River Roe - 12 March 2011

Today I had planned to go surfing.

Then unfortunately it rained last night, so instead I wanted some proper paddling and went to the Roe with some of the guys from LCP.

On the drive up, we started to pass lots of snow on the ground around the Glenshane pass. At the get in, the beach was half covered which meant it was going to be a nice average level. This didn't account for the snow that was melting. The river level rose quite a bit while we were on which made for a very fun trip.

We didn't actually spend too much time playing at any of the weirs, there was too much exciting stuff around the corner.

Halfway down the river we came to the Dogs Leap. After having a quick look, most of us decided to run it. This is normally a tricky run in through a narrow constriction, but the high water levels removed this hazard, but still left a big and bouncy run through.

From this point down things just got better. Most of the river from this point is all natural, with big water and boulders providing lots of fun.

The last man-made weir was different to any other time I had paddled it. Two big holes were protecting the only lines of interest, which just meant it would be more challenging.

I decided on the most difficult line, which was tricky in the Spanish Fly due to my lack of speed and inability to correct the 2 paddle strokes I had time for through it. This just mde it even more fun.

A good clean run down one of my favourite rivers in the north. I really need to paddle this more often.

Shaws Slalom - 6 March 2011

Sunday saw one of the first slalom competition since the redevelopment of the Shaws Bridge site. I entered in C1 and C2 with Niall Cockbill from WWKC.

The course set up had a few tricky gates set-up, with one of the most annoying ones, gate 5, at the first weir not quite in the eddy or the flow, and very close to the weir itself.

In my first run in the c1 I attacked this gate a bit too hard and caught an edge causing me to capsize. As I rolled back up my strap popped, which meant I wasn't able to commit to any of the turns on the rest of the course as I wanted to. I got back up and through the gate and finished the run in a respectable enough time clipping only 1 gate at the end.

Next up was my first c2 run with Niall. For once I was able to paddle on my strong side at the front, and we put in a decent time hitting 3 gates. We probably lost time due to my natural tendency to do cross bow strokes.

After the break it was time for second runs. Since I already had a decent time time in c1 (beating some actual slalom paddlers) I went all out to do the fastest run I could manage. I was dipping under the gates and hitting them all very high, and everything was going well until I was surfing back across the third weir. My srap popped again, causing me to capsize, and since I was in the stopper I was pulled straight out of the boat. Not to worry, there was a local news crew there to record the whole thing. Good to know my swims are news worthy.

When it came to the second run in the c2, I was concentrating on not doing cross bow strokes, and it worked really well. Myself and Niall really worked well together and we got a very good line through all the gates hitting just one. We were dipping the boat comfortably which was unexpected due to the heavier paddler being in the front.

We finished 4th out of 7 crews, which I was very happy with especially considering I was the only non slalom paddler in c2.

I still managed 7th (out of 9) in C1 despite only 1 run which had a roll in it. Next time I will outfit the boat myself and try and get even closer to the full time slalom paddlers.

Thanks to Navarat Turner for the photos.

River Lagan with LCP

Today a large group from LCP headed for a ran down the Lagan from Lambeg to Shaws Bridge. This is quite a long run, about 4-5miles, so I wimped out and took the big boat and dog.

Whilst most of the river is flat, there are a number of wiers to keep yourself interested. There was a decent enough water level, with very few scrapey parts, which is weird for this river.

The first of the bigger weirs was Church Hill weir, which had a nice, yet retentive wave at the bottom. I only got stuck in it twice whilst surfing. Not too bad the first time as I got out with only a foot of water, but the second time I ended up having to swamp fully to get out. Didnt help much that Brian was pushing down on the back of my boat when I was trying to surf out of it backwards.

The weir at Drumbeg had quite a large towback on it, so Graeme lined his boat into it to demonstrate to the group exactly what it looks like when a boat is stuck in a stopper - something we never want to see with a person still in it.

Eels Weir at Edenderry was a very nice level, and I was very impressed at managing a completly dry line through it.

Not to much of a paddle left until we finished up at Shaws bridge. Unfortunately I had left my wheels at home so had to carry the boat back up to the carpark, much easier with the wheels - at least the dog can pull it then.

Thanks to Derek for the photos.

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?