Kitesurf Atlas, Kiteboarding Holidays, Kite Surf Lessons

Ireland 2009! Part I
After many years of researching and dreaming about this trip I finally pulled the trigger and set the wheels in motion during early October - I'm soon off to the Emerald Isle. The fall kiting session in Michigan was proving to be a frustration for many. Wind and waves seemed less consistent than memory recalled and I was becoming more and more obsessed with riding some real waves. In an amazing alignment of stars and opportunity I hastily packed 3 small kites, harness, a surfboard and a strapped directional for a trip originally planned as a 3 week adventure.

To give fair warning - this is a rather long blog entry...I've tried to keep it brief and interesting, but there is so much to be said about this place so please bear with me. From the moment I arrived in Shannon I seemed to be on a non-stop schedule of fantastic experiences, both on and off the water. The scenery, landscape, culture and charm of this place exceeds anything previously imagined. On the water I soon began a run of kiting sessions that proved to be the best, without question, kiting in waves I have ever experienced. In fact I have never seen waves like this... anywhere. Big, beautiful, powerful clean, long period swells traveling thousands of miles across the Atlantic.

In the first 15 days I had kited 12 beautiful sessions...3x with 9.5m and 9x with 7.5m. The waves here are the "real deal" and while on some of the bigger faces I recall talking out loud to myself and saying "this is so fecking intense and so unbelievably fun at the same time - but... PAY ATTENTION". I got sloppy once or twice and got crushed by double to triple overhead waves, held under for much longer than I've ever been, and a bit spooked by it. I now believe that a life vest is not a bad idea in these conditions - especially if you want to go after the really big ones breaking on the reefs. I've met a good handful of the local wave kiters and we have been having the time of our lives, pulling each other out of trouble on several occasions.

Day after day we enjoyed small kite conditions and one swell system after another. When the wind clocked away from SW-W-NW it was time to head to Dublin to ride the E/SE/S winds. The first time I rode there I was not terribly impressed when I first arrived at the beach - since the conditions on the West Coast were so unbelievably good. But once I got out on the water I had one of the best sessions in a long while. The small waves there were perfect for boosting huge airs...one right after another. Interestingly this beach resembles my home spot in MI in a way, with long pier arms extending out to protect the shipping channel into Dublin Harbor.

Ships of all size and shape slipping in and out between the entrance lights, creating a unique backdrop. The dark skyline of Dublin and the smoke stacks of industry looming in the background was a dramatic and foreboding sight with the low pressure system sitting between Ireland and England, whipping up 30+kt winds. During the second day of riding in this spot the sky was absolutely bursting with rainbows all day long in between squalls and the explosions of late afternoon light beaming from under the clouds out of the West every so often. One rainbow arched completely from the beach to the point at the head of Dublin Bay, so rich and saturated in color that it seemed to be painted into the sky with a heavily wetted brush.

I had a great time in Dublin, visiting some popular and historic sights with a new found friend who I am helping to learn kitesurfing, (splendid walks thru Trinity College, Grafton Street, Stephens Green, driving along the Quays) I’ve by now met people and kiters here from all over Europe, - Bulgaria, Morocco, Germany, France, Poland, Spain, etc) many of them drawn to Ireland to live and work during the prosperous times brought on by the Celtic Tiger.

My new student in Dublin is coming along really well and getting short rides in very difficult conditions. If she could spend just one day on flat water now she would be so dialed. The local kite scene on both East and West coasts seems cools, and I've probably seen more girls with surfboards and kites here than anywhere else I've been. The Irish people really seem like hearty souls and always looking for the good "craic". It would be too simplistic to define "craic" as "having fun"...it is much more than that, and involves sharing the deep satisfaction of the moment with someone else...a very soulful thing indeed.

So the first 2 weeks here were spent racing back and forth from Clare to Dublin a few times, chasing the winds as they shifted from Westerly to Easterly, spending time with people who have embraced me warmly, soaking up the scenery, culture and history of this incredible country. I cannot believe it took me this long to discover this place. It’s been a life-changing experience for me. Thus far I’ve been spending half my time staying in an old restored farm house out in the Clare countryside, the other half just outside of Dublin in the village where Guinness was born. The peaceful solitude of the cozy home in Clare has been relaxing and serene - a retreat in many ways - yet only 10 minutes from one of the best wave spots in the world. Staying with my Irish friend near Dublin has afforded me so many insights into Irish culture - exactly what I was hoping for - plus the beginning of some great new friendships.

The second Sunday of my trip here will always be remembered as the (first) best day of kiting in waves I have ever had...bar none. The swell was pumping into the bay and cresting at triple overhead on one side of the bay, winds were 30-35 kts. The waves were perfectly formed, 12+ second periods, with clean 50m troughs in between. It was UNREAL. Not to be fooled though - making a mistake in these waves left very little forgiveness to be offered. Drop your kite and you're lucky if it survives, end up on the reef and you'll be "hurtin' for certain".

I saw a few people get washed into shore from 1/2 km out, and I myself was hammered by a double overhead wave one day at the "secret spot", greedily going too deep into the pocket with a side-off wind and then chased down by this charging rhino - I recall looking up at the 15' wall go vertical and barreling above me in one of those moments that seemed frozen in slow motion. Fortunately I made it to shore OK, but swallowed a bit of the sea along with some pride, and took on a whole new respect for the waves from there forward by the experience. A few of us went to the pub after for chowder and Guinness, recounting the days experience and more legendary days to come.

The next day the wind went offshore and produced some of the most incredible surfing waves I've ever seen. It would be easy for 50 surfers to drop in on the same wave that stretched in a clean razor like line for hundreds of meters as they rolled toward shore, in perfect order one after another....all day long!

The forecast for the next few days - 20’swell and 30+ kts...rumor that Aileen's would be going off and barreling below the Cliffs of Moher this week - a sight not to be missed! So the first 2 weeks have been so unbelievably good that I have decided to extend the trip for a 6 week total - and that will still not be long enough I am afraid. Great kiting, the creamiest pints of Guinness you'll ever taste, home made apple tarts, surrounded by green hillsides laced with hand laid stone walls, and the massively savage craic all around!!!...I am genuinely worried that I may not want to kite anywhere else after this...that's how good it has been. These have been the best sessions in my entire 9 years of kiting, anywhere around the planet without any question whatsoever.

The first "big day" that I was anticipating arrived on 25 October. 10' swell and blowing 35-40 kts...I readied the 7.5 Kahoona All I can say is OH MY GOD!!!! Except for the wind being pretty on-shore (but surprisingly very manageable due to the outgoing tide) this was perhaps the #1 day of wave riding ever for me…wait….NO, it WAS the #1 wave day for me EVER…so far anyway. Double and triple overhead sets rolling in all day long at 10-12 second intervals, and they would have been 4x overhead-plus if the tide was flooding.

I misjudged my timing on one or two big waves and was a bit nervous when I got pummeled by the brutes as they closed out on top of me. But I survived fine. I never cease to be amazed by the Kahoona. It stayed up in the air as I was rinsed hard, engulfed in white water and shoved rapidly downwind. With any of my other kites I would have been in real trouble a few times when I dropped the kite…but the Kahoona just flew back up into the sky like it was any other day and off I went without a hitch.

It’s good to see quite a few locals riding directional boards, and I cannot even imagine riding these waves today with a twin-tip…what a disadvantage that would be. After this session I drove back toward town stopping to take some photos. This is the most beautiful country - almost anywhere you turn there is something unique and picturesque - a stone wall, a grave site, a ruin, a castle, a small hamlet, a stone bridge, chimney pots, pastoral rolling hills with sheep and cows, a dramatic sky over the land or sea, and the people are so incredibly “Irish” in their wonderful behavior and appearance.

more to come soon - a MASSIVE wave session - stay tuned for Part 2...PART 2 now ON-LINE