Surf’s up: How a Waterford surf school makes a living from the sea
Back when Linda and Paul Tuohy opened their surf school in a cottage near the beach in Tramore in 1997, they sometimes had to explain to callers what surfing actually was.
“People would call up and say, ‘is that the thing with the big sail?’” Paul Tuohy recalled with a laugh.
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“We’d sing the Hawaii Five-0 theme tune down the phone to them.”
The popularity of the board sport, and awareness of it, has boomed in the intervening years.
There are now over 60 surf schools in Ireland, but when the Tuohys started surf schools weren’t the business they are today.
There has been Irish surfing in various guises dating back to the 1960s, when Kevin Cavey founded Bray Ireland Surf Club and started building his own wooden surf boards after seeing a photo of Hawaiian surfers in a copy of Reader’s Digest.
Tramore, with its long beach break, was a natural draw for Ireland’s niche community of surfers from the early days of the sport, holding the very first Irish National Surfing Championships in 1967, the same year that South Coast Surf Club, now T-Bay Surf Club, was founded in the Co Waterford resort town.
But the idea of dedicated surfing schools, as opposed to surf clubs, had not really been developed in Ireland by the 1990s.
Although there were places renting boards or offering surfing as part of other watersports activities, Linda and Paul’s school, Oceanics, was the first such dedicated surf school in the country.
Paul and Jai Tuohy at Oceanics Surf School which was converted from a cottage. Picture: Dan Linehan
Paul and Jai Tuohy at Oceanics Surf School which was converted from a cottage. Picture: Dan Linehan
Oceanics was founded by Linda, who had worked in the ill-fated Celtworld tourist attraction and had gone back to education to do a business course when it went under in 1995.
Both keen surfers themselves, and both having grown up in Tramore, Paul and Linda were impressed by the more advanced surfing culture, and the proliferation of surf schools they had encountered on a road trip that they had gone on in a souped-up van some years earlier.
“Both of us had surfed for years and we went off on this trip when we were between jobs, literally in a panelled van decked out inside, parking up on the side of the road, for nearly six months,” Paul said.
“It was great, and we saw the growth of surfing abroad. The idea was born over a bottle of wine, as you do. Linda’s original idea was to open a fantasy and sci-fi bookshop in Waterford city, but eventually she went for the surf school. We had seen thriving surf schools in France and Spain and England, and there weren’t any in Ireland at the time.”
Paul was managing tourist accommodation. The couple had bought a cottage some 200 metres from the surf in Riverstown, but were renting it and living in the accommodation that came as part of Paul’s job. They decided to convert their cottage into a surf school.
“We had 10 boards, 20 wetsuits, and a shed out the back,” Paul said. “From there, it grew. We attached other offerings like beach discovery hikes and rockpool experiences, and then we started into school tours.”
Jai and Paul Tuohy. Paul says Tramore has ‘a perfect beginner’s wave’. Picture: Dan Linehan
Jai and Paul Tuohy. Paul says Tramore has ‘a perfect beginner’s wave’. Picture: Dan Linehan
Almost 30 years on, Oceanics has expanded its title to Oceanics Surf School and Marine Education Centre. In conjunction with the Marine Institute (MaREI), they do schools outreach programmes in marine education in the winter months. Each year, Paul estimates that between 3,500 and 4,000 children and young people attend their surf camps, school tours and lessons.
It’s arguable that up until the past decade, when Tramore started becoming a satellite town for families working in Waterford city, almost everyone in the coastal town made their living either directly or indirectly from the sea; even the fact that Paul grew up in the town was due to tourism in the coastal resort.
His father had been a manager at Butlin’s in Mosney, and moved to Tramore to work for Tramore Fáilte. Paul took up surfing when he did a lifeguarding course at 17.
“I was never a team sports player. I always had two left feet and would be last being chosen for a team,” he said.
“With surfing, there was nobody shouting at you, it was a totally independent sport. As I always say to people here, the best surfer out there is always the one with the biggest smile on their face. You don’t have to be a shredder and a ripper; it’s a fun and all-inclusive kind of thing.”
Surfing has a reputation as the most chilled out of sports, but running a surf school isn’t all hanging out in flip flops and board shorts working on your tan, by any means.
There is equipment to maintain, insurance to cover, and an increasing number of competitors in the market — with Ireland so small, Paul says the presence of popular surf schools all along the west coast of Ireland impacts on where tourists choose to spend their adventure holidays.
Paul and Jai Tuohy in Tramore, Co Waterford. ‘The idea was born over a bottle of wine, as you do.’ Picture: Dan Linehan
Paul and Jai Tuohy in Tramore, Co Waterford. ‘The idea was born over a bottle of wine, as you do.’ Picture: Dan Linehan
“Don’t get me started on the Wild Atlantic Way,” he said. “I never understood why it started in Kinsale and went to Donegal. I was like, hello, we’re on the Atlantic here too!”
But wave conditions vary hugely at different surfing spots and Tramore’s beach break is, Paul says, “a perfect beginner’s wave”.
Another challenge for surf schools in the South East this year is a shortage of qualified instructors. And with water safety a huge consideration for surf schools, qualifications are a vital pre-requisite, Paul explains.
“To be an Irish Surfing Association (ISA) approved school, all your instructors must be qualified. You have to do your own surf coaching, and then a beach lifeguard qualification. Then there’s child protection and garda vetting. All that has to be done before you even step through the door of a surf school,” he said.
Paul and Jai Tuohy of Oceanics Surf School in Tramore, Co Waterford. Picture: Dan Linehan
Paul and Jai Tuohy of Oceanics Surf School in Tramore, Co Waterford. Picture: Dan Linehan
With a maximum of eight students to one instructor, Oceanics would usually have five instructors working in the summer months. There are three other surf schools in Tramore, one in nearby Bunmahon on the Copper Coast and one in Ardmore.
“The local education and training board generally run an instructors’ course each year, but this year they didn’t have the uptake for it. We would generally have a new batch of instructors available by now, so at this stage, everyone is scratching for instructors.”
Catching the sun on the promenade at Tramore, Co Waterford. Picture: Dan Linehan
Catching the sun on the promenade at Tramore, Co Waterford. Picture: Dan Linehan
The Irish weather is a huge factor for Oceanics. Temperature has the biggest impact, Paul explains — while the summer months mean more people willing to take the plunge, the most surfable waves don’t necessarily come with balmy summer days. So Oceanics try to run as long a season as possible, only stopping when cold becomes a factor.
“We started camps in early March this year,” he said. “Even though it was very wet, it wasn’t that cold. We will run until mid-November with the surfing end of it. It gets to a situation where it just becomes too cold: when no-one’s enjoying it, there´s not much point. Last year we ran until the December 10 so we nearly had a full year.”
Their partnership with the Marine Institute, running marine education outreach programmes in schools, gives the business welcome off-season work.
“We go into schools and put in saltwater aquariums for projects on marine life like squid, turtles and sharks, and we mostly do that in winter. That works really well because it keeps us tipping away for the winter, when most other schools shut down,” he said.
Internationally, surfers have a reputation as passionate custodians of marine environments.
Over the past 30 years, the UK-based Surfers Against Sewage has become a marine conservation charity to be reckoned with, advocating for better water quality, campaigning against plastic waste, and raising awareness about marine environments.
Jai Tuohy of Oceanics Surf School in Tramore, Co Waterford. Picture: Dan Linehan
Jai Tuohy of Oceanics Surf School in Tramore, Co Waterford. Picture: Dan Linehan
To Paul, who is also a longstanding volunteer with the RNLI in Tramore, this makes perfect sense — surfers are in the water, love their time in the sea, and are on the front line when it comes to noticing environmental threats.
Bucking the trend somewhat when it comes to fears for water quality in Ireland, Paul says sewage conditions on Tramore’s 5km beach have actually improved since Oceanics was founded in the 90s.
“The pipeline on the beach opposite the old toilet block was an overflow pipe, and there was another pipe that was pumping stuff out: there was no treatment, it was literally just churned up into a mush and pumped out,” he said.
“Everything would be fine until a day like today with a south-easterly wind, and everything would come back in. You could literally just be standing in untreated sewage. There were occasions where we actually just pulled our groups out.”
Working in schools, Oceanics now find a much higher level of marine awareness amongst children, a cause for optimism for the future. The boom in sea swimming that came with covid lockdowns has also meant that more people are tuned in to issues like ocean plastics, Paul feels.
“There’s a background increase in ocean knowledge all the time,” he said.
Paul and Jai Tuohy of Oceanics Surf School in Tramore, Co Waterford. Picture: Dan Linehan
Paul and Jai Tuohy of Oceanics Surf School in Tramore, Co Waterford. Picture: Dan Linehan
“Now, you’ll see 20 or 30 people down there swimming in February. A lot more people are getting in the water and there’s a lot more respect and awareness of the dangers of the water, and what can go wrong.
“There´s a lot more awareness of the environment as well. We notice in schools that kids are way more tuned in. 10 years ago, kids wouldn’t have even known where the Pacific Ocean was, let alone that there is a giant garbage patch floating in it.”
When it comes to the future of surfing in Tramore, Paul is not without concerns.
Since 2018, energy companies have proposed 14 separate offshore wind farm projects off the Waterford coast. Three overlapping offshore exploration licences for 10kms off the coast of Tramore have been applied for by the ESB, Energia and RWE Renewables Ireland.
Local campaign group Blue Horizon are calling for the Irish government to ensure all offshore wind farms are on floating platforms over 22kms from the shoreline, which would add to construction costs for energy companies, but Blue Horizon argue it will protect wildlife migratory routes, coastal livelihoods, and the visual amenity of the shoreline.
Jai Tuohy of Oceanics Surf School in Tramore, Co Waterford. Picture: Dan Linehan
Jai Tuohy of Oceanics Surf School in Tramore, Co Waterford. Picture: Dan Linehan
Surfing is a livelihood that depends on the quality of waves. Paul says this is a rarely considered factor in the discussion around the need to transition to renewable energy.
“We have submitted a question about the wind farms. Firstly, what will they do to marine life and secondly, what will they do to the swell? If those things are going to be anchored to the sea bed, will they create silting? In 20 years’ time, are we going to have a flat bay with no waves coming through at all?
“Planners in Dublin will look at the bottom line, and at our green credentials in Europe, but not necessarily at local interests. I would be very wary as a result. I’d want to be very, very convinced that there were not going to be impacts before making a decision to support those plans.”
These days, Linda has stepped back from the surf school to focus on her work in alternative therapies, but the business has blossomed into a family affair, with both the couple’s children, Jai and Raya, working seasonally at Oceanics.
“I came into the business after Linda,” Paul said. “For Jai, this is what he seems to want to do. Raya is only 22 and is just finishing college, so she might want to do some travelling. But it is a totally family business.
“And it’s a pretty good quality of life. You come in in the morning, have a coffee, then the kids arrive and you go out on the water, have fun with the kids, come back; if you like the outdoors, it’s great because you’re in and out of the water all day.”
With the days getting longer and a whole summer season of learners struggling to master the art of catching waves and avoiding wipeouts, Paul says there’s one thing to be looked forward to the most: fun.
“Our ethos is about fun, rather than training kids to be surfers of a certain level. It’s all about having the craic, big smiles, and learning to love and respect the sea by spending time in it.”
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