So after waking this morning keen to get some boating in after having a day of rugby yesterday I wasn’t too sure what to do. After a quick phone call I established that the roads to Wicklow were kinda like…
Which seemed like an awefull lot of effort considering I was feeling a bit “tired and emotional”
and seeing as my wee local play spot had a few “twigs” in it…..
That was a bit of a non runner.
So I decided to kill two birds with one stone, I brought the hound for a wee stroll while also having a look at a little known waterfall that to the very best of my knowledge has never been run. Its hidden way in forest, I hope to give it a go in the coming weeks all we need is a wee bit more water. So here is a few pictures to wet your appetite, with any luck there will be some footage of it with a kayak very soon.
As you can see its a S bend / two tier fall with a short rapid section below it.
The larger of the falls is about 15ft while the smaller (upper one) is about 8ft slide/fall. It is not overly deep but it all defiantly goes. I have seen this once before with what I would call epic water and its more than sporty at that level.
This is the view mid-way down the first section;
View of main fall, gives you some idea of the gradient;
The weekend just gone saw the passing of the squad selection event for this year’s ICF World Freestyle Championships. The plan was to hold the event on Curragower wave in Limerick City, and following a phone call from the ESB on Friday afternoon confirming the requested water levels for the weekend everything was green for go.
On Saturday morning almost 50 paddlers showed up to strut their stuff and gain a place on this year’s squad. Sadly we received a phone call from the ESB saying that due to near epic rain fall over the Shannon Basin that water was now flowing Ardnacrusha dam and they had to realise as much water as possible. This ment the Curragower wave would never form, however it did bring “little Gower” into play, the decision was made to wait until 14.00 to see what the suitability of “little Gower” for trials.
During this time phone calls were aplenty checking water levels and play spots around the country. As 14.00 arrived it was apparent that “little Gower” was not suitable for completion so the difficult decision was made to move the whole event to Tarmonbarry Wave, Only after receiving confirmed reports of epic water levels. This decision was received by the competitors far far better than was expected, as everyone understood that these were special circumstances. There were calls of last minute road trip and even reports of some people getting in some late evening practice that night.
As Sunday morning rolled around in Tarmonbarry it was a testament to the Freestyle community that we had almost 100% attendance from those who had showed up in Limerick the previous days. As the conditions were Baltic and the levels were very high it was decided that the Juniors did not have to compete but they were having none of it! The completion kicked off at 11.30 and confirmed Tarmonbarry as one of the premier play spots in Ireland.
On behalf of the committee I would like to say congratulations to those who have made the squad and all the competitors who supported this event and made it a success. A huge thanks has to all those who judged and scribed, without you these events are not possible. A pat on the back To Orky our Completions Officer who did very well despite this being his first big freestyle event to organise.
On a personal note a Huge shout out to the Junior ladies who braved the elements and stepped up to what is quite an intimidating feature that even some of or more seasoned Seniors were apprehensive about. Also to Rory “the kid” O Reilly who put down some rides that would have placed him in the Senior men squad.
Thanks again to all who took part, and here is looking forward to a successfully Worlds later in the year.
Welcome to my little part of the interweb, I know what you are thinking " Ah jayus..........not another fecking blog", sure bear with me and see how it goes.
I will be updating it nice and regular with photos/ stories / random banter & little "how to" guides. Stay tuned it might help you waste some time during the working day.
