Dad brought me up from an early age competing at swimming (I swam a mile at the age of 4) and springboard diving as well as gymnastics and trampolining, from those early years I had real passion for the water and when we moved to Portrush in 1979 dad taught me how to surf.
As I became more addicted, the frustration of not being able to obtain good surfing wetsuits, boards, wax, etc, Dad started a wee surf shop in the garage of our guesthouse “Drumlee” on Mark Street in Portrush, then when we moved to “The Den” a lovely property overlooking East Strand, we made an even bigger garage shop.
During the 1980’s my competitive nature lead me into surfing competitively and I have represented Ireland on the National Team for almost 15 years.
I still maintain the record for most consecutive Irish National tiles in the Open, 6 running back to back undefeated from 1989 to 1994.
I represented Ireland in 3 world championships and 7 European Championships and I am eternally grateful to the Irish Surfing Association for that very special time in my life.