Bodyboarding under the rain

Last night we headed up to Spanish Point ( Co Clare )  for a surf session, well for me it was body-boarding, as i think I have given up any up of standing up on a surfboard ...  maybe I should try the long board...

Flat calm at the moment .....

Good waves, not big and quite regular, through very steep at times. The water was warm enough, but we had to support drizzles of rain...

On the water during sunset

That was also a good opportunity to test out my new toy, a Gopro camera.

Spanish Point view from the water

Post surf, pre dinner.....

After that it was time for Dinner, and a delicious pan fried monk-fish in Milton Malbay, before going back to Limerick.

Tieranniesaur Tier-repetita and Dolans Summer Party

For the third time this year, I had the pleasure to see Tieranniesaur live, this time in Dolans for the Summer Party. A great event with a gret line up from the Windings, to Girl Band .. basically a 5 euro well spent.

The sun and an almost clear blue sky even invited himslef for the party before the darkness.

There was also a presentation of an interesting compilation:
Strange Passion - Explorations in Irish Post Punk, DIY and Electronic music 1980-83:

 http://www.nialler9.com/album-week-strange-passion-explorations-irish-post-punk-diy-electronic-music-198083/

Tieranniesaur ready to take the main stage in the warehouse

Tieranniesaur

Another band I've seen recently in Bourkes was Girl Band (Update now renames Gilla Band):

Upstairs: Girl Band

Upstairs I also discovered Melodica Deathship, you can listen there here: http://mdsdub13.bandcamp.com/

The night line up, feel free to check them out:

• Warehouse Stage (Curated by Out On A Limb Records):
  Crayonsmith // Dead Red Light // Elk // The Jimmy Cake // Jogging // So Cow // Ten Past Seven // Tieranniesaur//
• Upstairs Stage (Curated by windings)
  Dott // Girl Band // The Great Balloon Race // Land Lovers // Magic Pockets // Melodica Deathship // MynameisjOhn // Percolator // windings
• Bar (Curated by A Love Supreme): DJs, Acoustic Sets, Collaborations.

Sunday Walk : Clare Glens

Last sunday I went for a short stroll in Tipperary in the lovely river walk: Clare Glens.
It's only 30 minutes drive outside Limerick city, and perfect for family with a short and longer loop.

The bridge

Walking along the flowing river

Clare Glens

Map

Bridge...

There is many walks around Limerick, have a look at this leaflet :
http://www.southerntrail.net/maps/Limerick%20Maps%20Leaflet7.pdf.

And Bock covered some of those place some time ago. http://bocktherobber.com/2012/06/out-and-about-county-limerick/

Nouvelle Vague in Dolans

Last saturday I had the extreme pleasure to be in Dolans, for another great gig. This time it was "Nouvelle Vague" a french concept band, the coolest to the extreme....
I am still subdued on this sunday morning...

Nouvelle Vague on Stage - Instagram

Airy ... and dancing... with themsleves

Singing

French Woman ... lethal and dangerous ;)

French woman ... quirky and talented

Bemused audience and Fascinated crowd

Songs played ( from what i remember , sure  I am forgetting some ):

• Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division) 
• Ophelie est zoophile ( Jad Wio cover )
• Putain Putain (Arno)
• Mala Vida ( Mano Negra cover )
• Too Drunk to Fuck (Dead Kennedys) 
• Making Plans for Nigel (XTC) 
• Teenage Kicks (The Undertones)
• Ever Fallen in Love (Buzzcocks)
• Dancing with Myself (Billy Idol)
• Master and Servant - (Depeche Mode)
• Blister in the Sun - (Violent Femmes)
• God save The Queen - (The Sex Pistols)

A taste of their music :

Scubathon 2012

Nevermind Bastille Day, this weekend my diving club ( Aughinish ) along with the local diving club in Kilkee were organizing a scubathon:

Poster Scubathon

By Scubathon this meant 24 hours diving, with diving in the water all the time, rotating by one hour slots.
The event coincided with the maritime festival in Kilkee, so the town was busy.

Maritime festival in Kilkee

I started off by trying to help setup the camp early in the morning, then I was off to do the first 2 hours of cox duty over Newfie, bringing divers to the site, watching over them and recovering them at the end.

The last boat to get in the water

Covering diver over newfie

Covering boat in newfie, george's head in the back

Flags

Sunset in kilkee ... :D

Later during the day, it was my turn to dive, 62 minutes of easy diving in 10 meters of water, with a nice blonde mermaid. We saw a couple of flat fishes, some pollock, and tiny fish hiding in the sand.
I was actually quite annoyed by my main regulator which was leaking, and i was not sure i could make the full hour, by loosing air permanently... but it ended up ok, finishing with 50bar  on the dot.

my mermaid ... buddy

After a night sleep, in kilkee under the tent, I went back to Limerick, leaving the others close the event.
And it was time to close the weekend with a nice chowder, some tunes and some stout in the Curragower:

The End ...

Finishing with a Bang

The weekend finished with a bang, first with my smashed phone - but incredibly still working :

HTC after 3 storey high fall....

Then after some park wandering, art considerations, dog watching, tea drinking - with chocolate pastries :) , and a vibrant american  Choke Comedy improv in Dolans , the final bang was the fireworks by the river:

Back in Galway from the sea

So this saturday I went back to Galway for the final in-port race of the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-2012...
As they say the final showdown:



We used our diving club ( Aughinish ) boat to get to Galway bay. Launching the boat from Doolin, all the way up to Salthill - the race was taking place just in front of it.

We arrived around 11AM after a smooth drive - despite being against the wind and the swell, thanks to a dexterous cox -  before the sailing boat left the Galway docks.
While they were going out, we were able to get pretty close and have a good view of those ocean beasts.

Spanish Boat 

The French Boat ... winner of the overall race :D

There was many boats trying to follow the race, including the local hooker:

Galway Hooker

Then the marshall pushed us behind the yellow buoy, so the race could start... and off they went for an hour of intense action.

The race 

Camper and Groupama battling out to catch Puma

Camper and F.Cammas boat

Groupama chasing Camper

Puma... and yes we are behing the buoy :)

Puma won the race,

The winner of the in port race Puma

And after another pass near the boat, we decided to turn back to the Clare side of the bay.
We did try to get into Monks in Ballyvaughan, but a sand bank prevented our plan - and I won't say anything else about that.

It was a fast drive back to Doolin, where the Dolphin was waiting for us, with the wind pushing in our back.

In summary a very happy day at sea ! I will be following the next race ( probably won't come to Ireland this time :( )




- UPDATE -

•  The full inport race: 

• And Bock account of the race ( from a different boat ):

http://bocktherobber.com/2012/07/volvo-ocean-race-2012/


- UPDATE -
My diving club account of the event: http://www.aughinishdivingclub.com/news/170-volvo-ocean-race