SURFING: In search of the big wave

AS the rest of Northern Ireland battened down the hatches as strong winds battered the Province last week, six intrepid localsurfers headed out to sea for the ultimate adrenalin ride.

Headed up by Al Mennie the group headed off the west coast out in to the

Atlantic Ocean and found gold in the shape of 50 foot waves.

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"We went out in to the Atlantic Ocean on jet skis and boats in search of the biggest waves the Atlantic Coast had last week," explained Al.

"We found 50ft surf and six of us took it on and surfed some of the biggest waves we've ever surfed in our lives.

"It was incredible...a mixture of fear and excitement.

"You're trying to overcome the fear and let the excitement come through.

"You're riding these waves that are the size of houses and they are exploding like bombs around you.

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"But when you've surfed one of those big waves and you've made it out to the safety of the deep water channel the excitement stays with you and it's overwhelming...it's like a high for weeks on end.

"It's really terrifying and very scary, but you'd be silly to go out there if you weren't scared because the consequences are frightening.

"We know the consequences that's why we are scared, but you've got to

deal with it and go for it."

So can Northern Ireland compete with the more glamorous surfing locations around the world?

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"I've surfed big waves all over the world and to find that we have it on our own doorstep is blowing people's minds," said Al.

"Hawaii used to be the big wave capital of the world, but this coast is the big wave capital of the world now.

"I'm not interested in small waves and I've always tried to push myself

higher and higher.

"We've ridden waves here in Northern Ireland as big as 60ft, it's great to be able to do that on our doorstep.

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"We've got it down to a fine art now, we use databases created by the Navy which feeds us information when we log on to their wave buoys and we can tell what the weather's doing.

"We plan were the surf is going to be from that."