The Alps with ULKC Part 4 - And back again!

After nearly two weeks in Slovenia, it was time to start heading west again. So we played the usual game of tetris to fit all the gear in the vans and started on the road back to Italy. We spent the journey researching the strength of different brands of condoms by holding them out the van window and seeing what speed they burst at, and since no Alps trip would be complete without spending some time in hospital we called into the one in Borgosesia for a visit while we were passing through. While we were there they were kind enough to have a look at Sinead's sprained/broken/ligament damaged ankle and tell her that although it wasn't broken she would be spending a few weeks on crutches.

The original plan we had before the trip was to spend a week in Slovenia and then another week in Italy stepping things up a bit. However we spent longer than planned in Slovenia due to the perfect water levels and that left us with just two days in Italy before it was time to keep moving on towards home. No-one should go to Italy and come home without going to the Sorba Slides so that's where we went first. We spent a solid day lapping it, trying different lines and rescuing anyone who's lines and rolls didn't quite work as planned. It was a huge step up for lots of people who started paddling less than a year ago so fair play to everyone for giving it a go!

 

Going for the flare line on the Sorba Slides. Photo by Mike Shaw.

 

Richard Daly styling the same flare line. Photo by Mike Shaw.

 

Mike got some great shots of the Slides, I particularly like this angle! Paddler is Eoin Howard, who got his level four on the trip and was styling everything for the full three weeks.

The next day we planned to do the Sermenza, and give the group a taste of Italian creeking. However when we got there the river was a bit low, there was a tree down just downstream and everyone was feeling shattered after the night before. So we had a chat, took a vote and headed to the top drop on the Egua instead. Levels there were perfect and since we had so many people who weren't used to carrying boats around river banks we set up pulley systems to hoist boats up to the road and drop them down to the get on to the river again. This meant that people got a stupid number of runs on the drop and we had a great day, lapping it and trying all sorts of silly stuff. I finally started getting back freewheels down so I was happy out, and I think everyone else had a great day too! 

 

A lot of the photos look broadly similar but Eoin Howard got this one of one of my back freewheels, delighted!

 

A last group photo before the group split up. Photo by Mike Shaw.

 After our day on the Egua there was just time for one more party before the group separated. The next day the hire van headed to the airport with some of the group while the rest of us started on the drive towards Mont Blanc and across France. While we were on the way we learned that there would be time for one more bit of excitement before we reached the ferry. Due to the days that flights and ferries happened to be on there was a spare day on our journey across France, which we would be spending at DISNEYLAND! I have never seen a group of people more excited than we were when we heard the news! 

 

The lads on one of many rollercoasters that day! Photo by Eoin Howard

 

The Disney castle before the light show and lightening storm. Photo by Eoin Farrel.

After a great day at Disneyland we hung around to watch the light show that they project onto the castle just before closing time. That was good enough but what was even more spectacular was the massive lightening storm that passed by as the light show was going on. Thankfully it stayed warm and dry and there was no thunder that we could hear. Massive bolts of fork and sheet lightening backlit the castle as the light show was going on and it continued into the night. After leaving Disneyland we cracked open a beer and sat in the carpark watching the lightening for a while. It was a great way to end an epic trip!

While looking for a place to spend the night one of the tyres on the minibus decided that then would be a great time to have a blowout. After fixing that and getting lost in the outskirts of Paris for a while we eventually managed to crash out in a truck stop for the night. We slept in the next morning and after dawdling in a supermarket for a while realised that we were on track to just miss the ferry. So we legged it, made it onto the ferry by the skin of our teeth and finally got the chance to properly relax for the first time in three weeks! We had a great time on the ferry, drinking a few beers and reflecting on what had been a brilliant trip.

 

The very end. Group photo taken by security on the ferry.

We got off the boat around mid-day and finished off the short drive back to Limerick. After unpacking the vehicles, washing out gear and finding all the belongings that had disappeared over the last three weeks we headed home only to be told that a person and a horse had gone into the river behind UL that day, the horse had drowned and the person was still missing. The search had finished for the day at that stage but we were wanted at 6 am the next morning to help out. After a morning of searching with a few members of a local diving club we heard that the divers had recovered a body. RIP. 

After that, feeling broken after all the weeks of activities we were able to go home, catch up on much needed sleep and generally work on recovering from what was definately the best paddling trip I've ever been on!

The Alps with ULKC Part 3 - Slovenia

After the week of advanced training, the next two weeks of the trip cater for all levels of paddler in the club. After the few easy days towards the end of the first week, by the time we moved on everyone was refreshed and excited for the next stage of the trip. So one morning we broke camp, packed up everything and headed for Malpensa airport in Milan, where we picked up another 15 or so people who would be with us for the rest of the trip. This was meant to be a quick 'grab and go' where we barely stop the vans before everyone hops in and we get going on the long drive to Slovenia but of course the flight was delayed, the Americans in the group got stopped at immigration and some people had checked in bags that took ages to show up. Best case scenario was that we reach Kobarid, Slovenia at around 12.00/1.00 in the morning and after a few hours in the airport, and the obligatory Decathlon, food and piss stops it was more like 4 or 5 in the morning and the sky was starting to get bright as we were pitching our tents.

 

Typical mellow Slovenian paddling in beautiful green water. Photo by Oliviana Bailey.

I had never been in Slovenia before and I woke up a few hours later to some of the most stunning scenery I have ever seen, with huge, snow-covered mountains rising almost vertically from each side of the Soca valley. The next few days were spent paddling some handy beginner and intermediate runs and generally chilling out and having the craic. It was great to have a holiday after the pretty hectic first week and the new arrivals from Ireland brought some new personalities and new energy to the trip. We had a great time in the evenings playing volleyball, having campfires and going exploring the area, which is full of things like hidden waterfalls that are well worth the walk it takes to find them.

 

Group photo from a day off at Lake Bled. Photo by Mike Shaw.

After paddling over there, now I can see why it is so popular as a kayaking destination. Unlike Italy which has many different rivers to choose from, in Slovenia there is just one, the Soca. However it is broken down into clearly defined sections which range in difficulty from flatwater with the occasional eddy line to the grade 5 Siphon Canyon. Every level of paddler will find something to challenge them out here, and even the easy boulder garden rapids create micro-eddies with powerful eddylines that are great craic to zip in and out of. Even the easiest sections have enough eddies like these to keep them interesting and leading beginner trips never gets boring, which is a great change from Ireland! All this eddy hopping is great for improving boat control and general paddling skills, and it's intermediate paddlers who will get the most out of a trip here.

 

Taking a moment to float, enjoy the scenery and take a photo. Photo by Mark Scanlon.

One of the weekends we were in Slovenia the local kayak shop held an event that involved a time trial and boaterX on a short section of river in between the two campsites. It was held at night, under floodlights which was feckin awesome! The course consisted of a deadly ramp into the water on the river right bank, an upstream gate on river left, a banner to touch on river left and a ferry over to another touch banner on river right, which was the finish line. It was dead short and took under 40 seconds if you were moving quickly. 10 ULKC paddlers took part which was deadly to see, in a field of mostly local paddlers plus all of the team Pyranha paddlers from the UK who were helping to run the event. It might as well have been a home race for us as the noise made by our 20-strong cheerleading squad on the bank completely drowned out any sound being made by anyone else!

 

Start ramp for the time trial. Photo by Mike Shaw, fire courtesy of Matt Cooke!

The event went great, all of our guys who took part had a great time, saying racing a kayak, under lights, in Slovenia, with massive support from ULKC was the coolest thing they had ever done! Cathal came 3rd in the boaterX which he was rightfully delighted with! I had a bad time in the boaterX, only two people raced at a time and the way the ramp was set up meant that even tho I got a decent start, as soon as I hit the water the other guy pretty much landed on top of me, knocking me over and destroying any chance I had of overtaking. The time trial went better thankfully! I got a decent start off the ramp, made a mess of the first gate but hit the last breakout and ferry pretty much perfectly. I ended up coming second behind David Bain of team Pyranha, with a time of 39 seconds versus his 37. Delighted with it!

 

Another free t-shirt! Happy days! Photo by Positive Sport.

After the event, a prize giving was held in the other campsite followed by music that went on until some unknown time in the morning. An otherwise chilled out, respectable gathering was turned into a pretty full on rave by 30 ULKC heads bouncing around the place while all the locals looked on and tried to figure out what was happening. In the end one or two of them joined in the craic, along with the team Pyranha guys. Those guys have it figured out, driving around Europe for a few months going from event to event. Dream summer right there! Despite the local's disapproval, it was mental craic and ended up being one of the best nights of the trip! Which is saying a lot since we did a lot of partying over the three weeks!

The water levels in Slovenia were perfect while we were there and it suited the group down to the ground. Every day we were able to find a section that was perfectly suited to the group's mood and abilities, and often the more advanced paddlers were able to do a morning or evening run on something a bit more challenging. I even got to paddle Siphon canyon on the day of the race with Rob and a german dude called Max, turns out it's a lovely section of river with lots of brilliant, steep boulder garden rapids on it. And when you do it quickly you don't get to see any siphons at all! It was so perfect that we ended up staying there for a few days longer than we had originally intended. However eventually it was time to move on...

The Alps with ULKC Part 2 - Week 1; Training Week

I intended doing a short, consise write up of the first week of the trip, only covering the important parts. However since I started writing I sort of realised that pretty much every day was epic craic and deserves a mention! And leaving anything out would mean the context for stuff that happened later on in the week would be lost. So apologies about the length of this post, but I hope I've managed to capture just how good this week was!

As I said before, the first week of the trip consisted of a training week, where the focus was on improving people's personal paddling, rescue and river leading skills. Usually this week would involve official level 4 training courses and assessments but thanks to the unprecedented number of level 4 qualified paddlers in the club at the moment we set this as the minimum standard for people to come on the first week of the trip. We had 15 people there for the first week, all either qualified level 4s or comfortably at that standard. Pretty impressive numbers for a college club Alps trip, especially considering many of them were first and second years and not mainly fourth years and OFBs.

Since everyone was at level 4 standard, the next logical step would be to put people forward for level 5 training courses. But due to the high cost, and the fact that people will more than likely have graduated from college and left the club by the time they go on to do the assessment we don't run club level 5 skills courses. Hence the need to come up with a plan for the week to train people in key aspects of the level 5 syllabus. Myself and Andrew sat down and came up with a loose plan for the week, which was pretty much to start off by focusing on people's paddling skills, followed by rescue skills and finishing on leadership/river reading stuff. In the end the weather and river levels really worked in our favour and the whole week worked even better than we could have hoped!

Thursday

After our ideal start to the week with an afternoon run on the Alpine Sprint section, we decided to dive straight into the creeks the next morning and hit the Lower Sermenza. With it's easy, flowy start leading into a tight gorge, at the water levels we got the lower Sermenza is the ideal introduction to Alpine steep creeking. We spent ages at a spot called boof graduation drop, running it many times each and trying different lines, different techniques and really focusing on getting peoples flare and boof strokes dialled in. It was a great session and people's paddling improved immensely just in the time we spent there. It was definatly useful for everyone when we moved down into the gorge, which is full of little flare lines that feel great when you get them right. Everyone managed the gorge perfectly fine and when we got off the water in the afternoon we decided we should step things up a notch.

We travelled out with the intention of paddling two rivers a day for the first week. Most of the group were perfectly content to run the Sermenza again as a further warm up and it was with some anxious faces that they agreed that everyone was paddling well and we should go up and give the Egua a go. When we reached the get on of the Egua, levels were pretty low but it was definatly runnable, a pretty ideal level for people's first time on the river. We chilled out for a while, got lunch (the first of many ham, cheese and pesto sandwiches!) and then hopped on the water. Since we had a few people who knew the lines, we broke up the group and were able to read and run most of the river, giving the lines to anyone who didn't know them and setting up rescue anywhere we knew it was needed. Thanks to the water levels, everything was pretty forgiving but we did have one or two swims. Thankfully, no damage was done bar bruised egos and robbed dignity for the rest of the night.  Although  we had expected the evenings that first week to be very quiet, all the Irish were in Campertogno at the time and being unsociable and going to bed early was never really going to happen. We had a great evening chilling out with the lads over a few jugs of the local speciality frizzante or sparkling wine, swapping stories and hearing about some great lines and dodgy swims that people had over the previous few weeks.

...while in Decathlon on the way over, Andrew had the genius idea of putting together a swim outfit and accordingly bought a bright pink, womens, small vest top, with matching shorts and wrishbands. The idea was that the last swimmer of every day had to wear this for the evening, and endure the ridicule and complete loss of dignity that went with it. It definatly added a lot of banter to the trip, and meant that we had to be careful that whoever was due to wear it that evening was never put on rescue duty!

Friday

That evening it started lashing rain, which continued uninterrupted until the next morning. The rain was as heavy as any I've seen and I spent a while before going to bed moving my gear around the porch of my tent trying to avoid the worst of the leaks. When we woke up the next day the first thing we noticed was the increase in volume of the noise of the river. When we got out to have a look at it, the river had risen several feet since the day before. It was only about a foot below the level of the land bridge leading to the island campsite and that left us with a conundrum of what to do that day since our plan to go to the Sermenza or Egua for some rescue training was obviously out of the question! We ended up heading to the raft run section on the Sesia, which is usually a chilled out, bouncy run which is suitable for all levels of ability.

It definatly wasn't suitable for all levels of ability that day! Huge wave trains and cushion waves hid monster holes waiting to gobble up any unsuspecting kayakers who floated their way. Since the river was flowing so quickly and decent eddies were few and far between, we split the group into semi-independant groups of four people who would stay close together and look out for each other and could be pretty much self sufficient if sh*t hit the fan. At the same time the groups would stay pretty close together to provide back-up to each other if needed and everyone was warned to do their very best to stay in their boat no matter what happened, as a swimmer/boat chase scenario in that kind of water could easily turn into a disaster. The group consisted entirely of experienced paddlers with solid rolls, people who could be relied on not to pull their decks unless it was completely unavoidable. Still, we had a total of seven swims that day. Some were due to deck implosions in holes, other people were pulled out of their boats in holes and some people got worked in holes where the only way out was swimming. 

 

On the bank of a super high Sesia talking through how we're going to run the river safely. Photo by Eoin Howard.

This was big volume paddling with consequences like I had never seen before! I'm definatly far more used to steep creeks than this style of river. Emer and Gav got body surfed in different holes and went for nearly 30 seconds (counted on GoPro footage!) of downtime each before being released. The other swims were less bad but still far from pleasant. Thankfully our rescue plans worked perfectly. Whenever the first group of four saw a tricky hole they would hop out and set up safety, meaning that anyone who got badly worked was roped out immediatly. Anyone who swam while on the move was looked after by their group of three others who were right on the spot to get them and their kit out of the water straight away. For all our drama, there were no injuries, all the rescues were dealt with as well as they could have been and serious respect to anyone who swam, none of them let the experience phase them at all. After the first run we went straight back up and ran the section again, which went much smoother since we now knew where all the worst holes were. We packed up that evening tired but stoked after a great day on the river, and called the rescue section of our training week finished since everyone had got more enough practise barging boats and roping and carrying swimmers to prepare them for what was coming up in the next few weeks. That night we hit the sleeping bags early since water levels were dropping back down to sensible levels and we had another big day planned for the next day. 

 

Scouting Little Canada before running it. It's pretty interesting at those water levels! Photo by Eoin Howard.

Saturday

The next day was planned to be the focal point of our training week. The idea was to head to the Egua and run it as if it was entirely new to all of us, with the intention of getting out to scout everything and work on reading the river, planning rescue set-ups and picking lines. We got up early to make the most of the day and headed to the get on, where we found the levels still 'chunky' after the rain two days before. On seeing the levels some of the group became very unsure of the wisdom of running it at all. However after much talk, a group yoga session and some more talking everyone decided to get on the water. Thankfully they did, because in the end the day turned out to be perfect! 

 

Top Drop on the Egua from a cool angle. Photo by Eoin Howard.

The high water level made the river a solid step up compared to the previous time we did it but it was still easily manageable by everyone in the group. Building on the work we did on the Sermenza everyone got some great experience planning lines based on key strokes and executing them, and at every drop we talked through what rescue set-up was needed and why. It worked great and since we were scouting everything everyone's lines were much cleaner than the previous run a few days before. We spent the whole day on the one run, and by the time we got to the bottom everyone was in great form and delighted with how it was going. Whereas the previous time we ran the river only four of us decided to run cylinder drop, this time by the time we got to the bottom the group was so stoked that nearly everyone wanted to fire it up. So we set up a dope on a rope, told everyone which rock to paddle towards and let them have at it. And it was awesome to see, almost everyone styled it! No-one completely melted it, but it was at the level where anyone who didn't nail the line perfectly was only coming out on the end of a rope. Which was fine, a few people got to practise being the dope at the end of a rope and no one swam in Cylinder drop at all. In fact, throughout the entire day we only had one swim, which is pretty good going! Everyone finished the day on a high and we headed back to the campsite and the Gene17 river festival in great form. That night a stonking great party went on till all hours and we spent the night generally running around the place and having the craic. 

 

A STOKED crew after a savage day on the Egua! Photo by Eoin Farrell

Sunday

The Sunday following the festival was scheduled to be a bit of a rest day, since lots of people were worn out after the last few days of pretty full on paddling. Some people decided to take the day off, and the rest of us decided to go for a handy chilled out run on the Alpine Sprint and keep going down to Scopello. For several reasons that plan didn't really work out. Firstly, water levels were much higher than the first day we were there and the section wasn't the easy chilled out run that we remembered! The steep sections had become pretty full on and continuous, with several holes that would easily catch out anyone who was off line. The group had several swims, which wasn't a problem but dealing with them meant that people didn't really get the rest that they were hoping for on their day off.

When we reached the eddy at Mollia falls, the rest of the group started portaging but I decided I wanted to take a look at it. After a few minutes looking at it, I decided I could make the line and started looking more closely at the individual moves in it. ...for anyone who doesn't know, Mollia is a long, technical rapid on the Sesia which is usually walked around. The rest of the lads in the group said they were happy enough to do rescue on it so we had a chat and came up with a plan for how they would deal with it if everything went wrong. After quite a while looking at it I thought I had figured out how I was going to make it through. Unfortunatly, the super clean line that I had imagined didn't exactly happen! I screwed up a flare move half way down and rolled, which left me backwards and on the wrong side of the river dropping into a little pocket with no exit. What happened next can be seen in the video. Eventually I get pulled out with most of my gear while my boat continued on it's merry way down the river.

After sorting me out, reuniting me with my various bits of gear that had floated off downstream (fortunately we had put a few guys covering another drop and pool downstream in case of this exact scenario) and paddling on down to the campsite, we decide to call it a day and scratch the plan to paddle down to Scopello. After getting dinner we go for an early night to try to recover from the days activities. ...taking an early night also meant that I had to spend less time in the luminous pink swimmer's outfit, definitely a good idea for both my dignity and anyone who had to look at me wearing it!

Monday

The plan was that by Monday morning everyone would be recovered and back in top form after their day off, allowing us to do one more day of solid paddling before our week came to an end. So we got up early and headed to the get on of the Sermenzino, another beautiful steep creek that is similar to the Egua only less technical and slightly bigger. However when we got there we realised that no-one was in the mood. Sunday had turned into another hectic day rather than the rest day it was meant to be, meaning that most people were still knackered after nearly a week of solid paddling. Forcing ourselves onto a difficult river in that state would have been a bad idea so we changed plans and headed back down the valley. Most people went back to bed and took the day off completely while a few went up to the start of the Alpine Sprint and finally fulfilled their dream of paddling all the way from there to Scopello village. I ran shuttle and took video of the guys on the water, since I really wasn't feeling it for another full day of paddling, no matter how easy the river. It was a slightly low key end to a very not low key week but what can you do, there's only so much paddling that the human body can do before it says stop!

...what did we do after our training week? What were we training for? Stay tuned over the next few days to find out! 

The Alps with ULKC - Part 1, To Italy!

Over the last few years ULKC's Alps trips have settled on a tried and tested format which maximises enjoyment, safety and progression for everyone involved. In keeping with this formula myself and Andrew Regan were asked to plan the first week of this years trip, which would involve bringing 15 of the best paddlers in the club to Italy and running a week of coaching on personal paddling and rescue skills. Fortunatly there's a limit to how much planning can be done for a week like that, with a lot depending on water levels and people's abilities which we wouldn't know until we were out there. This meant that once we had a chat and came up with the basic format for the week I was free to sit back and focus on college stuff until exams finished.

My last exam was on a Friday, that evening there was a going away party for friends who are leaving for Canada for the forseeable future. The following day would be spent packing the vans and trailer for the trip, followed by a club BBQ at the boathouse. On Sunday morning we left for Les Alps. So I headed into college on the day of my last exam with everything I would need for the next three weeks. Yes I got lots of funny looks walking into college carrying a pile of camping kit. Thankfully all my kayaking gear was already in the boathouse, that would have just looked ridiculus!

When that exam was over (Heat transfer; yuk!) I finally got to taste freedom! It was straight to Curraghbrin for a BBQ, followed by Costellos, followed sleeping in the back of a van cos we lost everyone who owned a house, followed by packing the vans, followed by another BBQ, followed by crashing on a sofa, followed by being woken up and being told to get in a van to go to the ALPS!! Pretty epic start to an epic trip! Apologies again to Bry, a vegetarian, for insisting that she tried my perfectly cooked steak on Friday night, that can't have been pleasant!

 

Practising the dance to what became the most anticipated song on the playlist, Nelly the Elephant, at the BBQ on Saturday night. I'm sure anyone who saw this in action didn't know what to think!

 ...a word on those vans, since they attract a lot of interest wherever we go. The belong to the UL Students Union, and they are there for clubs and societies to use whenever they want. It's a pretty unreal set up! Competition for them can be pretty fierce between the different clubs, with a lot of negotiation and give-and-take going on to make sure that that they are fairly shared and that they go to the right club if there's an especially important event on, for example an intervarsities. They are driven by students with sufficient driving experience who have been nominated by their club committees and have passed a specific driving test organised by the SU. They get well used, most years the van will travel to the alps three times, with us, the mountain bikers and the skydivers! The minibus gets used less, as you have to be 24 to drive it and have a specific licence, which excludes most students.

 

The Wolves are escaping! At the ferry port.

 

Mark, Andrew and Eoin loaded up and ready to go. Coming soon, the most anticipated music video release of the summer, Mark Scanlon covers 'My Milkshake Brings All The Boys To The Yard', filmed on location in the ULSU Sprinter, with backing vocals by Niall Crosbie and Emer Farrell.

Back to the trip, we made it to the ferry port at Rosslare remarkably on time and without incident, rolled onto the ferry and passed the 16 hour journey by chilling out, catching up on sleep and laughing at people getting fantastically drunk on their last Irish bottles of wine for a while. When we got to Cherbourg, after a moment with French passport control (Have you checked your pocket Rob?) we settled in for the long journey to Italy. Almost immediatly, the trailer starts making funny noises. Having had more drama due to misbehaving trailers on previous Alps trips than its possible to count, we get extremily worried, stop, think we can feel a rattle in a wheel bearing and run off to find the nearest mechanic. We find one who rattles it around a bit and then tells us through a mixture of sign language and facial expressions that it's fine and we should piss off and stop wasting his time. So we turn up the music and press on, trying to ignore the intermittant banging that we decide must be coming from the draw-bar. Thankfully, the music was a playlist made by getting everyone on the trip to submit one song which luckily were a.)  95% excellent and b.) mostly well suited to being turned up loud and used to drown out unwanted noises.

 

As you approach the Alps the mountains start to grow in front of you and the scenery gets more and more spectacular.

  Thanks to the tachometer in the minibus, epic non-stop drives across France are out of the question. The minibus is also electronically limited to 100 km/h which considerably slows progress. We make it as far as the outskirts of Lyon that first night, where we stop at a truck stop for a few hours rest. Thanks to warm, dry continental weather, we spend that first night sleeping out on the ground under the stars, with no need for any kind of shelter except a sleeping bag! Who would wish for a bed when you could have that! The next morning we get up early to beat the traffic and spin into the middle of Lyon to pick up one of the lads, Niall, who spent the winter working in a French ski resort. We get out of there and onto the road west asap, since if we make decent enough progress we might just make it to Val Sesia in time for a warm up paddle.

 

Stopping for the obligatory photo op at the entrance to the Mont Blanc tunnel. It looks even better in real life, and no, I'm not talking about Rob's tattoos!

Several hours of driving banter later we make it to Val Sesia tired, smelly and a little dehydrated but hyped up for a few weeks of epic boating. We quickly set up camp and leg it off to paddle the Alpine sprint section of the Sesia. The Alpine Sprint is a sweet few kilometers of bouldery Alpine river, which gets beautifully steep and pushy in places. It's a sudden wake up call after the days of travelling but we get down it with no drama and it leaves everyone buzzing and ready for whatever the next few days will bring. We even got to do a few sneaky runs on the start ramp that was set up for the Sweet rumble boaterX that was happening the following weekend, in case the opening paddle on the Alpine sprint wasn't enough for anyone! 

Idyllic setting for a campsite, on an island in a river in Italy's Val Verde, or green valley. Photo by Sean Murphy. The view we wake up to every morning is spectacular, and covers 360 degrees. Pictures simply don't do it justice.

That's it for now. Stay tuned for another update in the next few days giving the full story of our training week in Val Sesia, Italy. Later!

Spring Semester 2014

So as a bit of an explanation as to why I havn't had time to write anything on here in ages, here's a run down of what I've been up to for the last few months. On top of all that there were college assignments to be done almost every week and lots of work went into planning stuff for the summer. It's nice to finally have a chance to chill out and have a look back over it all!

January 26th. Freestyle Team Trials - Tuam
Baltic cold, rainy, biting wind, sheltered by trees from any hint of warming sunlight ...it could only be a winter competition at Tuam. The day saw ok water levels and a solid enough turn out of competitors, despite the miserable conditions. My freestyle boating obviously needs work, I came 7th on the day, not exactly where I want to be at. Congrats to all the guys who managed to do well, trying to throw down freestyle moves while suffering from mild hypothermia is not pleasant!

 

A bit of messing at Tuam while training for team trials. Photo by Caolinn Doran.

Febuary 15th. Ennistymon Race - 2nd behind Colin Wong.
After a scheduled race on the Glens was called off due to trees and unsuitable water levels, we moved the whole circus to the Ennistymon Falls in Clare. Ideal water levels and brilliant weather made for a great day on the water. With a big turnout, including a lot of paddlers who made the trip down from Wicklow for the day, and a short, intense race course that was ideal for a boatercross the craic on the water was mighty.

 

Great waterlevels, great turnout, great weather, great river, what more can you ask for?! 

Photo by Willie Doyle.

Febuary 21st - 23rd. Kayaking Intervarsities - 2nd in Freestyle behind David Higgins.
A medium length book could be written about this one but suffice to say it was epic! Fair play to the organising colleges for putting on such a great event. The weekend lived up to all the trash talk that went on facebook before hand. To the dismay of all the spectators, the most anticipated polo match in recent history, which would result in the losing team going swimming in the middle of the pitch, resulted in a draw between ourselves and DIT. Unfortunatly this put us out of the polo competition on goal difference, a bit disappointing considering the amount of work we had put into preparing for it. There was no time to get too upset about it tho, there was still three events and two massive nights out to get through before the weekend was out.

 

In action against DIT

The Friday night party in the Maynooth SU was deadly craic but I had obviously picked up something dodgy at polo in the canal earlier that day. I started feeling like shite that evening and was completely wiped out for the next two days. That took me out of the whitewater and long distance competitions but fortunatly the UL guys were well able to survive without me. Simon McCormac subbed in for me and I slept while the lads did great in both competitions. Even worse, I had to miss the main event of the weekend, the Saturday night party. Disappointing but shit happens, what can you do.

The next day, I decided I would be able to pull a few freestyle rides together, despite still feeling like utter crap. Especially since the competition had been moved to flatwater at the Canoeing Ireland training centre due to unsuitable levels at Sluice. In the end it worked, I got to use the flatwater Phonixes and Tricky-Woos which I had spent the winter working on in the pool. I got the highest scoring ride of the competition and came in second behind David Higgins of NUIG. Delighted. The work that the lads had put in the day before meant that we won the event for the fifth year running!




March 1st & 2nd. Galwayfest - 4th overall, behind Barry Loughnane, Bren Orton and Andrew Regan.
Another event that could well have a book written about it! I'll sum it up by saying savage whitewater race, epic night out followed by the best freestyle competition I've ever seen in Ireland! Fair play to Barry Loughnane Andrew Regan and the rest of the Galway crew, they really have things figured out and the event rightfully grows bigger year after year. This year they even got the weather and the water levels right, both of which were perfect for the weekend! The only thing that needs improving is the competition, this year Bren Orton and George Heyworth-Hill made the trip over from the UK for the weekend but wasn't enough to knock Barry off the top of the podium at the end of the weekend. It looks like we're going to have to look harder for next year but it's going to be tough, the list of better paddlers in the world is pretty small!

 

Mid Space Godzilla at Tuam, photo by Emer O'Brien

Koray McGowan put together a sweet video from the event, which can be seen here: video. As you can see, the feaure and the jam session format meant that paddlers could really let fly at the freestyle event. I've never seen moves that big thrown in Ireland, and not just the ones done by Bren and George. I really hope it's a sign of things to come for Irish Freestyle!

March 8th & 9th. Surf training weekend.
One of the cool things about the inaugeral inter-club championships was the raft of training events put on by the different disciplines in the weeks leading up to the event. Although the conditions for the surf event weren't great, a lot of people got the opportunity to try out surf specific boats for the first time and a lot of fun was had by all.

March 15th & 16th. Freestyle Training Weekend.
Same story as the weekend before, with most of the same people only in a different place with different boats. Almost 60 people showed up to be shown the basics of freestyle and with two friendly holes with easy eddy access the location was ideal. By the end of the day lots of people were left spinning to their hearts content. It was also obvious that the competition itself would come down fun moves, as trying to land any moves other than left spins in the 6 inch deep, flushy holes at Greensbride weir is extremily difficult! Unless you're Dave McClure of course, then phonixes and mcnastys are also possible. How they're possible when the water isn't even deep enough to get a full paddle blade in I still have no idea!

March 29th & 30th. Windsurfing Intervarsities - 1st in bronze fleet.
So I took up windsurfing last summer when I was stuck in Ireland with no water in the rivers and no surf on the beaches and ended up competing for the University of Limerick clup at the intervarsities. It made an interesting contrast to a kayak varsities. Numbers were much smaller and with only one discipline there was no hectic rushing around between multiple locations, making for a much more chilled out weekend. So much so that I even got in a lovely surf on Saturday evening before the party. Unfortunatly there was also far more guys running around in lingerie on Saturday night, thanks to the rocky horror theme to the party. I don't think the mental scars have quite healed fully yet...

 

Beautiful fun surf at the windsurfing intervarsities.

April 6th. Dougy surf trip
Every so often, when the weather, wind and waves align perfectly we throw all the sea related toys we can find into the van and make for the beach. This day we got perfect 4-5ft waves, light offshore winds and glorious sunshine so off went a gang of us from ULKC. In one day I was able to go body surfing, surf boarding, body boarding, wave skiing, surf kayaking and freestyle kayaking! And we played some rugby on the beach. I can't think of a better way to spend a day!

 

Unfortunatly we don't always get it right. This photo is from an earlier surf trip in the semester. I think everyone is just delighted to be off the water; lashing rain, howling onshore winds and big waves meant that paddling out was interesting and all the beginners got a bit battered! The waves were fun tho, lots of big air!

April 12th & 13th. Club Champs - 1st in Freestyle, 1st in Surf, 2nd in BoaterX but got disqualified for not wearing a bib in round 1.
Another savage event, and one that I really hope turns into an annual or biannual thing over the next few years. The recipe, taking the intervarsities and enlarging them to include all clubs and all disciplines is an excellent one, but it takes a complex event to organise and turns it into a monster. Thankfully Benny, Shane, Kris and everyone else up in the Canoeing Ireland office were well up to the task and the coordination of all eight events went perfectly. Too much went on to try and write about it all here but UL entered all disciplines and did respectably in all of them. In the end we came third, behind Galway kayak club and Wildwater kayak club which we're delighted with. Its a pretty savage result for a club with no juniors and no masters. The plan for next year is to refine how we enter people in each discipline, get more people into more disciplines and possibly go one better in the final rankings. Wildwater kayak club look almost untouchable in the top spot, with world class paddlers in juniors, seniors and masters categories in almost every discipline.

 

A delighted looking crew at the prizegiving for the Club Championships.

April 26th - Clare Surf Comp & AGM
Yeah, it happened, the surf was rubbish, my boat was leaking, I think the less said about this one the better! I did come 1st in IC tho, which is some consolation. There were a few new faces there which is great to see, all paddling impressively well. A few east coast Sluice rats even showed up. Much to their surprise, the salt water didn't burn them and the people don't bite, so hopefully we might start seeing them at a few more events in this part of the world. ...Ye hear that Bernie and Adrian? Ye should bring some friends next time too, it has to be good to wash that Liffey water off the skin every so often!

May 7th - Exams Start
After the surf comp it was time to knuckle down and get come college work done. Exams started on the 7th and lasted for three weeks. I think they went pretty well but I'll find out just how well in a few weeks time.

 

Finally the day that sometimes felt like it would never come arrived. Exams ended and we headed down to the river to drink a few beers, say goodbye to some friends who were leaving after their time studying in Ireland and look forward to what the summer promised to bring. Photo by Eoin Farrel.

 As soon as the exams were over the real fun started, I'll get a write up of how that went up here in due course. Stay tuned to find out what happened next!

Thanks for reading!
 Keyes

It's been a while!

It's been a an awful long time since I posted anything up here, due to a ridiculusly busy six months of college and kayaking events, but that's about to change. I might post up some kind of summary of the past six months at some stage if I get the time, since a lot of things happened that deserve to be mentioned! Highlights include the Irish Whitewater League, the Kayaking Intervarsities and the inaugeral Club Championships, all of which went extremily well!

For now, this is just a heads up that I am just back from three weeks cruising around Italy and Slovenia with the legends that are ULKC, and expect one bumper trip report when I find some time to get my head around everything that happened and put it down on paper!

Bis bald!

 

Legends to the last!