Fergal Smith and Mundaka

Fergal Smith and Mundaka - Fergal talks about Mundaka

 

 

First surfed Mundaka?

October 2010. It wasn’t that great, solid but wobbly and with all the locals out there dominating. I actually struggled to catch a wave.

 

How many surfs out there?

1

 

Do you have a memorable Mundaka wave/moment?

Well having only had one surf out there I don’t have that many memorable moments. But I’ve grown up seeing the waves out there and it’s always been a dream of mine to surf Mundaka

 

What was your initial reaction when you found you’d been invited?

Well I was shocked to be honest. After my one and only surf out there where I didn’t get many waves I actually swore I’d never surf it again. Then I received the invite and said well obviously I have to go back on my word. And when I saw the list, with some of the most respected surfers in the world I couldn’t understand how I scored a start. So yeah surprised, but really stoked Billabong asked me to compete

 

What are you looking forward to the most?

Well obviously to surf perfect Mundaka with just a few other surfers is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. To have one of the best waves in the world surfed in this format is pretty cool. It seems the perfect way to see what’s possible out there. 

 

Who would you pick as favourite to win the event?

From the list I presume everyone’s entirely capable of surfing solid Mundaka exceptionally well. It might just come down to luck, getting the right wave and each surfer’s competitive instinct. And there’s no reason why one of the locals couldn’t take out the event. To me it seems pretty open

 

Do you need any special boards or preparation for the Challenge?

Not really, hopefully I’ll have had a few tubes leading up to the event. I’m finding my quad fins seem to go really well in long tubes, so I’ll probably take a quiver of those to the event and take it from there. 

 

What’s a dream scenario for your Mundaka Challenge?

I’m just really stoked, and surprised, to be a part of the first Mundaka Challenge. It’s a great wave and an amazing part of the world. I’ll just turn up, do my best and see what happens.