Summer is here !

Summertime really hit us last week, with a heat wave over the Bank Holiday weekend, and for most of the week. Daytime temperatures hit an all time high of 28-29 degrees C, which is practically unheard of in Ireland !
The centre of the country must have been like a ghost town, as it seemed like the entire country hit the beach, as they were in disbelief at the non stop sun for 5-6 days.

The first couple of shots show my favourite freestyle spot, where we sail at one of the islands just off the beach where I live in Skerries (you can just see my home in the background). The water is really flat in the shelter of this beach on the island.. and we have a great time here in S or SE winds when the tide is right. The colour of the water made me think it even looked a little like the canaries (in my mind anyway!!)
The sailor is Tom Lotocki, who also lives in Skerries.

In contrast, this Saturday was back to super windy conditions from the NE, over logo high waves at RUSH, and certainly NOT green water! The day started out on 4.8m sails, but I soon had to change down to down to 4.2, and finally ended up on 3.9m FLY.
The air temperature had dropped down to about 10 degrees, and it was weird, as the water was actually warmer than the air. The contrast made it feel like you were sailing in a bath.. while standing on the beach was cold. Everyone was in shock at the air temperature, but once you got into it... the jumping was really good fun, and by the end of the day, the sets were rolling on at over mast high - which is always nice to see on the East coast ! Also got my first clean Takas on this tack.. so I went home happy :)

Today, it was back to Skerries, and sailed from about 11am till 6pm. At first on 5.7 Firefly and 99 freestyle, and then on 5.1 FLY. It was fun freestyle conditions, with some small waves good for shakas and looping, and then some super flat freestyle conditions at each end of the beach for a bit of spinning sliding action.

Looks like more NE this week too... hope it's not too busy at work!

Pics:
1 & 2. Tom Lotocki at Skerries freestyle heaven.
3. Me at Rush.
4. Dave Garvey at Rush.
5. Tom Lotocki at Rush.

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