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Displaying items by tag: Prowlers

#Surfing - The Irish Times was on hand earlier this week to capture six daring surfers' excursion to the secret swell spot known as Prowlers.

Big Wave Award contender Kurt Rist was among the group who had waited three years for the return of the rare surf phenomenon off Mullaghmore Head in Co Sligo, which is only accessible to the hardiest waveriders by Jet Ski tow-in.

Discovered in 2006, Prowlers was only captured on camera for the first time in late 2010 - and videoed again this past Monday 3 March as Rist and company took up the challenge. The Irish Times has more HERE.

Speaking of rare waves, Red Bull recently highlighted some never-before-seen snaps by student Christian McLeod of Rist and others surfing nearby west coast slab The Unfound.

And MagicSeaweed has also celebrated the 'grit and guts' of the Mullaghmore regulars, particularly this stunning display by Newquay surfer Tom Butler (beware the NSFW audio):

Tom's Bomb by Peter Conroy from MSW on Vimeo.

Further afield, Ireland can hail the exploits of Lahinch resident and 'adopted Clareman' Tom Lowe, who last month became the first European to surf Mexico's notorious Killers, according to the Irish Examiner. Check out the video evidence:

Published in Surfing
Tagged under
Two new videos posted online offer a fasincating insight into the impressive and mysterious west coast big wave spot known as Prowlers.
The first includes footage and images from the infamous surf session from last November that put the wave on the map:
The second video, in stunning high definition, shows Al Mennie and Andrew Cotton paddling in to take on the incredible surf:

Two new videos posted online offer a fasincating insight into the impressive and mysterious west coast big wave spot known as Prowlers.

The first includes footage and images from the infamous surf session from last November that put the wave on the map:

The second video, in stunning high definition, shows Al Mennie and Andrew Cotton paddling in to take on the incredible surf:

The precise location of Prowlers is still a closely guarded secret among the big wave surfing community.

Published in Surfing

About Brittany Ferries

In 1967 a farmer from Finistère in Brittany, Alexis Gourvennec, succeeded in bringing together a variety of organisations from the region to embark on an ambitious project: the aim was to open up the region, to improve its infrastructure and to enrich its people by turning to traditional partners such as Ireland and the UK. In 1972 BAI (Brittany-England-Ireland) was born.

The first cross-Channel link was inaugurated in January 1973, when a converted Israeli tank-carrier called Kerisnel left the port of Roscoff for Plymouth carrying trucks loaded with Breton vegetables such as cauliflowers and artichokes. The story, therefore, begins on 2 January 1973, 24 hours after Great Britain's entry into the Common Market (EEC).

From these humble beginnings however, Brittany Ferries as the company was re-named quickly opened up to passenger transport, then became a tour operator.

Today, Brittany Ferries has established itself as the national leader in French maritime transport: an atypical leader, under private ownership, still owned by a Breton agricultural cooperative.

Eighty five percent of the company’s passengers are British.

Key Brittany Ferries figures:

  • Turnover: €202.4 million (compared with €469m in 2019)
  • Investment in three new ships, Galicia plus two new vessels powered by cleaner LNG (liquefied natural gas) arriving in 2022 and 2023
  • Employment: 2,474 seafarers and shore staff (average high/low season)
  • Passengers: 752,102 in 2020 (compared with 2,498,354 in 2019)
  • Freight: 160,377 in 2020 (compared with 201,554 in 2019)
  • Twelve ships operating services that connect France, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Spain (non-Covid year) across 14 routes
  • Twelve ports in total: Bilbao, Santander, Portsmouth, Poole, Plymouth, Cork, Rosslare, Caen, Cherbourg, Le Havre, Saint-Malo, Roscoff
  • Tourism in Europe: 231,000 unique visitors, staying 2.6 million bed-nights in France in 2020 (compared with 857,000 unique visitors, staying 8,7 million bed-nights in 2019).