First of all, check out this great video put together by James O'Donnell of the finals at the Irish Open. There's some seriously impressive surfing in there, particularly by Dessie in the black long boat and Pablo in the green short boat!
Starting from where I left off last week; after the Irish Open finished up and everyone else started on their journey home the weather took a turn for the worse and the swell started to drop. A few brave and hardy souls took to the water at Tra Bui on Sunday morning before hitting the road but most decided to call it a weekend and get the drive over and done with. After a couple of days hiding from the wind and the rain, by Wednesday conditions were starting to look up. I met up with Jordan Collins and we did a bit of exploring, hunting out spots which were likely to be able to handle the 17/18 second swell which was due to arrive for Thursday morning! We got a few great waves at inside left in Bundoran in the afternoon, and then set up camp on a cliff overlooking the ocean for the night. Dragging ourselves out of the cars at first light the next mornning, we found a sight worth getting up for! A series of reef breaks, with maybe head and a half faces on the sets and perfect shape, ranging in temperment from relatively mellow and forgiving to fast, hollow and punishing! We got geared up pretty much as soon as it was bright enough to pick our way down the cliff face and into the water, and warmed up with a couple of waves on the most mellow peak on offer. Which was still pretty special; a fast, head high wall with unpredictible sections and dry reef pretty close to the finish!
Pablo Arrouays, killing it as always on the outside reef! Photo by Jack Pearson.
After spending a while on the easy stuff, I followed the waveskiiers over to the outside reef 'for a look'. The wave out there was hollow, heavy, fast, shallow and in the sunshine looked like it belonged on a magazine cover! With no immediate intentions of actually catching a wave, I sat out wide on the shoulder watching Dessie in the IC boat and the waveskiiers Marty McCann, Mark Taylor and Pablo Arrouays making some great take offs and taking some horrible looking wipeouts! Pretty soon though a wide set swung through, peaked just where I was sitting and instinct took over, taking me into the wave and safely down the line with no drama. That was the start of an epic session and I slowly got more and more confident on the wave, eventually getting some of the best waves and heaviest wipeouts of my life! We surfed from eight that morning until nearly one in the afternoon, and did another session in the evening just before dusk. By the end of the day everyone was buzzing, swapping stories of their wipeouts and making plans for the next day. Most of the others headed for home or other breaks that night, while I hung around hoping for a similar session the next morning. However Friday turned out to be one of those days where the ocean wins. Rising at first light in the morning, the waves turned out to be significantly bigger than the day before, with guys heading for the outside reef fully kitted up with big wave guns and inflatable buoyancy vests! There was an unmanageable looking crowd on the main peak, and the previous morning's warm-up wave wasn't working at all, so I stuck my tail between my legs and headed for Buncrana!
No Thanks! This is the smaller, mellower of the two peaks on Friday morning. The other was too far away for taking photos with the phone. There are over twenty people on the water there, probably mostly all underwater after being steamrolled by this cleanup set!
For anyone who doesn't know; Crana Fest is a kayaking event in Buncrana, Co. Donegal organised by Adrian Harkin and his team at Inish Adventures. It brings together paddlers from all disciplines for a weekend of coaching, competition and socialising and is one of the few events around which really caters for paddlers of all levels. The 500m or so of river (dam released, for guaranteed water levels!) plays host to different classes of competition and training in freestyle, slalom, whitewater, boaterX and rafting, from absoloute beginner right up to a night time race down the grade IV 'Claw' rapid which will test even the best paddlers! The list of coaches attending always reads like a 'who's who' of Ireland's most well known instructors, and this year I had the honour of being asked to run 2/3 star training sessions for the weekend. Although struggling from time to time with the sheer volume of traffic on the river, I had some incredibly enthusiastic groups and really enjoyed the day, working through the fundamentals of river running with the Skerries sea scouts and anyone else who was looking to progress their skills. I'm hoping to see a lot of the same faces back next year, tearing it up in the intermediate boaterX!
Ground zero for Cranafest; Swan Park in Buncrana, Co. Donegal. The shops are here, most of Ireland's top paddlers and instructors are here; if you're not around then you really need to find out what you're missing next year! Photo by the Great Outdoors.
When the coaching sessions finish up each day, it's the advanced paddler's turn to strut their stuff. The highlight of the weekend is the midnight time trial down the Claw, and this year the organisers stepped things up a level with a series of obstacles on the way down! After sliding down a ramp into the river and avoiding touching the timing system which would mean immediate disqualification, we had to touch a ball hanging over the entrance ramp, duck under a limbo pole at the exit to the rapid, pass our paddles through a hoop in the pool below, round a slalom pole and then sprint back upstream to the finish gate. The standard is high with lots of top level whitewater and slalom paddlers intent on taking the win, and a completely flawless run is always needed to finish high in the results table at these events. I haven't seen any rankings yet but I clipped a rock and lost speed on my way back upstream towards the finish line, which I'm pretty sure will be enough to drop me well down the field! Thankfully, after the coaching sessions finish on Sunday afternoon the boaterX competition on the Claw gives another opportunity to go for some silverware. These races are always chaotic, and the spectators only get to see a fraction of the action as the competitors go over the Claw four or six at a time! The contest starts long before the go command is given as people jostle for their preferred position on the starting line, and continues all the way down the river with barging other boats and taking paddle strokes off other people's boats, bodies or heads all totally part of the game! After lots of tough racing against all the usual suspects and multiple lead changes all the way down the river in the final, I lucked out and took the overall win! Thankfully, after spending an hour or two effectively trying to kill each other, everyone was able to shake hands afterwards and laugh about all the carnage. It'll be all smiles and good times on the river together, until the next head to head when the game faces will go on again!
Nailing the line on the Claw in one of the boaterX races in the Exo Six. It's slightly easier when you can see where you're going! Photo by Sean Lynn.
So where next after Crana? Good question! There are plans in the works, there are other people involved, and there are tickets booked! I'll go into the details soon, stay tuned!
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