Well dudes and dudettes, we caught some gnarly waves whilst surfing down in Clonakilty, County Cork this weekend!! It was the first experience for both of us but that didn’t stop us from standing up and doing some truly legit surfin’.
Our tour guide, chauffer, instructor, equipment supplier and host was none other than Ian Murphy or as his friends call him “Murph”. Ian was Christina’s OT student for only two weeks in February but the two got along well at work and soon he had invited us to surf with him sometime. We jumped at the invitation before it was even was warm enough to sanely think of surfing.
Clonakilty is a coast town south west of Cork City. It is a cozy place with only a few thousand residents so it was nice to know a local as we did manage to visit a few of its pubs.
Saturday after a quick breakfast we went to gather our gear. Wetsuits being our main concern as the water was approximately 50 degrees. We strapped 4 boards to the roof of Ian’s car, packed all the wetsuits and soon we were on our way to pick up another surfin’ buddy, Joe, and then hit the beach.
Inchydoney beach was perfect. The water was beautiful and only filled with a handful of surfers. The waves were only about 2-3 feet but when you’re faced with having to surf that it makes them seems like tsunamis. We suited up with our skin-tight body armor, booties and all, and made our way out to the water.
After a brief (and I mean about 1.5 minutes-brief) explanation on the basics of surfing we were in the water. Ian did explain that we should paddle a lot and try to “pop up” to stand on our board but that was about it. Surprisingly we weren’t cold at all. Our hands and head were the only things not covered but if you didn’t think about it you hardly noticed they were cold. Wet suits are a brilliant invention!
The first 30 minutes to an hour were great but neither of us were able to stand up and really ride a wave. Then came the breakthrough we had been waiting for! Christina got up and rode a wave for about 2 seconds. Then about 10 minutes later Michael was able to get up for about a second, and in his excitement he turned quickly to see if Christina was watching and biffed it into the water. That was it but a second felt like an eternity.
For the next half hour we each got up about 3 more times. Christina riding the best wave of all, lasting over five seconds as she coasted all the way to the shore!! It was awesome. Soon after that we got tired. We kept saying we’d go in after “one more” which turned into about 20 more tries each. Our spirit was willing but our arms and legs had had enough. We finally came in for the day, ecstatic, proud and absolutely nackered! We had a blast and best of all we had really done it, and to think it took us traveling to Ireland for both of us to surf for the first time.
The rest of our weekend was spent in Cork City with Michael’s cousin, Mike. After picking us up at the bus station we had a quick dinner and headed out for a walk on the town. Cork is much more of a “City” than Galway. There are wide streets, busy intersections,and its much more spread out. After a pint at the Thirsty Scholar we headed home. We were wiped out from surfing (bad pun intended).
Sunday we made our maiden voyage to Blarney Castle. It’s a short bus ride from Cork to the sleepy town of Blarney. The castle is situated on lovely grounds full of blooming flowers, h
uge trees, and winding paths. We ventured to the top of the castle through narrow winding stone staircases in our quest to kiss the famous Blarney stone. There is a nice man sitting there who holds your waist as you lie on your back and kiss the stone upside down. It’s over before you know it and your head gets a little rush but it’s an experience not to be missed.
We dreamt of the great times with Mike and of hangin’ ten in Clonakilty as we napped on the bus back to Galway- definitely one of our best weekends yet!
Our tour guide, chauffer, instructor, equipment supplier and host was none other than Ian Murphy or as his friends call him “Murph”. Ian was Christina’s OT student for only two weeks in February but the two got along well at work and soon he had invited us to surf with him sometime. We jumped at the invitation before it was even was warm enough to sanely think of surfing.
Clonakilty is a coast town south west of Cork City. It is a cozy place with only a few thousand residents so it was nice to know a local as we did manage to visit a few of its pubs.
Saturday after a quick breakfast we went to gather our gear. Wetsuits being our main concern as the water was approximately 50 degrees. We strapped 4 boards to the roof of Ian’s car, packed all the wetsuits and soon we were on our way to pick up another surfin’ buddy, Joe, and then hit the beach.
Inchydoney beach was perfect. The water was beautiful and only filled with a handful of surfers. The waves were only about 2-3 feet but when you’re faced with having to surf that it makes them seems like tsunamis. We suited up with our skin-tight body armor, booties and all, and made our way out to the water.
After a brief (and I mean about 1.5 minutes-brief) explanation on the basics of surfing we were in the water. Ian did explain that we should paddle a lot and try to “pop up” to stand on our board but that was about it. Surprisingly we weren’t cold at all. Our hands and head were the only things not covered but if you didn’t think about it you hardly noticed they were cold. Wet suits are a brilliant invention!
The first 30 minutes to an hour were great but neither of us were able to stand up and really ride a wave. Then came the breakthrough we had been waiting for! Christina got up and rode a wave for about 2 seconds. Then about 10 minutes later Michael was able to get up for about a second, and in his excitement he turned quickly to see if Christina was watching and biffed it into the water. That was it but a second felt like an eternity.
For the next half hour we each got up about 3 more times. Christina riding the best wave of all, lasting over five seconds as she coasted all the way to the shore!! It was awesome. Soon after that we got tired. We kept saying we’d go in after “one more” which turned into about 20 more tries each. Our spirit was willing but our arms and legs had had enough. We finally came in for the day, ecstatic, proud and absolutely nackered! We had a blast and best of all we had really done it, and to think it took us traveling to Ireland for both of us to surf for the first time.
The rest of our weekend was spent in Cork City with Michael’s cousin, Mike. After picking us up at the bus station we had a quick dinner and headed out for a walk on the town. Cork is much more of a “City” than Galway. There are wide streets, busy intersections,and its much more spread out. After a pint at the Thirsty Scholar we headed home. We were wiped out from surfing (bad pun intended).
Sunday we made our maiden voyage to Blarney Castle. It’s a short bus ride from Cork to the sleepy town of Blarney. The castle is situated on lovely grounds full of blooming flowers, h
uge trees, and winding paths. We ventured to the top of the castle through narrow winding stone staircases in our quest to kiss the famous Blarney stone. There is a nice man sitting there who holds your waist as you lie on your back and kiss the stone upside down. It’s over before you know it and your head gets a little rush but it’s an experience not to be missed.We dreamt of the great times with Mike and of hangin’ ten in Clonakilty as we napped on the bus back to Galway- definitely one of our best weekends yet!
