An Irish Surf Odyssey

So salty that Easkey was named after her parents’ favorite surf break off the West Coast of Ireland.  The name derives from the Irish word for fish (iasc), making it particularly apt for a surfing champion.

Within a few years, Kevin Cavey and the Britton brothers were competing in European surfing competitions.  This brought Ireland to the attention of the international surfing community and in 1972, it was chosen as the host country for the European Surfing Championship. Unfortunately, the surf was disappointing on the day of the championship.  The waves were small.  The swells were calm.  There was no challenge.  It wasn’t until the day after that surfers got the opportunity to experience the thrills of surfing Irish style.

“It was epic,” says Mike Wingfield, a member of the English Surf Squad of the time.  “It was overhead, glassy and perfect.  Nobody could get out of the water.”

That year could be seen as a turning point in Irish surfing.  Ireland was now a feature on the international surfing map.  However, the number of surfers remained low – a mere two to three thousand people – until the boom of recent years.

Ian Johnson has surfed every day for decades.  Until five or six years ago, he was usually alone on the ocean.  “Now, I can’t even get parking close to the

The Irish Surfing Association claims that at least 70,000 people have surfed in Ireland once or more.  It’s this jump that prompted Ken O’Sullivan to make his documentary.

It’s also what pushed the most enthusiastic surfers to conquer Aileen’s.  Traditional surfing spots were becoming crowded.  They had to discover new frontiers.

John McCarthy, another Irish surfing champion, was the first to surf Aileen’s, along with Dave Blunt.  They were part of a group that developed a new technique whereby a jet ski pulls the surfer who is on a specially adapted board.  The speed of the jet ski allows the surfer to get ahead of the swell.  He then lets go of the tow rope and slides across the wave.

Saul Harvey, a local surfer, initially thought Aileen’s surfers were mad.  “You look at the huge cliffs and the powerful wave and you think they haven’t a hope,” he says.

He has since been won over and even surfed the wave himself.  He describes it as like “standing in an elevator when all of a sudden, the floor drops from underneath you.”

Aileen’s wave is but one example of the many challenges Ireland has to offer surfers.  As John McCarthy, the first to surf Aileen’s, says, “the best thing about traveling is coming back to Ireland with the skills to surf better waves and realizing that the waves in Ireland are some of the best in the world”.

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Nster.com