'SEA FEVER'....an Irish Odessey
Produced and Directed by Ken O'Sullivan

***1/2

A DVD running for little over an hour brings the awesome power and majesty of the monster waves at 'Aileens' into full focus!
To start with, there are several bits of old footage (and one or two still shots), detailing the history of surfing in Ireland with interesting anecdotes by Easkey Britton and Ian Johnson together with a few others, but no film about Ireland would of course be complete without an interview with surf pioneer Kevin Cavey.

There is also an interesting section with English big wave riders Dan 'Mole' Joel and Sam Lamiroy, describing their initial shock at seeing 'Aileens' for the first time and how they tackled it. It is a fairly forboding place with huge cliffs rising up out of the thrashing waves to around 700 feet, and is even compared to Mavericks in California, where jet ski's are also employed to tow-in the surfers.
The backing music is fairly muted which makes a refreshing change and is provide by Simon O'Reilly, The Stunning and Gilded Lily in particular. This reviewer, having been to Ireland, thought that the essence and culture of the place was perfectly captured, although a little bit more care could have been taken with the editing. This however is a minor criticism.

It is noticable, the enthusiasm with which some of the long-time surfers interviewed still describe catching a wave and is very infectious!
Recommended viewing!
Murphy