Hope Springs Eternal

Oh Bundoran!

Salient Seaside town, home to a fantastic host of people, surfers, bodyboarders, photographers, and pub landlords existing in near-perfect harmony. The waves are to do die for, on XXL swells quite literally but for the mere mortals, a mix of slabs, points, reefs, and even the odd beachie offer surfers a veritable à carte menu of surfboarding options on a variety of swells.

Now a quintessential part of any time spent in Ireland is the Rain. In fact, it’s annoying when it’s sunny, as you know it will rain. At least, at the peak of the deluge, you know it will clear. Eventually, we learn just to embrace it. As after hour 3 of a ten-day trip, everything is wet. By this stage the Land Rover doesn’t just smell like dog, but a wet abattoir of wet dogs. Mixed with IPA. Oh, and the Guinness spilled over the back seats.

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Yet, hope springs eternal.

And who better to invite on such a soggy jolly than a collection of Vans’ Europe A-team of Adrien Toyon, Titouan Boyer and Ethan Egiguren. Titouan is about as underground as you can get, quiet on hand and never far from a pint of Guinness. Hailing from Britanny, as an affliction for CI blades under his solid feet and his surfing has strong undertones of a young Mr. Reynolds. Such down carves! Those transitions! Straight airs landed with much gusto. Adrien Toyon is an old friend of WT, he even once interned for WT and lasted 2 entire days over the course of 3 months. A resident of Biarritz, a razor-sharp right foot forward complexion on a surfboard, and a deep love for tubes and silky smooth rail work.

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Balancing les deux francais, we’re joined by Ethan Egiguren, a standout surfer from San Sebastian and head honcho at Playa Gros, he’s light-footed, supremely polite and again, never one to say no to a pint of Guinness.

Armed with an old Army Land Rover with a leaky roof, we hit the Emerald Isle for 10 days of fine times, good waves, and drinking Guinness from Hats. More on that to follow – coming to a surf town near you.

For the full story, check out our next print edition, Wasted Talent Vol X. Coming early 2022…