Goat Surf Club in Ireland - The Untold Stories

In the creation of the Goat Surf Club in Ireland video series we had to leave some things out. When me and two of my best friends went on a trip to Ireland in May, 2022 we interviewed some pretty amazing environmentalists and surfed some pretty incredible waves. During that trip, we collected over 20 hours of video footage so, with so many memories, it’s inevitable that some things don’t make the 40 minutes worth of video content at the end. 

What happened when the cameras weren’t rolling

On our final night we were still searching for surf but in the downtime between sets we practiced our handstands.

In this article, I want to dive into the Goat Surf Club trip to Ireland to share the untold stories. I want you to see us for who we are beyond what you see on screen. At this point, if you’ve seen all eight episodes of the Goat Surf Club series, four from Morocco and four from Ireland, I hope that you get a pretty good sense of who we are.

However, as with most surf trips and downtime with friends, not everything we say or do makes it into the final video. That’s what this article is for - the behind the scenes of the Goat Surf Club in Ireland.

Getting a Root Canal the Day I Flew to Ireland

Roo in the middle of getting a root canal 3 hours before flying to Ireland.

It was the beginning of May and the snow had mostly melted in Boulder, Colorado. I had just returned from a video shoot in Utah a couple days prior and unpacked my bag from the desert only to re-pack it for the rainy coast of Ireland right away. I woke up on Saturday with an uncharacteristic amount of tooth pain, despite brushing and flossing twice a day. I scheduled a last minute dentist appointment and discovered, after a thorough examination of my gums, that I needed a root canal as soon as possible - major bummer.

After talking to the chillest dentist of all-time, he agreed to come in early before my flight the next day and get it done. I wanted to have the root canal after my trip but I immediately headed to Nashville the day after returning from Ireland so postponing the procedure was, unfortunately, not an option.

As you see in the video, my tooth was in excruciating pain. But, I went ahead with the root canal because I figured it was better to recover with a camera in my hand sitting in a van in Ireland than at home. Even if I couldn’t surf, I still wanted to be there to hang with Ben and Thomas. However, less than 24 hours after my root canal, I was on a longboard surfing in Lahinch so the recovery wasn’t too bad after all. I mean, my tooth did later fall out while eating at a BBQ place in Nashville after two weeks of surfing in the cold but it all worked out for this trip at least.

Roo surfing in Lahinch less than 24hrs after his root canal procedure.

Our Terrible Travel Luck

Getting to Ireland for all three of us was surprisingly difficult. After our terrible luck of getting trapped in Morocco, we mistakenly assumed that the travel would be easy since there was no global pandemic or major travel restrictions at the time. However, because of a bad storm in Houston and a disproportionate amount of traffic in Wales, we all ended up traveling nearly 12 hours longer than expected. The Goat Surf Club’s travel adventures so far have been so incredibly unlucky. 

Loading up the van with groceries on our way westward

I met Ben and Thomas at the hotel, we picked up the van and began heading west. We were really excited about working with Hometree, the tree planting charity from episode two, on Saturday because they had a volunteer day with the community. We rushed quickly over to the town of Lahinch from Dublin but failed to arrive in time for the local event because of our delayed flight and missed ferry. We had a good chat with Mitch, Hometree’s Co-Founder, but we were definitely pretty bummed to miss connecting with the community to get our hands dirty alongside them. Things ended up working out because there was a tree blessing ceremony the following day where we could interact with the community. However, other than sowing seeds in their greenhouse, we didn’t get a chance to plant any trees ourselves unfortunately.

We Want to Make a Difference

Backing up footage in the van on the way to our next surf destination

A huge part of this experience for us is about making a positive impact in the places we go. It’s not enough for us to simply visit these amazing surf destinations and just ride waves, we want to make a difference. Since we’re not from these locations and don’t want to go in with our own agendas we rely on connecting with local people to tell us how to make the most impact. For example, if we went into Ireland with a ton of donations to give to a local school but the biggest need is actually in providing food for the homeless we would have missed the mark.

As a result, we really try to connect with local people and not just make a video about something irrelevant. We also hope to participate briefly with them and their change making process. We believe there’s a lot of value in sharing people’s stories and broadcasting their positive efforts to a larger audience but we also believe that we need to take part, even just a little bit, to better understand the missions of the nonprofits and passionate individuals we work with. Plus, with a scientist, conservationist and as lifelong students of the environmental movement we selfishly enjoy getting a deeper look into how this work is done.

Stay where there’s surf or adventure into the unknown?

After a few days of hanging around with Hometree we hit the road and began adventuring into smaller towns to more remote areas along the coast. Ireland is an amazing surf destination but it’s important for the wind and swells to align for the best surf. We happened to plan our trip during an especially windy and volatile week. Unfortunately, we don’t have the luxury to do a “strike mission” to wherever the waves are best since it takes a lot of logistics to get three dudes who live in three different countries to meet up somewhere. Also, we have to plan around our local collaborators a bit and not every nonprofit is conveniently available when there is a good swell coming to their coast. So, all that to say, we had to search around a bit for the best waves.

Ben preparing dinner with Thomas outside putting away the surf boards on our first night in the van.

I remember some conversations with Thomas and Ben about staying in Lahinch versus adventuring to more remote but unpredictable zones. I had visited Lahinch in the past, on a trip with my mom when we hitchhiked around Ireland in 2015, and scored some great surf there so I was definitely a bit biased towards Lahinch, a reliably good surf spot. Thomas pushed back on my advocacy towards sticking around Lahinch because he and Ben had recently completed a trip to Scotland together where they had explored beautiful remote beaches and had totally scored sick waves in the process. Since we had a van and I was obviously down for an adventure, I gave in and we ventured up the coast.

Overlooking a very flat and non-surfable section of the Irish coastline

Looking for surf… and failing

Looking at the swell charts and gusts of winds up to 40 miles an hour I didn’t have high hopes. I figured we could always return to the old reliable Lahinch wave if all else failed. That first night, we didn’t get any waves. There wasn’t a satisfactory, “I told you so” moment, because ultimately I wanted to surf sick waves and film Ben and Thomas shredding too. We definitely felt a little defeated. The next day, our luck didn’t improve. We visited four or five different beaches over the course of the morning and still, nothing. 

I don’t want to sugarcoat it, this process isn’t glamorous. 

Although we were all enjoying each other‘s company, this is a really defeating experience. We studied swell direction, looked at Google Earth and truly believed that every beach we visited was going to have something.

When we got out of the van hoping to surf in a few minutes, our dreams were often shattered when we discovered no rideable waves. The negative emotions would settle in as we realized that we had another few hours before we could potentially surf.

This wasn’t a sightseeing tour. It was a surf mission and we kept failing. But, as you can see in the video, eventually we found waves… and it was glorious!

Watching a Local Rider Get Barreled

Thomas analyzing the breaking waves

When we arrived at the first wave that we were going to surf, for sake of privacy let’s call it “Wave A”, we peeked out the window and saw a local rider getting barreled.

Getting barreled is one of the most special things that could happen in surfing. 

The barrel, or the tube, is the section of the wave that is so hollow that you can conveniently fit a human on a surfboard inside of it. Even if you’re the best surfer in the world, unless the wave itself provides a barrel, you won’t get barreled. Thomas, who is an incredible surfer, has never been barreled because he’s never had the opportunity to surf a wave that has formed a tube for him to fit in. Well, maybe once or twice but it’s still a highly technical skill that requires great conditions and perfectly executed surfing to make it happen.

When we saw this local rider inside the barrel, we freaked out.

Was this the opportunity Thomas finally had to get pitted? By the time we got our wetsuits on and paddled out, Thomas couldn’t quite get in a barrel but he was definitely close. Hopefully we can make it happen on our next trip.

Thomas paddling out to shred at “Wave A”

Searching for surf… and succeeding

After a couple of successful surf sessions at “Wave A”, we decided to continue along on our adventure and head to a different zone. The winds had shifted and the swell direction was no longer favoring “Wave A” so we searched for another break. Thankfully, we didn’t have to wait too long because just a few hours later we arrived at our second wave. We were driving along a deserted area of the coastline when Ben looked out the window and said, “What about here?!” - Boom. Wave B.

This location wasn’t near any town, wasn’t a surf spot at all and there was nobody in sight. It was perfect. Well, the wave wasn’t perfect but the spirit of adventure was. And, surfing alone with your two best buddies in suboptimal surf is still my favorite type of surfing. I took out the drone and Thomas and Ben went to the beach.

I filmed them surfing for about 30 minutes and discovered that every minute they were in there, the somewhat decent wave had turned into this amazing left-hander as time went on. I put the cameras away and decided to have an undocumented surf with the guys in amazing conditions, all to ourselves. Now it was perfect.

What Surfing With the Goat Surf Club Means to Me

Thomas and Ben have always been my best surf pals.

I never had a solid crew of surf friends until I met these guys. All of my best surfing memories, except for the one time I got barreled surfing alone in Costa Rica, have been with these two. We surfed together at least three times a week for two years and grew our foundational skills as a group. 

Being out in the water with these two feels like coming home.

We’re laughing, splashing, hooting, and hollering the whole time.

Although my surf fitness is typically lower than Ben and Thomas because I live in Boulder Colorado, where there isn’t much surfing to be had, I feel like we get right back into the rhythm of things. Ben and I paddle behind Thomas as he quickly positions himself perfectly in the lineup. Thomas and Ben go for high-fives while Ben weaves back and forth on his newly shaped fish board with the G.S.C. initials painted on.

“This is paradise - beautiful, kelpy paradise” - from Episode 3 of our video series

In high school, we even developed our own form of sign language to communicate in the water when it became so windy that we couldn’t talk. The sign language had expressions for “dude, I nearly got barreled”, “I have so much salt water in my eyes” and “it’s so shallow”. That way we could always stay connected out there, even if we couldn’t talk. We turn into a bunch of kids again and for that, I’m so grateful. As we grow up and our responsibilities change, it’s really sweet to be able to get together and have that childlike wonder with these two again.

Exhausted but STOKED

When we got out of the water from “Wave B”, we were wiped. This scene is in the third episode when Ben and Thomas are clearly exhausted and laying down in the dark. Although we were all physically maxed out, we had such full hearts. There were other waves that we surfed on this trip, not quite as notable as “Wave A” or “Wave B” but all the waves and sessions were special in their own right. We got to surf with a local sixth grade girl who shredded harder than we did because her dad, also surfing with us, was the surf school owner in their local town.

We surfed with some French dudes who were also far superior in their abilities than us so we got to marvel at their sick airs and beautiful cutbacks. Of course, you can catch the most beautiful moments of the surf trip in the video series but some of them live solely in our minds, and now in this article too. When we were leaving, we were super sad to go but definitely felt honored for the experiences we had - talking with Hometree, the Old Irish Goat Society, and surfing some amazing waves in the stunning remote areas in Ireland.

What We Learned

Looking forward to the next trip, we did learn some things that worked and other aspects of these trips that we hope to implement. As the Goat Surf Club, we really want our personalities to show in the videos we can make. Although we will continue to highlight amazing people in the places we visit, we want to maintain our own style and identity in that. We can each offer something unique to the table, Ben as a scientist, Thomas as a conservationist, and myself as a storyteller, so we want to begin to play more to our strengths.

We also want to give ourselves more time in the location we’re visiting because trying to fit everything we did into nine days sometimes felt very stressful and overwhelming. For example, I didn’t get as much underwater footage as I would’ve liked because we were too busy with other stuff. So, all this to say, we left with a notebook full of questions and a camera full of memories.

Next up… Senegal

Connect with the Goat Surf Club

These projects can’t be done just the three of us. We love building community around what we’re doing so please reach out.

If you have a story idea for us, a product you’d like us to feature, a wave for us to surf or just want to say hey, hit us up :)