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Wavelength September Issue 195 Out Now |
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Written by Wavelength Staff
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Wednesday, 21 July 2010 16:23 |
 Towards the end of the 19th Century, four Irishmen who had emigrated to America in search of a better life, took a massive gamble and bought an abandoned silver mine in Nevada for $100,000. Using their combined mining skills and experience, they managed to find what had evaded those before them, the single largest deposit of silver ore in the history of North America, and were soon turning over $1 million profits each month. The four men, now known as the ‘Silver Kings’ were written off by jealous English and Americans as finding their fortunes through dumb luck, rather than any kind of hard work and ability, and the bitter expression ‘the Luck of the Irish’ was born.
It’s easy, sitting here for the 8th week of no real surf to look at the new issue of Wavelength and write off Fergal Smith’s huge score of perfect barrels in West Oz, and the whomping summer swell that got Al Mennie towing into some unseasonably giant waves on the West coast of Ireland, as being the product of the luck of the Irish, after all, it does always seem to be the Irish surfers who score the biggest sessions. But to do that would be to ignore the years of training and preparation, learning to accurately read pressure charts and knowing exactly what conditions certain spots need, that helped get these guys be in the perfect place at the perfect time this summer. That and a little bit of luck.
As well as these two tales of mid-summer mentalness, the new issue of the Length has got the behind the scenes gossip from the Boardmasters, some facts about the threatened Crab Island reef, a few tips on surfing coral reefs, a look back at Thurso in the early eighties and a gallery of gold that will make you jizz a little. Now, do you feel lucky... punk? Take a sneak peak below

The Awakening: A mother of a summer swell hits Ireland and Al Mennie is there to greet it

West Oz: Fergal Smith and Tom Lowe take on a monster swell in West Oz
 Relentless Boardmasters 2010: Tim Nunn and Ben Selway give you two very different from Newquay...
Hardware Guide 2010: Have a flick through the latest gear on offer or download it here. Matt Capel: On life, love and trampolines.... oh and surfing.
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Last Updated on Thursday, 19 August 2010 14:41 |