Annoying barking rabbit dog

Remember when I used to have those pants with fish all over them, I loved those pants. Used to call them my lucky pants, until I had that little incident in the hot tub that time at the pub then took them off and threw them at the moon. Evidently I never got them back and although felt a little embarrassed about the whole hot tub/pub/pant scenario but I was more upset that I actually managed to lose my fish pants.
Well Lyndon has exactly the same pair and today driving back from the surf he teased me by wearing only the said pants all the way home. It was like rubbing salt into an open gash, in fact I was thinking about my pants so much I completely forgot about the wheel clamp for the trailer and it wasn’t till we pretty much got home, Lyndon still in fish pants that I remembered. ‘Feck Lyndon, we forgot the clamp.’ It wasn’t even like a quick 10 minute drive back either as we’d been surfing miles away and it was a good hour to go back, plus the thing cost us nearly £90.
So in a slightly shitty mood pissed off about my missing favourite fish pants that I stupidly threw at the moon and now realising I’d left the trailers wheel clamp and the harbour which is over a hour away I get home and am faced with this. Stupid annoying barking rabbit dog which barks at me every day, 3 times a day and also everyone else who happens to pass by, but as the lady said ‘don’t be scared it won’t bite’ and ‘it’s only barking cause it known’s no one should be living there’.
Been here nearly 2 months now, got 1 more left. God I hate that dog.....

Mullaghmore Tow contest 20011

Did that tow contest at Mullaghmore the other day with the Big Red on the Red Bull, I had a bit of a shocker but as a team we managed to squeak in a 3^rd place overall and Al even got an award for best barrel which was a shock to everyone involved, even Al.
Was a epic event and good on Paul O’kane for getting it together, to be honest there was no real rivalry or competitiveness going down just really good vibes, everyone charging hard and pushing it, then when the contest was over we all got out and had a little group cuddle in the harbour with our tops off. Sounds gay I know but that’s what we do after every Mullaghmore session, So you could just say it was like any normal session but we only had an hour to get our waves and it cost 150 euro to enter.
I want to dedicate my 3^rd place to Leggey the bloke from Braunton who caught that fuck off massive fish and made the cut for the back page of the North Devon Journal. As you can see my trophies are sitting next to the signed framed copy he gave me for Christmas. Next year I’m going to win and then maybe I’ll make the back page just like Leggey, just hope he isn’t out fishing that week I do.

Stinking of piss

The surf was absolutely pumping yesterday so it was just a little bit annoying that I was out the back of Rooney Tyres and Exhaust in Bundoran with parts of the ski scattered around me having a nervous breakdown trying to piece it all back together with the help of the technician on the other end of the phone. It did that thing where it started on dry land but the second we put it in the water and I pissed in my wetsuit it wasn’t having any of it so we had to pull it out again and I spent the morning stressing and stinking of piss, which isn’t that unusual to be fair. The lad from Rooney’s tyres and Exhaust was a star for letting us use all his tools though, it’s a family run business but no relation to that football bloke Wayne, although I did shout ‘Roooooooooooooooooney’ ‘Roooooooooooooooney’ in his face once or twice in between asking for spanners and screwdrivers and he fecking loved it. Had to cheer myself up somehow as I was almost in tears over what I thought I was missing. To cut a massive scene of a day short I managed to get in the sea with about an hour or so of light to go, the plan was to paddle but with light fading and the way the day was going opted to tow a few just to make the most of it.
This is a reject shot of one of the bigger sets that came through in the short time we surfed, It sort of sums my day up really, blurry and out of focus and poor Gary wasn’t too happy either, we’re all putting the effort in but things aren’t always as straight forward as they seem and look, but there’s always next time.

Photo: http://www.potatobread.co.uk/

Prowlers paddle

You know it’s going to happen at some point and that’s all part of paddling but when it does it seems to take so long. I think I knew I was fecked about a minute before the set came, it’s that 50/50 scenario where the normal part of my brain is telling me to paddle out so I don’t get cleaned up but the slightly odd part is saying stand your ground because you want to be able to catch one of these buggers. Then there’s the realisation your definitely gunna get caught and no matter how hard you paddle and what direction you just seem to move nowhere then after you’ve dealt with the first wave there’s always a bigger heavier one behind. Course there is that’s life.
So the photo was taken by Gary McCall and I think this is either the 2^nd or 3^rd wave I took on the head while surfing prowlers the other day, I’d lucked in and managed to catch a couple before hand and was now playing chicken with myself, it ended in me getting a right old kicking, losing my board and luckily being rescued by Barry.
Recently I’ve been sleeping in my hoody and socks, no pants as ideally I’d like to sleep naked but the heating has broken and it’s too cold so I’ve compromised with myself and just sleep naked from the waist down, it’s good to compromise. This obviously has nothing to do with anything I’d just thought I’d get it off my chest.

Photo: http://www.potatobread.co.uk/

The arm waving hey technique

Awww bless him, look how happy and content little Lyndon looks. This whoever wasn’t the case early on when all you could see was fear and panic in his eyes.
How annoying is it when your car doesn’t start, it usually happens when you’re in a rush, late for work or urgently need to be somewhere. Then out of the blue and with no explanation your car just won’t start, It’s never done it before and quite possibly won’t do it again which makes it all the bit more tedious and annoying, Well that sort of happened to us the other day.
Floating out to sea beside a off shore bombie we’d been checking out, I was pressing START but all that was happening was the engine was turning over and  whining yet not actually sparking, no biggie really apart from the set of the day was loaming and we had drifted right into the line of fire.
‘It’s not starting’ I shouted to Lyndon as I turned everything off and re set the immobilizer in a small attempt to make it look like I know what I’m doing, still no joy just the woeful sound of the engine whining. ‘We’re fucked’ was Lyndon’s reply as he descended into a whole world of pain, panic and probably self questioning as the set became closer and it was an almost certain we’d get hit by it, then  bizarrely he stands up waving his hands above his head shouting ‘hey’ at the top of his voice. God knows who he was doing this too or even excepted to help in such short notice, maybe he was trying to confront and scare the waves off like you’re supposed to do when you’re faced with a wild beast. I wasn’t going to question him I just kept pressing START and was planning when to actually abandon ship and how fast and what direction I’d have to swim to get the fecking thing back, then almost like a miracle or someone playing a really bad joke she fired and the engine fully kicked in just in time for us to squeak over the shoulder of the first wave. Might have to take up that ‘arm waving hey technique’ next time I’m having engine troubles, seems to work wonders.

Sharing’s caring

When it comes to waves and surfing a saint on dry land can suddenly turn into a sinner, those selfish tendencies that all humans seem to have can come out and you tend to look out for number one. It can be tuff when you think someone’s getting more than their fair share of waves or being slightly snaky in the sea, who can blame anyone for wanting to catch as many waves as possible and getting the best ones at that.
The other nightmare is if you ever go on trips or missions with a few mates and everyone wants different things when deciding where to surf. I personally go for any right hander, ideally slightly bigger and barrelling but I’ll never turn down a slightly fatter point break either, it’s a given really as I’m natural footed and like getting barrelled. Some of my mates would be looking for something completely different and there’s nothing wrong with that but it just helps if you’re all singing from the same sheet when it comes to deciding on somewhere to surf.
So this is a photo of myself and Lyndon and  a perfect compromise yesterday as he likes getting pitted on lefts, also turns out we shared a little moment together when this wave came through, no sneaking, no hassling just a prefect split peak situation. Happy days.......