Mourne Race - 23-Jan-2011

With weather and car problems conspiring against me, I havnt got much paddling done recently. Today saw the Mourne race which was rescheduled from its usual December date due to a frozen river.

Today still wasn't the warmest, but at least we got into positive temperature figures.. just.

A large group from Lisburn headed over to Newtownstewart for the race which was on a low water river Mourne. Unfortunatley Sonya was unable to come today, so instead of racing the open boat completly alone I brought Qiqi with me for company.

There was quite a large turnout, with 8 open boats in total, 5 of which (including me) were put in a separate category for solo paddlers.

At the start the tandems, as expected, took the lead. However, both myself and Paul Strawbridge managed to keep fairly close to them for the first 1km or so. I pulled very slightly ahead of Paul coming into the fisheries, which was the first, and most challenging whitewater section of the 7mile race. I was right behind the last of the tandems, who took a spill at the top, but recovered quickly, but allowed me to cut through the inside of the main wave of the section.

I made it through all the whitewater sections of the race without any problem, but had Paul within sight for most of the race. I couldn't let up and kept pushing for the entire race.

I came in a minute or two ahead of Paul to win the solo category, and apparently was only about 4minutes behind the winning tandem boat.

 

Congratulations to Mary who took second place in Womens GP for Lisburn

River Bann - 20/21 November

I seemed to spend all of this weekend on the Bann, from Banbridge down to Tullylish.

On Saturday I headed out with a couple of guys from LCP, with 2 MUCK impostors. The river was a very high level with all the recent rain, with most of the usual playspots too flushy, but a lot of new ones came into play. This was the first time myself and Eddie had been out since getting our 4star leadership award last weekend and we were put to the test a few times.

With the water level so high, and fast flowing we had to be on the ball as few in the group had much experience of a river this high or fast flowing. There were only 1 or 2 minor incidents, but were all handled quickly to allow everyone to get back to the fun.

On Sunday I returned with a group from UUJCC. The water level had dropped from the previous day, and most of the weirs were stickier than the previous day, with 1 or 2 particularly retentive. I was the crash-test dummy testing just how sticky things were. This was lots of fun, and resulted in a few fights to get back out.

A good weekend paddling - now where has that rain gone.

Owenkillew - Sunday 7-Nov-2010

Yesterday saw an early start - making my way over to Gortin for 10am to meet a few guys from MUCK to run the Owenkillew.

It had been a few years since I had run this river, but held many early paddling memories for me, including my first river roll and taking Sonya as a beginner down the gorge in a topo duo.

My weapon of choice for the day was my trad open boat - Qiqi hadn't been out in a while so I brought her for some company.

We had a few novices with us, but was a small and tight group so it was all run quite relaxed - especially since Eddie had borrowed my armchair called Peapod.

The river is a nice grade 2 with a short grade3 section towards the end. It was perfect for people in the group to get to grips with whitewater, and most people even made it down the gorge.

The only downside to the trip was Qiqi stealing my kitkat when we stopped for lunch.

Crana Weekend 2010

This weekend saw the return of the Crana Canoe weekend.

I headed up on Saturday morning for the first day of the dam release. There was slalom and freestyle on today. I was only taking part in the freestyle, which wasnt the most exciting event due to the shallow feature, but was lots of fun which resulted in a party wave and high-5s during the competition.

However, it was Sunday most people were looking forward with the return of the carnage fest which was the boaterx.

This year there was an intermediate event held only on the grade 3 section. I entered this paddling the c! gyramax. My first run started slowly, but I soon built up speed, and rammed the other competitors in my heat out of the way to be in the lead by a few lengths by the final weir. Unfortunatly I took it a bit too cautiously and ended up at the far side from the finish and lost places as I made my way across.

My second run saw me running against Sonya who had commandeered Peapod - and promptly disappeared into the distance to come 3rd in the ladies event.
I punched so hard through the first weir I popped my left strap, and like the idiot I am continued on without fixing it. Just as I came to the most continuous and rocky section I rode up on a rock - which isn't normally an issue, but in trying to raise my left edge my knee came out through the spraydeck. This resulted in a very painful beating as my right foot was jammed in the boat and took quite some time to free myself.

Not to worry - the advanced boaterx was to come next, and I was doing away with the skirt and hopping into the spanish fly for the grade4 fun. I have only done 1 river run in the OC-1 so far, and that was mostly grade2 - so I had a lot to be worried about.

My first run went ok, I got the line I wanted, but had no momentum and capsized in the stopper at the bottom. Although it didn't feel like it, video evidence showed I half rolled the boat up - but was still in the stopper so I bailed.

More determined now, I nailed the second attempt, got a big launch off a rock leading into the top of the section, which gave me enough speed and momentum to steer down through the stopper at the bottom and come away with only 2 inches of water in the bottom of the boat. Success!!!

What next year - tandom canoe?

Sluice Fun Rodeo 2010

Saturday saw the return of the Sluice Fun rodeo. As the name suggests, this is fun.

The competition is run on a jam format, meaning a flush isn't the end of your competition, and you get to compete against people and not a scoresheet.

The feature was quite flushy, and as such proved difficult to stick moves in the C1. I still managed a few more basic moves, but couldn't stick loops or pirouettes.

There was also an old school rodeo, in which I paddled a Perception Gyramax C1. This was fun, for as long as it lasted. Unfortunately the straps in the boat were terrible and popped as soon as I capsized. With no other outfitting I only managed 1 or 2 successful rolls - but I did get a nice big ender for my troubles.

The day ended with a no-spray decks boatercross. I ended up getting blocked by everyone - for some reason they weren't happy with me paddling a 4meter long boat in a race against playboats.

EDIT: Just found a picture of the gyramax getting sucked under just before a popout

Annacloy - Saturday 02-Oct-2010

Finally - after a few months of car problems and no rain both come good at once.

I headed to run the Annacloy in Co. Down with Piggin Paddlers. The lever had come down from the previous day when there was lots of rain - but it was still a very high level.

I was paddling in the Spanish Fly, my first proper river run in it. It was good to experience the way the handling changes with varying levels of water in the middle of rapids. It turns very quick, and so I was trying to hit difficult eddies. I had a close call on the grade 3 bit, when I was trying to ferry across a diagonal stopper to hit a micro-eddy on the far side, when the back of the boat caught and i swamped. Hitting the wall with the eddy, I bounced out and carried on down the river, almost capsizing going over a wave due to the water sloshing in the boat - I realy love my low brace in this boat.

There were a few good spots to play on here, mostly carving and spins. There was one hole where I some how got some downtime - in a Spanish Fly!! The boat was sucked into the hole and it wasn't until the water was halfway up my chest when I popped free.

It was a good day out, and I am a lot more confident now to run harder stuff in the boat, it is so responsive in white-water. Roll on the winter

Cork Rodeo 2010

Saturday saw this years Cork Rodeo at the Cork Sluice on the Lee.

I made the long journey down with both C1 and OC1, picking Niall and the Irish Freestyle PA on the way.

Unfortunately there was no release for the event, so instead of the usual thrashy and aptly named "hole of death" we had a much more relaxed affair.

There were 3 C1s competing, with Jack Phelan from Waterford having his first outing. I spent most of my runs trying to get a Space Godzilla just so I would beat Niall as Phonics Monkeys weren't sticking in the hole. I almost got one, but was a bit too scrappy to count. Due to the lack of power we resorted to silly moves like paddle spins and rail grabs, and even the odd shudder rudder.

I competed in the OC1 in the same heats as the mens sport so I could have a break between my runs. The feature didnt have enough power to cartwheel, so I had to resort to spins and enders. I went for some air and flamboyance at the end by paddling into the feature standing in the boat and leaping out - crowd pleasing to the end.