Irish surfing has always had a special place in the hearts of travelling surfers from these shores, and its history goes back to Kevin Cavey and the 1966 Dublin Boat Show.
About the time the Irish were defending their shore against vikings like Magnus Bareleg and his compatriots, Hawaii’s ancient Polynesian watermen were teasting out their manhood by riding half logs across the Pacific coral (see World Surfing for a comprehensive history of the sport). It was of course many years later that the sport of surfing started its long journey half-way around the world to take advantage of the cool, crisp Irish curls.
Records show that by the late nineteenth century, Hawaiin surfers had travelled to California, but the real exlosion came when Hawaiian surfer Duke Kahanamoku won Olympic gold in swiming in 1912 and 1920 and went on to give exhibitions of surfing in California and Australia in the proceeding years. Over the next twenty five years the sport developed slowly but steadily with competition surfing coming into vogue in the fifties and sixties. In 1964 the first world championships were held in Sydney, and at the same time the International Surfing Federation was formed, the first world governing body of surfing.
This was followed by another momentous event (in terms of Irish surfing at least) – the 1966 Boat Show at the RDS, Dublin. It was at this time that Kevin Cavey, the daddy of all irish surfing, took a stand at the showunder the banner of the Bray Ireland Surf Club. Kevin had read about surfing in Reader’s Digest in 1962, and having tried to ride a skimboard made by a local farmer in Kerry he progressed onto a sophisticated craft constructed of marine ply with insulation stuck to the bottom and on this he became Ireland’s first kneeboarder. This was not a totl success and neither was Plywood mark 2, except for towing behind boats, so Kevin put in an order for a balsa kit board and in the meantime he headed off to the States. While he was there he took a side trip to Hawaii and surfed Sunset Beach, making the mistake of underestimating the size of the waves and getting pounded by 12 foot surf, but only after catching a ‘gasser’. As he dragged himself out of the water, minus his board, he watched the sky fill with American Globemasters taking off from Hickam Field and turning west over the sea for Vietnam.
Lyonnesse Surf 