With my new Spanish Fly (and wheelboy) I headed down to Wicklow on Friday night. The plan originally was to head to Curragower in Limerick for an impromptu competition before heading to Clifden for team training.
Both were cancelled, Limerick due to no feature working, and team training due to lack of interest at short notice.
On Saturday morning, myself and Niall headed to have a look at Jacksons Falls, a Grade 4 drop 5minutes drive from Nialls house in Wicklow. He had a C1 creekboat he hadnt tested and I had the spanish fly. Unfortunatly there wasnt even enough water to make it worth the carry to do the drop itself.
We packed the playboats and headed towards Dublin. We dropped into i-canoe to give the guys some abuse on the way, and found that we were going to be lucky and have a Liffey release soon. After the abuse was dished out we headed straight for the Sluice, getting kitted out and on the water just as the release was having effect.
I stuck to the Spanish fly for the whole session, which was very interesting as I had only paddled one once before, and that was a year ago on flat water. The edges were very nice to throw around, however I need to give the outfitting lots of attention. The saddle is very high, and my makeshift hip pads kept falling out. I did manage 1 roll, but had a few swims too, nothing a bit of outfitting wont sort.
With the sluice session coming to an end we had 3hours to make the 180mile trip to the other side of the country when the evening Clifden session was to start.
We made it over to Clifden not long into the session, but in the C1's we were both stuggling to catch the feature for most of the session. We simply could not build up the speed to paddle up into it, instead having to carry our boats round and drop down into it. Towards the end of the session, as people started to leave, the hole became much easier to get into, but also much harder to get out of. It handed out a few beatings but was still enjoyable and I came close to getting my first C1 loop.
With the session over, it was time to head to a local beach to camp for a few hours, to be back for the morning session which was to start soon after 6am :(
Up in the morning, it really wasnt nice putting on cold wet gear after very little sleep, but the feature was being nice to us today. It was a pretty much perfect level for C1s, powerful, and yet easy enough to paddle up into.
By the end of the session I was consistently throwing roundhouses, and had the odd backstab thrown in for good measure. Very worthwhile session.
It was weird being off the water, and sorted after paddling before 10am. As we headed back north we were going to stop for a play at a northern "secret" spot, but unfortunatly it wasn't working.
But still - have 3 full sessions at 2 of the best Irish features in 1 weekend is none too shabby. Got some stuff sorted out, and know what I still need to work on.
The new boat looks like it will be good, I just need to get the outfitting sorted and see where we go from there.
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