“Is there really surf in the British Isles?” is a frequently asked question from overseas visitors confused by meeting the seemingly oxymoronic ‘British surfer’.
Yes, indeed, there are waves, and then some. Take a look at a map of Europe; see the big blue bit called the Atlantic Ocean? Well that happens to be the most violent, storm-tossed stretch of marine real estate in the world. Big storms out at sea equals surf on the coast and it therefore follows that western Europe gets plenty of waves. The warmer climes of France, Spain and Portugal may be more famous for their surf scenes, but it’s the smattering of islands to the north that are hiding some world-class secrets. Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland are all home to high-quality waves that are becoming renowned among the world’s surf cognoscenti, and it’s the latter that interests us here.
Ireland is famous for a few things: warm welcomes for travellers, abundant rain, lush green landscape, Guinness, U2, the tiger economy and, just for good measure, some more rain. At no point does ‘surf destination’ come into play. Surfing, however, is booming in Ireland. It may be cold, it may rain a lot of the time, but the number of local participants is growing as rapidly here as anywhere else in the world. An increasingly popular destination for travelling surfers, Ireland now features regularly in international surf magazines: firstly because modern wetsuit tech- nology has rendered the coldwater factor obsolete, and secondly because the waves in Ireland pump.
One of the most exciting surf discoveries of recent times has been the ‘G-Spot’, a reef break on the west coast. Situated in Donegal Bay, the exact location is a secret, but unlike its namesake it need not be impossible to find. Drive the coast road between the town of Sligo (the hometown of Westlife) and the busy fishing town of Killybegs on a day with a big swell and you’ll see it.
The trio of professional surfers who pioneered this crazy wave were British riders Gabe Davies and Ian Battrick, along with local hero Richie Fitzgerald. Since the turn of the millennium, the three riders have been watching this oceanic equivalent of a train wreck chew its way into the offshore limestone reef, trying to figure out if it was actually surfable. Over the past two years they’ve taken it to the next level and surfed the beast.
Unlike most of the surfer-friendly waves in Ireland, the G-Spot is not suitable for the average surfer: it’s a wave for hellmen, pros and lunatics only. It’s been compared to legendary waves such as the Box in Western Australia and Teahupo’o in Tahiti, sharing with its brethren an awesome amount of power, massive barrelling waves and ridiculously shallow water. This makes surfing there a dangerous, potentially bone-crunching, proposition.
In 2003, Gabe and Richie surfed it with the aid of a jetski. ‘Tow-surfing’, as it’s known, gives an easy entry into the wave as you tow behind the jetski waterski-style until the wave is about to break, and then let go of the rope and surf it normally. With the G-Spot being at the limit of what is actually surfable and being such a remote and dangerous wave, this was a sensible option for the first attempt. The safety factor of having a jetski there meant that, in the event of something going wrong, an effective rescue could take place.
The grainy black-and-white photos of this landmark session were published in Australia, South Africa and all over Europe. The G-Spot had entered the surfing world’s consciousness with a bang. In the winter of 2004, the G-Spot reared its ugly head again, just for a few hours on one beautiful day in December. The surf conditions in Ireland had been surprisingly poor for most of last season, but this one day made up for it.
Brilliant sunshine, big surf and perfect offshore winds conspired to produce some grotesquely beautiful waves, the photos of which you see here. Ian and Richie attempted the first paddle-in surfing of the G-Spot with mixed results. For the G-Spot to break properly, there needs to be a large high tide, otherwise the rocks are not properly covered with water. On this day, the only day the wave broke in the two months we stayed there, the tide was right on the limit. As it was so shallow there was a lot of water moving around, the currents were strong and paddling in was a tough proposition. Ian and Richie caught a few, but also suffered some hideous wipeouts. Shooting photos from the comfortable vantage point of the jetski, I could only watch in admiration, glad of my career choice of surf photo-grapher, rather than professional surfer. There aren’t too many sports where you risk your life for fun.