contest ...

Arrived down Friday night and conditions were far from great. Headed out for a quick dip all the same in the onshore crumble, though getting to wear the old legless winter suit again felt great...

Yours truly getting down to some late night sliding...

O-bag and Steve made the trip down too. Owen stoked with his Desmond... (Owen affectionately nicknamed his 2:2 Desmond, after Desmond 'Tutu')

Round 1, Heat 4. Unfortunately my competitive streak in the comp didn't last too long when I got knocked out in heat 2 of the first round.

Bosco

Causeway representing. John in front, Bosco behind...

Conditions for the semi's deteriorated further and proved seriously hard going

Everyone did their best to make the most of it though. Craig Butler sticking it out.

Things started to relatively better on the push for the juniors and ladies final. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Hang-Five...

Butler taking the Juniors with a bit of style...

Your Judges for the finals...

Thankfully by the time of the mens final a few contestable waves came through. Emmet going right...

John Junior on the nose...

Nice finish

Emmett going broadside for John

Powerful surfing for tiny conditions...

Your Inaugural Rossnowlagh Longboard Contest winner - John McCurry Junior

Thanks to all who organised such a great comp. The waves may have been less than ideal but the craic and spirit of the thing was 1st class. Here's to many happy returns!

Full results

U 18
1st Craig Butler
2nd Christian McLeod
3rd Owen O’Malley-Daly
4th Bosco McAuley
5th Dan Britton

Ladies
1st Ione Byrne
2nd Naomi Britton
3rd Amy-May Garvey
4th Sophie Scott

Seniors

1st John McCurry
2nd Stephen Conwell
3rd Patrick Cassidy
4th Emmet O’Doherty

Shoulda been on it...

That 'lil dude on a longboard shoulda been me this morning. Check out more surf art from http://scosurf.wordpress.com/

After bagging 5 sessions in 4 days last week, one of which will stand out in my mind for sometime to come, I've been keeping my eyes glued to the forecasts in anticipation of the swell due to arrive. I knew there was a window of opportunity this morning for some swell and light winds but the battle of the duvet was fought and lost once more... Here's hoping that this week does deliver and I can actually get myself out of bed. There nothing like starting your day than with a couple of peelers...

Bump...

If you click on the image to enlarge, zoom in, squint real hard and turn your head approx 45 degrees to the right, you can just about make out 3 wee black dots floating about. Dan, Steveo and myself making the most of the sun and good winds early doors... (Pic from WestbaySurfboards)

After no swell and northerly winds dominating things locally since the start of the week was real nice to paddle out last night and this morning to something with a little more umph again. True it was closing out 9/10 and there was still more than abit of chop in it but at least the summer doldrums aren't here quite yet...

After the drought comes the rain...

Yours truly at a spot he surfed alot in the past week. And shouldn't there be a bit of drop knee there Thombo?

After last weekends mini-mission I was lucky enough to get in the water locally most nights last week. True it was far from being the biggest or most memorable surf I've had but the warm weather and late night sliding gave me my fair share of stoke. Noticed elements of my surfing progress too due to just consistently being in the water. Just need to hold unto it through this next system of northerly winds and drought of decent waves...

Escape to the North West...

The combination of a decent north-westerly swell, westerly winds and a free weekend led Aaron, Steveo and myself out west to find the promise of waves in some easterly headlands. A few waves were had on Friday night but it was Saturday's forecast that had Steveo pointing out to see...

Après-surf midnight Barbeque...

Saturday morning. The wave thats elusiveness inspired the trip, remained elusive and was categorically not doing its thing...

It soon became clear that the swell hadn't turned up as expected. Friday nights spot was even smaller than the night before and so the search began...

A few miles and a headland later some windswept rights were found...

The boys wasted no time getting suited and booted...

Guns don't kill people, currents do. (Check out the bullet hole below the A)

Aaron beneath the cliffs...

As the morning went on the swell kept growing too...

Steveo throwing buckets on a small wan...

and trying to the beat the section on something a little bigger.

The exploration of Irish mountains and molehills...

Awog on a wave that always looked like a closeout but went on forever...

Whitewater floating...

Midface on a green'un

After getting some waves we started making our way back east and home but couldn't help but take a final detour to one last spot we thought would have a wave. The view from over the dune...

Going right through the Ammophilia...

While Aaron decided to enjoy the waves from the dune and I ponced about with a camera...

Stevesky spent his afternoon pulling into as many little shorebreak closeouts he could find.

So much so that I could even make a collage from it. Thomas Smyth presents Stevey's Guide to Pulling (in).