The club was formed in August 1970 by a very small group of dedicated surfers: Michael Murphy, Sam McCrum, Brian Cusack,Hugh Milne, Des Deeney, John Wright, Philip Cullen, Gordon Milne, Wally Fogerty. The club received tremendous encouragement from Michael Vaughan, Chairman of the Lahinch Development Assocation and very quickly a club house, changing room and board store was constructed adjacent to the Swimming pool and leisure centre on the prom at Lahinch. Membership grew to 70 in the first 2 years which encouraged the club to arrange local WCSC competitions in Doughmore, Lahinch, Spanish Point which were hugely supported by surfers from the other clubs in the 32 Counties and by many foreign Surfers from USA, Australia, England & Wales.
The organisationals skills of the club were very quickly recognised by the Irish Surfing association and, in its first year (Sept 1970) the club arranged the 4th Irish National and International Championships in Lahinch. The club grew from strength to strength and the Irish Junior/ Novice Championship became a permanent feature in Lahinch. WCSC members, Sam McCrum, Wally Fogarty, Brian Cusack proudly represented their club and Country as members of the Irish Surfing team in the European Championships. Sam McCrum represented Ireland 3 years in succession, Jersey 1970, Biarritz 1971 and Lahinch 1972.
By now, Lahinch and WCSC had proved time after time its value as a good surfing competition venue which culminated in the Irish Surfing Association decision to hold the European Championships in Lahinch in Sept 1972. The bulk of the local organisation for the competition fell to Brian Cusack, Michael Murphy, Sam McCrum, Hugh Milne and a host of other WCSC members. The event was a "wash out" with 6 inch waves all weekend BUT the 50 European surfers who stayed for the week long surfari, from Lahinch to Rossnowlagh under the management of Sam McCrum, were treated to the best waves & surfing conditions ever seen with Easky operating to perfection at 15 ft with a strong offshore "high on pure beauty". The Europeans in Lahinch were the springboard for the club to flourish . Many new members developed into word class surfers and most weekends were spent touring the surf spots in Cork, Kerry, Clare, Donegal and Sligo.
Archive article and images from westcoastsurfclub.com
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