Between Land and Sea (2016) - full transcript

Sometimes when it's really windy,
I'd be worried about the roofs coming off.

But I don't mind a bit of weather.

Raquel and Nora might have different
ideas but... I'm alright with it.

I trained as a mining engineer and I
just do short-term contracts.

The rest of the time I'd be doing a
couple of surfboards a week.

The surfboards is something I enjoy and the
mining is something that brings in more money.

I came to Clare because there were
good waves that I wanted to surf.

I remember being really blown away
when I first came here

and thinking, wow, what a place.

When you look down to the sea on a good day and
how amazing it is to have it all here on your doorstep.

I suppose years ago putting myself
in a place where I wanted to be



and everything sort of just stemmed
from that.

Just got to make it work.

I was living in the UK.

We ended up here in Lahinch for a
few days for a surfing trip.

I met Tom that week that we were
here.

I went back to Bristol where I was
living and we kept in touch.

And one thing led to the other and
now we are here!

Daddy!

< Hello!

You're all dirty.

Can I've a kiss?

Hi. Hello.
How's your morning? Good.

What did you do?

I got two more days of surf boards,
being at home and hanging out,



and then I'm going the mine for the
next two weeks full-time.

Yeah.

The holiday is over.

My life has definitely taken a big
change.

It's not that I don't enjoy the old life I
had surfing and getting paid to do it.

She loves looking outside.

That's her thing.

If she's ever cranky, you just go
for a walk with her outside.

You love the fresh air.

Looking back on your younger self how
do you look back on those times?

I used to wake up in the morning.

I'd check the swell for Australia,
Tahiti, Indo... all these places.

Me chasing around the world and
surfing all the waves,

it was kinda, everyone else wanted
to do the same thing.

I was the lucky guy and they were
like, if only I could do that.

I had it all.

I got the money, had a great time.

A jet-set lifestyle and all the good
waves.

Chasing the professional surfing
dream of going around the globe.

I just felt like I travel a lot.

When do you stop.

There should be a quota somewhere.

You know, just weighing it all up.

I basically just asked myself the
big question what can I do.

I grew up on an organic farm and you
know what, I can grow food.

Then it just kind of cut out chasing
after energy drink sponsors

because that just didn't factor in
any more.

I'm not broke yet and I'm looking at
stretching my money out.

It's mad, you've got a family to
feed and all that kind of stuff.

Being with my girls Sunshine and Sal,
this is setting up for the rest of our lives.

We have been using this field since
a year ago.

Very kindly the local landlord let
us use it.

We just got stuck in and grew us the
whole plot with veg last year

and it did really well and now we're
starting again.

Where is it?

It was up there.

We're in my granddad's shed looking
for my first surfboard.

Oh Lord.

There was other beams here and it
was hanging up.

So '91 my uncle met a guy on Lahinch promenade
and he'd just washed up on the rocks in Lahinch,

broken his surfboard.

Your man stuffed it in the bin.

That next summer my uncle had a
board waiting for me.

A "new" surfboard.

Some guy's old surfboard he'd put
back together.

So I used that for maybe... until I
was about 9 or 10.

4 or 5 summers.

Not in a cocky way but people just
know who I am from surfing.

I've created a good media presence
and I want to take advantage of that.

When the waves are good, you try and
get a photographer to come with you.

You get photos in magazines,
websites, you get sponsored.

You need sponsors to push your
profile, to get some money off them,

to live.

The dream is that you get to a point
where they give you a full wage,

to be fully sponsored.

It's pretty stormy out there.

It's the start of a new swell.

It's tough going.

Some good ones though.

It's like having a playground on
your doorstep.

It's like my playground is the
ocean.

Make the most of the end of the
winter.

A couple of months' time I'll be
going mad teaching surf lessons.

Just down to see the size of the
swell.

I love seeing the ocean when it's
this big.

It's crazy.

Just looking at it going I wish we
could get in for a surf somewhere.

But those winds unfortunately are
out of control.

This time of year Lahinch is very
quiet.

From after Christmas up until St
Patrick's Day not much happens.

It's down time for us too in the business so we're a bit more relaxed,

we've a bit more time to go surfing
ourselves and enjoy it.

Myself and John bought a business
three days before the storm arrived.

Just came down and saw the van in the
middle of the car park under 5 foot of water.

The van wasn't insured.
That was a write-off.

It wasn't how I expected to start a
new business in the New Year.

I'm getting flooded and nearly getting washed into the Atlantic Ocean.

During the week this time of the
year it's pretty quiet.

It's just a bit of a run up to the
weekend, you might get people about.

Easter is early this year so looking forward to that now,
the season kicks off.

The bills come in in wintertime as
they do in summertime.

Unfortunately you can't ring the ESB and go, lads,
I'll pay you next July. How's that?

It doesn't work that way.

You need to make enough to sustain
you for the winter period.

I always hoped that I could live somewhere
where the waves were really good

and obviously I've achieved that.

But you get to a point where you can't really
undo all the decisions that you've made.

Your potential to do something
different has drifted away.

I look at a lot of the people that I
used to work alongside.

They have fulfilled their potential
in that field and I never will now.

I suppose you just get that
realisation, don't you,

that maybe just a feeling that
things have slipped by you.

But that's alright.

You've got to stand by your
decisions.

This is really, really deep, deep
country.

When I moved I knew it was going to
be hard.

I didn't know it was going to be
that hard.

It's very lonely.

And you're really isolated.

I have a science background.

When I move here,
I was hopeful that I was going to find something a little bit chemical.

So when that didn't happen, you need
to think outside the box.

I needed to prove that a move here to live,
to make this my life and my home.

I wanted Nora to grow up in a very
safe place and this is very safe.

That's the wave, Aileen's, which is
under the Cliffs of Moher.

I can still see absolutely remember
the wave just wanting to be surfed.

A hair's breadth away you've got
pain and turmoil and fear.

But if you're in the right spot, you
can be right beside that

and it feels as still and as calm
and as right as anything else.

That was about five years ago.

How many of those moments might be
left?

Maybe there will come a point and maybe it is
already past that you're not going to do it again,

which is sad.

One of the scariest waves you could
possibly imagine.

When you paddle out there you're at
the will of the ocean.

You've given up your powers.
It's out of your control.

It's really intimidating when you're
out there.

You're at the base of these cliffs.

When big waves come,
they hit the reef at a high speed from deep water.

You imagine the power that's going
to create.

A couple of hundred feet of water
and it's hitting a 15 foot shelf.

All of a sudden it stands up much
harder than any other wave I've surfed.

It's pretty incredible.

You can't just paddle out there and
go I'm going to take this on.

I'm going to be better than
everybody.

I'm going to get the best wave, I'm
going to ride 5-6 waves in an hour.

It doesn't work like that.

You have to be patient.

You gotta go out there and if it
happens it happens.

I think that Aileen's challenges you
more than any wave in Europe.

Four-times overhead wave, that's a
massive barrel and you've got to try

and take off under the lip of the
wave.

You've got to go really late. It's
crazy. It messes with your head.

That's why it's so challenging and
so addictive.

Being offered the wave of a lifetime and
the best natural amphitheatre in the world.

Everywhere you look there's danger.

If you take off in the wrong spot
and the wave hits you the wrong way,

who's to know what's going to
happen.

Around this area I'd be known as The
Whale. I do an awful lot of swimming.

I used to swim up to the middle of
October.

This year it was so fine, middle of October,
I said I'd keep going until January.

I'll try and keep going now for the
full year.

It's exhilarating.

It sets you up for the day.

I do a charity swim every year from the lifeguard's
box across to Liscannor which is about 2.5 miles.

I suppose if you went back 20 years ago,
I didn't have to get ready for it at all.

It's harder. I'm 60 now.

This will be my 43rd swim with the
help of God.

In my younger days, I'd be first in.

Now I'm just glad to get in.

It's not a race but they make a race
out of it.

I just go on my own speed.

It's a big part of the summer in
Lahinch.

Long may it last.

It's the thing that gives me the
buzz.

We're planting our potatoes
at long last.

Finally the weather has broke.

So spuds are getting in the ground.

I've a family now and I'm mad to
grow veg as a way of life.

I haven't flown for coming on two
years.

Most of my surf companies'
sponsorships are up now

and that's kinda the end of that
game.

Rather than having money in my back
pocket it's about my own health

and my wife and my kid's health.

< Do you know, Matt,
not even that long ago it used to be the other way around?

Like I'd be down there shovelling
away and the English man

would be telling me what to do.

It's nice how times have changed a
bit.

Hey, it's Good Friday.

The pubs are closed but Lahinch Surf
School is open.

Time to surf.

I love these three words. It says
"Jesus Loves Peace".

I love that.

I see that every morning coming to
work.

That's the good news.

Here we go, another day.

Another day, another dollar.

Here's our first customer coming
now. She's getting ready.

She's always down for her surf
lesson.

Morning.

We started 2002.
It's one of the first surf schools in the west coast of Ireland.

There's five surf schools in
Lahinch.

It's a small area to work in.

God saves if you put Him first,
He'll look after everything else,

and that works.

It's miraculous and it's amazing
that it works.

There's three lads and a girl.

They've never surfed before.

Never? Never.

Germans.

< They'll be efficient.

Like the Irish. Stags, half an hour late.
"Didn't know where it was, lads."

Back to the grind. It's always
really nice to have that quiet time

but then you're craving a bit of
energy in the town after a while.

It's time for everyone to make their
bread.

You've never surfed before?
No.

Good. That's the best way to be.

Lots to learn.

It's the first weekend of the year,

so everyone is excited,

and we're excited too.

It's been a long winter, lads, a
long winter.

Lots of people around,

just a bit of a buzz going on,

just feels like the start.

The winter is long and the bank
balance

scrapes the bottom of the barrel.

You know there's always a question
mark,

will it work this year,

has anything changed?

So a weekend like this and you
realise

the sun is going to come out people
are going to come to Lahinch.

If it was like this every weekend,

ah we'd be millionaires.

What's tomorrow actually?

It's picking up for Wednesday,
anyway.

Look at Thursday, 1.7 metres.

We'll have to get the sign up that
says

"gone surfing, closed".

Oh, I see the surf forecast for
Wednesday now,

it looks really nice,

wow!

My 40 year old condition for surfing
big waves

is not there at the moment,

but stages in life, you know.

It's great to just put down the big
wave surf board

for now, for a while.

Over the past 3 years, it's been
hectic.

Kids priority,

church priority,

surfing very much just drops off.

At age 40, yeah,

you lose your sharpness for sure.

It's been such a nice few days,

I haven't even been in Lahinch.

I tend to avoid it when it's a Bank
Holiday weekend

and the sun is out.

You kind of know it's there,

and you know the madness is down
there.

It's so close,

but you can avoid looking for
parking spaces,

and things like that.

Much nicer when it's kind of
windswept and quiet.

Which one, the orange one?

This one.

That one? Yeah.

Okay.

So, watch out.

You carry that.

Come on.

Hey, that needs to come with me.

No come on, put it in the car and
we'll get another one.

In it goes.

There we go!

There.

So, yeah, tomorrow there's going to
be a lot of swell,

and it's going to be really clean
and organised.

It's not that funny.

So yeah, lots of swell,

if it's too big, it's going to be a
bit scary.

This is in my bag of tricks.

Do you want to hold them?

You wear this under your wet suit,

and if you're having a hard time
under water,

it fills with air and you float.

Probably won't need it,

but I'm trying to get to grips with
using it,

because I don't fancy being held...

I've had some nasty experiences,

and I don't want any more.

You can definitely psyche yourself
out for sure,

but, the main thing to remember

is that as soon as you get in the
sea down there

and start paddling,

you're kind of focussed on what
you're doing,

and you forget about it all.

Although, to date I have psyched
myself out,

to the point where I've just walked
away.

See you out there.

People live in this area,

people have moved here just for
Aileens.

People come from all over the world
just to surf there.

When there's a clean ground swell,
it's kind of nice huh?

Yeah, wintertime is great for waves,

but it's actually the spring/autumn
when you've settled weather,

and then if you get a swell,

they're the best conditions.

Shane Dorian's probably the most
progressive big wave surfer

that's ever lived.

He's like the Messi or Ronaldo of
surfing.

He's one of those iconic figures
that everyone respects.

It's still cold for me.

This is balmy.

This isn't even like Ireland.

I can't believe this place though.

It's like you're in a movie here.

It's such a trip!

Aileen's would be the biggest
challenge for me.

I probably won't ever surf a wave
that I find as hard to surf.

If you've caught an amazing wave,

you definitely feel validated,

that you do have something to offer.

Like making a wave like that,

I'd be buzzing for days!

When it's all over, that will be
sad.

When you start deciding that you
can't surf there any more.

I'm under no illusions that I'm
extremely lucky to be here.

Usually when you have all this
anticipation,

you're let down,

and it was overwhelming.

It was even better than I thought.

The wave was incredible.

It's so neat to be able to surf a
session like that

and then have another session to go.

For me, being in Ireland for just a
few days,

I'm pretty excited to see as much as
I can of the country, so,

let's go check it out.

I think it's probably my favourite
wave in the world.

The whole thing, walking down the
cliffs and paddling out there.

It's just incredible.

The energy there is crazy.

I think you need a higher level of
surfing.

I think you'd need to be technically
a lot better

to surf Riley's than you do to surf
Aileen's.

Much more dangerous.

Riley's breaks from knee to
waist-deep water.

That can be pretty crazy.

Taking off on a wave that has enough
power to break you in half.

The risks of Riley's are just crazy
but the reward is pretty amazing.

I'm more worried about the wind.

It's pretty windy, but it looks
nice.

No, it's OK.

I thought it was going to be bad
too,

and the wind is going to drop a lot.

Oh, my God!

That's so much bigger than it looks
as well.

Huh?

It's so much bigger than it looks.

Yeah? Is it good?

That's the whole thing.

Is it going to be good?

Amazing.

Just oh my God!

We've just got to pick the right
waves and

Yeah?

Oh man This is as good as

I think it's as good at that size as
it gets.

It's pretty incredible,

I mean I knew Shane Dorian would
love this spot.

Surfing the middle of my local wave.

And he's respecting you on it,

this is mind-blowing, you know.

That was pretty special.

Just perfect waves and a good crew
of people.

The plan is to go and eat some
really good food

with my girlfriend

and try not to tell her

how crazy the waves were!

Oh it's the perfect temperature,
isn't it, Sunshine?

Hi! Hi!

We've put a lot of work into this
field

and it's in really good condition
now,

but it's their land and I always
knew that.

We had no long-term agreement, they
want to take it back.

You know we're out of the field?

You said something to
me about that, yeah,

what happened there?

Nothing really, just business.

They want it back.

Was that okay with you?

At first it seemed bad,

but actually it's the best thing
ever.

Time to quickly move on.

Focus on where you want to be? Yeah.

Give that your energy

rather than giving your energy to
something that may be

that was temporary anyway

Which was going to go anyway.

It was always going to go at some
stage so, rather than

Now you can give your energy to
something

without having to worry about is it
going to be taken away from me.

Totally.

We're mid-packing.

We'll be living up the hill,
shortly.

We're buying this land up there.

We're starting a place we're going
to have forever.

I kind of had the realisation today,

if we want food next year of our
own,

we've got to get busy.

A whole new patch of land again.

Getting the land taken off us was
quite a sad story because,

what will I do?

I need land to grow food.

We've gone looking to get a piece of
land

and we'll move on to our own garden,

and start something for the long
term.

Yeah, it is a bit frustrating

when lots of people put work into
something

and then it gets stopped.

So capital S Summer.

What are we getting today?

We are getting our Summer Holidays!

There's lovely waves out there
today.

Yeah, and the water's warm.

Ah, you see! You weren't expecting
that, were you?

Cool. Excellent, girls. You look
fabulous.

She said,

""ell Andy I said goodbye""

She's into you, man.

You see, it's amazing what a bit of
sunshine does. Brilliant!

Surfing has become a massive part of
Lahinch,

a massive part of the economy

which wasn't there before when I was
growing up.

If you saw 10 cars down on the
promenade at a weekend,

that would be a lot of cars.

At that stage, even to get a bar of
wax was impossible

in the West of Ireland.

People used the wax from the outside
of cheese

and melted it down to put on their
boards.

It was a real wild scene for me as a
youngster,

looking at it,

to see these guys with their long
hair

and their beautiful tans

and beautiful women hanging on to
them.

You'd see these guys coming in,

big hairy devils and you know

it's great craic I suppose.

It wouldn't have been the norm back
then.

Never having seen surfing before

it was like, ""hat the hell are they
doing?""you know.

People in the locality

were a bit wary of surfers.

When I was growing up

the massive part of the economy was,

the Irish people that came to play
golf.

Now you don't have as much of that
as you used to have.

When I was in school, nobody surfed.

Probably I'd say around 2000 it
started to change,

and then the advent of the surf
schools

which really brought an extra
dimension to the town.

Yeah, it's brought a lot of people,
I think, to live in the place.

There's lots of young people around,
which keeps us all young.

If you go down there today,

you could see maybe 200 people in
the water?

It's really boosted the economy
locally.

They're part of the community.

We've to fit in with them now

rather than them fitting in with us,
you know.

It's fantastic to see any
progression in sport.

It's great to see these Irish lads
surfing to that standard.

I'm lucky enough that,

when I was growing up,

we had a very strong collective
group of talented surfers,

the first real high-level group of
surfers in Ireland.

Now I have the young bucks,

especially young Dylan here sitting
in the back.

He's not too far behind now, if I'm
honest.

Trying to, I suppose take over the
mantle.

Watch this on the inside here, down
here.

Look.

You know, as much as I want Shane
Dorian to come over here

and surf our waves,

I think it would be a lot nicer to
have someone from Lahinch

on the front cover of surf magazines,
making a living travelling the world.

I want the kids from Lahinch to surf
around the world and be like,

'I'm from Lahinch, I'm from County
Clare, I'm from Ireland'.

I want Lahinch to be the place where
everyone goes,

'Wow, the guys from Lahinch they
surf big waves and they charge.'.

We're gonna start from the cliffs

and it's my first time

and it's the most scared I've ever
been in my life.

Nice to get a day where it's nice
size waves

so we can take a wave and go, 'This
is your wave' and make him go.

LAUGHS

CHEERING

Amazing.

Just happy I got pushed to go out
there.

Dreamy, a dream wave.

Off we go.

Wee!

Whoa.

OK.

Now, watch out, because these bits
of stone are going to go flying.

Come on!

That'll do.

LAUGHS

Hard to keep the fitness up.

I think I surfed once in May,

two or three times so far in June.

So yeah, the surf has been pants, is
the technical expression.

I'm sure the world will turn,

and until then it'll be building
walls and building extensions,

so it's good for that sort of stuff.

These are our rough plans to start
with.

Raquel is due now the end of
November.

It seems to be what people do,
actually,

is as soon as there's a child or
another child on the way,

they panic and go for the big nest
building event.

It's just graph paper and pencil
lines at the moment.

Yeah, it's a bit daunting.

Ok, girls, are you ready for action?

I'm going to get you boots

and we're going to do the hot water
into the boots.

This is I don't think they have to
do this in Australia, you know.

Deirdre, how's it going?

Listen, I think we'll have to cancel
tomorrow, OK?

Cos there's a bit of a storm coming
tonight and tomorrow,

the winds are really strong and it's
a massive swell.

This is the 5th time this last month
we've closed, you know,

because of the winds.

It's the same again for next weekend
at the moment like, you know.

It's just, what a disaster.

It's really killing us down here.

Oh, another mammy disappointed

because she can't get rid of the
kids for an hour or two hours.

We need this thing, called the sun.

Anyone seen it?

Please return it to Lahinch.

Are you dancing on the

Happy baby! Happy mum?

You smell nice.
Thank you.

This is agricultural land and we're
not allowed planning permission,

so if we make a portable home, if we
have to move it we can move it.

I'd love to build a lovely warm
house,

but that's a whole different ball
game of money

and planning and all that stuff.

So we're looking forward to the
simplicity.

Excited to give it a go,

more just as an adventure.

Can we climb in?

I've never owned a home.

One month that we've owned this
piece of land.

It's a lovely feeling, because we
can actually look after

and hopefully make tribe

and it's just the beginning and here's to an epic adventure on the land.

Woo! On the land!

This is glorious, isn't it? We
haven't had this you know,

in about a month and a half.

How are you?

We're doing the swim on Sunday for
the Burren Chernobyl Children

across the bay to Liscannor.

You're on for a tenner here.
Thanks a million.

Are you well?
Ah sure keeping the bright side out.

That's The Falls, will we go to the
priest?

I couldn't live outside Lahinch.

I mean I'm mad about the sea.

This year is the first year in the
last 10 years

that I've went in every day.

Aren't ye brave men? So ye're
looking for a few bob?

Anything at all, yeah.

Thanks very, very much.

In 1972 we decided we'd do a swim
for the local hospital.

The first few years, I was a young
fellow,

I was 18 or 19, fifty minutes.

Usually for me now

it's between an hour and twenty and
an hour and a half

and I'd have to do three months
training

to actually be able to do it now.

Oh, Jesus!

I mightn't be able to run a
half-a-mile

but I'd swim a couple of miles for
you.

It doesn't matter.
I have 15 there.

That's perfect, thank you very much.

Thanks a million, Maura.

People kind of look at me and they
say,

'What's he doing?' But I just, I
just love it.

Oh, Chits, 'tis yourself!

How are you?

I'm after making paupers out of the
whole lot of them!

Thanks a million, thanks a million.

I'll see you on Sunday.
Yeah.

If you've got the energy we'll have
a

Oh, we'll be having a jar in
Liscannor.

Thanks a million, Christie.

Thanks. There you are.

We were all at the pitch and putt
there

and he said there's a very bad day
promised Sunday,

so it could be rough.

This will be my first year doing it
at 60 years of age.

Very proud of myself.

Course, I haven't it done yet.

Enjoy guys.

Rip it up.

The instructors get tired as August
rolls through.

It is nice, you've kind of got a
deadline to aim for.

The 1st of September.

It kind of turns into a leisurely
pace.

It's just like everything is

so for family life that's the best
time of the year.

Late summer,

you can feel it.

It'll be a big change here next
Monday in Lahinch.

Once school's back that's it,

the season starts really, really
winding down.

I compare it month to month from
year to year, so I do.

I look at last year's books and take
a look at this year's books,

just for our own records,

so we know in what way we're kind of
up and down, you know.

This year, July was like

we're down about 40 percent on July
this year.

It's not a good situation to be in.

You just go, 'Right, close up shop
for the day, that's it, no income'.

It's a long season. Come March,
April,

the funds are really, really low you
know, so...

You're looking for the special
offers in Aldi then so you are.

You're definitely going for the Aldi
specials.

Ladies and gentlemen,

the 43rd Annual Sponsored Charity
Swim by Pat Conway,

Brian McCarthy and friends from
Lahinch to Liscannor

in aid of the Burren Chernobyl
Project will take place

in approximately 20, 25 minutes.

Are you going into it? Is it rough
enough?

Oh, tis rough enough. Rough enough
for me.

I heard someone when I was going up
there, three fellows,

'One of the fellas doing it, he's
80!'

I said, 'No! Sixty.' I said.

Only sixty.

That's my first grandson, yeah

CHEERING

The sea is my life.

In 1972, I was lifeguard down here.

I started swimming from Lahinch to
Liscannor.

Then I decided I'd go a bit longer

and I'd try from Doolin to the Arran
Islands.

And then I got it into my head I'd
try it over and back.

And then started training to do the
English Channel,

because I had this dream in my head
of landing onto the beach in Calais.

In 1980 I got within
three-and-a-half miles of France.

I decided I'd give it another go.

The second year I was about 700
yards from France,

I could see the beach, I could see
the people

and I was into a little bay like
Lahinch bay.

I just got completely shattered
mentally and physically.

I'd met a wall half way across it,

I'd say this was a full wall and
roof.

I was gone! Just gone.

They tried everything from the boat,
handing me out a brandy,

but I just couldn't.

I gave up and that was the end.

That was, I suppose

that was a big disappointment in my
life, really.

I felt that for a while afterwards.

APPLAUSE

CHEERS

Howiya.

This is the last year this year.

Never say never.

It's something that I'm very
attached to,

and I hope that when I finish doing
it,

my daughters and my son will keep it
going.

I think he's a Conway, Pat.

Huh?
He's a Conway.

Ah, he said he wouldn't chance it
this year. Next year maybe.

It was actually, even though I was
last in,

it was a bit quicker than I
expected.

Pat, I bailed out. Thanks for
letting me do it though.

Did you enjoy it?
Loved it, loved it.

Good man yourself!

Next year, with the help of God.
Definitely.

Good man yourself. Well done.

I said after 40 years I was going to
stop, this is the 43rd.

Bonus years now, yeah, but still, 50
sounds good, doesn't it?

GIGGLES

Dad?

Mm?

What time is it?

Nearly time to go, Nor.

Dad, don't forget my bag.
We won't forget it.

We could do that.

We have to feed the cats as well.

I'm tired.

LAUGHS

That's a great way to start.

No it's better like that

Come on then, Nors.

September is usually pretty much our
best month or two now,

September, October for waves.

So a nice time of the year when it's
all changing.

Feeling good.

Excited, I suppose.

The season's winding down

and October onwards is when the
waves start to kick in.

Stop thinking about doing lessons
and more about our own surfing.

Hopefully at this stage we've made a
nice chunk of cash

to subsidise us for the winter.

I mean, over the entire summer you
could be in the water

every day except for 3 or 4 days.

You get very, very tired from it.

I kind of feel like I should be
doing it myself.

You know, I wanna hold me own school
and make my own life from that,

you know.

I think, late teens, early 20's that
would have never been on my mind.

The only thing that was on my mind
was how far can I push myself,

can I get the sponsors to allow me

to live the lifestyle I want to
live?

And I was able to do that for a few
years,

but you know, you come to a point I
think as a sponsored surfer,

semi professional,

you know, little bit of money,

a little bit of coaching, we get
our lessons,

I think you come to a point where
you realise

that there has to be a long term
plan.

There has to be some kind of
longevity there.

You have to be realistic.

You know, in 10 years time I might
not be as into big wave surfing.

I might have a couple of children or
be off somewhere else in the world.

How long can you really keep surfing
those waves without getting hurt?

How long can you keep the passion
for doing crazy things

if the money isn't there?

You have to go and find a
sustainable way to live, you know.

That's just reality.

I still have aspirations of like
reliving the dream

and getting back out to the cliffs
of Moher and catching that wave so,

lately I've started to dream about
getting back,

getting back to the wave and getting
back to enjoy surfing.

So that's yeah,

definitely after three or four years
bringing up babies,

there's a new season now to kind of
catch a wave again.

OK, here we go.

Boots boots are there.

It's Romans 12 verse 6 and it says,
'Having gifts then let us use them.'

And so that's what God put on my
heart that,

OK, I have the gift of surfing.

If he can use it for some way, I get
back on my surfboard.

It was great to get into surfing at a
young age.

I just loved the motion, the feeling
of it.

That's it, you get your first good
wave and you're hooked for life.

Throughout my teenage years, as I
started to win surf contests,

there was a claim in it for me.

You have an opportunity to be on the
front cover of a magazine,

'Wow, this is who I am.'

I would have been all about surfing,

all about living the dream.

But there's the moments where you're
alone and silent and it's like,

'OK, well, what's life about? Who am
I? Where am I going?'

I need answers for the deepest part
of me.

I was there in Australia aged 30

and I started reading these spiritual
books.

When I read about Jesus I was like,

'Wow, OK, there's something beautiful
about this'.

You could call it a paradigm shift.

Everything changes.

It's a cleaning of the board.

That's when life restarts.

It's a new beginning.

That was the most important day of my
life.

Here we go.

That's one.

There's one there.

I have a lot of old bog deal in the
ground here.

Unfortunately, as much as I'd love
to leave it there,

it's not going to be very easy to
grow a garden

around all these tree stumps so,

we've kind of made a total shit of
the place.

We've a whole lot of repairing to do

and I don't even know the best way
to do that in the end.

The main pressure for me right now
is that it's October and,

hallelujah, the weather's good,

but it's going to break.

He's done half of it.
We've got half to go.

Then we wanna get our
green manure sown and..

There's a list of jobs to do.

This is quite tiring to do.

I seem to get migraines.

It's being rundown and I was
sick there last weekend.

I actually couldn't stand up.

I was like dizzy.

And like delirious.

It was just like a defence
mechanism.

My body telling me to just stop.

So I just lay down.

Cos there's so much just coming in.

Juggling the digger and
trying to get the tunnel up.

Trying to build our yurt.

I do get stressed.

It's hard work this.

This having a baby,
having a family,

trying to live in a yurt.

It is hard work,

trying to make a life for yourself
when you're starting from scratch.

Well it works, it fits.

So now, in terms of the timbers
for up above,

how far out does that come?

Move back.

Either move your hand forward
or move your belly back.

That's it.

Finished!

Finished the top one.

Now do the next line.

Finn is getting

up!

Well done.

Things are going alright.

Busy. We sort of seem
to be slipping

straight into winter again
without a pause for Autumn.

Everything's all go.

And Rachael getting
bigger by the day.

I can see Nora slowly changing.

Dropping her in the morning
in the beginning,

she was kind of hiding
behind me a little bit.

And every day she kinda goes
a step farther.

To see that independence coming
out is quite good.

Seeing her being grown up

and growing up, is amazing.

I have a mental list.

That I keep ticking.

Work and house and Nora

and the baby.

It's a lot. A lot, a lot.

No, I can't.

It's too early.
I need two more months.

I'm not ready for this yet.

I have too much to do.

That whole section has 210 internal.

So that's more like 300.

Nora!

How are you?

Did you have a good day?
Yeah.

What you been up to?

School, school, school.

School stuff.

You're probably just naturally responding to different periods of your life.

I wouldn't want to be chasing
it around now because

I'm in family mode.

And nesting mode.

You need to be surfing within ten
minutes of your house really.

I'm checking the surf because
we're hoping

that the Cliffs of Moher is
gonna break this weekend.

This Saturday.

So it would be great if it
does break.

I think it's been three years
since I've surfed it properly.

I guess I've been in the pool
twice a week so,

I'm relatively fit.

For this surf, I knew the waves
were gonna be big.

If you get scared, you're finished.

I had fear in my heart
so I'm just like going okay.

I am out here to catch waves.

I got a big wipe-out.

That was the first time in years experiencing what the white-water does.

Boof. It hits you.

When I was underneath the water,
okay, stay calm.

One, two, three, four, five.

And you're still going.

I got back out and I got a loan
of a bigger board.

Okay, am I supposed to be here?
Do I want to be here?

I really clearly felt
the Lord say to me, John,

you just need to stay talking
to me.

And so I started slowly.

I just caught a really small wave.

But then I got a pretty big wave
and that went well.

Then it's like here comes
a really big one.

I said Lord, please
bless this wave and

down I go.

When the biggest, best wave of
the day came,

I was talking to God as
I was paddling.

I was like, Lord, will you
bless this wave.

It was one of the best
waves of my life.

Surfing is very much
back in the picture now.

This is who I am.
I'm a surfer.

I like to surf big waves.

So this is just part of my life.

It's a long day in the yurt.

Just non-stop.

Wind and rain.

It's tiring.

Whoa.

It's a bad winter but we
had a terrible summer as well.

Last Saturday, there was enough
rain in one day

than there usually is in a month.

And it had been saturated and
waterlogged before that as well.

And then since that it's
kept raining.

We haven't really had any let-up.

If we don't get a good spring,

it's gonna be really difficult
to do anything.

Trying to alleviate the water
after some heavy rain.

Seeing where water is gathering and trying
to make sure it doesn't sit for too long.

We're in the middle of
a wet field with stones everywhere.

Which ain't making us any money.

Will we see vegetables this
time next year here?

Feels like we're a long way
from it at the moment,

when you're filling holes
with sods of rushes and

there's lakes and stones
everywhere.

But time will tell.

Yeah.

We had lessons booked in
for November. We had to cancel.

Massive storms and winds.

Normally we are open
this time of the year.

But we've been closed for
the last 6 weeks.

It hasn't been the best year,
unfortunately.

It is hard when you're working
for yourself and you have a family.

If things go belly up
in the surf school,

I can always go back to the
carpentry.

I'd rather not.
I like the surfing.

It's what we do, y'know.

You gotta constantly
adapt the business.

Thinking of new ideas.

Advanced lessons,
bringing people forward

with people who have knowledge.

I think there's only the one
fella so far in town

who can say he can do that
and that's Ollie.

Now we have to create a culture
or proper coaching.

Not this grab a board, off I go.

That's terrible like.
That's what happened for years.

I see 'em on the prom
the whole time.

They go, I'm doing this for so long,
I wanna go further.

But how do I?

You can do assessments.

You go out with them and go,
you go surfing, I'll watch you.

Progression is the word.
That's what people want to hear.

They want to hear that
they're going to progress.

I want to be the guy that
everyone goes to... Yeah.

To progress their surfing.

And I wanna do it with you

and become synonymous with
proper coaching.

I think that's the way forward.
It has to be.

Two years from now,

there's gonna be a whole bunch
of little kids.

To have a proper little grom.

And you feel actually in
the water..

There's no point us going
right, we've done our surfing.

Where's the next crew?

Then it goes back to square one.
They're on their own.

I have huge pride in Lahinch.

I want it to be the place
where top surfers are born and bred.

Ireland has this terrible
mediocrity complex.

We can be as good as any other place
in the world.

It should be the same in
every sport.

And it's to instil that
in the next generation of kids.

If you work a little bit at
something,

you can get places like.

Who was meant to be doing
the painting?

You.

And Nora.

We'll get Nora on it in sec.

There's only so many
things you can do, isn't there.

Exactly. There's only 24 hours
in a day.

And I've been witness to most of those 24 hours over the last little while.

We were just sitting down to dinner.

Rachael was like, I think I'm having
contractions.

It took us a record breaking
one hour

to get to Galway,

as the contractions got
more and more painful for Rachael.

What happened with the police?

So we got stopped by the guards.

I'd secretly been hoping
that I was gonna get pulled.

With having the best excuse
in the world

for floggin' it through
the town at 90.

I got to use the immortal lines -

"My wife's in labour!"

He's so sweet.

I think he's easier because we
are loads more relaxed.

We know what we are doing.

Sorts anyway.

< Little man.

Is he asleep?

He's just chillin'.

Everything else has
to carry on regardless.

When we were doing this with
you, Nor,

it was like the whole world stopped.

But now that we're doing
it with Dustin,

we have to keep on
doing everything else.

Yeah.

It's amazing that children
bring something within you

that nothing else does.

I don't know.

It just brings something
out from you

that you really didn't know
it was there.

We haven't had it easy.

We're actually progressing nicely.

I always think weather and things
like this are always just tests

to see if you're gonna...

have you got it in you.

Preparing a bed to plant garlic.

It likes to cold,
it likes the frost.

Yeah, it's a big like...

first of the whole project.

This is it. This is the first
crop of the year.

First seeds.

So it's nice just to be starting.

Kind makes you think that ain't that
long away 'til we'll be harvesting.

Won't be long.

Where are we going to
get the tree?

Over we go!

I want to get a big tree.

That's a bit better.

Let's take it then.

I've been in Clare for long
enough now that

putting down roots is done.

It feels as home as anywhere.

Ta-da!

So it needs a bit of pruning.

It's lovely.

I helped him carry it in.

Thanks for your help, Nor.

This is our main sanctuary
for these Christmas events.

We open up the whole hall.

How you doin'.

Big waves, surfing.

It's very much back on the
cards now.

I feel it's just the start
of something that God is doing.

I don't know what it is yet
but we'll just keep going by faith.

Look at that big, dirty crumble
on the edge of it.

And look a t this thing.
Look how wide this one's going.

Fuck sake.
My God.

Happy Christmas everybody.

Woo-hoo!

We're blessed.
We've got incredible waves.

The place is incredible.

I don't want it to just be left
there.

I want the people of Ireland
and the people of the world

to know that the waves
are amazing here.

And the guys here surf
really good.

RTE 2019