Thoughts on St. Patrick's Day

Here is a little Ireland surf vid to celebrate


When I worked at Guinness for the first years we would get a limo and tour the Irish Pubs. It was fun for the first few bars. Then you would realize that after about bar stop number 8 it was no fun. You were stuck for the duration with people who were not pleasant after beer 11.


So one year I just blew the whole thing off. I realized that no one was going to call me that day. I started to tell the bar owners that I saw them on St. Paddy's day and all. No one missed me. Most places were crowded and you knew that you could say I was at Molly Malone's when they were at CB Hannigans....

I was at Four Mile all day. The weather was always nice on St. Patricks day and the waves seemed to cooperate. The next day when my colleagues were in hangover pain I would just smile and say 'ya that was a late one last night'.

This is a good shot of Four Mile north of Santa Cruz

Today I surfed this evening it was fun. There was a trace of warmer water with southerly swells and sun out. I was reminded of those long days up North on the most busy day of the year for Guinness it was really the eye of the storm. There was nothing to do except go to the bars. I chose the road less traveled and did not regret it once.

One year I won a sales contest and went to Ireland for the big day. We thought Ireland St. Pats! Wow it will be like New Orleans during Mardi Gras. We learned quickly that it was actually a somber religious holiday and most of the pubs were closed. It was til recently that we brought over our tradition of drunken revelry when they changed to more of a party.