Starboard tack Pozo & road trip west

While waiting for the wind to pick up at home, I spent some of Saturday watching the PWA Pozo event live on their webcam which was pretty cool. You can watch the live action, while refreshing the PWA live ticker and heat boards, and get a pretty good idea of what is going on.

Pretty inspired, I watched up until the quarter finals, and then went in search of wind and waves myself. Eventually we hit the water in a local spot called Low Rock, with the wind coming cross-on from the right and small waves (starboard Pozo?). Started on 4.8m fly and bigger twinser, but the rain soon kicked in with the increasing forecasted wind, and soon we were hanging onto 3.9metres :) The rain was damn hard though... so it was a pain to throw yourself into backloops or pushloops, as every time you looked upwind.... you would get your face jet-washed! Packed up at 9pm and retired home to a warm shower.

The next morning we decided to hit the road at 6am and head west in search of real waves. Most of the west coast was looking good for wind, but I wanted to try somewhere different, so hit the road for Clare. I had heard about a spot that breaks well on a rocky reef and point, so hopes were high to find some good cross off riding.
Unfortunately when we arrived, the wind was good, but the direction was too westerly for the spot to work properly. So we sailed at the other side of the bay for a couple of hours... in guess what: cross on starboard tack... like I need the practice in that!

There was a good crew of Galway guys 'n' girls on the water though, so it was good fun. Katie McAnena was the first to hit the water - she raced out and bust a perfect forward loop, which got everyone else excited to rig. She is going to be the one to watch in this Autumns Irish wave events, though I hope Noelle Doran will be back in fighting form after her bad injury earlier this year.

The wind swung more onshore, meaning the other spot might finally be sailable... so a quick break for food, we packed up and drove around to the reef. It looked OK and we all hit the water, but unfortunately still too onshore to get good rides.

It was worth the drive though, I can see how this spot can work, and have a better idea of swell and wind direction that will make it work. We hit the road home through the Burren, which was pretty cool. It's been a long time since I have been in this part of the country (usually going further North), so it's always nice to find a change of scenery. I will definately be back to this spot on the next good forecast.

PICS:
1. Nice swell, wrong wind direction to be classic :(
2. Typical Burren
3. Check out the mast bend on that back loop landing

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