Before darkness lifted from the west coast of Ireland early on Saturday morning, four surfers left Mullaghmore harbour in County Sligo on jet-skis bound for the audible monstrous waves shaking the nearby reef. The scene was one of angry waters stretching to a black horizon that blurred into a fierce sky but the atmosphere among the surfers was one of calm anticipation as they left the safety of the harbour to attempt a death-defying challenge. To surf the biggest waves ever caught in British or Irish waters.
The previous evening, radio and television news broadcasts had featured warnings about the severe weather and immense waves predicted by the Met Office. Low pressure systems spiralling in the Atlantic had been monitored by experts who anticipated waves in the region of forty feet, likened by one broadcast to three double-decker buses balanced on top of each other. Reports urged boat owners to be vigilant and directly appealed to surfers to stay away from the water, resisting the temptation to test their capabilities.
However, English professional surfer Gabriel Davies and his Irish tow-surfing partner from Bundoran, County Donegal, Richard Fitzgerald had also been tracking the storm sequence and knew this was one swell they would not be watching from dry land. Davies and Fitzgerald knew they were capable and they relished the chance to prove it.
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