This article is from page 21 of the 2013-10-15 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 21 JPG
LAHINCH is in mourning today following the sad and sudden passing of one of the great figures in Irish surfing, Tom Buckley.
Tom, who along with his wife Rosemary founded of Ireland’s first surf shop in Lahinch in 1989, passed away over the weekend while on a boating holiday in Greece. Along with establishing Ireland’s first surf shop, Tom was a key member of the Lahinch-based West Coast Surf Club and encouraged thousands of young people to take up the sport over the last 25 years.
Known affectionately as ‘the Bear’ or sometimes ‘Buckaroo’, Tom’s first experience of surfing in Lahinch came as a wind-surfer in 1988 when he accidentally caught a wave.
“It was pure fluke that I happened to get everything right. I just happened to arrive in on the surf in Lahinch, in the right direction and at the right part of the wave. It was a great rush. A really great rush and I was hooked. Simple as that,” he told The Clare People in an article published in 2007.
“The sail wasn’t doing anything, it was just pure wave power that was taking me along. To be honest, it was a long, long time afterwards before I managed to get a surf board to do the same thing.
“People started surfing in Lahinch from around 1970. It would have been mostly Limerick people really and the lifeguards were always into surfing. But as for who was the first, I’m not sure. I personally know of at least three people who are completely convinced that they are the first people ever to surf Lahinch.
“In those days, before there were lessons, we had to teach ourselves. We used to watch a lot of videos – that was about all the lessons that we had. We would see someone in a video doing something new, and we’d try it ourselves the next day and probably end up in the water. It was a tough way to learn. We used to just go out there and pray, try this, try that. It was all trial and error.”
Tom is survived by his wife Rosemary and their grown up children Eileesh and Thomas. His remains will be flown home to Ireland later today (Tuesday), or Wednesday with the funeral expected to take place over the weekend.