Coumeenole Surf Forecast and Surf Reports

Rob Davies from NEW ZEALAND writes:

Coumeenole is located at the far Western tip of the Dingle Peninsular, below the scenic Slea Head Drive. There is parking very nearby, and in summer an excellent mobile coffee shop often parks above the beach. The area has become a very popular spot on sunny summer days but for the rest of the year you'd be unlucky to find crowds of surfers in the water.

Coumeenole is a picture perfect beach, one of the finest in Ireland, and the waves are up there too. Facing southwest and very exposed to any swell from that quarter Coumeenole is sheltered from northeast, north, northwest and to some degree, even westerly winds.

It is often surprising how much of a westerly swell gets in here because it looks like it should be mostly blocked by the Blasket Islands. Somehow enough gets through. A Westerly swell of just 1.8 m and 8 seconds is about the minimum that will produce surfable waves here, at about knee to waist high but if the same size swell comes from the SW or if a 3m swell comes from the west, it will be head-high and excellent.

This makes Coumeenole a very good bet on days when west winds accompany a small to moderate west swell - a very common situation in this part of Ireland, especially in Summer. At these times, Coumeenole can be pretty much the only surfable spot in the area because most spots in Dingle are blown out in westerly wind. In a northwest wind, the contrast is even greater - head-high onshore mush at Brandon Bay versus pristine little waves here and clean and flat as a tack at Inch Reef.

Expect to find some of the clearest water in Europe and plenty of harmless marine life. Low to mid tide dishes up very peaky waves that are very easy to get into. As the tide pushes up onto the bank at the back of the bay, the waves tend to get heavier and at high tide the close out is probably best left to spongeboarders who can get little cover-ups.

Although I have never surfed here when the waves are overhead, this must happen frequently outside of summer. I have no idea whether or not the break can handle very big winter swells, which must easily exceed 10 feet here, but I have it on good account that at 6 foot it is just fine.

2010-08-01