Surfer Rescued From Rocks on Clare Coast

12th January 2026

Afloat.ie Team

File image of an Irish Coast Guard rescue helicopter and winchman

A surfer was airlifted to hospital on Sunday (11 January) after getting into difficulty off the Clare coast — the latest of several such incidents in the area in recent months.

According to RTÉ News, the casualty was spotted lying on rocks in apparent distress by a member of the public who raised the alarm with emergency services and other surfers in the area.

It’s understood that the casualty, who sustained an injury while in the water, was one of many surfers who were drawn to the area to surf the so-called Riley’s Wave.

The surfer was retrieved by the crew of the Irish Coast Guard’s helicopter Rescue 115 in what was described as a “challenging” operation and flown to University Hospital Galway for treatment.

RTÉ News has more on the story HERE.

Published in Surfing

Tagged under

About The Author

Afloat.ie Team

Email The Author

Afloat.ie is Ireland's dedicated marine journalism team.

Have you got a story for our reporters? Email us here.

We've got a favour to ask

More people are reading Afloat.ie than ever thanks to the power of the internet but we're in stormy seas because advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news sites, we haven't put up a paywall because we want to keep our marine journalism open.

Afloat.ie is Ireland's only full-time marine journalism team and it takes time, money and hard work to produce our content.

So you can see why we need to ask for your help.

If everyone chipped in, we can enhance our coverage and our future would be more secure. You can help us through a small donation. Thank you.