„What time you think is good to show up for photos at Mully tomorrow?“ I asked Conor Maguire on facebook just to give it a try. The book says it can be surfed at high tide only, low water would be certain suicide. Local info, however, is that everyone surfs it on low tide only when wild Atlantic bombs hit the shallow reef and awaken a roaring, life threatening yet amazingly beatiful beast. Would he even read my message? „Hey man. Around 1 I’d say.“ is what I read on my screen just 5 hours later. Dead low tide that is. Instantly, I start getting my stuff together, loading a new film roll, trying the water housing (which is more of a bag with an integrated glove) with and without the flash, putting my swim fins next to my bed. I’m excited, literally buzzing. Another phone call to my best friend to tell him it’s gonna happen. The swell has been on the charts for a good few days now and hasn’t changed. A whishful illusion turn into reality.
Next day. My last one before flying back to Dresden.. I’m awake at 5 am and one thing I haven’t figured out yet is how to make those 15 kilometers to the spot. Hostel’s empty. Next door I ask if anyone is going to Mullaghmore and could give me a lift. „That’s a random question. Why would we?“ is what my surprised ears get to hear. Don’t they know?
So I start walking the main road, fins in my backpack, wetsuits over my arm, thumb in the air, both worried and optimistic to get there on time. And yes! A friendly girl picks me up after all. As we arrive at the scene, the grassy cliff top is just packed with tripods and onlookers, the usually empty road completey inhabited by parking cars. In the distance there must be some guys in the water. Jetskis. A surfer on a huge yet faraway face of a wave.
I’m feeling a bit nervous about getting in. About getting changed even. Rosa told me not to go. „Did you just see the guy going down? And his photographer went down with him“. I didn’t. One thing is for sure – I’ll stay right in the channel. Next to the skis. In the save zone. No experiments. Even if the angle isn’t perfect I wouldn’t get closer to the pocket, possibly get me and the crew out there into trouble. This stuff is somewhat serious. Once I got suited I hang my camera round my neck, grab my fins and slowly make my way over the grass top down the cliff. Alert not to make any mistake. It feels like I’ve got a hundred pairs of eyes in my back thinking ‚what the hack is this guy doing‘. Once I walk across the reef I feel more relaxed as I can’t see the crowd from there and so can’t they see me. I put my fins on, slide into the water and start swimming. It seems it’s gonna be a long swim. Not much can go wrong I assume. Just keep an eye out for the big current. Go slow and steady.