Xmas and 6,5ft @20 secs.

what can I say, I´m just absolutely in love with that place.

- The vibe sitting in the lineup under that fort / lighthouse and to know this place produced the biggest waves on earth just days before

- the power of the canyon: it´s probably the most unique ocean setup for huge waves there is. there´d be 6ft. at 20 sec. from NNW and your suddenly facing 15 ft. faces coming in from the canyon from the south

- the vibe of the town, the food, the people and the prettiness of this old fishing village is just really special.

well, these are definitly (along with Danger Island and Cloudbreak) the heaviest waves I know of and it really amazes me how that place gets so much more swell than every else plus how you get proper defined peaks / sandbanks on a beach that has a thousand foot waves all the time.

Just heavy, really heavy and very beautiful.

fun days / good memories along the coast

Xmas time is getaway time, for me at least since a couple of years I was never around to witness the present-buying madness, feeding frenzys for days and the following "where will you celebrate New Years?" problems most people back home seem to have. The last years Xmas time the waves were cranking nonstop, but the forecast for Danger Island turned to really average so changed my mind and went to the good old mainland which showed fun small swells and light easterly winds for as long as MSW´s Pro Forecast went. Had some real nice time with the crew up north and headed to visit the place I lived in for a while probably 14 years ago now. Felt really strange to visit our old apartment where the magic happened back then but good in a way and actually caught one of the funnest days and banks there I ever saw. Good memories and things didn´t change much, at least compared to for example Bali, which just went mad within the same stretch of time.

Beachbreaks??

not more to say, we could´ve been everywhere from La Torche to Anchor Point, from Hossegor to Tonel, the Atlantic has been absolutely pumping with good banks, no winds and summer-like temperatures, while Germany had the first kinda snow- / fall-storm of the season...     got to surf "small" Nazare as well, which was one of the best fun surfs I had in a while. still don´t realize all the fun waves I had :-)

Costa da Morte

Just made it again to get away for my birthday, have a few little beers on it after arrival and head straight to this coast since the wind was predicted to be hailing southerlies for a good 3 days. It´s been long since I heard about this most rugged coastline there is and you could imagine where the name comes from with a mad amount of sunken ships in this area. pretty sure the place gets off the Richter once winter storms kick in but right now this was the sweetest time you could wish for. The first real solid long period swell of this fall was greeted by straight offshore winds and while a really fickle place to find the good surf we had everything going between should high slop maxing out beachbreaks but got some insane surf and friendly people everywhere. The icing on the cake was a kilo of meat each in the evenings to get the energy going again...

going North pt. 2

another couple of pics from the second half of the trip. The swell came up and wind swung around so got some real fun days further north. The amount of good setups is pretty unique and even though not uncrowded the quality of some of the waves makes up for it :-)  can´t wait for the next trip up there or elsewhere, best thing to be on the road for sure

going North pt. 1

inally I´m on a trip again, can´t believe this is actually happening :-)  getting back to Ire after many years feels really good, that first trip is probably 12 years ago and was with Günni & Gerry in the early days. However this time I got the chance to hang with my mate Matt Smith, hellman and all around legend who happens to have a killer setup there. Living in a farmhouse all the boys (Matt, Mitch, Fergal, ...)  live the healthiest lifestyle growing all their food in the backyard and the Moy Community Garden which is great project. I probably never ate that healthy and the setups around the place plus great weather for a few days made this an epic couple of days. Still can´t believe the beauty of the place, the friendly people and some surfs alone or with a few guys. Now the forecast looked like the area around Bundoran would deliver some good surf so I went up there to see what those breaks have to offer. really impressed what these guys do apart from their mad surfing and wished people at home would just get a little more into all that:

http://moyhillcommunitygarden.wordpress.com/

http://www.honestcaptain.com/

we´re on a Boat

just some good times with the boys on Olli´s pimp boat for Sven´s birthday. All day hanging out on the boat, havin a few beers, talking story, shredding different devices ranging from Wakeboard, Kiteboard, Surfboard, Tubering, you name it...

Weekend Getaways to the Baleares

To be able to fly to heaps of different places within a couple of hours and for a few bucks is a privilege in Europe. Of course there´s plenty to do in Munich as well besides surf the river, but man does it feel good to escape everyday life every once in a while...   so why not visit old friends on the Baleares. A part of those Islands might be proscribed by the general public because of the silly behaviour of mainly german and british tourists who tread the place like shit and behave like they´re out of their minds. well, that´s that but since I visited Palma last year I wanted to get back there to hang out and see more of the island. Along with Marley, kinda the head honcho on the Island we explored some spots in the North, hung out on the most beautiful beaches and were on a constant level of the good mallorcan shandy. 2 back to back weekends with great company, a few real fun unexpected waves and 32 degree days while Munich was average...   just to be back right in time for the second half of the world cup final to see Germany get the well deserved trophy :-)   great times

Dolce Vita for a Weekend

The Med has been cranking up again recently after a while with a little swell here and there and man, it was on! it´s a weird winter anyway with U.S. East coast drowning in snow and the Eastern Atlantic goin yoyos from 20 to a 100 down to 20 ft. again, only to rise to another and another Nazare or Mully XXL entry...  to a point where it almost gets annoying but maybe that´s just the case because I counldn´t travel for the last month and had to watch those swells from the safe distance of the www.  Anyways, southern Germany is blessed with this little weekend getaway and though no longer a secret anymore the chaos crew managed to get surfs all to ourselves the whole weekend if you were just going a little anticyclical to the rest of the world. which for instance (surprise, suprise) means getting up in the morning: it´s a joke how you can have 2 hours of surf before everyone shows up yawning when you had some barrels already, well don´t wanna complain about that. In any case, this was a trip well worth it, and pretty astonishing what you´re able to squeeze in into a weekend, having surfed everything from should-high mushy lefts to barreling right points up to the good old double overhead beachbreak wedges. Grazie!

Jetstream, Hercules, Carnage & the best run of Swells ever?

these few words enter my mind when i´d have to recall this last trip. Like said before the jetstream kicked in properly and produced one 940mb low after another sending gigantic long period swells the Europe´s shores. Ireland, England, France and Portugal received a copping with beaches literally getting washed away again and again. The Icing on the cake was then Jan. 6th when the Hercules swell bombed the shores, shortly before we left to the safety of landlocked Munich. here´s a couple of pics from a never-ending run of swells, it costed a few boards, brought some proper beatings and the joy of 3 weeks of absolutley pumping waves. thanks again to Cecilia and the local crew & Matt, Simon for making yet another trip so special...