COAST – A DETOUR TO IRELAND – ROAD TRIPPIN’
Fifty-six and a half hours on the road with JC and the Motley Crew!
Ever had everything organized for that perfect storm chase style road trip – but then at the last minute the weather throws a curveball and all your meticulous plans fall apart? With the latest forecast revisions calling for chaos and disruption, any normal crew might abort and wait for the next low pressure to hit. Well that was exactly the situation we were in when one of the wildest storms of the winter hit back in December – right on-cue for a pre-scheduled, two-day road trip. Everything was literally in place and we were all set to hit the road to explore the fabled East Coast reefs with a huge swell and strong cross offshore wind forecast…
Although forecasters sometimes throw out warnings, often you can read between the lines that it’s still okay to head into the eye of a storm. With devastation, real travel chaos, flooding and closed-down beaches now actually reality rather than just a threat, pulling the plug on any mission to the North Sea was the only sensible option. But we’re talking about ‘the Motley Crew’ here and, rather than throw in the towel, a new plan was instigated and within minutes we were now unexpectedly headed over to Ireland instead – with an
8-metre swell predicted! John Carter tells the story:
Words & Photos JOHN CARTER
(This feature originally appeared in the May 2014 issue of Windsurf Magazine. To read more features like this first, Print and Digital subscriptions are available. Prices include delivery globally for 10 x issues a year!)