24/09/13 - SURFING Keel Bay, Achill

Keel Bay, Achill, Co. Mayo

Weather

The temperature today was 14 degrees celsius. It stayed dry throughout the day with a North Easterly wind making it and off shore wind. This created perfect conditions for surfing as an offshore wind creates nice clean breaking waves rather than messy dumping waves.

Goals for Today

My main goal today was to get back into practicing the basic skills of surfing e.g. correct pop up technique, paddling and correct stance.

Session Evaluation

Today the session began by Wayne talking to us about the surf. He explained what the necessary weather conditions are to have good surf in an area for different levels of abilities. These conditions included having an offshore wind but not too strong as well as a good swell. The next thing that he talked about was possible hazards. Some of the hazards he warned us about was the rip that was in line with the beach car park, another was the possibility of being pulled out to sea by the current, and another was the possibility of hurting ourselves if we didn't wipeout properly. I felt that this was a good way to start the session as firstly when he explained the surf to us, this got me pumped about getting into the water and overall excited for the day ahead. I also respected that he then followed up with a serious note by telling us some hazards to look out for.

Wayne then told us to get ready and meet down by the waters edge so that we could all go in at the same time. A few of us stayed in the white water as we were only beginners as Peter and Chris went out back. Wayne stayed with us for about 10 minutes and then decided to go out back with the lads. I felt that this was insanely irresponsible as an instructor as we couldn't even see him for most of the session. While I felt that the 10 minutes he did spend with us was very helpful as he gave me personally some useful tips, I was also shocked that he would leave a beginner group on their own. We surfed for about an hour and a half after this before going in and then had a de-brief in the bus with Wayne before going back to Castlebar. This de-brief really annoyed me as he had a lot to say about us in the white water even though it seemed that he spent no time with us at all.

Evaluation of Goals

I felt that I met my goals today as I spent the whole day practicing in the white water and felt that there was a huge improvement in my basic skills by the end of the day. One skill especially that I always had huge difficulty with was my pop up. I always had to use my knees but by the end of today I was by-passing my knees and standing up.

Environmental Interest 

Today there were a lot of 'Greater Black Backed Gulls' on the beach. The way to identify a greater black backed gull is by the thick white outline of feathers around their wings. When they're not in flight the way to identify them is by their distinctive black feathered back. This is the largest gull found in Ireland.