Post brexit is a period of change across the UK and Europe and nowhere more so than in Ireland. The only country to share a land border with the UK, it is uncertain how the physical, commercial and cultural lines will alter between the two countries. What has become clear however in the mire of speculation is the surprising number of ‘Brits’ applying for Irish passports or thinking about relocation to their western neighbour. Post brexit it was reported that Ireland’s embassy in London fielded more than 4,000 passport enquiries compared to the 200 a day it usually receives, an Irish recruitment company had a 300% surge in applications and at a leading estate agent’s website, hits went up to 30,000 on the weekends after the momentous announcement.
As a destination, ‘Brits’ continue to travel to Ireland in increasing numbers year on year, the UK being Ireland’s largest tourism market by numbers and a popular haven for expats. For windsurfers, Ireland’s west coast has long been the drawcard for its exposure to Atlantic winds and a large range of bays and beaches to discover everything from flat water to raging surf. There is however one catch, especially for England’s south coast based sailors, the majority of Ireland’s wavesailing is port tack on the predominant south-westerly airflow. On certain beaches with West to North winds, there are some rare options for starboard tack, (Achill for westerly winds and Dingle / Belmullet for northerly) but in the main it’s right foot forward for wave riding, which suits the majority of those dreamy west coast reefs, also known as the ‘land of the left’. It’s human nature to want what you can’t have of course and so for years I’ve dreamt of scoring some of Ireland’s rare right hand reef breaks that provide solace for the regular / left foot forward surfers. The catch in turning these dreams to reality however is that it requires the ultra rare combination of ground swell and strong easterly winds, with normally around the same odds of happening as Nigel Farage subscribing to the Guardian. Just as in politics though, never say never in windsurfing and so of course when Murphy’s law collided with chaos theory, it came to pass that the forecast I’d dreamed of for longer than it is polite to mention came to fruition at the same time as another dream of mine – to have a child.
GREEN LIGHT
Due dates, as any mum or dad know, show no respect for forecasts, windsurfing or anything else for that matter and rightly so, but fortunately I had one trump card to play. My wife and mum to be, Dr Katie McAnena, was 9 months pregnant but having spent the last 3 months actually delivering babies assured me that I had a pass to go play ‘search a spot’ and in fact she wanted to come along, even though I assured her I had no idea where I would end up, only that it involved a lot of bumpy back roads; perfect she reasoned for inducing her waters to break and returning to windsurfing as soon as possible! Mission on, we headed west with the caveat of no further than one hour from a hospital in search of cross off and as many potholes as possible, which in this part of the world is about as hard as finding an odorous European food you’ve never heard of in Lidl.