0:00:02 > 0:00:07This is the coast of Connemara in the west of Ireland.
0:00:07 > 0:00:11I'm here to study the huge sea creatures that swim in these waters.
0:00:11 > 0:00:14It's a phenomenal encounter, it really is.
0:00:18 > 0:00:19That was moderately close.
0:00:19 > 0:00:23And this glorious coastline is my office.
0:00:23 > 0:00:25Oh, my god, look at that! Ridiculously beautiful.
0:00:25 > 0:00:30Summer's arrived, with age-old traditions carrying on as strong as ever.
0:00:30 > 0:00:35The regattas, the festivals, the culture. This is the good life.
0:00:35 > 0:00:38And it's great fun, did I mention it was great fun? Whoo hoo hoo.
0:00:38 > 0:00:41Fantastic.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47This week, sharks arrive off the coast.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50Well, that is the largest fish I've ever caught.
0:00:52 > 0:00:56The famous Connemara ponies are put through their paces.
0:00:56 > 0:01:00One of the horses came round the corner here and just ran straight into the sea.
0:01:00 > 0:01:05And an emergency call-out to investigate reports that a dolphin's been attacking people.
0:01:05 > 0:01:09When she wants to turn it on, by jingo she can turn it on.
0:01:20 > 0:01:25As you can tell, it's midsummer on the west coast of Ireland.
0:01:25 > 0:01:30I'm just heading out to go for a day's fishing with John Brittain,
0:01:30 > 0:01:37and John's a...a local fisherman who catches and tags blue sharks.
0:01:37 > 0:01:44Now, in all my career of travelling round and diving in exotic places and diving with all sorts of sharks,
0:01:44 > 0:01:51I've never seen a blue shark and it's one of the most beautiful of all the sharks, and the tagging
0:01:51 > 0:01:57programme that John's involved in is a very, very successful programme indeed, so it should be a nice day.
0:01:57 > 0:02:02Apparently the weather is due to get worse over the course of today and we have to head offshore
0:02:02 > 0:02:07to try and find the animals, so it should be quite an interesting day all round, I think.
0:02:08 > 0:02:14Most people associate sharks with blue skies and bluer seas, but Ireland and the UK are part
0:02:14 > 0:02:19of a massive migration route that brings blue sharks across from the Caribbean
0:02:19 > 0:02:23before heading down the western seaboard of Europe and Africa.
0:02:23 > 0:02:26John's home port of Cleggan is the first place they reach
0:02:26 > 0:02:29after a 3,000 mile trip across the Atlantic.
0:02:35 > 0:02:39John's helped me out several times already and he's become a mate.
0:02:39 > 0:02:41Hello, John.
0:02:41 > 0:02:43- Hiya, Monty.- How are you?
0:02:43 > 0:02:46- Not too bad.- Good, good.
0:02:46 > 0:02:50There's a man happy in his work, mashing up mackerel.
0:02:52 > 0:02:56'John's deckhand is his son Pete, his job is
0:02:56 > 0:03:01'to prepare the rubby dubby, a potent hash of fish that's irresistible to sharks.'
0:03:01 > 0:03:06There's... There's a lot of ideas about how you make that stuff,
0:03:06 > 0:03:08I just think you need lots of smashed-up mackerel.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11- I agree, and a son. - And a son, yeah right.
0:03:11 > 0:03:15He's very very important, the two of them are crucial.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23John's been tagging blue sharks for 20 years.
0:03:23 > 0:03:28His favourite spot is about five miles offshore, and the rolling seas
0:03:28 > 0:03:32combined with the smell of pulped mackerel is taking its toll.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35The tags are a vital research tool for scientists trying to
0:03:35 > 0:03:39monitor shark populations and where they travel.
0:03:39 > 0:03:45Well, we're offshore now, we're about, come out about half an hour or so and this is my
0:03:45 > 0:03:49first experience of being offshore in Connemara, we've pushed out into the Atlantic basically.
0:03:49 > 0:03:54I'm trying very hard not to be seasick, and all around
0:03:54 > 0:03:59us it looks completely baron but of course it's not because you've got currents moving under the sea,
0:03:59 > 0:04:04and you've got all manner of animals out here that when you start putting stuff in the water, fish in
0:04:04 > 0:04:09the water, they'll pick up the smell of it and things like blue sharks have gotta be real opportunists,
0:04:09 > 0:04:14so if there's a hint of food, if there's just a feint ding of a...
0:04:14 > 0:04:19of a dinner gong in the distance, they've got to go and investigate it and that's how John brings 'em in.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28Now, Pete's just putting the rubby dubby over the side and it's
0:04:28 > 0:04:35a mesh bag that's full of mashed-up fish and already you can see the oil spreading out on the water.
0:04:35 > 0:04:40Anything that crosses that trail or goes anywhere near it is going to try and follow it to its source,
0:04:40 > 0:04:44which is us, and already we've had a couple of common dolphins around the boat, which is a great sight,
0:04:44 > 0:04:47so now we wait.
0:04:53 > 0:04:58Blue sharks are the most widely distributed animal in the world, with sightings off
0:04:58 > 0:05:04every continent except Antarctica, but they're also the most heavily fished of all the sharks.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07Up to 20 million are killed each year,
0:05:07 > 0:05:11either accidentally, as so-called by-catch, or for their fins.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15Whoa, look at that, nicely hooked.
0:05:22 > 0:05:27Do you see that very vivid blue colour? Hence the name blue shark,
0:05:27 > 0:05:31and those wide pectoral fins, this is designed for cruising in open water.
0:05:34 > 0:05:36Do you want to put the tag in, Monty?
0:05:36 > 0:05:37- Yes, that'd be great.- OK.
0:05:37 > 0:05:39OK, so just there.
0:05:39 > 0:05:41Put it in to there, that's it, yeah.
0:05:41 > 0:05:48- OK, there we go.- There it is. - Fantastic. OK, fantastic.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51- And what's the number? - Ah, the number is 42113
0:05:51 > 0:05:55- OK, remember that.- 42113. - Ready to go back, and well done.
0:05:55 > 0:05:58Beautiful, beautiful, let's get her back in.
0:05:58 > 0:06:00- Do you want to take it?- Yes, lovely.
0:06:00 > 0:06:02- Mind the business end. - Yeah, I certainly will.- All right.
0:06:02 > 0:06:06Wow, a solid great slab of muscle.
0:06:06 > 0:06:09All right, well good luck to you, and off we go.
0:06:16 > 0:06:21'That one was a tiddler, but they can grow to 12 feet long.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24'They tend to move in packs, hence their nickname,
0:06:24 > 0:06:29'the "wolves of the sea", so where there's one there should be more.'
0:06:29 > 0:06:32- Ah, terrific.- Stop winding.
0:06:32 > 0:06:35OK, got it.
0:06:35 > 0:06:36Whoa-ho!
0:06:45 > 0:06:48- Ah.- 'This is more like it.'
0:06:50 > 0:06:55Well done, guys. 'It's great to see an animal that's grown to maturity because so many die young.'
0:06:57 > 0:07:02Well, you can see here, by the way, I'll keep my hands away from the head, but that's the nicitating
0:07:02 > 0:07:05membrane, it closes over the eye, and the nose here, it's the
0:07:05 > 0:07:10ampullae of Lorenzini that picked up the electricity, electric currents that everything gives out,
0:07:10 > 0:07:15and the nostrils there, these are the senses this animal would have used to home in on the chum trail.
0:07:20 > 0:07:22There's a bucket of water there, Peter,
0:07:22 > 0:07:26I'm going to pour a bit of water onto him, don't let him get too dry.
0:07:26 > 0:07:28If you could hand me the pliers there.
0:07:28 > 0:07:32OK, the next stage is getting the tag in.
0:07:32 > 0:07:34OK, so coming in... About there?
0:07:34 > 0:07:37Yeah, that'll do.
0:07:39 > 0:07:41- And there you go.- Excellent.
0:07:41 > 0:07:43We need to get this animal back in the water quickly.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46What a beautiful sight, beautiful sight.
0:07:46 > 0:07:48- Yeah, OK let's get her in. - All right.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51And off she goes, good girl.
0:07:51 > 0:07:54Well, that is the largest fish I've ever caught.
0:07:54 > 0:07:57Yeah, it's a good... That was a lovely fish, it was close to 100 pounds weight that fish,
0:07:57 > 0:08:01we'll never know what weight for sure, but it was a big one.
0:08:01 > 0:08:05Wonderful, that was a great experience, what a beautiful, beautiful animal.
0:08:07 > 0:08:12John's tags have been recovered by scientists monitoring fish stocks as far away as the Cape Verde islands,
0:08:12 > 0:08:162,700 miles south.
0:08:16 > 0:08:24Each tag adds to our knowledge of sharks, and may eventually lead to international protection measures.
0:08:24 > 0:08:28We're gonna head back now, but a great day, you know,
0:08:28 > 0:08:31it's obviously lovely to come out and have a great day's fishing
0:08:31 > 0:08:35and catch the biggest fish I've ever caught in my life, but I think the significant thing here
0:08:35 > 0:08:39is the tagging, there's two more blue sharks tagged out there now
0:08:39 > 0:08:45and it's programmes like this that hopefully can provide the data
0:08:45 > 0:08:49to actually get them protected in some shape or form.
0:08:49 > 0:08:52So, brilliant, a great day all round, really.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08One of the big things out here is currach racing.
0:09:08 > 0:09:10Let me show you a currach.
0:09:10 > 0:09:16There we are, that is a currach, and I want to become a team member in one of the boats, I think it's
0:09:16 > 0:09:24a great old tradition. But I don't want to disgrace myself so I knew this would probably be an issue,
0:09:24 > 0:09:29so I've brought my rowing machine with me out from England,
0:09:29 > 0:09:32and this is my sort of secret training thing
0:09:32 > 0:09:37to hopefully not embarrass myself too much when the currach racing season starts.
0:09:37 > 0:09:42'The currach is a traditional rowing boat that fishermen have been using here for centuries.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45'They're notoriously difficult to handle,
0:09:45 > 0:09:48'as I found out when I entered a race at the Aran Islands Regatta.'
0:09:51 > 0:09:53God!
0:09:53 > 0:09:58The tradition had pretty much died out in my local village of Roundstone, but there's a plan
0:09:58 > 0:10:05to revive the race this summer and I'm determined to win it, through brute strength if nothing else.
0:10:23 > 0:10:25'18 minutes and I'm a broken man.
0:10:33 > 0:10:38'I might have found a way to do my currach training on dry land, but when it comes to researching
0:10:38 > 0:10:43'the whales and dolphins off my coast, there's no substitute for getting out on the water.'
0:10:45 > 0:10:50This is the start of late summer and autumn
0:10:50 > 0:10:55and gone are the halcyon golden days of May and June
0:10:55 > 0:10:59when I had a mahogany tan
0:10:59 > 0:11:03and it was perma sunshine, it was lovely, you know, gilded days.
0:11:03 > 0:11:10And you can feel the first hint of autumn coming and it's getting a bit overcast, a little bit choppy,
0:11:10 > 0:11:15the wind's picking up, it's a lot wetter, so the pressure's on now.
0:11:15 > 0:11:18I've got about ten weeks left here
0:11:18 > 0:11:24and I still don't really feel I've produced any meaningful results yet.
0:11:24 > 0:11:28'Despite putting the hours in, it's been six weeks since I last saw
0:11:28 > 0:11:33'the dolphins in my bay and I'm worried they may have moved elsewhere.
0:11:33 > 0:11:37'But just as I was about to pack it in for the day.'
0:11:38 > 0:11:44There they are, there they are, whoo, fantastic!
0:11:44 > 0:11:50Oh, look at that, ohh, look at the size of them.
0:11:50 > 0:11:55I haven't seen these guys for a few weeks now and here they are.
0:11:55 > 0:11:59'When I had my first two encounters with the dolphins, I had
0:11:59 > 0:12:02'high hopes of establishing that they were a resident pod
0:12:02 > 0:12:05'living here year round.'
0:12:05 > 0:12:07There they are.
0:12:07 > 0:12:10'As ever, I need identification photos so
0:12:10 > 0:12:15'I can try to match today's dolphins with the ones I saw six weeks ago.'
0:12:19 > 0:12:26Oh, this is the one with... It's slightly disfigured, it's malformed.
0:12:28 > 0:12:33Oh, Mont, you berk! That was right in the middle of my lens.
0:12:33 > 0:12:39Ah-hah, photographing dolphins, the most frustrating thing in the world.
0:12:42 > 0:12:48Hundreds and hundreds of appalling photographs, a wave, a cloud,
0:12:48 > 0:12:52a bit of spray where a dolphin just was, that's my speciality.
0:12:52 > 0:12:58But I think I've got two or three there that definitely you'll be able to ID the dolphins, and without
0:12:58 > 0:13:05a doubt, I saw one of them with a very clear sort of hump in its back so that's very significant.
0:13:05 > 0:13:11I haven't seen that before in this population of dolphins, so I need to get these photos,
0:13:11 > 0:13:15I need to make a note of where I saw the animals, what the time is, what the water temperature is.
0:13:15 > 0:13:18Fantastic, so nice to see 'em again,
0:13:18 > 0:13:20It's like encountering a bunch of old muckers,
0:13:20 > 0:13:23you know, I was getting a bit worried about them actually.
0:13:23 > 0:13:29I think one of them recognised me, just gave me that little half-smile, that dolphin smile.
0:13:35 > 0:13:40We're back in business. Now I'm going to catch some mackerel
0:13:40 > 0:13:44and then go home before that lot arrives, that nasty weather.
0:13:47 > 0:13:49The quicker we can do this, the better.
0:13:52 > 0:13:56Mackerel! Oh, excellent.
0:13:59 > 0:14:03Beautiful fish, now look at that.
0:14:07 > 0:14:10I've caught one, which is good. Head in, I think.
0:14:21 > 0:14:25Back home, my first job is to sort through the photos, and get the best
0:14:25 > 0:14:31ones off to Simon Berrow, my boss at the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group, to see if he can match any up.
0:14:33 > 0:14:36These are the images that I took this afternoon from the boat,
0:14:36 > 0:14:40and there's one or two quite good ones there.
0:14:40 > 0:14:45One of the really interesting ones is this one, as you can see this isn't a great shot
0:14:45 > 0:14:49but it does show the dolphin with the deformity, the spinal
0:14:49 > 0:14:51deformity behind the dorsal fin, the dorsal fin looks a bit weird.
0:14:51 > 0:14:54I remember that out there seeing that it was sort of
0:14:54 > 0:14:58over at one side, so there we are, that's the front of the dolphin just heading down there, you can see
0:14:58 > 0:15:02the slightly wobbly dorsal fin and this hump behind it there
0:15:02 > 0:15:05which Simon, I know, is very interested in.
0:15:05 > 0:15:13I took some other photos on the 8th of May, and a week earlier as well, and I think the same animal
0:15:13 > 0:15:16is in each photo, and I think it's an animal that repeatedly
0:15:16 > 0:15:20approached the boat so that's the reason I kept getting a shot of it.
0:15:20 > 0:15:25So to summarise what I think I'm seeing here is the same dolphin,
0:15:25 > 0:15:30the same individual animal, as part of a pod, that I saw in May
0:15:30 > 0:15:33I've now seen a month and a half later.
0:15:33 > 0:15:35There's no proof that this is the case,
0:15:35 > 0:15:39it's just an observation, but I'm going to send these off to Simon
0:15:39 > 0:15:45and with any luck that's another piece of the jigsaw about the movements of these animals.
0:15:52 > 0:15:56'Rubes has been trying to tell me something all afternoon.'
0:15:56 > 0:15:59He's been coming up to me and nudging me and whining me...
0:15:59 > 0:16:07You know, whining. And I think that he's been trying to say, "Look, there's a crow behind the toilet."
0:16:07 > 0:16:10Is that what you've been on about, Rubes?
0:16:10 > 0:16:16Rubes, Rubes, be nice. Rubes, you'll get your nose bitten again.
0:16:16 > 0:16:19Good boy, Rubes, good boy.
0:16:19 > 0:16:22So, we're going to have to catch him.
0:16:22 > 0:16:24Rubes!
0:16:24 > 0:16:26You're not helping, Reuben!
0:16:26 > 0:16:32There we go, there, there he is, looking very sorry for himself.
0:16:32 > 0:16:34Let's take him outside.
0:16:37 > 0:16:42I'm going to put him under the kayak.
0:16:42 > 0:16:47There he goes, he's off, he's gone into the hedge.
0:16:47 > 0:16:51I hope you noticed my top-class wildlife filming techniques there.
0:16:51 > 0:16:56Well done, Rubes, you did well, you did well, good boy,
0:16:56 > 0:16:59good lad. I'll listen next time.
0:16:59 > 0:17:03We can feel thoroughly good about ourselves now, having rescued the crow. What's that, Rubes?
0:17:03 > 0:17:05There's an impala behind the fridge?
0:17:05 > 0:17:08God, it just never ends, does it?
0:17:17 > 0:17:24As part of my quest to kind of feed myself from the sea a little bit more and fish sustainably,
0:17:24 > 0:17:29I'm going spear fishing off Inishlacken island, this little beach here, Inishlacken island,
0:17:29 > 0:17:31and try and get some flatfish and maybe some pollock.
0:17:36 > 0:17:42There's always been a great deal of debate about spear fishing
0:17:42 > 0:17:44within the diving and the marine biological community about whether
0:17:44 > 0:17:48it's a sustainable form of fishing or whether it isn't.
0:17:48 > 0:17:53I think it is because you're targeting one animal, you're going out specifically looking
0:17:53 > 0:17:59for something and you're targeting that individual animal as opposed to fishing from the shore where
0:17:59 > 0:18:02you're just, you can catch anything, anything that'll eat your bait.
0:18:02 > 0:18:05So, I'm quite happy to go out and just see if I can get
0:18:05 > 0:18:10a couple of pollock or a couple of flounder which I'd just buy at the fish shop otherwise.
0:18:10 > 0:18:15It's always lovely to have a snorkel. It's amazing the stuff you see off a little island like this,
0:18:15 > 0:18:21very rich channel here, Roundstone is just there, Inishlacken here, Inishnee's over there, this is my,
0:18:21 > 0:18:26my home turf, so I'll just have a little paddle through the shallows and see what I see.
0:18:29 > 0:18:33The waters here are beautifully clear so you'd think I'd be able
0:18:33 > 0:18:35to spot the flatfish without any problem,
0:18:35 > 0:18:40but they're masters of disguise, burrowing in under the sands.
0:18:45 > 0:18:49As a predator I couldn't have a worse disguise, silhouetted against
0:18:49 > 0:18:53the sun, so the contest isn't as one-sided as it might look.
0:19:21 > 0:19:26Well, there we go, that's dinner tonight. It's never nice to kill
0:19:26 > 0:19:31anything but this is where your food comes from and, you know, if you eat fish or meat you should accept
0:19:31 > 0:19:34that here we are, you know, animals have to die to do it.
0:19:34 > 0:19:37So I'll cook this up tonight with a little bit of lemon,
0:19:37 > 0:19:42really, really good eating these, and it's such a nice selective way of fishing, you see what you're
0:19:42 > 0:19:48after and then you pick it off and that's it, and it's really, really rich out there at the moment,
0:19:48 > 0:19:54it really is, cos it's August, the height of summer and there's so many fish around it's fantastic.
0:19:54 > 0:19:58So there we go, and this chap is no longer a fish, he's now my dinner.
0:20:03 > 0:20:07The village of Roundstone is only a mile or so across the bay,
0:20:07 > 0:20:12but I've been so busy charging up and down the coast, I've barely spent any time there.
0:20:12 > 0:20:18But everyone tells me there's a regular event through the summer that's unmissable.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21It's Irish night, Wednesday night,
0:20:21 > 0:20:27it's a sort of gathering of musicians and poets and traditional Irish culture
0:20:27 > 0:20:30which is celebrated down here in the village hall, I've no idea
0:20:30 > 0:20:35what to expect so let's go and see, but I'm not dancing.
0:20:35 > 0:20:36IRISH MUSIC PLAYS
0:20:41 > 0:20:44The hall is absolutely packed. This is no quaint tradition kept
0:20:44 > 0:20:52alive for the tourists, this is the locals coming together to celebrate their own culture and heritage.
0:20:52 > 0:20:53CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:21:01 > 0:21:04- So now, Monty, try that! - A piece of cake!
0:21:04 > 0:21:06OK, so another one, another song.
0:21:06 > 0:21:10Put your hands together for John Doyle.
0:21:20 > 0:21:25Up until the 1820s, Connemara was considered unsettleable,
0:21:25 > 0:21:30you know, it's bandit country, and then roads started to be pushed into
0:21:30 > 0:21:38the mountains and settlers came, but it's always retained that incredibly strong sense of Irish identity
0:21:38 > 0:21:41and this is the living embodiment of it, really.
0:21:41 > 0:21:45It's a bastion of Irish culture, Connemara.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:22:23 > 0:22:27I'm going to start on your special guest, Monty, he's going to join us up here.
0:22:27 > 0:22:28This ain't gonna be pretty.
0:22:28 > 0:22:33We have this poor man who has come all the way over from across the water to learn to dance.
0:22:35 > 0:22:39- Hi, Monty.- Right, this is going to be a shambles.
0:22:39 > 0:22:43This is like a nightmare for me, like some sort of... Oh!
0:22:48 > 0:22:51I haven't really got a clue what I'm doing, but...
0:23:04 > 0:23:06- Oh, thank God! - CHEERING
0:23:06 > 0:23:09Great, brilliant, just brilliant.
0:23:09 > 0:23:11Brilliant, well...
0:23:13 > 0:23:16Phew, Michael Flatley watch out!
0:23:16 > 0:23:21I think things like this are really important because, you know, it's a great thing for
0:23:21 > 0:23:27the mix of nationalities that come to Roundstone during the summer to see a little slice of genuine
0:23:27 > 0:23:31Irish culture. This is a living culture and the music and dancing
0:23:31 > 0:23:35and everyone here dances, and everyone here plays an instrument,
0:23:35 > 0:23:40a really vibrant living culture, and it's fantastic, excellent.
0:23:40 > 0:23:44It's a great evening, hot and bothered but great evening.
0:23:52 > 0:23:58I've had a call from the boss, to meet him at the Whale and Dolphin Group headquarters in Kilrush.
0:24:04 > 0:24:09Just catching up with Simon about the photos I sent down that I took recently and see if they're the same
0:24:09 > 0:24:14animals that I've seen before, cos if they are that raises all sorts of interesting issues.
0:24:16 > 0:24:21'It would mean the IWDG could press for the dolphins in my bay to be protected by law.'
0:24:23 > 0:24:25- Hello? - Hello, Aoife, how are you?
0:24:25 > 0:24:28'Aoife has been checking my photos and I'm hoping she's been able
0:24:28 > 0:24:31'to match the latest batch with the ones I took earlier.'
0:24:31 > 0:24:35And I know you've got my... I can see the photos on the screen there.
0:24:35 > 0:24:39Your images from May and July of this year in Roundstone and Galway, so this picture
0:24:39 > 0:24:44you took on the 3rd May in Connemara and you sent it in to Simon,
0:24:44 > 0:24:49and then you sent in the photographs from 27th of July and we've just found there
0:24:49 > 0:24:53it's the same guy, so you've re-sighted him, and he's at the same area.
0:24:53 > 0:24:58'That's another match. Maybe I have discovered a resident population.'
0:24:58 > 0:25:04Here we are. 'Meanwhile, Simon has discovered that the deformed dolphin
0:25:04 > 0:25:10'was last seen five years ago, and further up the coast so it's surviving against all the odds.'
0:25:10 > 0:25:14So, what's happened there, Simon, with this dolphin?
0:25:14 > 0:25:17Scoliosis, it's a deformity of the spine.
0:25:17 > 0:25:24Now, this could either be genetic, so you know it was born with it, or it could be caused by trauma during
0:25:24 > 0:25:28birth, but what this is showing, cos I'm sure that has to be one of these, it looks like it's
0:25:28 > 0:25:35that one to me, which is the same as that one - GB002 - so it's obviously surviving from it, which is amazing.
0:25:35 > 0:25:38- Wow, wow, yeah.- So yes, some more pieces of the jigsaw.
0:25:38 > 0:25:41Yes, it builds ever so slowly, doesn't it?
0:25:41 > 0:25:45'But suddenly the focus of the day shifts.
0:25:45 > 0:25:48'A few dolphins around the world will let people swim with them,
0:25:48 > 0:25:53'but one famous local dolphin called Dusty is causing concern.'
0:25:53 > 0:25:58Em, we just spoke to George, who's the friend that...
0:25:58 > 0:26:01She's with her now and the one thing he does say is she is attacking people.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04- Attacking people? Really?- Yeah.- Wow.
0:26:04 > 0:26:09'This is worrying news and suggests the dolphin is stressed by something.
0:26:09 > 0:26:14'Simon's keen to find out what, but the weather is bad and getting worse
0:26:14 > 0:26:17'so getting out to sea might not be an option.'
0:26:17 > 0:26:22- So I mean, he said it would be... I'll see tomorrow. - Yeah, in terms of the weather?
0:26:22 > 0:26:25Yeah, if you can go up today that would be better. And Ken's a diver.
0:26:25 > 0:26:27- I'm happy if you're happy. - Yeah, we can try and go now.
0:26:27 > 0:26:29We're going.
0:26:32 > 0:26:36'Fanore is about an hour north of Kilrush.
0:26:36 > 0:26:42'With the weather closing in, we only have a brief opportunity to get out and see what's going on.'
0:26:42 > 0:26:47The whole idea of this is to go and get a look at this dolphin and just maybe try and find out
0:26:47 > 0:26:50why the interactions might be a bit negative.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53Simon's keen to have a look at the condition of the animal, see if it's pregnant or whatever.
0:26:55 > 0:27:02'If she is pregnant, it could explain why she's being aggressive towards swimmers.'
0:27:05 > 0:27:09OK, we've just seen her, she's right on the bow, here she comes.
0:27:11 > 0:27:14At first sight everything seems fine, maybe it
0:27:14 > 0:27:18was the swimmers that were causing the problems and not the dolphin.
0:27:18 > 0:27:21It's obviously an incredibly powerful encounter,
0:27:21 > 0:27:24you can see why people do get drawn into things like this.
0:27:24 > 0:27:29She's come straight over to the boat. I'm probably just going to slip in the water and maybe
0:27:29 > 0:27:34get a couple of photos and just see what she looks like from underneath.
0:27:34 > 0:27:37'That frees Simon to deploy his hydrophone.
0:27:37 > 0:27:43'He's trying to establish whether dolphins from different areas communicate in different dialects,
0:27:43 > 0:27:47'so he's building up a database of dolphin voices for comparison.'
0:27:48 > 0:27:50Right, in I go.
0:28:04 > 0:28:09The first thing you notice is the sheer size of an adult bottlenose.
0:28:09 > 0:28:14Dusty is 12 feet from nose to tail and twice as heavy as me.
0:28:14 > 0:28:17If she wanted me out of the water, she'd make it perfectly clear.
0:28:17 > 0:28:21You turn round, she's right in your face,
0:28:21 > 0:28:26very curious, always seems to approach from behind but...
0:28:26 > 0:28:31it'll only happen four or five runs, but, yeah, wonderful.
0:28:38 > 0:28:41'Around the world, there are about 70 dolphins that interact
0:28:41 > 0:28:46'with humans, but many have been killed or seriously injured by people who betrayed their trust.'
0:28:54 > 0:28:57Very gentle, very mellow.
0:29:00 > 0:29:04Absolutely beautiful, she's right at my fins
0:29:04 > 0:29:08at the moment and you don't feel intimidated at all,
0:29:08 > 0:29:12it's very gentle, very measured, very controlled encounter.
0:29:12 > 0:29:19But when she wants to turn it on, by jingo she can turn it on and just boomf, she's gone, you know.
0:29:19 > 0:29:21But she looks in great shape,
0:29:21 > 0:29:26and perhaps earlier on she was just being harassed and just one of those things, you know, too many people.
0:29:27 > 0:29:31That was wonderful - really, really, really special.
0:29:31 > 0:29:34Won't forget that for a very, very long time.
0:29:43 > 0:29:49To be really sure about Dusty's condition, Simon needs to study the underwater video we shot,
0:29:49 > 0:29:53so it's back to base.
0:29:57 > 0:30:01Would you say from your impression of looking at that, Simon, that she's in good shape?
0:30:01 > 0:30:05Um...If you freeze it there I actually...
0:30:05 > 0:30:10you know, yeah, she's not super-duper fat, she's not super-duper thin.
0:30:10 > 0:30:16- I'd say she's kind of, you know, OK. I've seen fatter dolphins.- Yeah, and what about the pregnancy side?
0:30:16 > 0:30:19I was going to say if it is, she's in the very early stages because
0:30:19 > 0:30:23they will start to kind of bulge out underneath, obviously, cos the calf is born
0:30:23 > 0:30:29in a very advanced stage so it's very well developed and this is the peak time for calves now -
0:30:29 > 0:30:32July, August, so no, I wouldn't, I'd say she isn't.
0:30:33 > 0:30:38It was a tremendous experience swimming with the dolphin, obviously,
0:30:38 > 0:30:41but I felt very uneasy, morally, about it, and I like the rationale of
0:30:41 > 0:30:45going in and checking her condition and all that.
0:30:45 > 0:30:48If you had a piece of advice for anyone who watched this
0:30:48 > 0:30:52and thought, well, I should go and do that, what would it be?
0:30:52 > 0:30:56It's a tricky one, isn't it, because my hardnosed scientific, my hardnosed management,
0:30:56 > 0:31:01my hardnosed experience would say don't do it because it's going to end in tears, for the dolphin.
0:31:01 > 0:31:06I don't really care about people so much, to be honest. It's just that we have a choice, they don't.
0:31:06 > 0:31:10What I would like to think is the people would go away respecting dolphins,
0:31:10 > 0:31:12respecting the marine environment.
0:31:12 > 0:31:13I don't think they do.
0:31:13 > 0:31:18I think with the solitary dolphin it's me, me, me, me, it's me and the dolphin interacting,
0:31:18 > 0:31:23nothing to do with anything else and it's a purely self-gratifying, selfish experience.
0:31:23 > 0:31:26They go away with that and come back for more of it.
0:31:27 > 0:31:33Well, the dolphin's happy and healthy by the look of things, which is fantastic news,
0:31:33 > 0:31:39but there is a real responsibility of swimming and interacting with dolphins in the wild, I think.
0:31:41 > 0:31:44It's a responsibility I think we should take very seriously.
0:31:49 > 0:31:55The Roundstone summer festival is just a few days away and I have medals on my mind.
0:31:55 > 0:32:00It's time to put my land-based exercise regime to the test, out on the water.
0:32:02 > 0:32:06My currach training continues, and I've managed to find
0:32:06 > 0:32:13the only man in Ireland with less experience in a currach than me, and that's John.
0:32:13 > 0:32:17- No experience at all. - None at all, none whatsoever, whereas I've been in once.
0:32:17 > 0:32:21John's a fellow marine biologist who's visiting from the UK.
0:32:21 > 0:32:26Our trainer is Roundstone legend Paddy "Shoulders" McDonough,
0:32:26 > 0:32:30- a former all-Ireland Currach racing champion. - Who's going on the head oars?
0:32:30 > 0:32:32I'll be the head oars.
0:32:32 > 0:32:35I'm the experienced man here. This is the rookie.
0:32:35 > 0:32:37Absolute rookie.
0:32:39 > 0:32:42Paddy's bravely lending us a currach,
0:32:42 > 0:32:47but wisely, he's staying ashore.
0:32:52 > 0:32:54'John's worryingly competent,
0:32:54 > 0:32:58'although I like to think that the technique honed on the rowing machine
0:32:58 > 0:33:03'means that I'm putting a lot more back into it than he is. Even Paddy's impressed.'
0:33:03 > 0:33:07We'll have to enter this Monty for the Olympic Games, I think.
0:33:09 > 0:33:14'Reuben infallibly knows when I'm in mortal danger, even if I don't.
0:33:14 > 0:33:17'He's decided it's time I was rescued.'
0:33:23 > 0:33:25Could you call him, John?
0:33:25 > 0:33:28Rubey, come here, boy.
0:33:32 > 0:33:33Go on, Rubesy.
0:33:39 > 0:33:42'The session restarts with a vengeance,
0:33:42 > 0:33:47'but my freakish upper-body strength is about to bring it all to a shuddering halt.
0:33:50 > 0:33:53'I've broken the wooden pin that holds the oar.'
0:33:56 > 0:33:59It's lasted 50 years and we've broken it.
0:33:59 > 0:34:01And we've broken it in two minutes.
0:34:05 > 0:34:08Right, try not to break it again.
0:34:12 > 0:34:14Come on, Rubesy.
0:34:14 > 0:34:19It's the biggest stick he's ever seen.
0:34:19 > 0:34:21Come on, Rubesy.
0:34:21 > 0:34:27'Paddy, Ruben, John and me, three men and a dog with just one aim -
0:34:27 > 0:34:30'to take the Roundstone Summerfest by storm.'
0:34:38 > 0:34:41If currachs were essential to the fishing round here.
0:34:41 > 0:34:43then Connemara ponies were the same for the farmers.
0:34:43 > 0:34:48They were literally the work horses, and famous around the world for it.
0:34:48 > 0:34:55The breed nearly died out when tractors replaced them, but today they're making a big comeback.
0:34:57 > 0:35:03This is Omey beach, and it's one of the most unusual sporting venues in the world.
0:35:05 > 0:35:11If I was doing this walk in six hours' time through this car park, I would be swimming, basically,
0:35:11 > 0:35:16because this is Omey races and when the tide goes out,
0:35:16 > 0:35:19they race horses here.
0:35:20 > 0:35:24The Connemara pony is Ireland's only native breed.
0:35:24 > 0:35:31Early farmers broke in ponies from wild herds that had a history dating back to the ancient Celts.
0:35:34 > 0:35:39There's a local man called Joe McNamara. He trains horses and he's entered a few in the race.
0:35:39 > 0:35:47I'm just going to have a natter with him, find out, find out what it's all about, basically.
0:35:47 > 0:35:51- I'm all in a lather.- Are you? - Oh, yeah, we're on in the next race. - Oh, are you?
0:35:51 > 0:35:54It's the most prestigious racing in Ireland.
0:35:54 > 0:35:57If you cast your mind back when we were living in the caves
0:35:57 > 0:36:02- and horses were feared animals... - Yeah.
0:36:02 > 0:36:06Us Paddies went and tamed, and the first thing we did we took 'em down to the beach
0:36:06 > 0:36:11and we tied 'em and let the sea come in and when they were half drowned, we could manage them.
0:36:11 > 0:36:14- Oh, is that right? - Yes.- Is that where it all comes from?
0:36:14 > 0:36:19So this is, this is living history, being here. Living heritage and culture.
0:36:19 > 0:36:24But on a very serious note, racing in the west of Ireland
0:36:24 > 0:36:26would go back to when times were hard,
0:36:26 > 0:36:28when the horses weren't a luxury item.
0:36:28 > 0:36:32Horses had to work for their living, so if you look around you
0:36:32 > 0:36:36here on the shoreline, we had the seaweed - that was harvested
0:36:36 > 0:36:40and brought to the fields and spread. The horse brought it.
0:36:40 > 0:36:46I was going to ask you about the Connemara pony. I've seen loads of them as I've been driving round.
0:36:46 > 0:36:51What was the origins of the Connemara? I've heard they swam ashore from a Spanish Armada...
0:36:51 > 0:36:55I think to myself that's coming out of the mist, isn't it, aye, a little bit of...
0:36:55 > 0:36:58- A bit of romance, no harm, is it? - Yeah, nice story.
0:36:58 > 0:37:02I can probably make up loads of stories, so old that my grandfather told me.
0:37:02 > 0:37:06- These are your horses, are they? - This is mine. - Absolutely beautiful.
0:37:06 > 0:37:11So you'd... a bit of Connemara pony, bit of and a thoroughbred, right.
0:37:11 > 0:37:14In fact it was a great combination, the thoroughbred and the Connemara pony,
0:37:14 > 0:37:19because it gave them the, you know the ability of the thoroughbred and that toughness of the Connemara.
0:37:19 > 0:37:24It's such a fundamental working tool having a good horse, and so you are looking at centuries,
0:37:24 > 0:37:30thousands of years of breeding and this is the end result.
0:37:33 > 0:37:37But it's not just the horses that are a special breed.
0:37:37 > 0:37:39The same goes for the jockeys.
0:37:39 > 0:37:44Irish jockeys race at the highest level all over the world,
0:37:44 > 0:37:49and many hone their skills as kids, riding in beach races just like this.
0:37:49 > 0:37:52It takes a lot of guts to go out and do these races, you know,
0:37:52 > 0:37:54they're flat out,
0:37:54 > 0:37:58and the sand's pretty hard. If you fall off, you'd hurt yourself,
0:37:58 > 0:38:05They're going round this course at 30 miles an hour on top of half a ton of snorting muscle.
0:38:05 > 0:38:07It has to be in your DNA to do that, I think.
0:38:07 > 0:38:12A moment ago, in one of the races - a lot of the horses are trained on the beach and in the water,
0:38:12 > 0:38:17they run in the sea, and there was a touch of Reuben about the whole thing
0:38:17 > 0:38:22One of the horses came round this corner here as part of a racing group, saw the sea and thought,
0:38:22 > 0:38:28brilliant, and just ran straight into the sea with a very startled young jockey on the back.
0:38:28 > 0:38:33'Joe's horse in the big race is ridden by the jockey in blue colours.'
0:38:54 > 0:39:00'It's been a fantastic day's racing, and once again Joe's ended up in the winners' enclosure.
0:39:00 > 0:39:02'Brilliant.'
0:39:07 > 0:39:10But the work never stops.
0:39:10 > 0:39:17I'm following Simon's car. He's been told a dolphin has washed up on the banks of the Shannon estuary.
0:39:17 > 0:39:22This is a bottlenose dolphin calf that was found by the farmer
0:39:22 > 0:39:25who is leading us to the site of the stranding,
0:39:25 > 0:39:32and he's worked this land obviously for years, for generations, his family has,
0:39:32 > 0:39:35and he was saying he's never seen this,
0:39:35 > 0:39:40and Simon in 20 years of working the Shannon estuary has never seen a calf strand.
0:39:48 > 0:39:54'But when we get to the site it turns out it's not a calf, nor is it a bottlenose.
0:39:54 > 0:39:59'The first thing to do with any stranding is to identify the animal correctly.'
0:39:59 > 0:40:02So what's the defining feature?
0:40:02 > 0:40:05- Um, well, oh, the defining feature. - Define in terms of the markings?
0:40:05 > 0:40:09In terms of the markings, it's the white belly and the line coming back from the eye.
0:40:09 > 0:40:11There's another word for the line, is a?
0:40:11 > 0:40:14- Um, ohh.- Stripe.
0:40:14 > 0:40:17A stripe, this would be a striped dolphin.
0:40:17 > 0:40:20- To be honest it's remarkably clean.- It is, isn't it?
0:40:20 > 0:40:24'Simon's looking for clues as to why it died and why it's stranded.
0:40:24 > 0:40:28'But with no obviously fatal injuries, this carcass will be taken for autopsy
0:40:28 > 0:40:32'at the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology.'
0:40:32 > 0:40:33There's been no event here.
0:40:33 > 0:40:38So it presents a bit of a riddle - why this would strand here and...
0:40:38 > 0:40:41It is, so this one would be a great one for post-mortem because
0:40:41 > 0:40:45it's an adult so it will have..., you know, why is it stranded?
0:40:45 > 0:40:50'Around 150 whales and dolphins strand in Ireland each year.
0:40:50 > 0:40:56'Most are already dead but the few that survive need to be carefully lifted back into the water.
0:40:56 > 0:41:01'Simon's teaching me the procedure to follow, should I ever need to do it myself.'
0:41:01 > 0:41:04Now obviously if you've got a whale you ain't going to be...
0:41:04 > 0:41:08or a bottlenose, I mean, what would a big bottlenose weigh?
0:41:08 > 0:41:12400 kilos? A big one, I mean maybe sort of 300 more realistic for Ireland.
0:41:12 > 0:41:15That's not too bad now, so you can lift, two people can lift this.
0:41:15 > 0:41:17One person could almost lift this.
0:41:17 > 0:41:19OK, one, two, three.
0:41:23 > 0:41:28I've drawn the short straw to deliver the carcass to the labs.
0:41:28 > 0:41:31It's been a two-hour drive
0:41:31 > 0:41:34with a suppurating dolphin carcass in the back of the car...
0:41:37 > 0:41:42which feels faintly illegal for some reason, faintly sinister.
0:41:42 > 0:41:44I'm here now, anyway.
0:41:47 > 0:41:57'There's a huge backlog of dolphin post-mortems so this one will be stored
0:41:53 > 0:41:57'in a freezer until scientists can do an autopsy later in the year.'
0:42:02 > 0:42:05'But the whole thing's got me thinking.
0:42:05 > 0:42:09'Simon has a genuine problem and so does anyone working along the coast of Ireland of recovering
0:42:09 > 0:42:13'these animals when they're ashore, particularly when it's a live animal,
0:42:13 > 0:42:16'getting it back into the sea, and it's given me it a bit of an idea.'
0:42:16 > 0:42:18The idea I've had is...
0:42:18 > 0:42:23I do worry a little bit about my genuine contribution to the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group.
0:42:23 > 0:42:27I'm trying hard at Roundstone and gathering data
0:42:27 > 0:42:32but I dunno, you know, it's interesting but does it advance the work?
0:42:32 > 0:42:36I'll tell you what would really advance the work, Simon does an awful lot of this,
0:42:36 > 0:42:40he does an awful lot of responding to calls of stranded animals with limited gear.
0:42:40 > 0:42:45'I'd really like to help him raise enough money over the next couple of months
0:42:45 > 0:42:48'so the IWDG could buy an inflatable pontoon,
0:42:48 > 0:42:53'designed for floating live whales and dolphins back out to sea.'
0:42:53 > 0:42:57There's very few of them around. It's such a crucial piece of kit
0:42:57 > 0:43:01for getting animals back in the water and I think it's a real legacy
0:43:01 > 0:43:05for my time here that I can leave that for the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group.
0:43:05 > 0:43:09It's a big challenge, a big challenge - they cost thousands of euro
0:43:09 > 0:43:11but, er...
0:43:11 > 0:43:15it's doable - if I really go flat out it's doable, I think.
0:43:25 > 0:43:32I've been sent a bit of footage by Simon of a striped dolphin stranding in 2006. What a great illustration.
0:43:32 > 0:43:34All you want to do is help, don't you.
0:43:34 > 0:43:39You see this animal struggling onshore and gradually the tide's gone out
0:43:39 > 0:43:44and you've got this striped dolphin just sitting high and dry, you know - you can seed
0:43:44 > 0:43:50we'd all feel like that, wouldn't we, just desperate to get the poor thing back in the water.
0:43:50 > 0:43:56Rotten, rotten feeling, so this would be a great example of an animal that could be saved
0:43:56 > 0:43:58using that pontoon.
0:43:58 > 0:44:04If we raise enough money for this pontoon you probably won't use it for three, four, five years
0:44:04 > 0:44:07and then when you do use it it'll be the greatest day of your life,
0:44:07 > 0:44:09and the greatest day of the community's life,
0:44:09 > 0:44:14rescuing a young whale or a dolphin and watching it swim back out to sea.
0:44:23 > 0:44:27It's the start of the Roundstone summer festival, which is kind of four days of traditional music,
0:44:27 > 0:44:33games and general silliness and buffoonery, so this evening this street will be absolutely buzzing,
0:44:33 > 0:44:36it's a big old date in the Roundstone calendar.
0:44:46 > 0:44:51This is the brush dance. I've seen this done several times in Roundstone around Connemara.
0:44:51 > 0:44:53It gets very, very complicated later on.
0:44:53 > 0:44:56I have been practising this in the cottage on my own.
0:45:02 > 0:45:05That's how I clean the cottage nowadays.
0:45:12 > 0:45:16If you look behind me, this is a fishing competition and the whole idea of the competition
0:45:16 > 0:45:21is the maximum number of species, not the biggest fish, and so guys use loads of different techniques,
0:45:21 > 0:45:25fishing on the bottom with tiny hooks and things like that,
0:45:25 > 0:45:30and the great thing is you look at the kids and it's fascinating for them,
0:45:30 > 0:45:34it's like creatures from another world, and it's where it all started for me.
0:45:34 > 0:45:36What's the flat fish there?
0:45:36 > 0:45:38I'm not sure about that.
0:45:38 > 0:45:43I think it's a plaice, isn't it, because it's got you know orange dots on it.
0:45:43 > 0:45:47- It looks weird, look at the eyes. - Yeah.- Do you know that the eyes start as a normal fish,
0:45:47 > 0:45:52- Seriously?- It swims around like a normal fish and then the eye, it's like your eyes moving onto
0:45:52 > 0:45:56the side of your head and you lying on your bed all the time, that's what happens to that fish.
0:45:56 > 0:46:01And what's the biggest one of these ever caught, do you think?
0:46:01 > 0:46:04Basking sharks, and you get them round here, yeah, we stuck some tags
0:46:04 > 0:46:10in some a little while back, and they're the same size and weight as a London double-decker bus.
0:46:10 > 0:46:16I'm going to go and ambush Simon, to see how many species have been caught. Cheers, chaps.
0:46:16 > 0:46:20'Simon Ash is fisheries manager on the local salmon river.
0:46:20 > 0:46:23'Fish swim in his blood.'
0:46:23 > 0:46:28- I've found Simon. I've followed the odour of fish that invariably leads to Simon.- Me!
0:46:28 > 0:46:32- So what's the species total? - We have 19 species.- 19 species? - Yeah, yeah, which is pretty good.
0:46:32 > 0:46:36That's not a bad old spread, really, is it?
0:46:36 > 0:46:38- It's good.- Yeah, yeah.- But the biggest, the best boat only got nine.
0:46:38 > 0:46:43I'll let you hand out the prizes. You've got a keen... all these kids are desperate to hear who's won.
0:46:43 > 0:46:46- Yeah, OK, we'll do that. - I'll get out of your hair.
0:46:46 > 0:46:50I can see where the fishing competition comes from. This is, after all, a fishing village.
0:46:50 > 0:46:54The dancing and the music are traditional.
0:46:54 > 0:46:58Slightly harder to explain is what's going on down on the quayside.
0:47:06 > 0:47:11The challenge is to get the golf ball on to the green. There it is. I'm going to have a go.
0:47:11 > 0:47:15I've got a ball retrieval device.
0:47:15 > 0:47:18Right, then.
0:47:18 > 0:47:23Golf is all in the mind. I'm going to be the ball.
0:47:25 > 0:47:27Ohh, a bit wide.
0:47:27 > 0:47:31- Does everyone try and hit the bloke in the boat?- Yeah.
0:47:35 > 0:47:37Yeah!
0:47:42 > 0:47:44Fantastic. Thank you.
0:47:44 > 0:47:47It's 30 thousand euro prize money, apparently.
0:47:49 > 0:47:50Very good, very good.
0:47:54 > 0:47:58Golf's one thing but tomorrow's the real test,
0:47:58 > 0:48:00the currach race.
0:48:09 > 0:48:13'Day two of the festival, and the weather's glorious.
0:48:13 > 0:48:17'Whether my sporting prowess will match up remains to be seen,
0:48:17 > 0:48:21'as my mentor Paddy heads out to set the course for the racing.'
0:48:21 > 0:48:25The great day has dawned. This is Sunday, and it's the day of the currach race,
0:48:25 > 0:48:27the Roundstone summerfest currach race,
0:48:27 > 0:48:30and of course I've been doing lots of training,
0:48:30 > 0:48:35I've had fantastic coaching from this currach legend, Paddy, and it'd be very interesting to see
0:48:35 > 0:48:41whether training and coaching is effective against people who've just been doing it their entire lives.
0:48:41 > 0:48:47I'm going to be racing against the young guys who are going to be apocalyptically hung over,
0:48:47 > 0:48:49so we'll see which one will triumph.
0:48:49 > 0:48:52Of course I have got a bit of previous here
0:48:52 > 0:48:57because I raced in the Arans and came last.
0:48:57 > 0:49:02I came so last that the guy who won beat me by several days.
0:49:02 > 0:49:05He had a chance to go to the mainland, study for a degree, get married
0:49:05 > 0:49:08and raise a family before I even got into the beach.
0:49:08 > 0:49:11All will be revealed in the next half-hour.
0:49:11 > 0:49:16Word of my training regime on land and sea has got out.
0:49:16 > 0:49:21The organiser, Thomas King, is clearly stunned that anyone has done any preparation at all.
0:49:21 > 0:49:25- How are you feeling? - Quietly confident. - Rumour has it you've been training?
0:49:25 > 0:49:30- Yeah, I have been secretly training...- Well, you have a big advantage on these guys.
0:49:30 > 0:49:35I think half of them are drunk, which is very important in this event, isn't it, you know.
0:49:35 > 0:49:39I wouldn't say drunk, no I'd say there's one or two that are...
0:49:39 > 0:49:42enjoying the day but the other guys are taking it fairly seriously.
0:49:42 > 0:49:45Yeah. I've got a rowing machine outside my cottage,
0:49:45 > 0:49:49- which is ridiculous, having all this.- How do you steer that? They're pretty hard to steer.
0:49:49 > 0:49:52Yeah, that's a very good point. I struggle.
0:49:57 > 0:50:00'The teams of four are chosen at random.
0:50:00 > 0:50:04'The names come out of a hat and are assigned to one of three boats.'
0:50:04 > 0:50:10And the blue boat, Kieran Barry, Jonty Reagan, Monty and Rory Brown, and the black boat, Colman King,
0:50:10 > 0:50:14Mark Brown, Michael Sullivan and Kieran Hinds.
0:50:14 > 0:50:15OK?
0:50:21 > 0:50:22HORN BLOWS
0:50:30 > 0:50:33'It's a relay race and I'm rowing the third leg,
0:50:33 > 0:50:37'so I'm carefully watching to see if I can pick up any tactics.
0:50:40 > 0:50:45'By the time my turn comes, we're holding on to second place.
0:50:45 > 0:50:50'All I have to do is hold my nerve and hope the leaders lose theirs.
0:50:50 > 0:50:52'It all sounds so simple.
0:50:55 > 0:50:58'But then it happens again.'
0:50:58 > 0:51:05- Ah, sh... 'I've broken the oar pin.' - Ah, you've broke it! - It's bust. Paddy, Paddy, Paddy!
0:51:05 > 0:51:07It's bust.
0:51:10 > 0:51:12'With the crowds growing restless,
0:51:12 > 0:51:15'the organisers agree to freeze the race
0:51:15 > 0:51:20'where it stands and restart once Paddy has repaired the pin.'
0:51:20 > 0:51:22We're good.
0:51:34 > 0:51:37On the restart it's all going swimmingly.
0:51:37 > 0:51:39I'm more than holding my own.
0:51:39 > 0:51:42I'm even closing the gap.
0:51:42 > 0:51:45All that training is paying off.
0:51:59 > 0:52:02'At the final handover, our rivals' fourth oarsman
0:52:02 > 0:52:06'inexplicably finds it almost impossible to get his life jacket on.
0:52:06 > 0:52:11'Whilst he struggles, we sneak into first place.'
0:52:11 > 0:52:12HORN BLOWS
0:52:12 > 0:52:14Well, done mate. Beautiful, beautiful.
0:52:16 > 0:52:19Well, that had a little bit of everything, that race,
0:52:19 > 0:52:23it had a little bit of drama, bit of controversy, genuinely competitive,
0:52:23 > 0:52:27and the crowd I think sort of lapsed into a slightly stunned silence by the end of it,
0:52:27 > 0:52:30just wondered what on earth was going to happen next.
0:52:30 > 0:52:36And I broke a thing out there again, I've got a bit of a habit of that. I'm not terribly lucky with it.
0:52:36 > 0:52:39but brilliant, nonetheless we won, in the end, I think we won.
0:52:39 > 0:52:41Yeah, very good, all that training paid off.
0:52:52 > 0:52:55Big round of applause for the winners.
0:52:56 > 0:52:59They did a fantastic job, Monty.
0:53:01 > 0:53:07The team have been away for several months, high-altitude training specifically for this event
0:53:07 > 0:53:11and we like to think it's the first ever Roundstone relay currach race
0:53:11 > 0:53:13and almost definitely the last, as well,
0:53:13 > 0:53:17so we'll be champions forever - well done fellas, awesome, cheers.
0:53:17 > 0:53:21Thanks very much, guys. Back to the music. Have a great evening.
0:53:28 > 0:53:30The food of champions.
0:53:38 > 0:53:42It's another beautiful day and John Brittain, who I went shark fishing with,
0:53:42 > 0:53:48has called to say basking sharks have been spotted off my bit of the coast.
0:53:48 > 0:53:52- Gemma, this is Blue Water. - Blue Water, go ahead, over.
0:53:54 > 0:54:01Monty, if you see a large group of rocks to our south west, I will go up the south side
0:54:01 > 0:54:05and keeping an eye out for the basking sharks,
0:54:05 > 0:54:09if you stay outside and come with me to the far side, over.
0:54:09 > 0:54:15Basking sharks are the second largest fish in the sea. Only whale sharks are bigger.
0:54:15 > 0:54:19Despite their size, we know next to nothing about them.
0:54:20 > 0:54:24I've managed to tag some basking sharks in the far north of Ireland
0:54:24 > 0:54:27but it's very rare to see them off Connemara.
0:54:29 > 0:54:34The search begins. There could be a dozen just below the surface
0:54:34 > 0:54:36but unless you spot their fins, you'd never know.
0:54:36 > 0:54:39There he is, there he is, got him, got it there.
0:54:41 > 0:54:45Hello Blue Water, this is Dive Boat Gemma, we've got the shark,
0:54:45 > 0:54:49he's just on my port side about 50 metres away from me.
0:54:49 > 0:54:52When you get one shark on the surface, all the fishermen,
0:54:52 > 0:54:55everyone, the west coast of Scotland, in Ireland,
0:54:55 > 0:55:00they all say that for every one on the surface, there we are, for every one on the surface there's
0:55:00 > 0:55:04always a couple underneath, which is great news, you know, this could be,
0:55:04 > 0:55:10and probably will be my one chance to tag sharks in Connemara.
0:55:13 > 0:55:17'My currach training partner John is jumping aboard
0:55:17 > 0:55:21'to drive the boat while I try to get a tag into the shark.
0:55:24 > 0:55:30'The tag has a barb that I've got to get into the shark's skin, just below the dorsal fin.'
0:55:33 > 0:55:36Ah, straight ahead I think.
0:55:39 > 0:55:40That's good.
0:55:47 > 0:55:49OK, there he is, there he is,
0:55:49 > 0:55:53now come in nice and steady mate, just nice and steady,
0:55:53 > 0:55:59OK in you come, just a little bit more now, OK give it a bit more welly now.
0:55:59 > 0:56:01- OK.- Bit more.
0:56:09 > 0:56:10It's in,
0:56:13 > 0:56:15Fantastic.
0:56:16 > 0:56:20We have tagged our first Connemara shark,
0:56:20 > 0:56:21superb, superb.
0:56:23 > 0:56:25That is a big moment,
0:56:25 > 0:56:27that is a big moment,
0:56:27 > 0:56:31I was really thinking we weren't going to get one, I was really thinking
0:56:31 > 0:56:34we weren't going to get a Connemara tagging,
0:56:34 > 0:56:37and that's absolutely superb.
0:56:38 > 0:56:41'The sharks are sticking around.
0:56:41 > 0:56:47'The water must be bursting with plankton so a second tagging is definitely on the cards.'
0:56:47 > 0:56:50Tag three seven seven.
0:56:58 > 0:57:03'The tag has gone but I didn't see it go into the shark so I want to be
0:57:03 > 0:57:07'absolutely certain before I leave them to carry on feeding.'
0:57:07 > 0:57:11- Yeah, there you go. - Three seven seven.
0:57:11 > 0:57:17Tag three seven seven is in, that's terrific, that's terrific.
0:57:20 > 0:57:25Superb, I've got a couple of tags in and that means the world, it really does,
0:57:25 > 0:57:28because I was so, I was becoming so convinced
0:57:28 > 0:57:30that it wasn't going to happen here,
0:57:30 > 0:57:33and just to know the baskers is here is superb, yeah, this is a...
0:57:33 > 0:57:38a threatened animal and it's very rarely seen in Connemara
0:57:38 > 0:57:41and to get two tags in two animals, I'm made up.
0:57:43 > 0:57:47Advancing mankind's knowledge of an ocean giant,
0:57:47 > 0:57:50and having a very, very good time at the same time.
0:57:57 > 0:58:00'Next time, when hookers go bad.
0:58:00 > 0:58:05'A close shave racing traditional sailboats in Galway Bay.'
0:58:06 > 0:58:09If we send two vehicles up here the most likely place...
0:58:09 > 0:58:14'And a search and rescue mission to find a basking shark stranded somewhere in the dark.'
0:58:14 > 0:58:18Up ahead of me I've got mysterious shadowy figures.
0:58:36 > 0:58:38Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:38 > 0:58:41E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk