mdac trip report

The Land of Oz Video

2011-07-08T10:22:00.001+01:00

The Land of Oz

2011-06-23T11:00:00.018+01:00

For the last 8 months I've been enjoying a life free of words like recession, snow, thesis etc etc and savouring words like 30°+, after work beers and Barbie (the BBQ kind!). Unfortunately that life has been free of any sort of paddling, that was until 3 weeks ago. Niall Quinn and Myself decided to head off on a paddling adventure.

The trip kicked off with a 5hr spin to the closest whitewater on the East coast, Nymboida Canoe Centre. To get there drive south on the Pacific Highway for 5hrs until you reach Grafton, turn off here and follow the signs for 25 on Armidale Rd. Bingo! Nymboida is an awesome centre, an artificial course constructed on a small creek into which the turbines of a small local hydro plant spills its water. Frank Whitebrook was the force behind the design and construction of the site in the 1970's. The centre is currently run by Robert Delderfield, it has a massive campsite which runs the length of the Goolang Creek on which the course is built. Powered, unpowered and cabins are available, we were the only customers during our few days there and had full run of the site. The weather was quiet wet and cold so we paddled as much as we could and sank some beers and lite a fire any of the nights we could. We wouldn't have turned down some other paddlers for some company but it was a great couple of days.

Camping at Nymboida is $8 a night per person, use of the course is $6 a day and gear hire (although very basic) is $30, you get a boat, paddle, BA and helmet. The water in Nymboida is cold and the river is shaded by trees all along its run so if you are going to bring any one piece of gear bring a cage and rash vest. A roll of duck tape and some caping mat the custom fit some of the boats would also be hand but Rob and the other staff at Nymboida are more than happy to help you source any bits and pieces you need with came in very handy when nail broke his lap strap on his first run of the river.

(Just 2 min. after starting to put up our tents Niall had this little fella sucking on his blood)

(Some beer inspired photography tricks were in order)

(A random sign post on the back road from Nymboida back to the Highway, we nearly crashed the car when we saw it!)

The awesome Dangar Falls in Dorrigo, NSW. We spotted a signpost for this beast by chance as we drove through town and we veered off to investigate. It's 70ft of vertical awesome. Some creekers, a few throwbags and a little more water might have seen us make some attempt but we still had 9hrs driving ahead of us to Sydney. We'll be back! If you're around here you go, Latitude: 30°19'23.35"S Longitude: 152°42'54.56"E

(Niall checking out the boat hire fleet in Penrith, plenty of C1s!)

(Here comes the water, the pumps in Penrith could fill an Olympic swimming pool in 55seconds!)

So we arrived at Penrith Olympic Whitewater Stadium (home of the Slalom for Sydney '00 Games) on the Saturday morning in time to see the water come on for the Australian Slalom Team's Morning Training. We stuck around for a few hours and watched in awe, I arranged my Boat hire with HorizonLines Kayak Shop up at the Regatta Centre for the following day and then we headed off to the campsite in Emu Plains.

When we rocked up at 1030am the Sunday morning the water was already flowing and we wasted no time and hit the water. God bless the invention of conveyor belts which mean you can keep paddling all day without every needing to leave the water.

So entry to the course cost $35 a day and you must pay a $20 deposit for the numbered bib you have to wear. Boat hire from HorizonLines was $60 a day and you gear a boat, paddle, BA and helmet, if you are there for more than a day they do a discount for your second and subsequent days of $30 a day. The gear is basic but the boat I got was an almost brand new Jackson Rockstar, we likey by the way! Camping at Emu Plains was very basic (as in just some random waste land on the side of the caravan park but cost $38 a night.

(Super-niall)

(Plenty of raft carnage)

An awesome 2500km+ round trip for some paddling that after 7 months was a welcome little spin, I'll never ever complain about a shuttle or the spin to the river ever again. See you all on a river at home soon, Mike.

Italy

2011-06-21T22:59:00.003+01:00

We arrived in Campertogno to glorious sunshine and celebrated our arrival with a quick dip followed by a quick spin on the river from campsite down. The first few days saw enjoyable runs in the sunshine. However this was to change as the rain set in for a few days with a plus of bringing levels up.

Due to the rain there was plenty water available and we jumped on the classic raft run. It was a great run tons of water making for super waves to play on the whole way down!! Paddled the Gronde for a perfect end to the day. The Gronde is a super run with many fun drops and slides to keep you on your toes.

Enjoyed one last coffee before hitting the road for France. The highlights of Italy is of course the paddling, the friendly people and the great ice cream!! I look forward to returning to Italy next year. J

Thanks to Muirs for the photos.

See you on the water.

Ais J

Cork Rodeo 2010

2011-05-06T14:16:00.001+01:00

At long, long last I got around to narrowing down two and a half hours of video into about 5mins of footage with some music. Here we have it. It was recorded using a home made Jib arm attached to my tripod during last years Cork Rodeo. The video is also available in HD. The main track on the video is from Irish rapper RíRá, as we made our way to the event in Tony's car that morning the track came on as part of an interview with Tommy and Hector on RTE Radio 2! The credits tune I stole from the Young Guns Productions movie New Reign, Its Try by the Sweatshop Union. Any ways hope you all enjoy the video sorry it took sooooo long!

Surfs Up - UCC Paddlesurf Intro Day

2011-03-29T11:08:00.006+01:00

We got the sun, we got the waves, the people turned up :)
Last Sunday, UCC Kayak Club held a Surf Training day for the club members.
It was a great opportunity for the club to use their shiney new plastic surf kayaks, a Mega Neutron and a Mega X-ray and also to get some waves in the clubs new Wavesport Project X.

Top Waveskier Marty McCann left the Arctic Climate of Donegal for his first tropical trip to Cork to help coach everyone, don't worry, he as only granted a temporary Visa :)

We started off with some on the beach work, a quick run
through the basics and then the mayhem and fun began, all to the water to grab some waves.

Smiles, screams, fear, delight, all happening almost instantly as people grabbed some waves.
Some more coaching, tips and general banter followed and then a big freesurf to finish off a sweet day.

So whats next?
More waveski, kayaksurf days anyway hopefully.

Are you interested?
Check out www.paddlesurf.ie for event days, or ask in the shop about equipment and local surfers who could give tips and pointers.

All pics courtesy of DaveP, thanks Dave :)

Curragower Event 3

2011-03-21T19:01:00.004Z

We got up bright and early and made our way to Curragower for event 3 of the IFS League. There was a good turn out on the day despite the overcast cold weather. It was great to see a good turn out from the ladies too!There was time for a few quick practice runs before the comp. Had been really looking forward to see how the project x was on a wave. I was not disappointed, it was great supper fast and so nice on a wave :) I am already looking forward to the next trip to gower.

Thanks to Tom D for organising the event and thanks to donie for the photos

Paddlesurf.ie League Event 1: Tullan, Co.Donegal

2011-03-08T14:06:00.002Z

Paddlesurf.ie Comp 1 - Tullan, Donegal

The 2011 Irish Paddlesurf year kicked off at Tullan strand with small but super clean waves.
The day started early with everyone making the trip down the beach with hooters, tents, flags, waveski's, HP and IC boats.

Heats, Reps and Finals all went off quickly with a noticeable improvement in surfing from all regular competitors and some great surfing from some newcomers.
Even on the small waves, it can be seen people are hungry for airtime.

Sunday was a training day with Waveskier Marty McCann providing tips to anyone who wanted them and giving feedback and lessons for people to take home and practice.

Great weekend, good surfing and excellent training for all.
There was a great showing in the results from the Cork crowd as can be seen below. :)

International Class
1) James O'donnell (Donegal)
2) Paddy McGovern (Dublin)
3) Mickey Barry (Cork)
4) Aisling Griffin (Cork)

High Performace
1) Mickey Barry (Cork)
2) Brendan Barry (Cork)
3) Conor O'Donnell (Donegal)
4) Kieran McDyre (Donegal)

Waveski
1) Marty McCann (Donegal)
2) Mark Taylor (Fermanagh)
3) Brendan Barry (Cork)
4) Declan O'Donnell (Donegal)

Queenstown Wafting

2011-03-07T10:36:00.003Z

Just back from a weeks holiday on New Zealand's South Island. I was hoping to get a paddle on a river or two while I was there and while the closest I came was passing four guys getting off a river in the pitch dark in the middle of the night, I did manage to clamber aboard a raft for a spin down the Shotover River outside of Queenstown with Queenstown Rafting. And while the gear definitely dosen't make you look cool and the water was far from warm with the first fall of snow in the mountains for the winter season the night before, the trip was deadly.
The road in to Skippers Canyon was almost as exciting as the rafting, the bends in the road the sides of which were sheer drops off into the canyon, all were named with titles to rival the names of the rapids on the river! Our Guide for the day was Tom a guide from Hokitika on the West Coast, Tom has also worked on the Zam, the nile as well as most parts of the French and Italian Alps, we had alot more than most of the others on the raft to talk about, its a very small community with us whitewater folk!

The river was pretty good there were only about 7 or 8 rapids to speak of but it ran through some pretty cold gold mining country side and the trip is well worth it as a whole. Trips with Queenstown rafting are around NZ$185 and leave from Arthur's Point. If you are looking to paddle in the area without arriving with gear then you best make some arrangements before you arrive otherwise I was advised that the only place to rent gear on the South Island was around Murchison, where the Buller Whitewater Festival was taking place that same week! just my luck eh? Till next time Mike out. PS. I have been reasonably assured that the Cork rodeo footage is winging its way to Australia on a hard drive in the mail as we speak, so the video minus the Expert rounds (thanks Jack!) will be up shortly!

2010-12-17T10:31:00.002Z

Gul Viper 3/2

I’ve had this suit since April, and have been wearing it right through the summer and only changed to my winter suit when the recent cold snap arrived. So I’ve gotten 6 months of the year out of it. First off, the construction is quite impressive with lots of well thought out features, the grippers at the wrists and ankles are really good at preventing flushes, and zip-over flap/collar with smooth-skin neoprene lining is also well able to keep out the flushes. The neoprene is nice and soft, and even for a summer suit it’s very easy to move in, so much so that I spent an awful lot of the summer doing open water swims in it (upto 2km, and I wasn’t holding anybody up), as I was training for a triathlon. I eventually bought a tri-suit, but the vast majority of them were really stiff and fitted badly in comparison to this suit – the tri-boys could learn a thing or 2 from Gul!! I also really liked to liquid seams, as you can see that they’re never going to let water in.
In terms of keeping me warm, zero problems – I got 6 months of the year out of my summer suit – Happy Days!! If anything, it might have been a bit too toasty on some of the very warm days, I’ve been meaning to get a new shorty for a while now, and hope to sort it out soon - Gul Profile 3/2.
If you’re going to surf all year round in Ireland, then having 2 suits is the way forward. Wearing a winter suit all year round will only mean you’ll overheat in the summer, and not feel warm enough in the depths of winter (making you less likely to get out there, and we often get great days during the winter, way more so than in summer!!).

Brendan Barry.

2010-12-09T10:31:00.004Z

WaterTech Speedy:

Where to start…. Well first and foremost the Speedy lives up to its’ name, it rockets down the line and will make sections that many boats will struggle with. I’ve had mine for over 2 years and it’s been great. I’ve had it out in all sorts of conditions and it has never let the side down – pity I can’t say the same! I have surfed a meaty Crab Island in it – awesome!! and I lived to tell the tale. On a couple of those waves, I should have been creamed, but I was able to tuck in and let the boats speed carry me down the line and away from what would have been a very unpleasant beating.
The build quality is good, I have the Shocktech construction, and 2 years later it’s performing just aswell as when I got it. The fittings are good – great backband. The backband might not be adjustable on the fly, like many of the ratchet ones that freestyle boats use, but it does provide plenty of support and will never slip. The feet are your standard foam blocks, no problems here. The knee position is quite good, and the cockpit rim is shaped a little to hold your knees, not something you see in many surf-kayaks. I glued in some foam here to increase the grip available for my knees.
Performance, given that it has a relatively high volume tail and the seat is a little more in the middle than some of the newer designs, it is a boat for carrying speed down the line, and it suffers a little when it comes to seriously hard carving, so if you want air, you’ll need to be a little more thoughtful and precise in order to get it off the lip. I’ve been using close outs as ramps, and it’s best suited to slightly flatter waves but airmiles are possible. The upshot of it’s seating position is that it’s a little easier to land upright and the beatings are a little tamer, than they would if all your weight was right above the tail, as it is with most newer designs which are closer to waveskis. The bow has quite a bit of volume and this can be used to throw big forward loops, a nice way to take-off?! The Future fins it comes with are great, and the fin boxes are very solid, I’ve had no trouble with mine, despite a couple of harder than intended landings. The placement of the fins works well as they are right under the seat, and as previously stated it’s a great boat for getting down the line.

Brendan Barry

Colligan Gorge Games 2010

2010-11-22T19:36:00.004Z

So just over a week ago we loaded up the Munster Dive and Canoe van at silly o'clock in the morning and headed off to Waterford for the Colligan Gorge Games. Recent years have shown this to be one of the highlights of the Irish calendar, and this year proved no different. Levels were a little down on last year, but still high enough to cushion most of the rocks, making it a fun level. The freezing cold and drizzle were enough to make any sane person think twice, so naturally none of us gave it another thought, we were in!

First up was the individual race. Groups of up to 5 raced head to head down, with the fastest 2 advancing to the next round. In the ladies expert there was some serious competition here, things got vicious! ;) In the men's Mickey and Bryan battled it out in the same heat where pride was at stake, with Mick advancing to the next round.

After the individual heats, it was time for the teams! Tasks this year were to roll half way up the course in the "Tony" eddy, to catch the little eddy above the final drop, and to wave to the judges half way down the final drop. Nice smooth lines all round here, people were really starting to get into their stride.

Then time for the individual finals. This time things really did get serious for us, no time to stop for photos or group hugs this time round! I unfortunately got caught on an eddyline half way down, and it was just enough for Ais and Erica to both scoot past me, so I finished up in a disappointing 4th. Ais finished 2nd tho, so not all bad! Eoin also finished 1st in the Junior Men's final, so plenty of good results for the team.

Finally, the prizegiving, and the team results. The MDAC ladies team of myself, Ais and Bryan (he's a lady - honest!) finished up 1st in the Ladies Expert, and Eoin's team came 1st in Junior Men.
After that all that was left was the party. As usual, it didn't fail to disappoint! Will definitely be back for this one next year :)

Thanks to Damian for the pics!

Christmas Wishlist

2010-11-19T08:43:00.027Z

Hi All,

So in the run up to the Festive period, the team has decided we would post a quick little review on our favourite pieces of kit we have got over the past few years.

Check in store for more info on any of the kit below.

1. 5 -10 Canyoneer Boots - €120

I think we have finally found the holy grail of river running foot wear. My favourite bit of gear this

season are the new 5-10 Canyoneers - they are simply the sturdiest and gripiest river shoe on the

market. The little extra features are well thought out too. If you are considering this as your choice

of river shoe just make sure that they suit your boat. These are uncompromising river/creeking

boots so won't fit into most smaller boats.

The bits I love the most

Super grippy rubber on the souls, the uncompromising foot and ankle support offered in the stiff

soul and wall construction, a cushioned snug interior (my feet don't slide around at all) and, my

favourite clever little bit, the buckle system. This buckling system uses buckles - not laces - this

means the buckles stay fastened and snug around your feet until your want to open them. Fantastic!

Yes, the days of compromising and choosing between poor slippy rubber, bugger all ankle/foot

support, clever lacing systems that don't work and (my pet hate) very very silly hard bits on shoe

soles (that make you fall on your a$£e if you need to go rock hopping in a hurry) can now be over.

Rejoice!

Available in Store at €120

2. Snapdragon Armortex Skirt W Implosion Bar - €169.00

The Snapdragon Armortex deck is not only the latest bit of kit I've acquired buts its also probably one of the best. For a few years I had stuck with the tried and tested Playboater decks, they were cheap and did the job pretty well. It was when I experienced a partly deck explosion out in the surf one day that I started to question the ability of the deck to put up with lots of surface water pressing down on it. The elastic band had started to become loose and I found it not fitting the Wavesport Project as well as when it was new, also small leakage at the start was now significantly worse but this was after about 2 of intensive use also I would put down part of the blame for this on the Projects cockpit rim where the deck didn't always snap on at the hips something I hope is rectified on the new Project X.

So enter the Armortex Deck with implosion bar from SnapDragon. At almost twice the price of the Playboater decks its definitely worth every penny. It comprises of a 3mm Neoprene layer with another 1mm of Armortex around the cockpit rim as far as your hips to protect the forward facing, most normally abused areas your deck. The Armortex is much stronger and tougher material that has replaced the previously popular kevlar material in other products such as bulletproof vests. The deck its self is made from one piece of material with the only sewing around where the waist tunnel is attached, this makes it a lot drier. Under the lip of the deck where the deck contacts with the cockpit and at the top of the waist tunnel, a layer of Latex keeps the deck stuck to your boat and around your waist so theres no slipping down of the tunnel. Its got a strong rugged grab handle but by far and away the best feature is the Implosion Bar. Integrated into the fabric of the deck is sits comfortably across the edges of your cockpit about half way down your front deck. I haven't tried in on many boats but it fits well on the Wavesport Project 62 and LiquidLogic Jefe Grande both quiet big boats. I've taken some heavy waves on my deck since and it hasn't budged where as I used almost feel the wave press down on my legs inside the boat with other decks. Unfortunately the Bar will prevent you from inserting any type of Over-thrusterso keep that in mind but the same deck can be got without the bar.

So if you are looking for a solid new deck as a stocking filler for Xmas you won't go far wrong with the SnapDragon Armortex. As always treat your gear well and it'll look after you too always wash your deck after use in salt or fresh water.

In Stock at €169.00

3. Teva leather mid Event boots - €139.00

When I saw the Teva leather mid Event boots in the shop I knew I would most likely be buying a pair.

My current work boots were on the way out after 4 years of hard work and I had replaced them with

another pair. For working in the hills the new ones were a bit chunky. But I had also been thinking

about an everyday waterproof shoe/ boot that I could wear driving, walking around cork, doing stuff

around the shop e.t.c

The first thing I noticed about the Teva leather mid boots was the comfort. They are VERY comfy. So

much so that, I’ve been wearing them pretty much every day. This brings us on to the next issue.

Smell. There is none. I mean it! Normally after a few hours in hiking boots and especially after

walking hard in them there’s a bit of a pong. Not in these, and it’s because of the Event liner Teva

have used in the boot. Event is a fabric comparable to Gore-Tex. I have an Event mountain Jacket

made by RAB and its one of the best jackets I own. A U.S army equipment test a few years ago

found Event more breathable than Gore-Tex (which is still an awesome fabric by the way!)

But back to the boots. The Event liner is really breathable so no sweaty feet.

The outside of the boot is made of full grain leather so it’s very supple. I had thought they would

get scuffed easily but they have taken a lot of abuse since I got them and still look great. The softer

leather means the boots can be worn straight out of the box and don’t need breaking in at all, which

is nice. It also means the boots get lovely and warm quite quickly.

And they are very waterproof. When Mark asked me to write a review I said ‘right I’m going to test

the hell out of these’.

Walking through wet grassy fields, PASS
Standing in bogs digging a landrover out of a hole, PASS
Putting on after a day in the river and being all warm and dry, PASS
Weekend in the Comeragh mountains, PASS
Walking around Kanuemesse for two days, PASS

Explaining the merits of Event to the dog, not sure she appreciated the lesson.

The sole of these boots is made of Vibram rubber, something I always look for in a boot. In these

boots it’s a nice soft sole so wearing them doesn’t feel like wearing a pair of boots. The sole also has

an inbuilt shock pad which transfers the energy of your step throughout the foot bed and away from

the heel. So no sore ankles after a day on the hill.

They are available in a shoe version but I prefer the boot, it gives more support and means you can

splash in deeper puddles.

To clean them I wipe the mud off with a damp cloth and to re-proof them (which I have as yet not

needed to do) I’ll be using Nikwax fabric and leather spray to keep them in good nick.

I’ll be defiantly getting another pair of these boots, but that probably won’t be for a while. Not if the

durability of these is anything to go by.

Retailing at €139.00

4. MK25 S600 Scubapro - €550.00

When I go diving, I consider the most important piece of equipment I bring to be my regulators – an

MK25 S600 Scubapro, air balanced flow-through piston regulator.

Yes, masks need to be a good fit for a dive or they will leak, and of course a BCD that is the wrong

size will be uncomfortable. But, we can clear mask on a dive, and even dive without them in an

emergency, and a BCD can be tightened and will still due it’s job until the end of a dive. A regulator

however cannot be adjusted underwater, hence why I dive with something that I trust and performs

no matter what depth, no matter what the conditions.

I have my regulator for almost 9 years. With a bit of attention after every dive, and servicing every

year it is still performing as well as it did the day it came out of the box. The MK25 first stage is still

considered one of the best 1st stages available on the market. It gives instant delivery of air, which

is important when fighting strong currents or when a student/buddy is using an alternate air source

for a skill or emergency. Coupled with the S600, the resistance to breathing is very little, meaning a

diver can breathe very comfortably with very little effort and relax for the entire dive.

The design of the 1st stage means that it is suitable for a variety of purposes. The two HP (High

Pressure) ports set on the main block of the regulator mean you can have a transmitter as well as an

analogue SPG in case of computer failure. The 5 LP (Low Pressure) ports on a 360o swivel mean you

can have a primary, secondary and low pressure inflator hose in a variety of positions. The remaining

2 ports could be used for people needing a dry suit inflator hose or those venturing into technical

diving.

Whatever area of diving you find yourself deciding to take – recreational, technical, temperate or

warm water – the MK25 S600 is a versatile and dependable regulator. Scubapro’s combination of

MK25 S600 has only recently been surpassed by the MK25 A700 combination, a second stage with

breathing performance unmatched by any other manufacturer. Scubapro have manufactured a

better second stage, but the MK25 first stage is still one of the leading regulators in the world. If

someone handed me an MK25 S600 to go diving, I would be very happy.

5.PeakUK Combi Topdeck - €215.00

5 years. I've been using this one piece of kit for 5 years now folks. And i am only considering replacing it now. I have taken care of it, which has helped its longevity, but 5 years is astonishing for any piece of kit, especially kit which I own. I'm notoriously hard on gear. Its also a piece of kit i have worn all year round and still remained warm and comfortable.

So about the kit, its a topdeck, meaning that the cag is attached to the deck. There is nothing more comfortable and allowing more freedom of movement for a kayaker than a topdeck. Freestylers, Surf Kayakers, Slalom Paddlers, all these competitive disciplines top paddlers are all using topdecks to cut down on the weight of gear they wear and allow greater movement.

They are also generally drier as there is a nowhere between the cag and deck for cold water to sneak its way in.

The Peak Combi Top Deck is a shortsleeved top deck. "Not for Winter" i hear you say.

Winter is fine, i've worn this top in the coldest january's as i have to break ice off my boat before i go paddling. It comes with attachable neoprene sleeves that fit onto the cag over the latex gaskets on the upper arm.

The combi cag also comes with a front mesh pocket, which is handy for storing the sleeves if you get too warm, or i use it for storing another set of fins for my surf kayak so io can swap and change depending on conditions, and a mars bar of course.

And now back to the longevity of this, 5 years. Nice :)

6. Wavesport Diesel - €999

When I cracked my Diesel 65 in France 18 months ago I was very upset, because up til then it was my favourite of all the river running boats I'd ever tried. I knew there were plans to replace it with a new model; and I thought, a replacement can never be as good - right? Well I was right, the Diesel 70 isn't as good, it's better! It seems to have kept all the bits I loved about the old boat, and tweaked just enough to make a nicer overall boat. Still got that same feeling of "don't worry, I'll look after you" when stuff gets big or steep, but also still just as fun to surf and spin in the holes and waves along the way. The 6 inches of extra length and the little extra volume makes it fast, very fast. This took a bit of getting used to, I spent my first few rivers hiting rocks upstream of the eddies I was aiming for, because I never thought I'd get there that quick, but now that I've learned to control it, it makes it a whole lot of fun! Still just as comfortable, I really do think the Wavesport outfitting is up there with the best of them, and the slightly cutout back centre pillar means I can easily fit all the required gear behind the seat out of the way, it'll take a pelicase, splits and first aid kit no problem, and still have enough volume that it boosts out of holes upright at speed rather than tail squirting out like the old one used to on occasion.

7.Waterproof Draco - €1099.00

After five years of heavy scuba diving my drysuit gave up the ghost. This led me to look for a new

drysuit.

I did the usual looking around all the websites, message boards etc. and came up with the decision

that the 2010 version of my old suit is the best for what I was looking for.

After a dozen dry dives so far I have found that nothing can match the 3,5mm Special Hi-Dense

Crushed Neoprene with SD Toughtex lining.

Loaded with features this suit brings it all. Kevlar reinforced and angled boot, zip armoured dry

zipper, Seal Armour System, embossed and PU-reinforced shoulders and double power pockets to

mention a few.

Available in standard men's & ladies sizes with a price tag of €1099.00

8. Wavesport Project X ( Not a review, but its out soon, and i really really want one ) - €899 + €50 voucher for another item in store if ordered before 24/12/2010

Identified as an international competition fiend and a longstanding leader in playboat design, Wave Sport expands for the 2011 season with the fully redesigned and much-anticipated premier of the new Wave Sport Project X. The Project X’s highly refined design, new volume distribution and outfitting system make it the ultimate in performance and visual excitement. Created to drive the evolution of freestyle paddling, the Project X will make its public debut this weekend at GauleyFest, Sept. 17-19, 2010 in Summersville, W. Va.

“The Project X represents a half-decade of freestyle research from the world’s top kayak design team,” explained Bryan Kirk, team manager for Wave Sport and top-ranked world freestyle championship competitor. “We have truly discovered a new benchmark in paddler control both on waves and holes, with absolutely no sacrifices,” he added.

The new boat is a major evolution of the original Project and homage to the legacy of the X, however it is not a melding of the two popular designs. With a completely new look, new aggressive performance features, and a blazing white outfitting system, this boat delivers the extreme whitewater performance for which Wave Sport is known.

According to Wave Sport’s lead designer, Robert Peerson, the progressive rocker shape of the Project X hull, combined with the new volume distribution, puts the Project X in new territory for performance and comfort. “The Project X is finely tuned to maintain speed, give explosive pop, offer easier release, and provide smooth control over any wave for easier execution of moves,” he said. “More volume has been added around the knees,
which allows for control, maximum comfort, and a slicier performance at the ends.”

In addition, new sizing options, combined with the improved volume distribution, give a broad range of paddlers even greater comfort and control. “It delivers in all whitewater conditions,” Peerson said.

The stunning “WhiteOut” outfitting system lets paddlers hit the rapids in a one-of-a-kind, dazzling all-white material. The unmistakable wallpaper logo pattern contrasts with the fabric for a visual that’s almost as much fun to stare at as it is to get in. The unique vinyl covering the seat, hip-pads, backband, and thigh braces is also water-repellant, meaning less dry time and better mildew control.

Wave Sport’s new Project X will be available in store in January 2011.

You can pre-book yours now :)

Specs and Pricing

Length

Width

Weight Range

Boat Weight

MSRP

Project X 48

5’9”

25”

100-170 lbs.

31 lbs.

€899

Project X 56

5’11”

25.75”

140-210 lbs.

32 lbs.

€899

Project X 64

6’1”

26.5”

180-250 lbs.

34 lbs.

€899

Home Internationals and British Open

2010-11-05T23:30:00.003Z

Last week we loaded up the Munster Dive and Canoe Van and headed north to Portrush to take part in the Home Internationals and the British Open. The Republic of Ireland team was made up of Wayne Timmons, Kieran McDyre, Muireann Lynch, Dennis Mcdyre, Mickey Barry, Eoin Keyes, James O’Donnell, Brendan Barry, Greg Heffernan and myself. As we stepped from the van it felt very like winter with a very cutting wind. At the start of the week the waves were small, so Tuesday was spent as a training day surfing at Portballintra Beach. We even managed to fit in a trip to the Giant’s Causeway.

The competition was held at White Rocks beach just a little outside Portrush itself. There were four teams in total - England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and ourselves. Every competitor had two heats. Things kicked off early on Wednesday morning with waves that were still on the small side. The juniors, women’s and masters went ahead and, as conditions were not getting any better, it was then called off until the following day.

On Thursday the men had to do all their heats in one day and the junior, women and masters finished our last heats. The waves had picked up by then - much to everybody’s delight. Scores between ourselves and Scotland were very close throughout the competition. The end result came right down to the final heats, making for a nail biting finish! The team was a nice mix of experienced competitors and newbie competitors (like myself!!) and I found this event very useful as I got to see what the standard is and you always learn lot from just taking part in the competition itself.

We placed 3rd in the overall placing - well done to all the team!

Some of us soldiered on to take part in the British Open as well as that was being held in the same location. The waves were good, making for an enjoyable competition, even if my bones were aching! It was great to take part in another competition and I really enjoyed the fun waves. There was some great surfing to watch and some beat downs that got a few laughs! Eoin came 4th in the Junior Hp Final and I came 3rd in the ladies Ic Final.

Roll on the worlds in the States! (Sponsorship anyone??!!)

Thanks to Mark for lending us the van for the week, The Northern Irish Crew for putting on 2 super events, Wayne our team mammy, all the Team and also to Aileen for taking all the fab photos!

See you on the water
Aisling :)

Home Internationals and British Open

2010-11-05T23:27:00.002Z

Sluice Rodeo

2010-10-21T12:16:00.005+01:00

After many weekends spent in the surf we swopped our surf boats for play boats and headed to the Sluice Rodeo last weekend. Levels were good with nice bright sunshine for the day. There was a great turn out and super to see so many people out enjoying the water. The event showed how much fun freestyle can be as heats took the form of 15 minutes instead of the usual double 45 second turns. The longer heat gave each competitor tons of goes in the feature. This ensured that everybody got a chance and heats usually started with the smaller moves with people then trying for the bigger moves! This was a good crowd pleaser and great to see everybody pushing themselves.

Thanks to Adrian D for organising a Great event and to Shane for a fun party!!

Ais :)

www.PADDLESURF.ie Irish Open - Waveski and Surfkayak

2010-10-15T10:24:00.004+01:00

Irish Open
After a week of some of the best swells to hit Irelands west coast, waves went missing and the location of the Irish open had to be changed from Easkey, Co.Sligo to Tullan in Donegal.
The waves on the day were small and just about contestable.
However this made everyone work harder and some managed some impressive rides on these small waves doing their best to impress the judges.
The event went really well with Sunny weather, a chilled out atmosphere, international competitors and many familiar and new faces to this annual Irish Event.
The event formed part of the league supported by Watertech and Munster Dive and Canoe, big thanks to both.
Results, more info on this event and more info on Surf Kayak and Waveski can be found at www.paddlesurf.ie

Kanumesse 2010

2010-10-12T09:27:00.018+01:00

So Mark, Brian and Meself made the annual pilgrimage to Kanumesse last week.
Kanumesse is the International Paddlesports tradeshow where all the manufacturers and distributers get to show off what is new and exciting and try and promote sales for this next year.

One of the main reasons everyone goes to Kanumesse is the parties, stand parties each evening, and one big party in the week. But there was also lots and lots of new toys to see.
Here's what i found interesting at the show.

Wavesport:
Wavesport had the full fleet there. But the Project X was probably the star of Kanumesse getting lots of attention. These bad boys are gonna be hot and shift fast. I've mine booked, and if you want one, i'd say get your order in Early. Due in Ireland late February.
The one in the pic is the 56 size, middle of the group. Fitted me like a roomy glove :)
Best to just check out www.wavesport.ning.com for more info on it, it has me excited

Wilderness Systems:

Mad River Canoe:

Pyranha:
Pyranha had their usual ware and also this prototype for a new boat. The Loki.
Harks back to the old days of long and slicey, but now without the ultra squished feet.
Should be a zippy little wave boat.

This boat had Brian so excited that he forgot to hide away his Man Bag for the photo, how embarassing :)

P&H:

FeelFree:
Mark Testing out Feelfree's new uber comfy SOT seat.
After sitting in it myself, i'd be happy with this as a living room chair, real nice.

PeakUK:
Peak had their range of well priced solid kit with them. Some minor changes to all the gear.
This year they are introducing screen printing onto gear for companies and teams, and custom colours in some of the kits for teams. Pretty sweet for all the competitive folk out there.
Also, the Running/Cycling multisport kit is still around. Some nice stuff there, especially the 3/4 length strides.

Valley:
Two new surf boats.
The HP( Short Red one ) boat follows on from Valleys previous HP boats with good size and aggressive rail.
It now has a shaloow V in the back of the hull which should make snapping quick turn real nice.

The longer IC boat was really impressive. A break from the normal slightly rounded hull IC boats that have speed but sort of slide about on the wave. This one features and all out speed demon double concave pintail hull.
I want it!!! Simple as that.

Big Dog:
Its nice to see someone doing something different. Big Dog introducing a new squirt boat and OC1 playboat.
Also a redesign of their Kaos playboat.

Watertech:
Watertech introduce Waveski's to their surf kayak lineup.
The one i'm pointing at is their fancy custom ski, altho, the black ski behind it is the W-easy, featuring the same hull as their Bandit surf kayak, and easy to paddle for everyone.
I'd love to try both of them out.
The boat lying down to the right of the photo is the ONA, already ripping it up worldwide and here in Ireland.
mmmmmmmm.

Naish:
Kanumesse this year had an SUP( Stand Up Paddle ) Expo also,
we went to visit Naish, were asked did we know Bono( of course we do, we're irish, now gimme some spuds ), and we ogled all their lovely gear.
Other SUP brands were also there in force, proving that even tho SUPer numbers are on the rise, we are gonna see an explosion in them.

___________________________________________________________
As well as all the above:

We got lost

Ate in a really dodgy bar

And snoozed away our sick heads on the flight home.

THE END :)

2010-09-21T00:26:00.005+01:00

Here it is......... Alps 2010

If the video is too big just click on it to go to the YouTube page.

For those interested I edited this with Sony Vegas Pro 8.0. Its a nice program easy to use and a big step up in production values from Windows Movie Maker. Music by Wale - Freaks (Bird Peterson remix). All the footage was shot with the Sanyo Xacti WH1. Gotta get me one of those GoPro HD Heros soon, Dear Santa.......

Open Canoe Symposium 2010

2010-09-16T21:16:00.002+01:00

Quick little plug for an event for an event coming up in October..........

Ireland's Open Canoe Symposium 2010

Dates: 2nd & 3rd of October 2010

Location: Graiguenamanagh, Co. Kilkenny. (The river Barrow)

Irish Canoe Kayak are hosting the first Irish open canoe symposium. More details via their website

http://irishcanoekayak.com/canoe-symposium-2010/

Alps 2010

2010-07-10T22:03:00.007+01:00

Alps 2010

I'll keep this short and sweet. Tony and myself left it quiet late to head for the Alps this year. We set off on the ferry on June 17th and were glad to arrive in the paddling mecca of l'Argentiere after 3 months of no water at home. The weather in France had been hectic in the weeks before we got out but levels had returned to almost normal in most rivers bar the Guil and a few others. We hooked up with our good friends in UCC and paddled a few rivers and shared more than a few beers each night. The first week was bitterly cold and sleep was pretty rough we were glad when the weather cleared and we got to work on our tans.

After the lads left us to head home we headed up to the Ubaye Race Course where we spent a few days running the river and hanging out in La lauzet which is the nice small town and the get out of the race course and get on of the gorge, the pub there had some "interesting" Ruby Leffe on tap and the line of credit the bar tender gave us made for a very interesting night . On our last run we decided to bust out the new WITKC Club water proof camera, we fashioned a rig of sorts made up of a tripod and two roof straps fastened to the back of my lovely new Jefe Grande (see below). The footage came out pretty well but the file sizes are huge to stay tuned for that footage later.

Luckily I didn't have to roll on the race course but the following day on the Slalom Course in l'Argentiere I went over and took three attempts before I managed it and took a fairly hefty blow to the back of the head. Feeling a little groggy and at a loss for what to do for the next few days we headed over the mountains in search of a river Colin Wong had told us about one night the Germanasca. The river was just about 2hrs max up and over the mountain into Italy and well worth the spin thanks wongy!

We spent the last few days camped up beside the Gyr in Vallouise, enjoying some normal Leffe in the local hotel by night. The campsite there is much nicer than the one in Argentiere minus the slalom course and worth a stay for a night or two in future. All in all it was a very good trip,nothing crazy and I will look forward again to my return to France. For now its summer and I'm home so the heavy rains can't be far away, so bring on the summer paddling season, I'll be guarding the waters in Clonea for the summer if anyone is around say hello. Stay tuned for video to come soon............

Corsica 2010

2010-05-04T11:43:00.005+01:00

April 2010 saw my first kayaking trip to Corsica and certainly not my last.
Kayak Session boss Phillipe Doux and friends were on hand to help anyone planning the trip and helped us get sorted with where to stay and provided a handy Corsica river guide.
http://www.kayaksession.com/corsica-kayak-festival.php

Mickey, Eoin, Dave, Jim and Will enjoying a Brewski after the 16km Upper and Middle Rizzanese

Our trip began the best way a trip can, completely unorganised and everything done on the fly. No plans, just go with the flow, so we all arrived in Nice, grabbed a rental car and headed for the Corsica Ferries. ( If you plan a corsica trip, get the rental car in Corsica, the day we handed back our car was the day we read the terms and it states that cars are strictly not allowed in Corsica )
So we loaded up our new born car, we got it with only 6km on the clock, and headed off.

The Car, The Mickey and the Donkey

Our first river day was the lower Golo, a brilliant warm up run with some nice rapids to help get us into the Corsica style of paddling.

Will running the Weir on the Lower Golo

Day two was the Upper Golo, great run but was a little low, some nice drops, and great scenery.

Our first big day was Day 3 on the Middle Vecchio, this is a long boulder strewn, undercut and siphon filled run. It was tiring paddling, but an awesome day.

Each day we were hitting new rivers, Middle Fium Orbo, Upper Fium Orbo, and then it was Travo day.
What a river, good fun, some nice big straight forward drops. Some grade 5 portages. and just good craic.

Eoin on the First of the Amphitheatre drops on the Travo

Its a few weeks after the trip now. But some things have really been burnt into my mind as great experiences. The Kayak Session Party at Ernella, The Rizzanese, The Codi, the Turtle Farm Adventure, and the Adventure home after cancelled flights.

Heroes in a Half Shell

The Kayak Session party was organised to entertain all the paddlers in the area. Each night of the week, paddling films were shown and at the end, a giant shindig, with Music from the local rebel band( very similar to rebel irish music ), a big traditional corsican dinner, and much tomfoolery and feck acting, which of course we had nothing to do with. It was awesome with Kayakers from all over Europe seeing who could out party who.Kayak Session Party

The next memorable moments were the Rizzanese and the Codi. Two amazing and commiting rivers. Both rivers are due to be dammed, so they were both on the must do list, and both were also my two favourite rivers of the trip. They featured the biggest drops and the most bang for your buck on Corsica, if they are still running this time next year, i will be back to give them one last run, but it looks doubtful.Dave on the Rizzanese

Jim on the RizzaneseMickey on the Rizzanese
Finally, the trip home, on arriving at Nice airport, we learned that the icelandic people were involved in setting off a Volcano to scupper our Triumphant return home. I felt bad for everyone else in Europe seeing has how the Icelandic peoples unprovoked attack on us made everything difficult for peope elsewhere. This prompted us to put on our thinking caps, which we found after much rummaging through our gear. The decision, rent a little van, make a roof rack, and drive across France to Cherbourg for the ferry. With the worlds finest make shift rack, plenty of coffee, and everything loaded, we sped, in 4th gear( 5th wouldn't work due to overweight gear ) through the night.

The length of France in 4th Gear, poor little peugeot

We finally arrived home, sleep deprived a few days after our expected hometime, TAKE THAT ICELAND!!!!

I would recommend Corsica to anyone looking for a challenge in Whitewater, but a solid group should be comfortable on most runs. There is also plenty of intermediate runs and aside from the paddling, Corsica is still a pretty cool place.
Also, bring an Irish flag, and chat to the locals, they know more about our history than you'd believe, and they are good craic too :)

Weather many march blah blah blah Its still cold!!!!

2010-03-31T23:46:00.007+01:00

After the first sign of decent rain in a long long long! time we set off for a paddle. The mountains again lightly covered in snow, the air temp freezing and intermittent spells rain, hail, sleet, snow and sunshine! We hit the always reliable Colligan for a little paddle. Plenty of people on the scene Aidan, Paul, Gráinne, Eoin and myself. 3 or 4 runs of the gorge catching some eddies and splashing water at each other and we were toast. I also got to take my shiney new river toy, a ginger liquid logic jefe grande. She is certainly bigger and heavier than my old Huck and I'm feeling it in the legs this evening after all the walks back up the gorge. Thats it for now here are some pics.......

The Comeraghs lightly powdered

There was lots of this............ Walking and posing, Click!

Paul and Aidan

And a wee bit of paddling!

So more rain please. Meantime surf Friday!

mikef

Tuam Fun Rodeo

2010-02-20T20:37:00.012Z

Tuam Fun Rodeo

Big thanks to Andrew Regan and others for organising the fun rodeo event in Tuam on 17th January 2010. The event was a training event for freshers from NUIG, GMIT and other beginners in freestyle. A couple of other more capable paddlers were also on the scene throwing off all their usual collection of big moves. The event on the day kicked off around 2pm in the coldest water I'd say I've ever paddled in, take 2 seconds to long to roll and you were sure to get a very serious brain freeze! The rodeo as a very informal event no entry fee, no prizes just good craic and a bit of music. Plenty of beginners showed up out numbering the expert class entry as seems to be the norm lately which is good. Anyway I won't go on, a good time was had thanks to the Galway boys again for that. Here are a few more photos from the day.

Paddy lining it up

Styling the loop here with only one hand on the paddle!

Cathal doing a big loop in Andrew's boat

Barry Loughnane mid-flight

Kev enjoying a snack bankside

New toy :)

2009-12-21T09:26:00.002Z

Desparation is a terrible thing! I picked up my new Diesel 70 on Friday, and despite it being one of the coldest weeks all year I just had to get it out on the water over the weekend. Unfortunately there wasn't much water anywhere, mostly just snow and ice. Brr!

Having settled on the Castleconnel section of the Shannon as one of few places with water, and persuaded some other poor misfortunates to come with me, we then had to spend a while taking ice off our gear. I'd left my booties in the car overnight, and they were crunchy when I took them out - nice! For once I was glad of my gloves too.

First impressions of the Diesel 70 are good. It feels bigger than my old Diesel 65, the nose especially, but I'm sure that'll just take a bit of getting used to.

As you can see from the photos, water levels weren't huge. I was still able to give the new toy a spin though, catching eddies, ferry gliding, surfing small waves all no problem. It also rolls easily, though I only tried that one once - once was enough!

Can't wait to get it out on a bigger river now, hopefully all this ice turns into water soon! :)

Freestylin' in the Surf

2009-12-21T00:46:00.004Z

This video was made almost a month ago now during one of the most active few weeks of paddling I had put in in long, long time. The amount of paddling done over those few weeks was completely the result of a long period of savage surf and rain fall in the South East. Magicseaweed.com posted solid surf reports for almost three weeks solid, something I've never seen (not that I'm drawing for any great numbers of years of experience or anything) and Tony and myself made sure to take full advantage of it. So here is the result, a short video for the day after the best days surf of the whole period and myself and tony were on top form. The footage was shot at Bunmahon beach in County Waterford from a top the cliffs surfers left by Kevin Jennings and Eoin Keane, Thanks Guys! There is also another hour of footage shot by Aisling O'Neill, that we have yet to watch so thanks to Aisling for standing in the rain that day footage to follow soon. Hope you enjoy and have a Happy X-mas and hopefully I'll see you all on the water in Kerry for New Years.

Oct/Nov Gorge Games Training

2009-12-05T00:32:00.021Z

Gorge Games Training for the Waterford I.T. crew began good and early this year. Having floated through the the first half of first semester with little or no water things certainly kicked right off at the end of October with numerous floods. The first days training was a warm-up / welcome back to your creek boat session, on the the River Nire near Ballymaccarbery on October 29th. The day didn't go so well, about 10 minutes in Mr Tony Walsh came a cropper on a tree and baled out. Having narrowly missed the full length of a 20m throw rope by an arms length, what followed was a mile and a half long swim for Tony during which he lost his boat, paddles, throw rope and deck. Tony was safely recovered slightly battered but it would be a couple of days before all his gear would be recovered, his boat being the last, turning up lodged in a strainer not far from Clonmel on the River Suir!

The very next day a group of us set out in search of Tony's gear and some much lower water levels. The Nire was much more welcoming and Colm, Darren, MJ and myself set out. Cold, clear water had replaced the brown torrent from the day before and an enjoyable days paddling produced a number of swims and some good lines on the big rapids by our newbie Colm but unfortunately none of tony's gear.

Darren Flynn shoots through the first tough rapid on the Nire with ease and class and a very dodgy paddling face!

Colm O'Neill on the big rapid on the Nire

With plenty of day light to spare and good water levels reported on Colligan Gorge itself we set off. The levels were very high indeed and a mock race from the start line ended in another swim and a victory for MJ. The task of having to carry our boats back to the top without the aim of the gorge games bridge proved to much for some and so we messed about in the Salmon Leap for a while.

Body boarding at the Salmon Leap begins!

Closer inspection of a pile of rubbish in an eddy beside the Salmon Leap produced a body board which provided all the entertainment till dark. Disposable probes MJ and Colm experimented with "mid rapid aerial take off" maneuvers, "body board eddy break outs" and a full run of falls for MJ emerging slightly winded but in one piece!

MJ in full flight, body board in hand

Colm breaks out in to the big flow, eddying out will be a very different story

A short dry spell, combined with Tony gathering his many lost pieces of gear stalled paddling for a while but the week in the run up to the games saw us on the gorge almost every day, even up until 6pm the night before. Paul, Eoin, Tone and Paddy were busy making good warning signs, fancy banners and one kick ass new bridge! While they were busy myself and Tony made us of the high water. Getting in multiple runs before a bit of surfing in the hole at the bottom of the salmon leap.

Pity Tony can't read!

Tonys a blur at these kind of levels

How much edge is too much edge? I try to nail the line outta of the Salmon Leap

Surfing the hole in my creeker

All our prep was done, now all that was left to do was to enjoy the day which we did and the party after!

Is he a Hermit Crab? - The Portage Pack

2009-11-25T16:51:00.003Z

So over the past while in the shop, I've noticed something that is beginning to worry me. James, the divemaster, is beginning to act more and more like the fish from the Aquarium. Always making these funny faces, eating the fish food, smelling a bit odd, you know, like a fish.
Then yesterday, i walk in, and he's taken the opportunity to use the new portage pack as his shell and he's walking sideways everywhere and eating pretty much anything.
We've all been keen to try and get James more interested in the boats, but this is not what we had in mind, Lets just hope he doesn't notice the big fins on the surfboats.

http://www.pyranha.com/portagepack

Wish You were Weir :)

2009-11-02T12:00:00.003Z

For a brief day or two our lovely weir at the Lee Fields became a pretty sweet wave.
It was small fast and flushy, but with a little practice made for some great rides and also made alot of wave moves possible.

The wave was formed as a fairly ginormous tree got washed downstream and wedge on the lip of the weir. This diverted water onto to lovely wave.

We did not get many pics as we were selfish and demanding paddling time on this lovely little wave. But here are a few from friday when four fantastic freestylers flopped furiously on the fantastic wave.

Some of the shots are quite blurry as we stayed paddling til it was too dark to keep going :)

Bryan's Clydagh / Flesk trip report

2009-10-27T19:18:00.005Z

And so it was on a wet and windy Saturday in Kerry I found myself sitting in the jeep waiting for Muireann and Colin to arrive.

The flesk was reading 1.4 on the gauge and we had some serious paddling to do!

When the lads arrived and after a quick chat we decided to run the clydagh too. We met up with the gang from Silverbridge Kayak Club in Drogheda at the get in and hopped on for a great day on the water.

With a few trips in the new liquid logic Jefe under my belt I was eager to try out the new adjustments I made to the fittings. Confirming again to me how important it is to spend the time on tuning a boat for a individual person..

Great to see people braving the wind and bad weather for a paddle on one of the best runs in Kerry. There were thrills and spills all the way down with some great lines down the slide! I have to report that my new Snap dragon amortex spray deck did the job wonderfully!

Fair play to the Drogheda gang who ran the slide and on down through the gates of the flesk.

Team training for the colligan gorge games is coming along nicely.

Stay tuned for more updates, thanks to Muireann for supplying the photos.

Bryan

National League wrap-up

2009-10-20T10:43:00.009+01:00

Aaaand finally! The last competition of the '09 Freestyle League was on in Lucan Sluice last weekend. This was a great competition with the emphasis all on the fun. This competition was run as a jam session, so each heat is 15 minutes long, and competitors can go in as many times as their arms and lungs allow, with their top 5 moves counting. This means you can really go for the big moves, without having to worry about flushing, since you can always go again! From a competitors perspective, it's great fun, but very tiring, by the end of the heat your arms are falling off. From a judges perspective, we definitely saw people trying some big stuff, especially in the Men's Expert class, where Tom popped one of the biggest loops I've ever seen, and Bowsie landed a donkey flip and mcnasty. For the sports classes - plenty to keep them amused too, with points for fun moves like air guitar, and paddle spins.

Tony goes old school in a new school boat with the rail grab

While the scores from the heats were being added up to keep the crowd amused, we had an "old school" rodeo, rules were boats must be pre - 2000, and we saw some nice ribbed BA's, luminous cags, and dodgy looking helmets. I had trouble recognising people I know quite well! Big big popouts were definitely the order of the day here. Those long boats go big.

Big boats fly apparently

Old School carnage

After all the freestyling was wrapped up, we had the boatercross. Juniors were up first with a mass start, and plenty of fighting. Sport class next - these guys were supposed to go without their paddles, but mutinied and refused - boooring! :-) After that the ladies were up - minus our spraydecks! I was in the lead up until I tried to cross the eddyline and turned in too sharply, and started sinking, maybe next time! Then the men's expert, also minus their spraydecks. These guys took no prisoners, and there was pushing and shoving a-plenty, and a Kamikaze Conor leaping from great heights in on top of the action to try and sabotage as many as possible.

Juniors wait for the carnage to unfold

That night we had partying and prizegiving in Blessington. Prizes were handed out for this competition, the overall prizes for the League, and the trophies were awarded to the new National Champions.

Me trying to cartwheel

Sunday saw a C1 and Squirt training day, as well as a release at Sluice for anyone who wanted to go back for more. I didn't make either of these myself, as I was lost up the Wicklow mountains at the time, but am assured it was good fun.

A big thanks has to go to all who made this, and the other events in the League happen. Organisers, prize-givers, judges, scribes, competitors, parents, spectators - thanks everyone :-) Hopefully next years season will be even better!

All pictures are thanks to Eoin O'Raghallaigh, more in his album here

Cork Rodeo Report

2009-08-18T19:30:00.005+01:00

The Cork Rodeo - event 3 of the National Freestyle League competition was held on the 8th August at the Sluice on the Lee Fields. We'd spent the week before on the phone - to the council, the ESB, various shops for prizes, and anyone else we could think of! We all arrived that morning a little apprehensive - as the feature had only been "fine tuned" the night before, noone knew for sure how it was gonna turn out. The Sluice at various combinations of tide and river levels can be anything from a big flushy wave to a nasty pourover. Luckily we seemed to get the combination of dam release, tide times and wooden wedge just right to form a nice friendly hole... phew! :-)

On the day we got lucky with the weather. Blue skies and sunshine all day, after a week of damp soggy weather. The turnout was good from all corners of the country, with over 30 people showing up to compete.

Junior Men were up first. This was one of the bigger classes - always good to see as these guys are the future of our sport. After some initial uncertainty (none of them had ever paddled in this feature before) the guys got stuck in, and everyone did themselves proud.

After the Junior Men it was the turn of the Mens Sport. Most of this lot were from local clubs UCC and CIT, with some visitors from nearby(!) WIT, UL and Belfast, and I'm glad to say the old college rivalries are still alive and kicking! Some of these guys are definitely ready to move up into Expert class for next year, with some quite high scores.

Next up - all the ladies. Unfortunately we didn't have enough entries for separate heats, so Juniors, Sport and Expert were all lumped into one. Embarrassing for me as the Juniors showed me up, as did the Sport class. Good fun all round tho, and great to see some new faces on the competition scene, hopefully we'll see more ladies in the near future.

After the ladies it was time for another underrepresented class - C1. This has traditionally been quite a small niche sport in Ireland, but hopefully the sight of three willing and able participants to showcase their sport here is a sign of good things to come. We'd also had enquiries about the possibility of running a Squirt class but unfortunately the feature didn't allow this.

And finally, the Mens Expert class, or the "Battle of the Brothers" as it became. Local advantage could really be seen now, with these guys pulling off moves noone else thought possible in this fickle spot. The top places all went to locals with years of experience, and in the end it came down to one move in the points difference between 1st and 2nd, with Mickey taking a hard fought victory from his older brother Brendan.

So that's it over and done with for another year. A huge thanks goes out to the small army of helpers who helped the whole thing to come together so smoothly, also to all the prize sponsors, and the main sponsor of the event Munster Dive and Canoe, who provided everything from an air horn (improvised from a diving tank) to chairs (stolen from the shop) to vast cups of tea.
And of course thanks to Brendan and Donie for the photos I've used here :-)

Cork Freestyle Competition

2009-07-31T12:26:00.001+01:00

Surf Kayak Championship update

2009-07-27T21:34:00.003+01:00

Monday is over competition wise as the pro kites had four hours to finish their event. The good news is with them finished there should be no more interruptions to us.
Today saw the men’s short boat out for the first time and the first few heats were really put to the test. It was high tide for the early heats and it was very big and heavy. Out of the first two heats, six men, four swam! That’s unheard of at any worlds event, most were due to deck implosions and broken paddles and boat fittings but still a hell of a statistic. The tide dropped fast and with it the quality and severity of the wave but the heats kept running and Rob, Brendan, Wayne and Len where all out. Rob put it all on the line in heat two with the super heavy break but the wave that would have won him the heat eat him instead and he’s missed the next round. The other three are all through.

Tomorrow sees the women’s short boat followed by the rest of the men’s short boat, delayed due to the kites, and then round 1 of the teams start after lunch some time. This year there are more countries with teams than ever before, 12, and the cut is hard. Four countries will see their worlds end tomorrow.

Surf Kayak Championship

2009-07-24T22:51:00.002+01:00

Well, the Irish team have been in Portugal now for the last few days, and spending plenty of time surfing the competition wave and getting to know it. It’s a really nice beach break, quite heavy with a very interesting put in on the high tide. So far there’s been boat breakages, paddle breakages, blood spilt, a dislocated shoulder for one of the oz ladies, broken ankle for a UK lady and much much fun - and the competition hasn’t even started yet!

Last night saw the opening ceremony and the first night of an 8 day beach festival. There was a huge firework display, open air concert on the beach, the two bands were followed by a cracker dj - we did hear that there was another dj on after that but we didn’t make it past the 5am mark to find out first hand. Luckily today is a non competition day, but tomorrow at 9am it all starts with the individual event. There are non stop heats from 9am until 7pm for the next week. We have two locations going as well as the rip curl short board open, pro kite’s world cup leg and the skim board world champs, so the beach is very full.

The set up for the multi water sport event is amazing. There are dozens of TV cameras getting incredible shots, which are then being feed to the numerous big screens, spa baths for competitors after heats, vip tents and access to the night time festivities for competitors, dozens of shops, bars and restaurants all set up on the beach just for the event.

But don’t worry all the funs bits are not distracting the team from the reason we are hear. There have been a number of changes this year, due to numbers and time constraints – notably, it is now a 2 wave scoring heat and not three, the heats are 14minute and not the usual 20min, and everything is sudden death. If you are not in the top 2 of each heat then the competitive surfing for you ends! People have travelled from all over the world to be here and it may all end in 14 minutes. In the team event four countries will be cut after round one, leaving 8, and then another four cut after round two, leaving a final of four countries.

We will update as much as we can so watch the site, and we are all looking forward to the start of the heats.

http://www.santacruzoceanspirit.org/index.html

L2 course July '09

2009-07-17T23:46:00.004+01:00

As promised, here's a few photos from our recent level 2 course on the Lee Fields.

France June '09

2009-07-09T08:47:00.010+01:00

After going to Val Sesia last summer, I decided this year to go back to the French Alps to see was the paddling as good as I'd remembered. I had previously paddled there four years ago, and had memories of sunshine, warm water, and fast fast rivers.
The first week there was rain most evenings, and fresh dustings of snow on the mountains out the window every morning, which meant that the middle and gorge sections on the Guil were too high for us to run, but there were plenty of other options to keep us going. I also got plenty of new rivers in, including the Gyr, the Claree and the Fournel. The UCC / WIT boatercross on the Fournel could become an annual event, well worth it if only for the look of horror on the spectators faces!

By the second week the weather had cleared up, giving good sunny days and plenty of meltwater in the rivers. We took the odd day off as the bones were starting to get weary, spending one day hiking up to the old fort at Briancon, watching a cycling race come through the town, and eating crepes and ice cream. All good - we even got to see a crash involving two of the cyclists and a motorbike, and of course we cheered for the one Irish racer (recognisable by the shamrocks on his bum!)

We also spent quite a few evenings at the slalom course in L'Argentierre. Sean who was with us is training for the Wildwater Racing world championships in the Autumn, so we all had a go of the wibbly wobbly wonder boat, and watched him tearing down the course.

A nice relaxing holiday overall, and I'll hopefully be back soon. I'm back at work three weeks now and given the choice I'd definitely rather still be in France!

Italy - Val Sesia, May 2009

2009-06-10T11:45:00.005+01:00

What Luck?, My first time to Italy and there are what some are saying the finest levels in a decade.
So this year i made my very first Alpine Kayaking trip, choosing what is the norm for so many groups over my usual Africa or US trips.
A tighter budget this year meant a trip closer to home, and i was majorly impressed with Italy. As a destination it is amazing. It has the laid back attitude of an African trip, the comforts of a US trip and something new for me with the stunning Alpine scenery.

On arrival we had a mishap with our motor rental, the requested car with a roof rail was no where to be found at the rental and thus ensued the sketchiest use of handirack i've been involved in, and also pats on the back for the chap who thought of bringing it.After some interesting bombing down the autostrada with inflatable roof racks holding 4 creekboats and gear we eventually arrived in our Alpine home for the next two weeks. Welcome to the small town of Ireland, Camportongo, Val Sesia, Italy. It seems we always find each other on our adventures, we had the campsite over-run.

Our first week was awesome, every river new to us, the cold ice melt waters providing the perfect wake up each morning, and the amazing drops, slides and chutes providing more than enough fun for us.

The area is amazing and i could write for days about our adventures on the rivers.
Three spots stick out in my mind tho, the Landwasser Waterfall, so straight forward, park and huck, amazing fun.
The Sorba Slides, again its short and sweet, park and huck, a great finish to any day on the river. And what a rush.
And finally, The Gronde, WOW, there is so much packed into the little fantastic run. After each drop you immediately see the next horizon line, looking back up its drop stacked on drop. Its a little heaven tucked away into the North of Italy.

Finally, after the paddling, the life, the general fantasticness, there is one more thing that has Italy up there with one of the great spots to paddle, the icing on the cake, or ice cream on the cake,
The ice cream there is amazing, we ended up running the Middle Sesia more regularly just for the ice cream at the get out. The ice cream in Varallo had us on the Mastallone quite often.
I say this about all the destinations i've been to, i'll definately return. :)

Kayaksurf Event 2

2009-04-29T10:14:00.004+01:00

April 25th and 26th saw the 2nd Kayaksurf event of the year take place.
All met early on Saturday morn where spots were discussed and we all eventually ended up in Strandhill, Co.Sligo, conditions were big and messy and not ideal for the event so a decision was reached to postpone the event til the next morn where wind and weather would provide a better wave.

Sunday arrived and a nice clean wave was present. The wave was clean and not a bad size, it was also easy to get out back. The day saw Long and Short Boat competitors for both men and women.

The clean surf saw some nice rides throughout the day and all entrants seemed quite happy with how things were going.

After a long days surfing everyone said their goodbyes and all are looking forward to the next event.
It was great to see good numbers at this event. both old familiars and new faces were present showing that SurfKayaking is beginning to grow in popularity.
Big thanks to the event organizers and the supporters of the event.
For more info on surf kayaking check out www.paddlesurf.ie and also the MDAC surf boat section
Photo credits: MickeyB and Brendan Barry

The TACT Snorkelling Trip

2009-04-23T16:35:00.011+01:00

It was a beautiful sunny day that had the TACT team bring a group of lads to Bullens Bay for a snorkel.

From left to right: Managing to get only into half of the picture is Sandra (Sorry! blame the photographer), we then have (hopefully I've gotten the names right) Scott (Mono), Ross (Kellogz), Dean, Maria (Hippy Farmer), Trevor, Ian (Gizmo), Ciaran (Scrawny), Jonathan (Marvin), Paul (Hot-Shades), Kathy (Piglet), Pat (Water Baby), Dunny, James (Shark Bait) and Jamie (Pot-Hole).

Good laughs were had by all, from the high pitch voices of the lads to the whimpers of some. I have no idea why??? - the water was lovely and warm :)

We found some interesting life on the snorkel and took one of the dogfish we found back to the pier to show the land-lubbers what a small shark looks like.

The afternoon just got better and better, with the sun really coming out and warming the place up. The tide also came in, meaning the lads took to jumping off the pier instead of going for the snorkel. Era... it's all good. They seemed to have a good time.

A big thanks to Ger for bringing the gear and taking the photos. He was a bit camera shy himself, but the day wasn't possible without him. We can only hope that we didn't drive him so loopy that he won't be there for the next trip.

MDAC's 1st e-Learner

2009-04-13T22:10:00.017+01:00

A momentous occasion... as Conor McCarthy has been certified as the centres first PADI Open Water e-Learner.

Conor has met all the requirements of the PADI Open Water course, except he hasn't gone through the dribble of me lecturing... he did all the theory online.

He's certainly after catching the bug that is present in so many divers out there as he's already signed up for the Advanced Open Water.

He did some of his dives at Lamb's Head Pier, Caherdaniel, Co. Kerry. And finished them at Roberts Cove, Cork on the 28th of March. He's since returned to Lamb's Head to start raking up the dives to count for the Rescue Diver course.

We'll be seeing a lot of Conor around the centre in the future. How bad! :)

http://www.padi.com/scuba/

https://www.padi.com/elearning-scuba-registration/default.aspx?tid=eLearn_homepg_static_bannr

DFR Course

2009-04-13T21:33:00.018+01:00

It was the 14 and 15th of February that saw the first DAN Diving First Responder course for Munster Dive and Canoe.The course involves a number of modules - Automated External Defibrillator (AED), Hazardous Marine Life Injuries (HMLI), Oxygen Administration for Scuba Diver Injuries (O2) and Advanced Oxygen Training (AdvO2). Trying to make the training as fun and enjoyable as possible, as well as making it serious, a number of scenarios are created to help with the learning.

DFR candidates for the course were Kevin McCarthy, Derek Bolton, Ritchie McKinnie and Aaron Doyle. Mark Crosbie was present for the EFR course (Primary, Secondary Care with AED for Adult/Child/Infant) on the 14th. A DAN Basic Life Support (BLS) was also done on the Saturday as CPR training is a pre-requisite for a DAN O2 course. It was a good weekend, and a great start to the years training.

http://www.emergencyfirstresponse.com/english/ https://www.daneurope.org/eng/english_.htm

2009-03-31T19:05:00.009+01:00

March 28th saw Event 1 of the Irishfreestyle calendar for 2009 take place - the first in the National Freestyle League, as well as doubling up to form the first event in the Freestyle National Championships. The competitors met up on the slip way beside Curragower Falls on the River Shannon in Limerick on a cold morning that even gave us some hailstones. At around 11, the ESB opened the dam, increasing the water level as the tide dropped, so the wave began to form. After everybody had registered and had their competition briefing, people started to get changed. The format for the competition was that all competitors got four attempts to catch the wave, with your best two runs counting.

First to take to the water were Mens Sport, Junior Mens, and Mens C1. There were some really nice runs from all competitors, and as per usual some of the junior men were throwing down moves that would put the seniors to shame!

After they were finished, the Mens Expert class took to the water. There were some amazing runs from these competitors. It was great for spectators as all kinds of moves were being thrown around including pistol flips, huge blunts and donkey flips.

After the men were finished strutting their stuff on the wave, it was time for the ladies! There was a good turn out from the girls at this event, with Womens Expert, Junior Women and Womens Sport each taking their turn to show off. Again, all the competitors had excellent runs, including one particularly "interesting" line down through Curragower!

It had been decided by the organisers before the event started that the final results would be taken from the heats, as time was tight, and we were not certain of enough water for a second day to the event.

A huge thanks must go to all the organisers. This was a very well run event, despite many people's initial doubts about whether they could magic enough water out of a sky that hadn't rained in weeks, the Irishfreestyle committee managed to produce the goods! Hopefully this will be the first successful event of many in this years calendar.

And on a personal note - fantastic to see such a good turnout from the Cork gang, with 4 prizewinners among them!

All photos thanks to Donie McLoughlin, more here

The results were as follows:

Mens C1: 1st Niall Quinn, 2nd John O'Rourke
Junior Ladies: 1st Caoimhe Farrel & Emer Farrel, 2nd Niamh Cleary.
Junior Mens: 1st Rory O'Reilly, 2nd Tim Kiernan, 3rd Corin King.
Ladies Sport: 1st Irene O'Brien.

Men Sport: 1st Paraic Scanlon, 2nd Stephen Noonan, 3rd Adrian Tanner.
Ladies Expert: 1st Kim Siekerman, 2nd Siobhan McG, 3rd Muireann Lynch.

Mens Expert: 1st Moe Kelleher, 2nd Mark Leonard, 3rd Len Kelleher.

Kayaksurf Event 1

2009-03-20T10:48:00.002Z

March 14th saw Event 1 of the Surf Kayak calendar for 2009 take place.
A 9:30 meeting at Spanish point car park had us all looking at messy surf and trying to decide which break to visit. After some humming and hawing the decision was made to hold off until the afternoon so our meeting was adjourned and we all went for tea in Wayne's house.
Later in the day, we made a trip to Hegarty's, a nice break with a savage strong rip current between Spanish Point and Lahinch.
The tide was moving in on the beach, the reef was getting covered, and some heavy sets were rolling in.
We took to the water.

There was some difficulty getting out but those who made it out the back were rewarded with steep take offs and nice big waves with long rides.

The Short Boat and Long boat classes of Mens, Ladies and Juniors all went off with some great rides, hilarious beatdowns( the spectators dream ) and some close encounters of the rock kind.
An awesome day was had.

A big congrats to the new Juniors on the scene who braved the conditions that were intimidating to even the well seasoned surfers.

The waveski event took place on the sunday which i missed, but i'm sure it was a blast.
A massive thanks to the organisers of the event also, Morgan O'Sullivan and Wayne Timmons and anyone else involved.

The sponsors Munster Dive and Canoe for the prizes, and Watertech Kayaks for the demo boats on hand.
Results and info on more events can be found at www.paddlesurf.ie and info on surf kayaks, waveski's and gear can be found at www.mdac.ie
Great event, chilled atmosphere, i'd recommend everyone give it a go.

My 2008 American Tour

2009-02-19T15:58:00.007Z

So i went on this trip last september, but factors such as work, laziness, getting some paddling done here at home, and more laziness meant i wrote no reports until now.
So the aim of the trip was a mini whirlwind tour of some transatlantic big name places and to see some old friends who had emigrated.
The trip began in Boston with some partying and surfing just north of boston, the handlebar mustache competition also started here.
First stop on our tour was a trip to surf the famous Habitat and Lachine Waves in Montreal. These are both incredibly fun waves, Habitat is a superfriendly, big wave, lots of fun, Lachines is big and fast and a nice spot to try and do the biggest tricks you can.
From Montreal we continued on for a few days at Forresters falls on the mighty Ottawa river. IT was seasons end here and the place was pretty quiet, but we got to see the Ottawa river, surf some of its waves, see what all the fuss was about.
And then the fun started, it was time to put away our playboats and grab the creekboats, a big thanks to my mate Petey for trusting me with his Wavesport Habitat, i travelled with my playboat so it was nice to have the same boat as i paddle at home provided for me.
We travelled south from Ottawa to New York state. After a long drive and a night in a dodgy motel we arrived on the banks of the Racquette River.
Intimidating was my first thought, as the first rapid is a raging torrent just meters from the outflow of a large dam and the next rapid in the distance is a 100ft long slide. Some intense scouting and some more intense scouting, and.... then i got bored of scouting so decided to run it. What a laugh :)!

The rest of this river provided big rapids and even bigger thrills. Its a must stop for anyone in the area. From here we went for another night in a motel, thankfully, a slightly nicer motel than before, and then early the next day we went for the Taylorsville and Eagle sections of the Beaver River. The Taylorsville is a friendly fun warmup for the Eagle, the eagle is one mile long of continuos big rapids, which can be walked to the top to run again, another classic, with one particularly fun, tight, big drop :)

Back to Boston for a few days of much needed rest and essential partying in Harvard was next on the cards before our Journey to GauleyFest began.
We rented the biggest most obscene SUV we could find, built the finest home depot roofrack, loaded the boats, all 8 of them, and went on our way.

More dodgy motels, fast food( Do not go to Arby's, yeuuuuugh! ) and a fine run down the upper Youghiogheny ( http://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/River_detail_id_753) with Jim Machaud, an open boater with some great skills.

And Finally, GAULEYFEST!
Its a festival, on the Gauley river, the river has fun rapids, big waves, and hundreds of boaters with very little danger to the experienced boater. The party has bluegrass music, hundreds of crazy paddlers, moonshine and alot of dodgy mustaches, with alot of danger for the unexperienced party goer. This is one of the best events i have been to and i'm certain to return.

Then i had to go home :(
Paddling across the pond is something i'll certainly do again, and i get the feeling that no matter how many times i go back, i'll find something new and exciting each time.

2009-01-08T13:46:00.005Z

The last competition of the 'Watertech Surf Kayaks' Irish league was held in Clare in December in offshore conditions and blue skies. The swell height dictated a beach break competition and even thought the conditions were a little tricky there was some great rides to be had.

It brings to an end what was a highly competitive year and a first for Ireland - a manufacture sponsored league. Through the year we had big turn outs for comps and for fun events and the first International Waveski Competition for years. We had some cancelled events for lack of waves but when we did get surf we’ve had some of the best surf conditions anyone can remember stretching from Cork to Sligo.

Marty McCann took the overall waveski title for 2008 while there were two brand new boats from Watertech Kayaks as prizes in the kayak division making the stakes even higher. The Speedy for best overall was won by Chris Hobson after two wins and a finals position. While the Lucifer for best new comer went to Conor Bredin.

Now though we’re starting a new year and it’s a big year. We will have a team attending the World Kayak Surf Champs in Portugal, a team attending the World Waveski Champs in Australia and possibly a team attending the Euro Waveski Champs in France.
The selection events for the teams will be posted in the calendar very shortly but places and finance are limited. So if you are interested you will need commitment and stylish surfing to make the cut. A booklet on team selection, funding and what each person can expect to get/contribute will be available before the end of the month.
But it’s not all about competition and so for 2009 we will run more fun events with coaching and training for anyone who might be interested in learning a new sport of improving on their surfing skills, again those events will be in the calendar.
So from everyone in the committee thank you for you help and co-operation in 2008, we hope you got all you hoped to from the paddlesurf committee and we look forward to an even better year in 2009. All help and support will be greatly appreciated.
We will post the dates and locations of the 2009 surf kayak and ski league and the worlds selection events on www.paddlesurf.ie.
We would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank the following for their support -
Watertech Surf Kayaks - www.watertechkayaks.com
Munster Dive and Canoe - www.mdac.ie

Freestyle Fun

2008-12-11T10:54:00.003Z

So the first freestyle training event for Cork was held on December 6th on a cold and frosty Saturday morn.
Plenty of folks turned up, Phoenix Kayak Club Members, CIT Kayak Club members, people from previous MDAC kayak courses, and a mob of UCC Canoe Club members.
All arrived ready and willing to soak up information like sponges and also to help each other with this freestyle trickery that is oh so popular in the kayaking world.

After some brief introductions and a quick jump into the gear, the course was ready to go.
There was a bit of a plan for the day, but the main aim was an introduction to freestyle for people, even the best freestylers can do with a reminder of the basics, what Freestyle is, and why their gear works. This was the approach to the course, and it suited all from beginner to freestyle warrior.

First the gear and boats were discussed, what gear is best for freestyle, how freestyle boats work, and what are the different features of a freestyle boat that make it do its magic.
Next up, we all jumped on the water, and learned how to move our Freestyle machines. How to sit in our boats, where to look, body movements and some basic excercises that everyone from newbie to expert should always practice. This was very beneficial to everyone, and an eye opener to some. It also gave people a chance to help everyone with their own skills by passing on what knowledge they had.

Finally, we all moved down to the weir, where some clever folks built a wedge that created a diversion in the flow, this creates a nice spot of recirculating water which is ideal for learning and practicing freestyle moves.
First up was a brief demonstration of 5 basic moves that everyone can hope to learn and achieve, these were, Ender, Spin, Clean Spin, Cartwheel and Splitwheel.
After some demonstrations, everyone was then given the opportunity to give them a go or just surf the wave.

Lots of learning, lots of fun, some newcomers to freestyle really surprised with how quick they got the basics.
Here's looking forward to the next day.

2008-11-19T22:07:00.001Z

Howdy all
So we did a little river trip on Saturday the 8th from Ballincollig Park to the Lee Fields,
Mickey and Muireann were leading the trip and 4 brave souls
( James, Pam, Eoin and Ciarán ) joined them in what can only be described as fine paddling weather
( Strong winds and Heavy Rain ).
All 4 of the group having paddled during the summer were out to refine their skills, which none had forgotten during the brief off the water period :), and learn some new tips and tricks.
It was a long trip, so lunch was had half way, much to Mickeys delight as he got to pull out the Storm Shelter ( A very impressive piece of kit, we were able to keep warm and have our lunch and stay dry, i thoroughly recommend one of these for any outdoor sport ).
After lunch, the long trip to the Weir ensued, where skills were honed and new skills taught.
At the weir, which was an intimidating rapid on the day due to the high flow of water, everyone put the head down and paddled hard.
Everyone was successful, no one ended up in the drink, and there were smiles all round.
Here's looking forward to the next trip.