Written by Matt Dursum
Morning light creeps over the Dartry Mountains in the distance. The air is a few degrees above freezing and surfers and bodyboarders hurriedly don their neoprene, climb down the sandstone and shale cliff, and jump into the frigid North Atlantic. In Ireland’s northwest coast, the summer tourist season ends abruptly, and the long winter surf season begins. For these wave-riding business owners, this glassy winter day is long overdue.
Bundoran is a small coastal town in County Donegal, Ireland, with a tight community that revolves around the sea. On any given day, oyster farmers harvest briny oysters from the shallows and foragers gather seaweed on the rocks near people taking a dip in the chilly tidepools.
“The area has so much to offer beyond what appears on the surface,” says Noah Lane, co-founder of the cafe Foam Bundoran. Foam focuses on specialty coffee, well-crafted seasonal menus, and a healthy dose of craic — Irish for good times. ”There is a diverse and dynamic community of people doing amazing things and coupled with the rawness of the coastline and surrounding landscape, it really is an incredible place to live.”
Photos by Andrew Kaineder
Friends and surfers Gerald Arbuckle, Adam Cross, and Noah Lane started Foam in 2019. “We wanted to create a space that represented the landscape, people, and lifestyle we enjoy here through food, coffee, and events,” says Lane. The cafe hosts everything from live concerts to screenings of surf films, and the occasional barbecue in between.
When the pandemic hit shortly after opening their business, the team got cracking on new projects to help them bring their dream of blending surf, sustainability, and good local cuisine to life. “We had a lot of free time during Covid and so found a novel way of combining surfing and our waste stream (milk bottles from the cafe) to create the #wastetowaves hand planes with the guys from Others,” says Lane. Others is a local fin and handplane manufacturer that specializes in using recycled materials for its products. “The project was a lot of fun; designing and manufacturing a product from start to finish was really interesting, but mostly for the friendships we formed with the lads Ian and Eoin at Others.”
Photos by Andrew Kaineder
Even outside the pandemic, owning a business in the remote northwest corner of Ireland comes with its inherent challenges. “We rely on a volatile tourism industry that’s at the whim of the Irish weather and it’s no secret that in the last year, the hospitality sector in Ireland has been really struggling,” says Lane. According to the Irish National Tourism Development Authority, in the first half of 2024, around 44% of Irish businesses dependent on tourism reported a decrease in visitors. “But it’s what we choose to do. It supports our lifestyle, and it’s our passion, so we’ll continue finding ways to remain viable and keep the doors open. We’re really grateful to every customer that comes through the door and to still be in business after five years.”
Like many local customers and fellow business owners in Bundoran, Lane and his team continue to live the quintessential surfer’s dream. “Surfing‘s obviously a big part of my life and it dictates the lives of many of my friends in this area,” says Lane.
For such a small geographic area, Bundoran has an abundance of surf breaks. Tullan Strand shapes any west swell into clean, rippable walls. Then there’s the Peak, the town’s famous A-frame slab that breaks on a reef off of Bundoran Beach. To the south of Bundoran, in county Sligo, are hidden reefs and slabs that attract the best big-wave surfers from Ireland and internationally. “It’s a healthy and fulfilling pastime, hobby, sport, art, profession, or whatever you’d like to call it, and I can’t see myself stopping any time soon.”
photo by Nick Fox
Surfing came to Ireland in segments. One pioneer was Joe Roddy, a 14-year-old from Dundalk, on the East Coast of Ireland, who made a long paddle board he saw in a woodwork manual and learned to ride it. Then there was Kevin Cavey, who in 1962, after seeing a picture of Hawaiian surfers in a Reader’s Digest magazine, built a Hawaiian-style wooden longboard. Cavey teamed up with the American surfer Tom Casey and, in 1966, formed the “Bray Island Surf Club” at the 1966 Boat Show in the posh neighborhood of Ballsbridge, Dublin.
After getting a custom fiberglass surfboard delivered to him, Cavey, his brother Casey, and their friend Patrick Kinsella drove west. Along the way, they met Vinnie and Mary Britton, the owners of the Sandhouse Hotel in Rossnowlagh. Mary Britton has already traveled to California and brought two Malibu shortboards back with her, which she rented to local kids, laying the foundations for Rossnowlagh’s small surf talent. Cavey’s surfing safari, from Strandhill to Bundoran to Rossnowlagh, and his invitation to the 1966 World Surfing Championships, started a snowball effect of talent that swept through Ireland’s West, from Kerry and Cork Counties to the northern counties of Mayo, Donegal, and nearby Sligo.
Photos by Wirestock
Sligo County and its history-rich small-town capital, Sligo Town, is just over 56 kilometers (35 miles) south of Bundoran. Its dramatic coastline hosts some of Ireland’s most revered waves, from the giant of Mullaghmore Head, one of the most revered big waves in the world, to the ripable reefs of Easkeys. “Surfing is deeply woven into the fabric of Sligo’s coastal community. With its proximity to world-class waves, it draws both locals and international surfers, fostering a strong connection to nature and the sea,” says brewer James Ward, founder of Lough Gill Brewery.
Ward founded Lough Gill in 2016, as a way to bring craft brewing back to Sligo, a town that once had five breweries and a long brewing legacy. Ward started pouring pints as a teenager and managed bars in the UK before working for a craft beer distributor in the US. He founded White Hag Brewery in his hometown of Ballymote before opening Lough Gill in Sligo. “Sligo was once known for having the second-largest brewery outside of Dublin, and I’m proud to continue that tradition,” Ward says. Lough Gill produces IPAs, stouts, seasonal releases, and a barrel-aged program where the team matures their beers in whiskey, bourbon, and other spirit barrels.
Like Bundoran, Sligo’s economy depends highly on tourism, and for a brewery, it can be especially challenging. “Owning a business in Sligo comes with challenges, especially the seasonal fluctuations due to tourism, which can impact local demand,” says Ward. Even with the seasonal fluctuations in customers, many business owners in West Ireland like James Ward happily adapt. “I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. As a parent of four, I find that Sligo offers everything a big city has, with the added charm of nature and community. If I could change one thing, it would be the weather—but that’s out of my hands!”
Seamus McGoldrick in West Ireland by Mickey Smith
The harsh weather of West Ireland also produces its world-class surf. When the winter swells arrive, produced by the fierce winds of the North Atlantic, surfers and bodyboarders like Seamus McGoldrick suit up and take on the heavy slabs that have put the region on the world’s big-wave stage. “The thing I love most about the waves in the west of Ireland is the quality,” says McGoldrick, who started bodyboarding at Strandhill Beach when he was a child. As a teenager, McGoldrick started entering contests. He joined a crew of highly talented bodyboarders, surfers, and photographers such as Mickey Smith and traveled around the West looking for the ultimate heaving slabs to paddle into. “Surfing perfect slabs with Mickey, pushing your personal limits, sharing waves in a good-natured way with friends was about as far as spin to win as you could get.”
After discovering waves and pushing the limits of Irish bodyboarding, McGoldrick went to university and got a degree in physics, but the Wild West kept calling. “My mind was constantly drawn back to the prospect of more surf discoveries on the West Coast. After a few years in the Irish surf wilderness, just scraping by, I got an opportunity to run a surf school,” he says. McGoldrick founded the Sligo Surf Experience in 2018. He teaches enthusiastic beginners and young locals the basics of the sport and ocean safety. “My work suits my lifestyle. I coach beginner surfing during the summer and during the winter I get to chase the best winter swells when the surf school goes quiet.”
Photo credit @sligosurfexperience
When the big waves of winter arrive, McGoldrick and his peers travel up and down the coast looking for the best waves of the season. In the lineup, visiting pro surfers such as Mick Fanning, Nathan and Ivan Florence, and other big-wave legends descend on the Emerald Island, to enjoy the heavy, hollow waves, and the laid-back and welcoming attitude of the locals. “Pros or traveling surfers are welcomed and treated the same, and I think the lack of pretension is refreshing. We have the same problems as every other surf destination with crowds and that kind of thing. But overall, everyone does their best to show respect, be friendly, and make the most of whatever waves we can find — and not freeze to death,” says McGoldrick.
After surfing, McGoldrick often heads to Strandhill’s Stoked Restaurant. Stoked is run by 10x Irish National bodyboard champion and head chef Shane Meehan. “Shane has always educated me about food,” says McGoldrick. Meehan set up Stoked as a locally sourced, globally inspired tapas restaurant that draws on his experiences surfing and bodyboarding around the world. “I am delighted to see Stoked Restaurant become the top food destination in Sligo. And I have had so many amazing nights and meals in Shane’s restaurant.”
Photo credit @sligosurfexperience
For West Ireland’s surfers, running a business in one of the world’s most wave-rich regions comes with its fair share of rewards. It also comes with challenges. At its core is its community, the sea, and its bounty.