Stab Magazine | How to hunt big Euro tunnels

Live Now — Episode 3 Of Surf100 Challenge Series Presented By Pacifico

60 Views

How to hunt big Euro tunnels

Words by Morgan Williamson  Nic Von Rupp’s My Road series is one that we certainly dig. The newest installment will be dropping tomorrow on this here site, it’s in your best interest to watch this space. We caught up with Mr Von Rupp to snag a taste of what went into putting together episode four of his web based films. It’s not too often we get gifted with surf edits that are upwards of two-five minutes long and it’s always nice when we do. It give us time to stop furiously searching through the constant upload of surf porn and sit back and enjoy. “We’ve been working on this for a while now, we just wanted to make something a little bit different,” Nic tells me. “It’s hard to piece together a 16 minute edit, you really need to get some good footage. Fortunately this last winter was insane, we had such a good run of swell in Ireland, Portugal and the Canaries.” Nic and co start out in Ireland for one of Mullaghmore’s inaugural paddle sessions. It’s a treat, that wave’s a cold, shifty, special beast. It takes a certain committed surfer to brave the emerald isle’s premiere big wave spot. “That’s one of the craziest waves I’ve ever seen,” say Nic. “We’re still waiting for the right conditions to come together. On the right day it’d be up there with the best waves in the world. A 20 foot day with light winds would be insane, unfortunately the winds don’t cooperate all that often in Ireland, but the swell’s consistently there. The guys that poineered that wave fucking charge. Tom Lowe stays stationed there, he’s in the film. The man’s proper mental.” “I had a few sessions with Tom last year out there, it was 20 foot and clean as a whistle,” says Nic on Mullaghmore. “It was just me and Tom out there, and most the time it’s only Tom surfing it. Who wants to surf 20 foot waves with big barrels by themselves? It’s pretty fucking scary, it’s shallow and if you hit the reef shit can go down out there.” We’re chatting on the possibility of Mullaghmore become over run by crowds after all the media attention over the past few years. “We had a session there a few days ago and there were seven guys out, which is pretty crowded for the spot. The thing is to surf it, you got to really want it. I think crowd is good at spots like that, it makes people push themselves. I would love if Mark Healey or Shane Dorian would go surf there. I think they could teach us some lessons on how to go deeper. It’d be good to share some waves with guys like that there.” The fourth installment of My Road was shot exclusively in Europe, showcasing some of the best slabs and mind bending pits the coast has to offer. “This year all the spots we shot came together,” Nic tells us. “Europe can easily be the best surf trip of your life or the worst. The clip’s pretty much each wave at it’s best. It took a long time for it all to align, you never really know what to expect. I just recently started surfing bigger barrels, it’s like a drug you get addicted and just want to go bigger. For me it’s all about how square the barrel is not the height of the wave.” João Macedo’s an integral part of Portugal’s surf scene is also featured in the film. “I grew up close to the beach in a big bodyboarding community,” Nic says. “I was starting to become a bodyboarder, then João took the bodyboard from my hand and gave me a surfboard, he said ride this now. He was my mentor who brought me into surfing. My parents didn’t want to let me surf, they thought it was too dangerous and surfing didn’t have the best image in Portugal 15 years ago. So João came over for dinner one night basically told them to let me surf. If it wasn’t for him I’d still be laying down.” “I get a lot of inspiration from bodyboarders,” Nic continues. “They’re the first ones riding heavy slabs all over the world. They have more of a go for it attitude and it pays off for them. They were owning waves far before any surfers set foot on them. They’ve 100 percent molded my barrel chasing mentality, that’s who I grew up with and they always pushed me to my limits with surfing. I would try and sit where they were and pull into the same pits as them, just standing up. Ireland has a big bodyboarding community too. Tom Lowe and Fergal Smith grew up hanging out with mostly bodyboarders so they’re some of the few guys that are able to surf the slabs that bodyboarders own over there. I think bodyboarding’s sick, the waves they get into, they’re not standing up but they’re still getting pounded. They’re a lot gnarlier than us.” “I’m still doing the QS,” says Nic on his plans for the year. “I did all the primes last year but really I just like being in the water. I think you have to be able to do it all. In Europe we have an amazing coastline with big waves and barrels. That’s what I love; chasing some big pits.” Cold, windy, emerald and hollow just the way Nic likes it.

news // Mar 8, 2016
Words by stab
Reading Time: 4 minutes

Words by Morgan Williamson 

Nic Von Rupp’s My Road series is one that we certainly dig. The newest installment will be dropping tomorrow on this here site, it’s in your best interest to watch this space. We caught up with Mr Von Rupp to snag a taste of what went into putting together episode four of his web based films. It’s not too often we get gifted with surf edits that are upwards of two-five minutes long and it’s always nice when we do. It give us time to stop furiously searching through the constant upload of surf porn and sit back and enjoy. “We’ve been working on this for a while now, we just wanted to make something a little bit different,” Nic tells me. “It’s hard to piece together a 16 minute edit, you really need to get some good footage. Fortunately this last winter was insane, we had such a good run of swell in Ireland, Portugal and the Canaries.”

Nic and co start out in Ireland for one of Mullaghmore’s inaugural paddle sessions. It’s a treat, that wave’s a cold, shifty, special beast. It takes a certain committed surfer to brave the emerald isle’s premiere big wave spot. “That’s one of the craziest waves I’ve ever seen,” say Nic. “We’re still waiting for the right conditions to come together. On the right day it’d be up there with the best waves in the world. A 20 foot day with light winds would be insane, unfortunately the winds don’t cooperate all that often in Ireland, but the swell’s consistently there. The guys that poineered that wave fucking charge. Tom Lowe stays stationed there, he’s in the film. The man’s proper mental.”

“I had a few sessions with Tom last year out there, it was 20 foot and clean as a whistle,” says Nic on Mullaghmore. “It was just me and Tom out there, and most the time it’s only Tom surfing it. Who wants to surf 20 foot waves with big barrels by themselves? It’s pretty fucking scary, it’s shallow and if you hit the reef shit can go down out there.” We’re chatting on the possibility of Mullaghmore become over run by crowds after all the media attention over the past few years. “We had a session there a few days ago and there were seven guys out, which is pretty crowded for the spot. The thing is to surf it, you got to really want it. I think crowd is good at spots like that, it makes people push themselves. I would love if Mark Healey or Shane Dorian would go surf there. I think they could teach us some lessons on how to go deeper. It’d be good to share some waves with guys like that there.”

The fourth installment of My Road was shot exclusively in Europe, showcasing some of the best slabs and mind bending pits the coast has to offer. “This year all the spots we shot came together,” Nic tells us. “Europe can easily be the best surf trip of your life or the worst. The clip’s pretty much each wave at it’s best. It took a long time for it all to align, you never really know what to expect. I just recently started surfing bigger barrels, it’s like a drug you get addicted and just want to go bigger. For me it’s all about how square the barrel is not the height of the wave.”

João Macedo’s an integral part of Portugal’s surf scene is also featured in the film. “I grew up close to the beach in a big bodyboarding community,” Nic says. “I was starting to become a bodyboarder, then João took the bodyboard from my hand and gave me a surfboard, he said ride this now. He was my mentor who brought me into surfing. My parents didn’t want to let me surf, they thought it was too dangerous and surfing didn’t have the best image in Portugal 15 years ago. So João came over for dinner one night basically told them to let me surf. If it wasn’t for him I’d still be laying down.”

“I get a lot of inspiration from bodyboarders,” Nic continues. “They’re the first ones riding heavy slabs all over the world. They have more of a go for it attitude and it pays off for them. They were owning waves far before any surfers set foot on them. They’ve 100 percent molded my barrel chasing mentality, that’s who I grew up with and they always pushed me to my limits with surfing. I would try and sit where they were and pull into the same pits as them, just standing up. Ireland has a big bodyboarding community too. Tom Lowe and Fergal Smith grew up hanging out with mostly bodyboarders so they’re some of the few guys that are able to surf the slabs that bodyboarders own over there. I think bodyboarding’s sick, the waves they get into, they’re not standing up but they’re still getting pounded. They’re a lot gnarlier than us.”

“I’m still doing the QS,” says Nic on his plans for the year. “I did all the primes last year but really I just like being in the water. I think you have to be able to do it all. In Europe we have an amazing coastline with big waves and barrels. That’s what I love; chasing some big pits.”

Mall body

Cold, windy, emerald and hollow just the way Nic likes it.

Comments

Comments are a Stab Premium feature. Gotta join to talk shop.

Already a member? Sign In

Want to join? Sign Up

Advertisement

Most Recent

“My Feet Are Completely Fucked. I Didn’t Expect Them To Get This Infected And Mouldy.”

A mid-world record check-in with Blakey Johnston.

Jul 17, 2025

Why The Surf Industry’s Kingmakers Are Betting On Florence

Pat O’Connell and Evan Slater on why ex-Volcom, Billabong and Hurley CEOs are backing it.

Jul 16, 2025

Mixed Symmetry — The Surfboards Of Milk & Honey 

As told by Stephanie Gilmore, Caity Simmers, Coco Ho, and Frankie Harrer

Jul 16, 2025

Cloud 9 Becomes First Surf Break To Outlaw Beginner Surf Lessons

Time to make it a universal ruling at sketchy reef breaks? A local photographer explains.

Jul 15, 2025

10 Shapers To Watch In The Next 10 Years — Part Two

A few more foam craftsmen worth keeping on your radar.

Jul 14, 2025

Watch: Rip Curl Mobilises Its Teenage Army In ‘Dunno’

A 30-minute surf film by Vaughan Blakey and Nick Pollet.

Jul 14, 2025

There’s A New Number One Surfer In The World

And it feels so right.

Jul 13, 2025

Controversial Opinion: No One Needs To Yoga In Boardshorts

8 Trunks for the traditionalist.

Jul 13, 2025

Stab Edit Of The Year: Sam Piter Stars in ‘Rogue DNA’.

French blood, thick water.

Jul 13, 2025

Matty McG Skydives Into CT Heat, But Jordy’s Still The Main Event

A full day of heats at J-Bay, and only one shark warning.

Jul 12, 2025

Correction: J-Bay All Foreplay, No Climax

Slim pickings on Day 1 of the Corona Cero Open J-Bay 2025.

Jul 11, 2025

What Do Hollywood, Surf Lessons, Michael Jackson And Traction Pads Have In Common?

A Stab Interview with Teva Dexter, the man behind surfing's hardest new hardware brand —…

Jul 10, 2025

Surf100 Challenge Series Presented By Pacifico: Episode 3

"The tribe has spoken," Dane Reynolds pronounced, and a surfer's torch was snuffed.

Jul 10, 2025

How Josh Ku Nearly Died Trying To Cross From Ulus to G Land by Hydrofoil

“If someone finds me dead at least they can find my phone and know what…

Jul 10, 2025

Expect No Kiss, All Climax At The “World’s Most Perfect Pointbreak”

A Corona Cero Open J-Bay 2025 preview.

Jul 9, 2025

SEOTY: Liam O’Brien stars in ‘Friction of Perception’

"Hopefully I don’t come across like too much of a peanut."

Jul 8, 2025

10 Shapers To Watch In The Next 10 Years — Part One

“It’s like a drug empire, man. Cut the head off the snakes, and more will…

Jul 7, 2025

Mason Ho Joins Ritual Vision, Releases Remix Of Greatest Hits

Dion Agius riffs on the eyewear brand’s U.S. expansion, Ritualistic Tendencies, and the new stars…

Jul 7, 2025
Advertisement