Surfer Smacks Face in Massive Ireland Waves (Watch)

Originally posted on SURFER | By Dashel Pierson | Last updated Feb 20, 2024 3:02 PM ET

With its wild, rural, and raw setting, Mullaghmore is a spectacular surfing destination.

Oh yeah, not to mention, it’s one of the heaviest waves in Ireland…if not the world. Some of the thickest, craziest, mind-numbingly massive tubes have gone down at the reeling lefthander. But not everyone comes away clean; some surfers get an Irish souvenir.

For example, big-wave surfer and Hawaii native Torrey Meister, who took a strike mission to Mullaghmore recently with Portugal’s Nic Von Rupp. And Meister came away with a keepsake from his time in Ireland – “a nice little kiss.”

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A post shared by Nic von Rupp (@nicvonrupp)

It was a tough session for Meister. Afterwards, assessing the damage, NVR and Meister broke it down:

“All I did out there was eat crap the whole time,” Meister said. “My second wave, I got super flexed. Just like buried the nose into the boil. Then my third wave…I thought it was the perfect wave. I went, and I was like, ‘oh my goodness, this is a good one.’ Then, right as I started dropping in, my nose was poking straight into the boil. I went down so fast. I hit my face on the reef. Not hard, but a little scrape. A nice little kiss.”

Just another day in the office for Meister. But NVR was concerned for his friend, asking:

“You alright? You’re not concussed or anything?”

Meister replied:

“I don’t know. I was kinda seeing stars. I pulled my [inflation] vest, because that scared me a little bit. My ears started going and I couldn’t clear ‘em. That was heavy out there. I haven’t been here in, like, five years. I was really excited for this swell. Was hoping it was gonna go a little better than that. Mully won; she commands respect. It’s not that bad; just a little kiss.”

Check out the full session below: