Battle for the Burning Lake - Kite Surfing and Music Festival of Achill Island is a one-of-a-kind festival that combines kite surfing action and great Irish music.

The festival will take place from September 25th – 27th, on Achill Island's Keel Lake, Co Mayo. Not only is Keel Lake one of the world's best kitesurfing locations, it is one of the locations for the Irish kite-boarding tour on the Wild Atlantic Way. During the weekend you'll be able to see lots of the country's top kite surfers competing, and get a feel for the sport.

Gracing the stage at The Battle for the Burning Lake this year includes a variety of home grown acts with Dublin based, gypsy jazz band, The Eskies making an appearance. Galway’s very own 5-piece multi-instrumentalist Indie/ Folk band, Amazing Apples will also be rocking the stage, alongside former All Ireland Talent Show contestant and electronic synthesised fiddle player Daithí. The line-up for the weekend also includes the likes of ThePale, Beef Supreme, The Witch Trails and many more.

 To make sure you don't miss out we have a pair of festival tickets to give away, as well as a two night stay on Achill Island. Click here for details on how to win.

To find out more about the festival and what to expect, we spoke to Francois Colussi of Pure Magic, the kite surfing school based in Dublin and Achill who organise the festival.

"It all started with a kite surfing competition, a couple of people coming with their vans, doing a competition in a cool spot. Little by little we started inviting more and more people to be part of the fun, and musicians started to come." explained Francois. "Eventually, after all these years, we developed a full programme of entertainment which, during the day, centres around the water sports competition and a DJ on the lake but at night the real show starts. We started with just a couple of bands, but now we have a line-up of over 20 acts and two different stages. We also have food and wine tasting, all kinds of entertainment."

Francois also discussed how the festival is an opportunity to show off the island of Achill, a place that's very special to him and Pure Magic "It's the fifth year of Pure Magic on Achill, so the plan is to give back a bit to the community and to showcase how magical the island is, with sport, art and creativity. For the sport it's great because there are so many places to go kite surfing. Part of what we're trying to do with the festival is promote the island." He added "Once you cross the bridge it's a magical place, it's a mix between the lakes and the mountains and the waves, it's a dramatic landscape. When people come to the festival, or come at any time, we want to promote all the different experiences Achill has on offer like The Great Western Greenway in Mayo, the Wild Atlantic Way and Keel beach in Achill Island which is one of the 10 top ten beaches in the world, as well as all the different sports - not just kite surfing."

But this festival isn't just for people with an interest in kite surfing and watersports; Francois talked about how the action will impress anyone, even those who have no knowledge of the sport, "The competition, it's like ice skating, it's freestyle, people are trying to impress the judges by doing tricks and jumps, some of which can be up to 15 or 20 meters high. This competition is special because you're very close to the action, you can be sitting by the lake, sipping a beer, listening to music and someone can be jumping 15 metres over you. "

Entry for Friday and Saturday costs €25 per day and weekend tickets for only €40. Camping is in close proximity to the lake at only €6 per person/night. Entry on Sunday is FREE.
Tickets available from Pure Magic stores or theticketfairy.com.
Camping must be booked separately through https://www.achillcamping.com/

You can also win a pair of tickets to head down tot he WIld Atlantic Way next weekend in our competition section - so get entering now!

 

For information on other events happening around the country and inspiration and ideas on great Autumn breaks, please visit www.discoverireland.ie or find Discover Ireland on Facebook #thisisLIVING