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Amazing footage
First thing I'll say, Wow it's amazing the surfing footage we were able to film during the advert. We waited for so long to get this Big Swell and it was awesome that it came along in summer time, as I'm not a huge fan of surfing huge waves when the water is absolutely freezing. It just makes it twice as dangerous. So doing it in summer time was a breeze. Some of the surf shots are just stuff I never thought I'd have. Ah, twil be great stuff to show the grandchildren!! The Advert was all filmed at the Cliffs of Moher and the Aran Islands. No there was no digitally enhancing.. Loads of people have been asking me that.. 

'When I started surfing'.. 
It's funny when I did start surfing in Tramore aged 10, I couldn't swim. While my mates were doing Rescue 4, Lifeguard exams I was doing Swim1, basically a learn to swim class. I probably didn't learn to do an over arm swim stroke until I was in my early twenties.. That's why I find it so funny that I end up being a big wave surfer.. It doesn't make a lot of sense!!

'Drama working with TV Crews'.. 
Man working with a Tv Crew really is drama. There is so many people with ideas about what should be done. It was a lot of fun, but a bit chaotic at the same time. Of course when the waves are perfect the surfers just want to get out there and do their thing, but we had to do certain shots and walk past the camera in certain ways. It was really funny some of it. They were such pro's. The final part of the interview process for me (I didn't know the advert was for a bank at the time) was the question, 'What bank are you with'. Just as well me mother sent me into AIB when I was a kid. That would have been a let down to have to tell them I've been with Ulster bank all my life..

'Fergal Smith Surfing'
They used Fergal Smith who is the 2009 Irish Surf Champion as a stunt double for the advert. In the video above, 'the making of the ad' you can see some shots of fergal surfing, he's the goofy footer. He's an amazing surfer. Here's a link to an interview with Ferg. http://www.orcasurf.co.uk/carve/past-articles/carve-fergal.htm

'We've done this before' - Scary..
I really was scared about what I had signed up to. The waiting period to film the advert started in November 08. The filmers basically wanted the Biggest Swell they could find to make it as dramatic as possible. I wasn't feeling too good about surfing these giant waves in mid winter. Having surfed the waves so many times in the past year, I'd be a lot more confident about it but at the time we were still getting to know the wave so it was not really something I was looking forward to.

Kids surfing in the Advert..
The kids had a great day out filming the lahinch beach part of the advert. They all got paid to go surfing for the day and filmed by a professional movie crew. I can't imagine the claims that were going on in the school the next day.. All the kids are legends, they are all hard-core local lahinch surfers..

Mickey Smith
The guy Mickey who filmed the advert is the photographer that first told me about the wave in '06 so it was awesome that he got to make the advert. This guy swims around with a camera in 80 foot sea's. Pretty crazy stuff. He has a website of his photos, they are of the highest quality surf photo's in the world. http://www.mickeysmith.co.uk/

If you have a good question, just mail us and we'll post it and the answer..
Enjoy Irelands Great Waves.

More on Surfing at the Cliffs of Moher, 'Ailleens'.   
Here's the original video footage by Gavin Gallagher from a few years back.