Surf Europe

I had to have a word with myself back in November, I hobbled up the slipway at Mullaghmore in shock and a whole world of pain and it wasn’t even 8am ‘what on earth am I doing’ was the question I kept asking myself, I was rattled and for the first time in my life questioned this whole tow surf, big wave faze thing I’m going through. It was the most scared I’ve been and without a dought the most painful and longest kicking I’ve ever had, for a split second I pretty much gave up, thinking this was it, I’d really cooked me goose. Al came and got me pretty quickly on the ski and I think from the look on my face he knew I wasn’t happy. At the time I had a beautiful girlfriend at home in Croyde, so what the hell was I doing sleeping in my van being feral just to ride a few waves? Pretty much a month later I received a call from Al saying it was on again and to come over, deep down inside I wasn’t keen and hoped my girlfriend would freak out and put her foot down, demanding me to spend more quality time at home, not to go and watch Eastenders on the sofa instead, at least then I could blame someone, but no she did the exact opposite and within hours I found myself sitting on a flight to Belfast. The demons in the back of my brain where going mental and I was more nervous than ever before, Al sort of asked how I was feeling after my tumble from our last session and I just did the big man thing and made out that I wasn’t fazed, I wasn’t lying to him but I just needed him to think I was strong and not a weak link. This was my second wave and in this month’s Surf Europe they’ve run the shots and done a small interview, Ok so it wasn’t as big as the session back in November and even though I didn’t make it, This wave was what I needed and really confirmed to me why I actually do put the time and effort into riding just a few waves. Thanks surfeurope http://surfeurope.mpora.com/ and also a massive thanks to mark capilton http://markcapilitan.com/ who coincidently was the only photographer to capture the wave.