At the end of the Rainbow

I’m drawn to unexplored and dramatic landscapes, this in combination with a solid forecast to kite made Ireland the perfect destination. I have been planning a trip for quite some time but when looking at a storm you have to follow the wind. When the forecast looked promising we had to act quickly. Hannah, Toby and I were in Greece at that time. We booked our tickets only three days in advance and went in search of adventure.

On route to Ireland, the forecast was crazy showing around 61 knots, but every day that passed the forecast was dropping. We landed in Dublin with the peak winds forecast to hit at 6 am the following morning.

We got our hire cars and drove four hours through the night to Achill Island, on the west coast of the country. Checking in to our guesthouse accommodation at almost 3 am we promptly went to bed. After a short night’s sleep we set out for our mission, 6 am were at the beach with our kites pumped, still pitch black and not having seen the spot once during daylight. It immediately was clear to all of us it wouldn’t be 60 + knots, instead, we were greeted with a lot of rain and only about 35 knots before a squall and torrential rain shut the session down around 1 hour later. This is how it plays out sometimes when you’re dealing with mother nature.

Still, the trip was all worth it. A chill Island is quite an unpopulated area, with just a few houses and businesses and plenty of sheep. It’s calm and peaceful. You can escape the big city stress and chaos and the landscapes are breathtaking. Once the disappointment of the mediocre winds during our first big air session wore off we experienced so many special sessions the following days. We kited next to impressively beautiful cliffs and witnessed the craziest rainbow and double rainbow I have ever seen in my life. I feel that getting that one special session is so much more rewarding than going to a common kite spot with guaranteed conditions and kite every single day with perfect wind.