Mullaghmore Autumn Swells – Big wave surfing by Local & International Surfers 27th October 2013

The 27th of October, why does that ring a bell, ohh that’s right, its my 1 month wedding anniversary and you would think I would be marking the day by having breakfast in bed and spending the day in front of the fire with my beautiful wife or something romantic like that!! Instead I dragged us both out of the sack at 4am and drove from Galway to Mullaghmore with the promise of some big waves and the chance to watch some of the best Irish and International big wave surfers do their thing!

It was still dark arriving at Mullaghmore and we had a quick chat with David Olsthoorn before he launched his ski. David shot our wedding photos and we didn’t expect to meet again so soon or even on our 1 month anniversary!

Anyway this blog post is not about my marriage (we’re still together by the way), its about the group of amazing athletes that were taking on the beast of a wave that is Mullaghmore. Conditions weren’t ideal but from early on we could see some monster setts rolling in. Excited, both of us, we set up station on the grassy patch on Mullaghmore Head and watched in awe as the spectacle unfolded.

I don’t claim to be a professional photographer or have any aspiration to be one but live with the hope of improving each time I take my camera out. I have huge respect for the professional photographers who go to great lengths to capture the great images we see online and in the mags. Shooting conditions were difficult to say the least, ever changing light levels with a thick mist and spray hovering around each wave that broke but I hope I have done some justice to the day and surfers who were out there! Enjoy: