I was recently asked by a prominent university, to take part in research on both competitive surfing and lifestyle surfing in Ireland. We looked at Irish culture, surfing culture, social media and the reasons many people may or may not follow a traditional competitive route. The project is confidential at present but is due to be made public this spring.

I've lost count of the amount of incredible surf days there have been on the north coast this winter. I've surfed more on my own door step than I have in many years. Great swell direction and well set sand banks have made for extremely consistent conditions for weeks on end.

I have had a few surf sessions this year at Finn McCool's at the Giant's Causeway. An unusual amount of large northerly swell has presented numerous days of sizable surf at the causeway but most often the surf was accompanied by wild wind and dangerous sea and tide conditions. I have however found windows in the weather to have three sessions out there in the past few months. On the day in this photo conditions were treacherous to say the least. A heavy current raged to the north east making...