A few days back on of the guys from the UKRGB Bren (aka Peakfreak) posted up that there are no videos online that just explain the “double pump” and any that try assume too much previous knowledge from the person looking to learn.
I had being thinking of doing up a few wee how to tutorials but was being a bit lazy about it, I took this as a bit of motivation. I hit a part of the local river two cameras and tripod in hand. Sadly after I had uploaded the footage to my laptop I some lost it all , a fecking disaster so I flew back down to the river with my younger brother Keith “shaky hands” Shanahan and managed to get only 6mins of raw footage before the battery died. I managed to salvage this after all that.
This has kinda inspired me to put a bit of effort in and knock out a few more hoping to improve on the quality.
So I have broke the onlyish kinda rule I set my self when I started this blog thin up, “to keep it updated regularly”. The only positive is that I’ve had loads of stuff on as of late which included some boating & good times.
Clifden Fun Rodeo 09
So for the few weeks leading up to the weekend of 20th/21st of June myself , Bowsie & some of the NUIG/GMIT kayak club crew were busy making plans for Event 2 of the IFS league which was to be held in Clifden Co. Galway.
The idea of the event was was pretty straight forward, “lets get everyone over to Clifden do a training / freestyle event lash a BBQ & beach party in the middle of it all and hope every one has a savage time”. From the feed back we have gotten I say it’s safe to say we did what we set out to do.
As some of you might know I am a member of the Irish Freestyle Committee and that our National Team are in preparations for the upcoming World Freestyle Championships In Thun Switzerland later in the Summer. RTE’s magazine program Nationwide decided to do a a small piece on the Freestyle Team and Freestyle kayaking as a whole, this was a bit of honour for us as we are the only sport/ discipline to get covered twice.
As this was Filmed at relative short notice and that the team are currently spread from Uganda to the Ottawa I drafted in some help form friends / Sluice locals and those of the national team that were in striking distance of Dublin.
Fellow team i-canoe member James VdB took some shots on the day
The piece aired on Irish National last Friday evening to approx 500,000 + and was received well among both the paddling / non-paddling community. My only regrets are that there was not some more kayaking shown as a few of the guys managed to go huge on the evening but this wasn’t shown, there were also a couple of more interviews shot too which didn’t get aired ( one of which included the single best “why do you kayak” answers I have ever heard ).
So a while back I did up a bit of a guide for one of Irelands best play spots Clifden on Irish Freestyle ao I thought I would stick it up here so it wouldn’t get lost in the depths of cyberspace. One of the reasons I did up this post was folks are always asking me the same questions…Where is it, how does it work, can you camp, where can you get good online tides. So I am going to stick up the relevant info and hopefully that will answer any questions, and with the lack of water and the good weather there is no better time to get over to one of Ireland’s premier playspots.
When does it work.
As Clifden is tidal it changes when it works, it works about two hours before Galway harbour high tide ,only Spring tides (full moon / new moon)which are twice every month. The tide has to be above 4.26 meters ( 14ft old money) but comes into its own 4.72 (15.5 ft ). So how that all comes together, look at the tide time table for spring tides and make sure thew are big enough.
Take two hours of the time in this case its 15:52 and get to Clifden and be on the water ready to enjoy yourself. Clifden is usually a pretty friendly place to paddle and great for paddlers of all abilities with swims not being a big deal as the saltwater lake it flows into is not dangerous and gear is easily recovered. What I will say there are a few 5.4 meter tides which while not particularly dangerous it’s not for the faint hearted. But still worth the trip for the more adventurous paddler.
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.
