Surfers: How the sport started on the NI’s north coast

When Ian Hill moved to Portrush in 1979, a surfing community was beginning to develop in Northern Ireland.

Due to a lack of surfing equipment, the Hill family set up their shop a pop-up surf shop in the garage of their guesthouse on Mark Street, Portrush in 1984, named Troggs.

The are now a number of surf shops in the area.

Ian’s son Andy grew up surfing the north coast and went on to represent Ireland in seven European and three world championships.

“When my friends and I discovered dad’s surf boards you couldn’t get us out of the water – it was all day, every day,” he said.

“In the early days we were told constantly, what are you doing? There’s no surfing in Ireland but of course we knew better and now 40 years later everybody knows we’ve got world class waves here.”

Andy now runs three surf shops and his son Ethan heads up the surf school and online store.