Sunday, November 28, 2010

Curragower session

I spent yesterday on Gower, which is working good on a weekend for the first time in months! It was freezing but had some session, busy working on blunts, and failing miserably at back stabs. But sure I'll get there eventually! Heres the video from the day:

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Glens

Had parent teacher meetings yesterday so myself and Tom O'Donoghue headed out to the glens. Level was nice, around .5, heres what we spent the time working on:

 Just need a bit more water to try them off the main ledge.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Video from the Colligan

Video from the day by Mike:

Monday, November 15, 2010

Two firsts at the Colligan!



There on Saturday what felt like the entire country converged on the river Colligan in Waterford for the biggest boater cross of the year. The week before the entries were maxed out and there was a few days solid rain so expectations for a day of carnage like last year were high. As is turned out someone must have held an umbrella over county Waterford for the week since the river was dog low but it probably wasnt such a bad thing since it meant everyone there was well capeable of making it down the river in one piece.

The race itself really couldnt have gone any better. I was competing in the team event with Neil Slevin and Oisin McHugh and we had a great run, everything went to plan and we put in a really fast time. I havnt seen the times yet, still waiting for them to be posted up but I think we were challenging some of the mens expert times!

The individual races were a similar story, myself and Oisin came 1st and 2nd in our first round race, and me and Neil did the same in our semi final. Oisin walked through his semi too so it was the three of us in the final against another lad from Wicklow. I made a brilliant start, getting through the first two rocks in first place and opening up a big lead as the others got in a scrap to decide the other places. It finished up 1, 2, 3 for St Pauls scouts as Neil finished up second and Oisin paddled brilliantly to take third.

At the prize giving we were still waiting for the results of the team race. We knew we had done well but we didnt know if we had done it faster than the other teams from Wicklow. Soon enough though we found out that we had won that too, delighted! Even better was the prizes, savage Peak Uk creek cags and throw ropes donated by Kipper and Brian at Total Experience. We tried them out on the Glens the next day, they really are the job! Just in time too, since my old cag was held together with duct tape and needed to be replaced before winter hit proper! We also got a really cool trophy, in memory of a paddler who passed away during the year, so RIP.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Home Internationals Vid

Video from Paddy King of the home internationals last week, theres a good few clips of the irish team in it:

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Home internationals and British Open

Last week, over mid term, I was up at the surf kayaking Home Internationals and British Open in Portrush, Northern Ireland. The Home Internationals is a competition between the Irish, English, Scottish and Northern Irish National teams. I was competing in seniors for the first time in this, the step up in the competition was an unpleasent surprise to say the least! I paddled well enough though, and came 3rd in all four of my heats so I guess it could have gone a lot worse. The competition came right down to the wire for everyone. We came 3rd overall, just beating Scotland by two points after me and Mike Barry came in ahead of the Scottish paddlers in our last two heats. The battle for 1st and 2nd between Northern Iremand and England was even closer, with England taking the win by a single point in the end.

The British Open was an individual competition, held the weekend after the Homes. I was competing in the Juniors this time and the standard was really high, with Adam Harvey, junior hp world champion, Corin King, junior ic world champion and Andy McClelland, 2nd in the worlds in ic all entered. My first round ic heat was a disaster, the less said about it the better, but the hp went really well. I came 2nd in my first round heat which got me into the semi finals, and got some really good waves in my semi and won that. The final didnt go so well and I came 4th, but im still happy enough with the result. The positions in the final were Andy in 1st, Jake King in 2nd and Adam Harvey in 3rd. The full results are up on misurfkayak.com.
And a huge thanks to Munster Dive and Canoe for giving us a loan of their van for the weekend, it was great to have somewhere like that to defrost after each heat! Their website is at www.mdac.ie

A few pics Brendan too over the week:


Mick going up to hit the lip


The team out on the beach supporting;


Conor going up for a big end move:


Me slashing a turn in the IC:

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Upper Flesk

Since we had a bit of rain over the last few days yesterday we ran the upper Flesk with the scouts. Water level was very low but all the decent sections like the main slide and the gates were still runnable. It was slow going on the way down and we had a lot of swims from the scouts getting broached on rocks but at least the weathers not that cold yet! We had a camera with us too so should get the footage off that soon enough. ...a few clips of us rock hopping down the main slide anyway!

Off to Portrush for the week for the home internationals and the british open tomorrow. Theres surf due over the next few days and all, cant wait!!

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Sluice Rodeo

This competition is different from all the others since the format is a jam session where 6 paddlers at a time get 15 minutes on the water and your top 5 moves count. Since you can to into the hole as many times as you like it encourages you to go for big moves. And since fun moves like paddle spins, waving at the judges and doing an air guitar all get points anyone can show up and go home with a decent score! This year it was also round one of a wavesport sponsored Irish whitwater league, with lots of whispers going around as to what the prize at the end might be!

We got a good while before the competition to try and get used to the feature again which is a big issue at Sluice. Different parts of the wave are good for different tricks which gives the local lads a big advantage. I thought I was getting the hang of it by the time my heat came around but since I spent the whole heat struggling to stick a loop obviously not! I did manage all the usual spins and blunts and stuff but it wasnt enough to get me through to the final. The final was at a really high standard with Robbie O Shea, Shane Murphy, Niall Cockbill and Billy Brett all making the cut but the locals took it in the end with Robbie and Shabe taking 1st and 2nd. The mens final between Tom Dunphy, Ronnie, Colin Wong, Moogie and Barry Loughnane was also great to watch, with all of them scoring some big moves.

I'm looking forward to the next competition now, which is the surf kayaking home internationals followed by the british open in Portrush over the mid term. ...Starting to think its time for a weekend off sometime soon too, after something like 5 or 6 weekends of competitions in a row!






Robbie going for a blunt



Me going for a blunt



Ronnie plugging deep for a loop



Me going for a clean blunt


Sunday, October 10, 2010

Irish Open

Just back from a great weekend up north at the Irish surf kayak open in Tullan Strand, Bundoran. Originally the competition was supposed to be on at Easky right in Sligo only the swell didnt play ball and it had to be moved. Since the event had to be finished in one day due to the swell only three classes were run, open short boat, long boat and wave ski. I was competing in both kayak classes so I was busy enough for the day, with a few heats back to back.

I made the semis in both classes, happy out with it when you look at the standard of competition there, with 1st and 2nd juniors in the world and more top class paddlers coming from northern Ireland and making the trip over from england! The winners in the end were James Hawker in HP, Dessie Mc Glinchy in IC and Matthieu Babarit in waveski. (sorry about the spellings there, i'll fix them in a while!) Babarit especially was something else to watch, getting some savage waves even in those conditions.



After the prize giving we drove back to Strandhill and hit the town for the evening, starting with dinner, then onto the pub and finally finishing up in the countrys dodgiest night club at three in the morning! Two of the lads who have been paddling a bit with the scouts, Dozy Ryan and Oisin Mc Hugh, made the trip up to get some experience in competition. They did really well, both of them making the second round. Look out for them again at the Sluice rodeo next weekend!

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Scout Liffey Descent

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Last weekend saw the scout liffey descent up in Dublin, which we were hoping to win overall for the third year running. And since I won my class last year I was hoping to defend that title too.

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When we got to the race start at Lucan the water level was low enough but thanks to the ESB by the time the race started there was a good flow on the river. The plastic class was up first and our scouts all got off to a good start, some of them were the first few boats over Lucan weir.

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After the carnage from the plastic boats was cleared it was time for us to get going. I made it to Lucan first of the bunch and got a clean line down it. I stayed in front for the next few kilometers and got clean, fast lines over all the other weirs too and almost from the start it was obvious it was going to be a two horse race between me and the guy that I had just beaten to the finish last year. He was determined to win it out this year and stuck with me for the whole race, just beating me to the line at the final sprint at the end. Sicked to come in second after all that work but what can you do! Thankfully most of the scouts went one better and won their individual classes, bringing home the overall trophy for three in a row!

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This was the first time out with a savage bit of kit I just got from the guys at http://www.h2oaudio.com/ Its a waterproof case and earphones for an mp3 player/ ipod or whatever and its the job!! Its brilliant being able to listen to music on the water for those long distance races, and it should be good for between heats at the Irish Open next weekend too when a normal mp3 would just get wet or destroyed with salt and sand.
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Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Dougmore training event

Heres a video from the training and development weekend that was on during the summer. The waves were perfect for what we wanted and theres definatly some potential there! Two of the lads that started out there are going up to the Irish Open this weekend, have to wait and see how it goes!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Dougmore Video

I've been so busy with school recently that I have'nt got around to editing the video from the last session at Dougmore untill now. Oh well, better late than never and all that!



Url is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXdqRzdHtFg

Monday, September 13, 2010

Donegal Surf Comp

This weekends surf competition and training up north ended in disappointment just about all around. The plan was to run a training event in Tullan on Saturday with the 2008 european waveski champion Yannick Lausse but that didnt work out due to the lack of swell.

Since theres very little to do in Bundoran when theres no surf we decided to hit the road and finish the last two hours of the drive to Magheroaty while it was still bright. We arrived to small surf and a very high tide so we stocked up on beer and pitched tents in the dunes for the night.

In the morning the swell had picked up but so had the wind, and the tide was just turning, whice of course was one of the biggest spring tides in a long time. I won my first heat in the senior HP, which put me through to the final and onto judging duty for most of the afternoon. I had a heat off and then lost out to Mickey Barry by half a point in the IC straight final. He bought an IC boat recently and the extra practise is definatly showing on the water!

The waves and the tide were steadily dropping over the afternoon during the HP reps and all the wave ski heats leaving small, shallow, rocky closeouts for the Junior final. I surfed disappointingly and was left in 3rd in the end, just not able to find a wave that held up long enough to link a few turns together. Unfortunatly that was the last round we were able to run, leaving the HP and waveski finals not finished. The tide had dropped so low that the waves werent really surfable and someone was just going to hurt themselves if they tried. All that was left was to pack everything up and sit through the 5 hour drive back to Limerick!

Next up is the Irish Open in Easky in a few weeks, fingers crossed for good surf that weekend!

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Liffey Descent

The 51st liffey descent, a 26km race down the liffey, was up last yesterday. I finished up 2nd in the junior gp class, Delighted! I think I had one of my cleanest runs ever this year, didnt have a dodgy moment anywhere! Keeping paddling at a good speed for nearly three hours is a completly different story though!!



Next weekend is another round of the surf kayak national championships in Magheroaty, Donegal. Fingers crossed for another good result there!

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Article in Outsider

Got a good mention in the August issue of outsider magazine, check it out!:



http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/3af0faa8#/3af0faa8/23

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Surf Kayaking in Kerry

So, I spent the last two weeks surf kayaking on Brandon Bay, in County Kerry. Got some days of savage surf, having probably the best session of my life in a high-tide shore break on Friday! Conditions were perfect, with a light offshore wind helping to make the wave fast, heavy and hollow! The general idea was to drop in as far behind the peak as you dared, set the rail, tuck up and pray that it spat you out again! The wave was holding up so well that I was able to get so deep in the barrel that the whole boat was covered, and then make it out again! The local boardies couldnt believe their eyes! ...The only down side was the wipe outs, when the waves are like that theres lots of them, and they hurt, since the water was max 3ft deep where the waves were breaking!

I had a few other good sessions, one other one was when the waves were all closing out and I decided it was a good time to learn to air, with varying degrees of unsuccessfulness! Heres a video of the attempts, I am getting pretty close!!



And one other pic from during the week:

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Clare Glens

Just back from a brilliant run on the Glens with Kev and a few other lads. Level was .6, the best I've got it in a very long time! It was just enough to get up over all the rocks, without making anything too hairy. I was trying out a Big Dog Flux, which is a lovely design and so nice to boof, I dont think I got my deck wet at all going over any of the bigger drops! The only trouble is durability and the few big dents left in the bottom after the run. Oops. I didnt even hit anything that hard! I'd hate to see what its like after a scrapey run! And fair play to Francis, there isnt many people whose first run on the Glens is at that level, never mind not even having roll on the way down! All that was missing was finishing it off with the traditional bridge jump! Heres praying for rain for the next few days, or god forbid I might have to resort to mountain biking for the weekend! ...God life is hard during the summer!

Surf Kayak intro day

Last weekend saw the second beginners/intermediates surf kayak intro day. We got perfect waves for it, just right for getting people into the surf in play boats and into proper surf kayaks for the first time. We brought down a few lads from the Scouts who had a brilliant time at it, and were paddling unreal in the surf boats. So much so that now they want to borrow the two club ones for a while. Looks like the competitions on for the 2011 junior team!!

Brendan ripping.


Oisin trying some freestyle moves.

The rest of the pics are at http://picasaweb.google.com/105256852763146999485/17072010WaveskiAndSurfkayakIntroductionDay# .

Keep an eye on paddlesurf.ie for details about any similar events and upcoming competitions.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Working

After sorting out a job in Kilfinane Outdoor Education Centre, teaching kayaking, rock climbing, mtb ect, in return for mountain biking and rock climbing leadership qualifications. Check them out: http://www.kilfinaneoec.com/ . They run REC and first aid courses as well as kayaking, rock climbing, and hill walking skills courses and assessments. Delighted! Everythings on track for getting a job somewhere warm and sunny next summer!

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Video from the Egua

A quick video of me and neil on the Egua. Videos are from the level 5 course and a few days after. You dont get sun like that in Ireland!


And a slideshow of pics from the week:



The rest of the pictures I've got are here: http://s300.photobucket.com/albums/nn13/ham_n_salad/italy%20cropped/

And here: http://s300.photobucket.com/albums/nn13/ham_n_salad/

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Competition rides

A few pics from my competition runs:


Waiting for the thumbs up:



Kicking out from a loop:


Split wheel:


Half way through another loop:



Well deserved beer afterwards!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Top drop on the egua

Alright, the first video I've found from Italy, courtesy of Mr Colm Healy. Us and the Dublin crew on the top drop on the Egua. Im in it last, landing a free wheel off the lip.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

10th in Europe

The day after the opening ceremony the Junior men and senior Women were up in competition. My competition runs went great! I hit loops and cartwheels in both of them, scoring 210 points which left me in 8th place and through to the semis!


Unfortunatly none of the others made it through so I was the only one up when it came to semi finals day. This time it didnt go so well, all the other lads stepped it up a level and although I was linking lots of cartwheels and splits I was left in 10th place :( Still, 10th in Europe isnt bad and it meant some brilliant partying for the rest of the week!

10th in Europe!

Just back from Austria, was brilliant out there! Our plan to wing it across Germany and Austria worked out great, and I'm sure my Germans improved no end! We got there a few days early to get some training in on the competition hole, a few days of three sessions a day is the job for getting a few moves down. And is a good opportunity for some pretty epic partying too!

The competition kicked off with an opening ceremony in Leinz castle, with free food and drink laid on! We were competing the next day which meant we had to come back relativly early but by all accounts it went on all night!

Everyone piling in on the German team photo at the opening ceremony. I think were all in there if you look close enough!


And the Irish team photo from before hand. Looking smart!

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Europeans

And i'm off again. This time to the freestyle Europeans in Lienz, Austria! The general plan is to fly to Munich and then get the train to Lienz, via Salsburg and Spittal, relying on my 5th year German and luck to get us around... It'll all work out somehow! This time I should get to update this while I'm over there (unless I'm busy or just couldnt be arsed) so till then...

And I'll get around to putting up everything from Italy when I get back too :P

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Two Weeks in Italy

The last two weeks in Val Sesia, Italy were the best craic going! Since pictures tell a thousand words and videos are a whole lot of pics I'll throw all the vids and pics I can get together up here before I have a go at actually writing about it. Heres the first few I've managed to get my hands on:

Neil on the last drop on the Sorba Slides:


Me on the Gironde:


Mickie on the last drop on the Sorba Slides with me at the bottom:


Me about to go off Landwasser:


In short it was the bast creekboating Ive ever done, two weeks of solid class 4-5 in a brilliant location with some brilliant people, but was pretty expensive since I managed to break my boat and paddles over there! :( Overall still a brilliant trip but since I was broke anyway after this trip and the Euros in two weeks time God knows when I'll be able to replace them...

For some reason I can never remember much of a river after I get off it, especially the first time down it when all the lines are new but sure I’ll waffle on about the various rivers we did as I think of them. And stay tuned for the rest of the pictures and video as I track them down!



Monday, May 17, 2010

Dougmore Again

Had another fun day surfing in Dougmore on Sunday. Waves were small, onshore and messy but lots of closeouts to have fun off. Working on end moves, just not getting them yet tho. Them and airs are the ones to work on for the summer!

Onto the final count-down before Italy now, 3 days to go and cant wait!! Plan is to do a level 5 course next Sunday and Monday and then go out and log rivers for the rest of the trip. Its going to be a step up from the Glens and all that! Better start packing soon enough and figure out how to get a Mamba and a mad amount of rescue gear onto a plane with the least amount of hassle!

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Video from yesterday

Heres a quick vid from yesterday, just the last few inside waves as I was finishing up:

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Surfing in Dougmore

Savage day surfing in Dougmore today, set waves were 8ft+ on the face easy! According to the boardies I got barrelled on one wave, made it out the other side and all! Getting closer to airing properly, still not there yet tho. Should get it before long :)




Barrel!

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Two Videos

Heres one vid of something that actually went right over at Gower the other day:



And one from LIttle Gower when it was savage! Didnt know I had this on video, delighted!:

Monday, May 3, 2010

More Gower Nationals

Just a few more pics;



Gower Nationals

Had a great day at Curragower at the first round of the 2010 freestyle Nationals, paddled disgracefully in the competition as usual but had a bit of craic all the same. The local lads from UL showed theres more to freestyle in Ireland than Sluice by taking the top three places. Fair play to Dave, Conor and Tom! Theres not many Sluice comps where the top scores are up around 350 points!

Results:

Mens K1; Dave O'Sullivan, Conor Bredin, Tom O’Donoghue

Womens K1; Sinead O'Donnell, Jackie Ferguson, Dee Ni Droighneain

Junior Mens; Eoin Farrel, Robbie O'Shea, Niall Cockbill

Junior Womens; Emer Farrel, Niamh Cleary, Caoimhe Farrel

On the other hand I've started getting the flatwater loop lately and was working on that for a while, heres a sequence;







Thats in a small Molan, guess the complete lack of a tail has to help for something! I must be the only person who still prefers the Project over that and the new star!

Video by Tom O'D

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Video From Donegal

Heres the video from donegal. The start is Morgan O'Sullivan pointing out the joys of surfing in Ireland! Its the first bit of footage I've got of myself in the boat I won last year, an ONA kindly donated by Watertech Kayaks. Their site is http://www.watertechkayaks.com/ Its a sweet boat, seriously fast and capable of way more than what I can do in it!

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Surfing in Kerry

Had a great day at Finnegans bay in Kerry today with the lads from Limerick Canoe Club. Waves were good, nice bit of power after the tide came in a bit so long as you got the right one. Not bad when everywhere else is flat! Got caught under a closeout section on one of them and the lip landed down in my head, nearly got ripped out of the boat! Worst wipeout since Portugal last year!Got the first few waves on video, great only now I want to go back out and work on the things I can see im doing wrong! :P

Friday, April 23, 2010

Donegal Surf Comp

The second surf comp of the year was on in Magheroaty, Donegal last weekend. Aside from the near 6 hour drive up and Artic weather it was a great trip! The wave was great fun and the comp went really well. Richard Hobson cleaned up everying he could with 1st in Masters, HP and IC, despite being nearly the same age as all the rest of the finalists put together! I finished up 2nd in seniors IC and HP, delighted! Pics and video to follow soon as i track them down.