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THOMAS TRAVERSA AND TIMO MULLEN: HURRICANE ERIN MISSION!

When a mid-summer Atlantic hurricane sends a monster swell crashing toward Ireland, you can’t ignore the call! For Thomas Traversa, Jamie Hancock and Timo Mullen, plans were dropped, tickets booked and gear packed as they set their sights on Ireland’s west coast. Here’s how their mission played out:

Photos: Tam Mullen and Jamie Hancock

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THOMAS TRAVERSA

THE PLAN

TT: “I’ve been wanting to go back to Ireland for a while now. I think the last two or three winters, I was looking at different forecasts and almost went a few times but never pulled the trigger. And yeah, this summer I didn’t compete in the Canaries and I was looking at maybe going somewhere in the Indian Ocean. Time was passing and then this storm Erin showed up.

It looked like there was going to be this really big swell in the Atlantic coming from Hurricane Erin. From this moment I thought OK, let’s go on this one and I wasn’t sure whether to go to Morocco, Portugal, Ireland or even Iceland. These were like the four destinations that looked like they could get good and windy. The wind forecast for Ireland was not so bad. It didn’t show very strong wind, but the swell was looking really solid and the wind direction was perfect.

I talked with Jamie Hancock and together we decided it was a good moment to go. I mean, it’s so rare to get such a big swell in the summer when the days are really long and the water and the air temperature are also warm. So, it was kind of like a once in a lifetime opportunity. That’s why we decided to go and I was really excited actually.

The original plan was to try and sail at Mullaghmore because that’s been something I wanted to do for a very long time and it never happened. I thought this was the right swell and the right wind and everything to give it a try. The first day the swell was supposed to arrive at the end of the day, and yeah, I scored an amazing session at one of the spots in Bundoran.

DREAM SESSION

It was really offshore and kind of light. There were some surfers in the water, but yeah super long walls, light offshore wind and perfect clean waves…It was really fun.

It was kind of like Alibaba, but without the rocks in front. So, that was super fun. I loved it. And yeah, on top of that it was like 22-23 degrees, with super blue sky and not one cloud. Yeah, it was amazing.!

DAY TWO

The second day was supposed to be very big, but then in the morning when we went to the beach to check, it didn’t really look bigger than the previous day. We had to wait until the afternoon for Mullaghmore because the spot needs a low tide.

So, we decided to go to this other spot where the tide was still high in the morning. The wind was kind of light and I tried to get in the water. I could not make it out because the swell was relentless and I couldn’t pass the waves! It was hard work, then the wind picked up but turned a little bit too much west.

So, it turned out to be not as perfect and clean as the day before, but it was still really good fun. I was on my own for like two hours. There were one or two surfers sharing the line-up with me. It was not big, but like mast or a little bit more than mast high.

GOOD VIBES

Then Timo showed up and another local guy, Danny. It was nice to see Timo again and then also Finn Mullen arrived with his wife Katie. Yeah, it was a very nice vibe and awesome to see these friends after such a long time.

We were a little bit disappointed with the conditions because by the time the tide was good for Mullaghmore, actually the swell was not that good.

We had some reports from the spot that there were like 30 minutes between sets and just a few waves in each set, and it was packed with super famous surfers like Nathan Florence, Nic von Rupp and all the local guys. I mean, there were many famous big wave surfers paddling and the wind was really light.

So yeah, we thought, OK, there’s no point going there and trying to get a wave. Maybe I would not even have been able to catch one because the wind was quite light and I didn’t really feel like putting myself in the middle of this pack of super hungry pro surfers that travelled from all kinds of countries to try to catch this swell. I don’t think they would have been really happy to see me.

So yeah, it was a bit of a disappointment, but we had a good second session at the end of the day. This time I was sailing with Timo and yeah, it was really nice, just a fun session with clean, easy waves and a decent size. So, of course the forecast didn’t really live up to expectations, but it was still like two amazing days.

I’m just really happy that I came because I know I’m going to come back soon. I have to, I want to! And this place is amazing with so many incredible waves. Lots of good vibes on the water and all the locals are friendly and yeah, I will be back!”

JAMIE HANCOCK

“This trip to Ireland with Thomas was just the beginning of something new. Over the next few months, we’ll be sharing a short film from the experience, part of a much bigger project that we’re quietly building behind the scenes. Keep an eye on both mine and Thomas’s channels for the launch. Something exciting is coming soon.”

TIMO MULLEN

SUMMER SWELL

“To be honest, the fact it was summer didn’t really make a difference. We pretty much go on every forecast there is. To me it doesn’t matter if it’s winter and freezing cold or summer! But, this swell had been really hyped up. It’s actually been a pretty good summer for windsurfing, anyway, so it wasn’t like I was desperate to go sailing.

I was a little bit dubious about how big it would be. I know this is easy to say with the benefit of hindsight, but I was sceptical whether it was going to be as big as what they were saying!  The forecast was 4.6m at 18 seconds…that’s big, but it’s not like mega big, like normally we’re looking at 6-8m in the winter at 15–16 seconds. It’s summer, it’s so it was probably always be smaller than they reckon. I guess all the surf reports were going crazy with the hype, so yeah, you had to go! I couldn’t miss this one.

So, Thomas contacted us to say he was going. I had family and work commitments on the evening that the swell arrived. The start of the swell is always the best part of the swell. So, I knew that evening session the day before was probably going to be good.

EARLY START

But I could only get a flight the morning of the swell. I got up at 3 in the morning and flew from Bristol Airport. It was a 6:30am in the morning flight to Belfast. I had to be the full tourist and rented a car, which fortunately was actually not expensive. I went home, grabbed my gear. Drove over, checked Mullaghmore, but I’d say I saw one set in an hour that was proper Mullaghmore, like winter, scary size. You had the best surfers in the world out there already. The good sets were every like 40 minutes to an hour and you’d be competing against Nathan Florence, Nic von Rupp and the top Irish surfers.

ON THE EDGE

So, we went to the spot we normally sail in Sligo. It’s normally the same size as Mullaghmore but just a little bit easier, if that’s a word to use. Thomas and my friend Dan were already out when I arrived. But the wind was light, like very, very light. It was very much on the limit for me, a bit frustrating. I was on 5.3m and my big board and still I was hardly moving. It is always light at this spot and I was very much on the limits, to be fair, even Thomas was like on the limit of being able to go windsurfing.

If it had just been like 2-3 knots, more wind, it would have been amazing. But it was still fun, but I’m talking maybe 6 to 8 knots of wind. Thomas had some amazing waves. I had a couple of OK ones, but nothing like, nothing like we normally can get there, but that was only because of the wind. I guess it was worth it.

PULLING THE TRIGGER

My theory is, if you don’t go, you start to get picky! I was already thinking when I was booking my ticket, ‘I don’t think this is going to be that big’.

But I was thinking, if you don’t go, you start to get picky and then suddenly you’ll miss the best day ever. So, it’s, it’s all about rolling the dice. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but you hope that that time you really win, is because you go on all of the swells.

MOVE OF THE DAY

To give you an idea of, how light it was…I’ve never had to do this ever in the whole time I’ve wave sailed all my life. The wind dropped from 8 knots to 0 knots. For probably an hour, but I was the only one out! And I couldn’t get back in, like, there was no wind, like zero. Like glassy surf, so I had to de-rig my gear out the back. And then I had to paddle my all my gear back in through 10 to 12 ft surf! And then prone belly my board in on a set wave…somehow I managed to get in, without trashing all my stuff. I think I got the biggest cheer of the day for that move.

Yeah, God knows how I did it, but I managed to like basically belly in with all my gear strapped to the board, through a mast high, biggest swell of the summer.

I literally just came in with not even a scratch on my board or any of my gear.

So, yeah, it was one of those days where shit could go wrong, but fortunately we’re all OK!”

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