Fast-forward a few years. I was lucky enough to meet Markus Mead, the king of cool, the king of mellow, the king of cold waves. We became acquainted through a friend I had gone to high school with and that Markus had gone to Western Oregon State College with. I knew that you could surf in Oregon since my roommate my first year at Oregon State, John Lucia, headed for the beach every now and then. I thought he was nuts and rebuffed his invitation to surf the Oregon waves. Markus, however, was able to convince me to brave the cold waters of Seaside one weekend, one of the more memorable weekends in my time at OSU. I didn't do too well, Markus broke the fin on my rented Hammer board, but damn was it a good time! Markus had me hooked. We surfed a few more times before I graduated and finally headed off to Hawaii. I ended up on the North Shore of Oahu, the Shangri La and surfing nirvana of the world. I wasn't a good surfer when I arrived and wasn't that great when I left. But I surfed a lot. And I learned a lot. A lot. One of my favorite scars is from a reef cut I sustained near Waimea Bay on my pinky finger. It runs the whole length of the finger and the finger doesn't bend quite right anymore. I cherish that scar for the memories it brings back.
After Hawaii, I headed for Japan. The waves where I lived weren't great, but we were out there any time there was a swell. I surfed my first blizzard in Japan. I surfed 32 degree water in Japan. I learned how to ride a longboard in steep beach break pretty darn well while in Japan. My roommate and I lived right on the beach and we surfed every opportunity we could. We'd get up at 3:30am right when dawn was breaking to surf before work. Some of our best sessions were in these early hours. The land of the rising sun, indeed.
After Japan I landed smack-dab in the middle of Alaska. I toted three surfboards and three wetsuits along with me. I did paddle out in Cordova on a 1 foot day and we did paddle my boards down the Salcha River in front of my cabin - my only contact with my surfboards while I lived there. I then ended up dragging two of my boards and the wetsuits to Germany with me. For what reason? I don't know. Nostalgia? Afraid to let go of the past? Hope for the future? Germany isn't exactly a hotbed of surfing, but I wanted to bring my boards along anyway. I still haven't touched them since living here, but finally, FINALLY, I got to taste some salt water again - in Ireland.
While in Ireland, Dawn and I met up with Markus and his new wife, Jennifer. It was their honeymoon too, and Markus had put surfing on the backburner on this trip. A smart move, if I may say, because Markus can be described as an ex-surfing junky. Oh, he's still addicted, and boy can he surf, but I think he's become aware of when the surf best suits him and when he is best suited to surf. Markus' friend Mark, a resident of Derry and surely a crazy Irish surf addict himself, tried his best to lure us on a trip down south in a borrowed camper to catch some epic waves while we were there. One problem - this was the day after the epic music/drinking/party night at McGrorys and none of us wanted anything to do with it. Instead, we all settled on driving to Portaleen, a beautiful beach that was catching some nice waves just to the west of Culdaff where we were staying. I immediately broke out the camera when we got there, Dawn and I trailing the others as they headed to get suited up and to get some waves. After walking the beach for a bit, Dawn and I joined up with the group, finding most of them in the water. Sinead, with her bad shoulder, had gone for a run. We found Mark in his Landrover reading 'In to the Wild' which we had given to him and Sinead earlier that day. A book better than nice waist-high peelers? It's one of my favorites too, so I understood.
Dawn and I had no surf gear, and frankly, I was a bit wary of paddling out due to my messed up knee. However, the weather was nice, the air was warm and the waves looked damn tasty. Dawn had tried surfing before, also in San Diego, and was gung-ho to go out and give it a shot in Ireland. Luckily, Carey had a suit and there were plenty of boards for Dawn to use. Mark also had an extra suit for me but I was hesitant. Once Dawn got out there, though, I had to go in. She can make almost anything look fun. Watching her in the surf reminded me of what I was missing and the joy I used to feel when a wave hits you in the chest and knocks you over. I suited up as fast as I could - too fast, in fact - and put Mark's suit on backwards. I went out anyway. Just being in the water again was enough for me that day. I'd taken my pictures, documented the fun everyone was having, and got wet again. It was enough for me. The best part was seeing the smile on Dawn's face and realizing just how much we really do have in common. When you see pure happiness it's really easy to recognize - she was there.
For pictures from this day, go HERE There are also some random pictures HERE
On Monday of our trip, we didn't have a lot planned. The night before, Markus and I decided that we should attempt a dawn patrol session and Dawn and I agreed to meet him at 7am the next morning. I think we all kind of forgot that we were at 55 degrees north latitude and that it wouldn't get light until 7:30am or so. Plus, the weather wasn't looking too good. But, we eventually headed down to the port of Culdaff finding the winds favorable and the waves not too bad. Where we first checked, although not large, the waves looked a bit menacing and there were a lot of rips forming on the beach. Markus ran up the beach (literally) to check the river mouth, ran back, and reported that it looked good there and that the waves weren't quite as mean looking. He could have handled any wave on that beach with ease, but I’m happy he stuck with us.
After a five minute walk down to the river mouth, I concurred with his assessment that things looked good. Markus and I paddled out while Dawn took the boogie board out to mess around in the shorebreak. Markus and I had some good chats while sitting in the water and it felt GREAT to be out there with him again. We laughed and smiled and enjoyed watching Dawn play on the inside on here booger - she was having a blast. Markus caught wave after wave while I struggled, holding back knowing my knee wouldn't hold me on a quick pop-up. At one point, being the dumbass that I am, I popped up normally and had my knee quickly buckle on me sending me straight in to the water. I didn't say anything at the time, even after being asked by Markus and Dawn if I was okay, but I was hurting. I eventually conceded the board to Dawn, giving her a chance at doing some real surfing while I took the boogie board to play around inside. This actually hurt worse than surfing. I was getting frustrated - I just wanted to catch one wave, relive the old feeling of gliding down the face, getting one decent wave in Ireland. I finally coaxed the board back from Dawn, ready to give it one last go. Bad idea. I DID catch a wave and I DID get a short ride and I DID catch a surfboard to the head. After getting thwacked, my first thought was my recently repaired broken jaw. I was a bit dazed but realized nothing was out of the ordinary until I heard Dawn scream. I was apparently bleeding pretty badly from a cut just above my left eyebrow. Markus, in his infinite wisdom repeated the old idiom to me – ‘Just one more is never a good idea’. As previously stated, I ‘m a dumbass…..
We headed back to the car, went back to the River House, had Jennifer perform some triage and then left for the hospital in Carndonagh. Thirty minutes in, some glue and a bandage and 40 Euros later and all was well with the world. My head hurt and that's what everyone seemed concerned with. Truthfully, my knee was hurting way worse than my head. So it goes.
Anyway, I've now got my Ireland souvenir, something better than any tattoo and something that will always bring up good memories. Kind of like my pinky scar from Hawaii. It could have been much worse if the board had hit me an inch or two lower on the head. Finally, a stroke of luck for me in a warped, sadistic sense. But damn, it was all worth it.
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