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