Waves of approval for Cliffs of Insanity

Among the books shortlisted at this year’s Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards is Irish Times sports journalist Keith Duggan’s book Cliffs of Insanity: A Winter on Ireland’s Big Waves.
In the book, the award-winning sports writer gives a fascinating insight into the world of surfing in Ireland, and in particular in Clare.
Cliffs of Insanity tells the story of a dedicated group of surfers in Clare whose lives revolve around the pursuit of Ireland’s wildest waves, a way of life that flies in the face of everything championed in Ireland over the last decade.
The awards ceremony for the Irish Book Awards takes place on Thursday night, and Cliffs of Insanity has been shortlisted in the Sports Book of the Year category where it is up against My Olympic Dream by Katie Taylor, My Journey by Jim Stynes, The Bull by John Hayes, Memory Man by Jimmy Magee and The Great and the Good by John Giles.
Surfing in Ireland was once considered little more than a fringe and slightly lunatic pursuit. The treacherous coastline and ice waters of the Atlantic did not sit comfortably with the stereotype of surfing as the favoured pastime of the bronzed and privileged. But with the discovery in the past few years of the gargantuan Aileen’s wave at the Cliffs of Moher and other heavy waves, the Irish coast has become one of the worst kept secrets in world surfing.
In his book Cliffs of Insanity, Irish Times sportswriter Keith Duggan tells the story of a dedicated group of surfers in Clare whose lives revolve around the pursuit of Ireland’s wildest waves.
The book traces the evolution of Fergal Smith, the young Mayo man whose intuition for big waves has earned him a serious reputation and explores the world of Mickey Smith, the roving Cornish man who discovered Aileen’s and whose breathtaking surf photography has caught the Irish landscape in an entirely new and original light.
Bitter cold days, broken bones, busted boards, scars, near drownings and countless hours in the freezing water trying to read the ocean is the price they pay for those few transcendent seconds when they master a wave.
The book is about the importance of pursuing what matters in life but it is also about community and friendship and the passionate pursuit of a way of life that flies in the face of everything championed in Ireland over the last decade.
The winners of the Irish Book Awards will be announced at a Gala Dinner and Awards Ceremony in the RDS this Friday.