Irish Nationals - Round 1 - Limerick

Saturday saw round 1 of the Irish Nationals at Curragower in Limerick.

This was to be my first time competing in the Spanish fly, and most of the people there had never seen a boat like it, never mind someone paddling it.

OC-1 was to be the first category to run on the feature, which provided great amusement to those watching. Unfortunately the feature was still forming when I had to go, so it was very green and difficult to catch. Having never paddled here before I struggled, but still managed to put up a score - which seemed to impress a lot of people who believe you need a spraydeck.

C1 was to be the last category to run, so I spent most of the rest of the competition in the Judges tent scribing. I got to see a number of fairly impressive runs from a few of the guys in the mens K1 - although the feature wasn't as good as it can be which stopped the biggest moves being thrown.


This gave me a chance to watch exactly how they were catching the wave, and using it, and i was really looking forward to the C1 competition where I would get to go back into the feature.


Just as the last few K1 runs were coming to an end the feature started to die. All the C1-ers ran to try and get at least 1 run in before the feature died completely, but by this stage even if you did catch the wave you flushed as soon as you started to initiate a move.

The following day I headed with Orky and Niall to a newly discovered squirt spot round the corner in Limerick. We only had 2 squirt boats with us, so I resorted to being camera man from the spanish fly. This actually worked out well as I could take good pictures, and still provide rescue when Orkys boat sprung a leak and he went down more than he anticipated.

Hopefully after some boat repairs I should get squirting myself next time.

Canoe Camping - Salt Island

This weekend there was a CANI recreation paddle staying overnight on Salt Island, which is in Strangford Lough about 1mile from Killyleagh.

I was unable to make the morning start time, but headed out from Killyleagh in the evening to meet the group.

Travelling light, me and Qiqi (my dog) soon made it over to the island, where there were around 30 people already, from young kids to seasoned paddlers.

I soon found a nice spot in the forest behind the bothy to pitch my tent, had a quick bite to eat, then started the important bit - drinking around the camp fire.

We had fun with the dog running around with a glow stick attached to her B.A.

In the morning, we packed up camp and loaded the boats. We were going to head south to swing round Gores Island to return to Killyleagh with the wind behind us.

Not far out from Salt island we came across a Viking long-boat anchored in the middle of the lough. I climbed into it and most of the kids soon followed. We were tempted to paddle it but that might be construed as theft.

We turned around Gores Island to head back to Killyleagh. There was a bit of wind behind us so I rafted up with another canoe and attempted sailing using a sleeping bag as a sail. This would have been successful if the wind hadnt decided to die as soon as we put the sail up.

We gave up on that idea and paddled the rest of the way back.

It was a good trip with lots of good people. Hopefully I will be able to spend more time out at Salt Island during the summer when there is no water in the rivers.

Mega Random Freestyle Weekend

New boat arrived on Wednesday so what better way to break it in than with a last minute trek across the country.

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.

Shaws Bridge

Following a hard week at work I decided to sneak off to the local spot in Belfast for a splash around before the weekend paddling started properly.

When I got there I had a quick look and levels were still high from the rain earlier in the week.

 

I got kitted out and hit the water.

Unfortunatly the level was both too high, and not high enough. I spent a bit of time at each of the 4 weirs, but all of them were incredibly flushy and unsurfable.

I decided, because I was on my own, it wasn't worth the hassle for no reward - so got out after 30mins.

Levels look promising for a half decent play run this weekend. And there is sun forecast too, could be a good weekend

Easter Sunday - Six Mile Water

Easter Sunday was a day for eating chocolate and heading to the Six Mile Water with Lisburn City Paddlers..

A large group turned up, one of the biggest groups I've paddled with in a while.

There were plenty of weirs for playing on all the way down the river, with a really good one, about halfway down providing a huge party wave potential. We spent a long time there, practising cartwheels and roundhouses. I even pulled off a few hashed back-stabs too.

We started messing around getting rafted groups to surf the weir, which was great for building confidence in a few of the more nervous paddlers in the group.

I then made a silly decision to start ramming a local coach who had joined us, pushing him clear of the wave. This was all fun and games until he decided to pull my deck and tip me whilst we were both on the wave. I got his deck pulled, but he had backup to keep him upright, and i sank off whilst he only had a few inches of water in his boat. The water wasn't too chilly, and quite enjoyed the impromptu squirt session.

At the end of the run there was steep slide weir which provided very nice, big retentive wave at the bottom. This was great, if only a bit shallow. After cracking his hand a few times Niall gave up the c1, letting me get back in it. Was very pleased managing a few shuvits and flat spins in it considering this wave had a nasty habit of turning you to your offside and not let you turn back too easily.

Annacloy

With lots of rain recently, I headed to the Annacloy with Piggin Paddlers.

The level looked good at the get in, but things felt very weird at the start as I was paddling my K1 playboat for the first time in a very long while. I was more used to the stability of the big boat, or the extra leverage of the C1.

The water was flowing very fast, and we had 1 or 2 issues with low trees. Most of the usual playspots on the run were washed through and not at all retentive, but there were still enough spots to play on. One of the first we came across had low hanging vines in the middle of it, which made things quite interesting.

We had 1 incident early on with a swimmer in a tree, although luckily he washed straight through it, but not before I cut my leg hopping the barbed wire fence - at least that's the worst thing that happened there.

Further down myself and Niall found a very nice retentive wave and practised our flat-spins and roundhouses. I tried a cross-bow pirouette, but realised it is a lot easier in the C1 as I splatted on my face.

At the final weir Wilson capsized, and when attempting to roll took a hell of a beating with rocks. He swam from the boat, but the river turned into a tight twisty mess of low trees. Luckily he got out quite quickly, and after a few minor dramas I managed to pin his boat in a tree for easy retrieval. His paddle did not survive though, but hopefully will reappear when the water levels go down.

Once we got sorted, I gave him my paddle for the short 5mins to the finish and decided to do a spot of hand paddling. As we got off a promising shower of heavy rain came on - roll on tomorrow

Scotland

With only 4 days notice - myself and 3 others decided to plan a trip to Scotland for some overdue quality boating.

Day 1 - As the ferry came into dock at Troon on Friday morning, the captain gave the announcment that "unfortunately" there was heavy rain at our destination - things were already looking good.

Within a few minutes of driving on the motorway we came across this welcoming sign;

We carried on to our first stop which was the Falloch. We looked at the falls and I decided to leave it until the last day. But we did paddle the short grade 4 section after the falls.

 We packed up and headed for the Etive. This was a great trip with medium-low water level which was perfect for getting into the way of things. Eddie sprained an ankle on "Letterbox" and Niall temporarily dislocated his shoulder at the "Crack of Doom" - before the next drop popped it in for him again.

Day 2 - After a quick visit to the hospital to sort out the previous days injuries - we were given the all clear to carry on. We took it easy, and decided to try the Roy. Levels here were low, so we headed to the Spean and paddled down from just below Monessie Gorge. This was a fun relaxed paddled with a few nice waves to surf on the way down - although we only managed 3 on the party wave at a time.



Day 3 - Lots of heavy rain overnight looked good - but on returning to the Etive we found the levels were too high for us as we simply didn't have enough paddlers to setup up safety, or the all important cameras. We headed to the Loy which was a nice grade 3 run with a few grade 4 sections. We found a very nice playhole and started experimenting with what the bigger boats could do.

 We also decided to practise a z-drag half way down for a break - hoping we would not actually need one.

After the nice paddle we decided we wanted to go park and huck. It was decided to head to Nevis to run Polldubh Falls. A nice collection of tourists gathered on the bridge to watch Niall and myself paddle past the lip of certain death to take the nice grade 5 drop into the pool below. According to the guidebook we had now entered "The Big Boys League"

 Day 4 - Final day, we decided to revisit the Etive so Eddie and Niall could face their swims and prove it was a fluke. Everything was going to plan until we came to the "Letterbox". I ran it first, cocked up my line and capsized. I quickly hit my head and realised it was Eddies rock from day 1. I abandoned ship just in time to avoid the syphon my boat was heading for. No real harm down - apart from a grazed elbow and minor cag repair. The others ran it fine, with Eddie being pleased to defeat the drop that sprained his ankle. No other issues with the rest of the run, we packed up quickly to head to Falloch before the ferry.

Today, the 35ft of Falloch was not as intimidationg as it was on Friday - Polldubh saw to that. Grabbing our boats we headed to the top - ensuring of course cameras and camcorder were in place to capture it.

As soon as my boat hit the water at the top, everything fell silent, calm, and peacefull. I paddled gently over the lip and the free fall felt quite pleasant. I got my tuck perfect, enterting the water at the bottom almost vertical.

Once we had run the falls we got packed up to head for the ferry. Thinking the driving was almost done as we pulled into Troon we were then informed the ferry was cancelled due to the weather. We managed (just) to make the ferry leaving Cairnryan, but resulted in a late night return. Still a great trip