056: Shambles McGoldrick/Mysterious Currents
“I’ve got a crazy life. Weird things happen to me all the time”.
It was back to Ireland for episode 056, as I visited Strandhill in Sligo for a few days and grabbed legendary local bodyboarder Seamus ‘Shambles’ McGoldrick for a chat while I was at it.
Although he’s too modest to admit it, Shambles first made his name as part of the local crew of surfers and bodyboarders who pioneered the mean array of ugly, evil-looking slabs that the west coast is now famous for.
With peers such as Fergal Smith and Mickey Smith, Shambles explored places like Riley’s and Aileen’s and helped redefine Irish surfing and bodyboarding in the process.
He’s also, as I discovered, a deeply original thinker with a quicksilver mind; somebody who is attuned to life’s mysterious currents and has a completely infectious worldview.
In this atmospheric chat, recorded on an autumnal evening on the shores of the Atlantic, we chatted about Shambles’ life as a bodyboarder in Ireland, and got heavily into the details of the life-changing wipeout he suffered at Riley’s.
Its a lovely, reflective conversation from a true one-off, somebody as happy discussing poetry and Irish folklore as surfing and bodyboarding, and one of the warmest and most generous characters I’ve yet had on the show. I was also lucky enough to get Shambles to play me a couple of tunes at the end of the show, so make sure you keep listening for that.
Big thanks to Owen Tozer for coming with me and taking the amazing pics that accompany the episode. And thanks to Matt Ward as ever for theme tune.
Show Notes
- Three days in Strandhill.
- The tightness of the local community.
- Growing up as part of the local surf community.
- ‘Manhill’
- Swell x Sligo event
- How communities such as Strandhill can balance the needs of the local community with tourism.
- Strandhill’s neolithic history.
- Yeat’s association with Sligo.
- First introduction to bodyboarding.
- Early Strandhill scene.
- Exploring the waves around Sligo and the wider Irish scene.
- How the west coast scene exploded within five years.
- The characters the west coast scene attracts.
- Four days with Jack Johns and Dan Skerowski.
- Setting the scene.
- Influence of Mickey Smith.
- The dangerous enigma of Riley’s.
- A fateful session.
- ‘It was the biggest wave I’d ever paddled at Riley’s.’
- Broken femur – and a near-death experience.
- Ferg and Mickey take charge.
- How an experience like this changes somebody.
- The importance of connections and community.
- Beginning the recovery process on the spot.
- Heli rescue.
- ‘I could feel my leg start to flutter in the breeze’.
- A spiritual experience.
- ‘Instantly I went into healing mode’.
- Learning to surrender to the situation.
- How Shamble’s wetsuit saved the day.
- Two needles, and a sentence you never want to hear.
- Morphine on tap.
- Ben Player ruptures his spleen at Riley’s.
- How Shambles helped Ben get through the experience.
- First time surfing after the injury.
- Early rehab- and the role of diet
- ’51% in’
- Riding Pipe with legends.
- ‘All these little things really helped the recovery and made me a more kinder person’.
- Shane’s trip to Pipeline
- A memorable first post-injury session at Mullaghmore
- The Shambles Pipeline fundraiser
- Pipeline culture shock
- Meeting Tom Morey
- Hawaiian and Polynesian culture.
- The Friends of Tom Morey Campaign
People Mentioned
- Owen Tozer
- Aoife Porter
- Allan Mulrooney
- Barry Mottershead
- WB Yeats.
- Mary and John McDermott.
- Andy Kilfeather
- Shane Meehan
- Ross McDermott
- Fergal Smith
- Mickey Smith
- Leroy Brown
- Thomas Robson
- Pierre Louis Costes
- Tom Gillespie
- Fintan Gillespie
- Peter Conway
- Andrew Cotton
- Tom Greenaway
- Tom Lowe
- Francois Letts
- Benjamin Sanchis
- Eric Reibiere
- Ben Player
- Jamie Mitchell
- Ed Temperley
- Mike Stewart
- Glen Matsunaga
- Paulo Barcellos
- Jeff Hubbard
- Ross Clarke Jones
- Will Skudin
- Sinead McGoldrick
- Tom Morey
- Melinda Morey
Places Mentioned
- Strandhill
- Indo
- Bali
- Aran Islands
- Donegal
- Dublin
- Easkey
- Knocknarea
- Carrowmore Tombs
- Leitrim
- Ben Bulben
- Hawaii
- Rileys
- County Clare
- Bumbaloids
- Aileens
- Mullaghmore
- Newquay
- Pipeline
COMPANIES/BRANDS/ORGANISATIONS/BANDS MENTIONED
- Shore Shots Irish Surf Film Festival
- SIRF
- Bua Marketing
- Carve Magazine
- 360 Magazine
- Stoked Restaurant
- Billabong
- Shell’s Cafe
- Go Strandhill
- Voga Seaweed Baths
- Sligo Surf Experience