Alright Folks,

Summer is long since here in Ireland and for some insane reason it seems to be all bright, dry and sunny…the result being everyone bar kayakers seems to be in great form. I’ve to article / blogs set to go but as they are about white water stuff I’m going to sit on them until its more in keeping with having some water in the rivers.

Unless you have had your head in the sad you’ll have noticed that pretty much every Kayaker worth their salt seems to spend the majority of their spare time on two wheels spinning around the Mountain Bike trails or Ireland.

If ever wandered how you can check out one of the worlds fastest growing sport for your self you got to check out www.trackandtrail.ie

Track and Trail is a very company founded on the principal of providing Professional MTB Skills courses and a host of other Adventure Activities while not trying to have you break the bank. They have a full fleet of top of the range Mountain Bikes and operate pretty much nation wide.

So while were waiting for the rain to come and fill the rivers why not drop Track & Trail a line and have a savage day with your mates trying your hand at Mountain Biking.

Adrian

Hey folks,

As I’m sure you are all well aware boaters seem to be all budding amateur photographers, all you have to do is log onto facebook after a wet weekend and see some pretty pro results.

So I dropped my mate Ryan a line who is a Scottish based ( I know he will hate being called) Pro Photographer and solid boater a line to see if he was interested in giving me and those who check in on this blog a few tips that might help us get better results.

Ryan himself

I suppose this is where I should just be quiet for once and let Ryan take the drivers seat…

Righto Mr Shanahahahan,

Top Tips for what NOT to do and perhaps what is good to do when you’re taking and editing your boating pics…at the most basic level.

Rule of thirds – Does every photograph you take have the main subject in the centre? Boring huh! Rule of thirds concentrates on composition…i.e. where you point your camera and what’s in the frame. You can Google the definition and think about how you want to composition a photograph. All I’m saying is don’t keep everything central, it’s boring.

Composition – There’s a famous quote that says if it’s not good enough, you’re not close enough. As much as I would never say get as close as you can. I would 100% advise that before you push the button, if there’s sky, trees, rock etc that doesn’t need to be in the frame…zoom in further or get closer.

Shutter speed – Unless you’re trying to get a specific effect I’ simply recommend get your shutter speed as fast as you can. 500th of a second is great, 300th of a second can still be a bit slow but hey, this ain’t Africa, you have to work with the conditions you’re in.

Aperture – If you don’t know what this is, Google it. In short it refers to how much light your camera lets in which also effects what is known as ‘depth of field’…again, Google it. If you’re photographing the boat & person and not the scenery then a general rule you’ll simply want as much light in as possible, only when you want the boat, person and the scenery all in focus will you have to start letting less light in for a greater depth of field….which coincidentally means a slower shutter speed, which of course doesn’t suit this sport in countries with crappy weather….magic answer, there isn’t one; practice and learn more.

For kayaking – The above have all been pretty general that can be used in many type of photography as well as kayaking. The following works specifically for kayaking.
Tripod & Monopod – Tripod’s take up space and time, a monopod will help for those low light, slow shutter speed moments. When you start to get arty though a tripod is a must. Boats, trees, rocks can all come in handy though so use your imagination.

Focusing – Ok, I once asked a Canon sponsored, award winning, very rich and successful photographer what the most important thing he’s learned how to do in photography over the years…he answered “Focus his lens” and he meant it. Moving water is damn hard to do….but the rock, tree or whatever is right next to the water isn’t….so focus on that instead! Turn off your auto-focus and aim for where the boat will appear and wait. There is nothing I can tell you that will make you perfect at focussing….if you find any ways of getting it right all the time every time please let me know.

Communication – Do you boat with strangers, are you being a paparazzi, are you hiding from those coming downstream? NO! So talk to those you’re going to photograph, tell them where to be, the move to perform, not to pull a stupid face and most of all get the bloody paddle away from their faces!!!! But that last one might have to be part your skill and luck…very few paddle strokes help though!

The final and most important top tip that comes from the award winning photographers out there; get some kind of photo-editing software. You can’t be expected to take the world’s best photograph, first time, under pressure, in less than perfect conditions, of your mates ugly mug….but you can resurrect many of what would be terrible shots! YouTube is by far the best way to learn how to do this…the word ‘tutorial’ is a good place to start.

In summary, when you’re on the river just remember:

Focus – make it sharp;if you can’t focus on the water focus on something the same distance away.

Off Centre – Centre is ok…but not every shot chaps & chicks
Shutter Speed – fast fast fast

Talk – your friends will forgive you when they get a great shot of themselves.
Edit Edit Edit– There’s no reason not to.

Ryan

I’d like to thank Ryan for taking the time to do this for me I know I am defiantly going to try put it into practice, you can check out his Company website Liquid Impact.

I would also like to add a little note of two other Irish Paddlers who are skilled photographers one being Chris Tierney who you can check out HERE. Also I’m sure allot of folks know Kyle Tunney check out his Facebook, Website , Blog who’s images constantly amaze and inspire me to want to be better behind the camera.

Adrian

Don’t do places to learn the basics of free style kayaking, but if they did they might start with somewhere like Kilkenny!

I’m sure most paddlers have heard of the river Nore which flows through Kilkenny City but I’d be fairly certain only a small few are aware of the little gem of a play spot that was created some years ago during the flood relief scheme.

To be clear this is no Curragower / Sluice / Clifden or Tuam but it is in my estimation one of the best places I’ve been to to introduce people to the the basics of freestyle kayaking.

The weir itself is a large downstream U shape which creates 3 different features which work at varying river levels. One of the great things is it works when the whole country has almost turned into a dessert right the way through to where its almost washed out.

A location like this is never going to excite the next world champion but it’s being visited by a few folks who can more than hold their own at completions and every one has had a great time here. The moves list that can be done here is not huge but for the beginner and improver you shall be kept busy, we have had spins every which way,Blasts, shuvits, low angle ends, variations of phelixs & pistol flip (type thing..watch your elbows be warned )

Sadly it isn’t not deep enough to loop but I suspect at higher levels some one lighter than my good self might be able to eak out a loop in the centre hole.

You can park and play at the spot or you can take it in as part of a river trip on the Nore itself, there is a nice deep pool above the weir to hone your flat water skills and pools below the weir to collect any possible swimmers.

Three Features, One Location, Clean Water

Good Times!

With the new motorway now open its just on and hour and 10mins form Dublin so all those who seem to live on the Boyne should take a closer look.

Here is a quick bit of video of it at current higher levels, I was just playing with a new camera and editing program so its a bit pants. Gives you a rough idea of what the place is like though.

That’s about it for now, there are a whole bunch of updates going up in the Coaching & Instruction part of the site in the next couple of days along with the 2010 course calendar, have a check back and see if there is anything your interested in.

Adrian

Hey,

To quote Seanie Byrne over on irishwhitewater.com

2010 has been a disappointment for most Irish paddlers so far

I couldn’t agree more with him, in the last 10 or more years I can’t recall a winter dry spell quiet like this, I can only imagine there there will be a few rude awakenings once the water eventually arrives. Until that happens we have to get our fix of the outdoor live either out on the MTB trails ,surfing, any way we can or even through online videos and articles.

In the last couple of months I have been an abide watcher if “The Season” a weekly online video documentary.

The blurb form Bryan Smith and Fitz Cahall the guys behind it..

The Season. Five lives. A world of possibility.

From the creators of The Dirtbag Diaries and 49 Megawatts comes a new web television project following five athletes through the course of a single season in the Pacific Northwest. A veteran climber invents a new piece of gear.  A pro snowboarder searches for a way to return to the roots of his sport.  A boulder returns from a series of injuries with new perspective.  A family man goes to Whistler to test himself against mountain biking’s elite. A young sea kayaker with a troubled past sets out to reinvent his sport.

Shot entirely in HD, this 22-episode series is available to you for free at a number of locations. Every episode premieres on the Arc’teryx web site.   You can have the HD version delivered right to your computer and find all the old episodes by subscribing on iTunes. Expect new episodes once or twice a week.

P.S. This is our baby.  For months we schlepped ropes, camera gear and tripods through underbrush and up the side of cliffs to present our vision of these sports. Some of these athletes are professionals, some aren’t. They are all unique people who have something to say.  We’ve enjoyed helping them tell their story. We hope you enjoy their stories.

I personally have just subscribed to it on i-tunes and it downloads the show in awesome HD as soon as it becomes available. I really can’t recommend highly enough that you check this out and get watching.

I’ve embedded the show trailer here that will give you a flavour of the whole thing.

The first twelve episodes are up online, subscribe / enjoy and lets keep praying that some water eventually arrives.

Adrian

With spring now here and the Irish Winter Kayaking season now over without even a hint of any sustained paddling to be had its time to look ahead and to all the bright evenings and after work boating.

Apart from my some what random departure into robotics I have finally gotten around to  start making some sort of sense of the “Coaching & Instruction” part of my wee website. Up until now it was kinda a case of drop me a line and we will see what we can do, I’m trying to put a whole lot more structure in place to make it easier for anyone looking for stuff and give a better idea of what’s on offer.

Its all very much a work in progress at the moment with lots of information to be added not to mention I’m still wrestling with an online course calendar / booking system.

Lots of stuff is set for change over the coming weeks but it will give you an idea of what I’ve planned.

On an unrelated note my little blog here was nominated for an 2010 Irish Blog Award in the “ Best Sport & Recreation Blog” and has reached it as far as the penultimate round of judging with the finalist being nominated later this week. I was more than a little surprised to be nominated and in a cheesy Oscars type feeling its a bit of an honour to even get this far.

I’d also like to give a bit of a shout out to Nathan Kingerlee of Outdoors Ireland who is also nominated in the same category as me, myself and Nathan used to work together way back in the day in Baltinglass OEC. Its great to see less traditional sports being represented alongside the likes of Soccer / Rugby & GAA.

That’s about it for now, I best get back to my rain dancing.

Adrian

Hey all,

With what seems to be the driest winter in memory and if the daily updated Facebook & Twitter status of the Irish boating community are to be believed paddlers are being driven to madness and MTB. I’m no exception to this and if anyone who has seen me on a bike they will testify that I’d be better off going mad than embarrass myself any further while biking.

So with that mass amount of time I have to waste these days I had to have something to help pass the time and slow my descent into madness.

I have started to notice more and more top quality video productions of boater x events and extreme races.

In all of these productions we see the use of cable cams and get massive and cool sweeping and tracking shots of runs down sections of river. Over the years loads of boaters have chatted after a few beers saying “we should so do something like that on the < insert river name here >.

Read the rest of this entry »

Hey,

This is just a quick little post about something I was thinking lately. In recent times the latest bit of kit that has become a white water essential is the “open sling” and is in fact a mandatory part of the Irish Canoe Union kit list for some awards. I for one reckon its such a versatile / inexpensive / robust bit of kit there is almost no reason anyone can argue against it.

I favour the Nylon tubular webbing sort but traditional climbing tape or even Palm’s “Safety Line” all work the same. More often than not most of us end up having to tie the tape into a loop as part of an anchor system, this is where us as boaters get things a little bit more mixed up.

Nine times out of ten people will tie an overhand knot or figure of eight which are fine for most situations with ropes but this isn’t true when it comes to tape / webbing. The problem with both these knots in tape is that under a high load these will separate and come apart.

If you ask any seasoned Climber to tie you a two ends of tape together they will straight away do the very aptly named “Tape Knot”.

So here is how…

I just used two different colours of webbing so you would be able to follow what was happening, obviously if you are making a loop in a single tape it will be all the same colour (and not use roof rack strap).

This method is by far the safest and best way to attach two ends of tape. Learn it, Practice it and teach your mates.

Adrian

Hey all,

I’ve been rather lazy on the blogging front over the last while up until I saw this thread over on the UK boating site UKRGB. It starts of pretty simple looking to identify a type Prussik knot and as all online forums seem to splits into a couple of different directions with all sorts of information / miss information popping up.

There were a couple of things which I found interesting. Firstly it confirmed to me that boaters and ropes / rope work are strange bedfellows. There seems to be an assumption in the wider paddling community that if someone can paddle ( X ) grade river they are automatically totally up to speed with the rope stuff.

Secondly and the thing that struck my interest is that kayakers seem to have an aversion against using out of the ordinary such as “mechanical devices” or tools which might make things easier.

I have constantly heard people preach the K.I.S.S . principal but I wonder have some of these folks closed their minds to their own detriment, are we missing out on using the right tools for the job?

I thought I would share a bit of kit I have been using for a few years now and I honestly think its a savage tool that can complement almost any WW kayakers tool kit.

Its called a Robot and manufactured by an Italian company called Kong.

“KONG ROBOT DESCENDER: A versatile piece of gear in the vertical world. Some of its many uses include a belay device, rappel device, ascender, in place of a pulley in a z-drag system and the list goes on. It can accommodate ropes between 5-13mm in diameter in a single or double configuration. It even works great with ropes of different diameters”

These are usually used by mountain guides and cliff rescue teams in the Alpine regions but due to the fact it is so versatile it has quickly become an invaluable part of my paddling kit .

The specs stack up like this:

Material: aluminium alloy

Weight: 158 g

Dimensions: 52 x 148 mm

Max Load: 22 kN

Rope diameter: 5-13 mm

It weights in about the same weight as a standard steel crab or about twice the weight as an alloy carabineer. Size wise its not much bigger than a large paddling wire gate crab and fits nicely into the pocket of my PFD.

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The weekend just past brought about the second Colligan Gorge Games which had a huge number of Irish paddlers travel to the unlikely white water Mecca that is Co. Waterford. This year had the one thing that last years event was missing which was near perfect water levels.

The event had both team and individual categories which were divided into sport & expert classes. The racing was tight among everyone and it was shown that even the slightest nudge from your competitors could send you to the back of the pack in an instant. It was a long day with the racing getting off from not long after 9am and continuing right through until almost dark, it was a testament to all those that travelled that the crowds never stopped cheering not once all day long.

The finial “Salmon Leap” rapid was the location for some very interesting lines and some carnage from both the expert and sport classes and the dash to the finish line was littered with abandoned boats & bruised egos.

Read the rest of this entry »

Hi all,

Later this month(29th Nov 09) I will be running an Irish Canoe Union Level 3 Kayak Skills Assessment, the assessment will be take place on either the rivers Kings,Nore or Barrow with a final decision being made in the days previous to the assessment pending on water levels.

The Level 3 Kayaking Skills Award aims to enable participants to;

• Kayak safely and competently on river up to and including Grade 2 rivers as a member of a group.
• Be capable of negotiating obstacles likely to be encountered on Grade 2 rivers.
• Assist in rescues.
• Foster further participation in canoeing.

This assessment to open to anyone but it is suggested that you have completed the ICU Level 2 kayak skills previously.

I realise that very few people enjoy the pressure of assessments so I run these assessments as just another day on the river without making it feel like an exam. This non-interventions method helps you relax so you can enjoy the day and perform at your best.

A PDF copy of the ICU Level 3 kayak skills syllabus can be found..

The cost of this one day assessment is €40 (ask about student/un-employed discount) which includes the certificate administration fee from the ICU who will post certs directly to successful candidates. Spaces are extremely limited so If you would like to book on to this assessment or have any questions please drop me an email info@adrianshanahan.com .

Cheers,

Adrian