Prowlers West Coast Ireland New Big Wave Spot

Big Wave surf heros, and good friends, Al Mennie and Andrew Cotton have been out on yet another adventure off the West Coast of the Green Isle.

A few years ago we got the first footage of Mulaghmore breaking over 50ft, and now the team have uncovered another mamouth mave found 2km off the West Coast named “Prowlers”.

Six brave surfers took to the water on the 8th November and rode some simply amazing waves.

Joes (Joseph Kennedy) was another brave sole that hit the water with a video camera to bring us these amazing shots.

Photo by Conn Osborne http://www.surfingphotography.co.uk

A1Surf caught up with Al Mennie to ask a few questions

A1Surf.com: What’s the deal with Prowlers?

Al: Prowlers is something we have been watching between us all for some time now. It is so exposed it takes everything to be right for it to be rideable.

A1Surf: Who was in the crew?

Al: We assembled a solid team consisting of: two Irish men, myself and Ritchie; Devon’s Andrew Cotton; Aussie Paul O’Kane; and two saffas, Mottershead and Johnson. There was a real feel of camraderie and trust between us as we have all surfed a lot of these big wave sessions together over the years.

A1Surf: What were the conditions like?

Al: The sea was huge, lines stacked like rows of 5 storey office blocks all the way out to sea, making us feel extremely small, insignificant and vulnerable. The ride out there was pretty awesome and then to ride some of the best waves of our lives was incredible.

A1Surf: How would you rate this against all the other big waves you’ve surfed?

Al: I would put this session up there among my top three, I can’t decide on the order but def top three!

A1Surf: Anyone to thank?

Al: Fair play to everyone involved- The photogs Big Kiwi Aaron Pierce, Conn Osborne, Joe Kennedy and our boat skipper Daniel.

And it wasn’t only A1Surf, BBC, or the Irish Times that wanted a piece of Mennie. Surfline also caught up with the Giant Irishman

Below is an excerpt from Surfline

Move over, Aileens, Enter ‘Prowlers.’

Usually I don’t sleep before a big-wave session. A mix of excitement and fear keeps me from dozing off. That’s usually because I’m faced with Aileens or Mullaghmore Head in a raging southwesterly storm, and I know how gnarly they can be and what I’m in store for. But I actually got four hours sleep on Sunday night, as Andrew Cotton and I planned to paddle somewhere big that wasn’t as ‘life threatening’ as normal. I don’t know how I convinced myself I would do it, but I did.

I got on the road at 4:30am. The conditions were amazing. The night before, we had 60mph winds and driving rain, trees blown down and flooding everywhere. Weather warnings were on every channel.
Monday morning however, was clear skies, and all the stars were still out. There was not a breath of wind. I could smell the peat burning from people’s chimneys ’cause the air was so still.

All the big-wave crew here (well the small handful of us) knew of a wave we had checked a few times before far off the coast. Kiwi photographer Aaron Pierce called it ‘Prowlers’, and some of the guys had a small tow session there last year to suss the wave out. This swell was a different story. We were in the eye of the storm so it was dead calm but the seas were huge and well organized.

“The low pushed off of Greenland and quickly setting up just east of Ireland,” says Surfline’s Mike Watson. “The low then tracked towards the northern French coast. This strong low pressure had winds up to hurricane
force, greater than 64kts, which set up the solid blast of swell for the Irish coast. (Hurricane Tomas had nothing to do with this swell.)”

The crew included two Irishmen (myself and Richie Fitzgerald), two Saffas (Barry Mottershead and Jeremy Johnson), one Aussie (Paul Okane) and one Englishman (Cotton.) This is a strong team of experienced big-wave riders. We assembled at a secluded slip on the West Coast and made a game plan.

We boated out in huge seas on a rib and three skis stacked with big-wave guns and tow boards. I’m not revealing the location of the wave, so I’m gonna skip straight to the surf itself.

When we arrived at the lineup, the first thought that entered my mind was: this is Maverick’s! It looked just like it. I’ve surfed Mavs a good few times, and you know how it has the big peak with the shoulder you can paddle in on the edge of into the bowl? Well, it was exactly like that.

Cotton and I were all getting ready to paddle. And THEN the sets appeared. The big ones were stacked way out to sea, and when they hit the ledge, they focused all their energy onto the one spot — no shoulder at all — and detonated with extreme precision each time. It was incredible.

We all watched the break for about 30 minutes before deciding to tow. Cotton and I went first and the other two teams did safety. We were so far out at sea that losing someone would be a very real possibility, so as one team towed the others watched their backs.

It was a great feeling, no egos, no machoness, just pure stoke and hooting each other onto bomb after bomb. The swell got bigger and bigger. All of us rode equally heavy and huge waves.

Next time we are going to surf Prowlers, I know for a fact I won’t be getting any sleep the night before!

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