Irish Kayak News

Update

noreply@blogger.com (EoinK) — Sun, 27 May 2012 08:09:00 +0000

Ok, its been a few days since I put anything up on this so heres whats been happening;

The water levels have come up a bit again thanks to warm weather and the occasional rain shower so that has opened up a few rivers that weren't really worth running before. The first thing we did when levels came up was head to the Sermenzino. There still wasn't really enough water to make the first few km of bouldergardens fun but everything cleaned up once we hit the main rapids and we ended up having a great day on it.

The next day we decided to take it easy and not paddle any rivers. So we headed out to Landwasser, a 25ft or so waterfall on the upper Mastellone. I had a few sweet lines on it, and got to test out a go-pro mount that I made for the back of my boat. The footage I got from it was class, I'm delighted with how well it worked!

After Landwasser we headed back up to the Sorba Slides, which were at a much better level than a few days before, when you could have ridden a mountain bike down the top slide! We ran it a good few times and had some really sweet lines on it.

Yesterday we went looking for a 35ft drop that we had heard whispers going around the camp about. We found it, after a bit of difficulty, and even though it's definatly not 35ft, more like 20-25, it looks like a sweet drop with an 'interesting' lead in. We decided that we didnt have enough people to run it safetly so hopefully we'll go back in the next few days with a few more bodies.

After that we ran down the lower Gironde and into the Sorba Slides, since it was the first time that we'd seen the Gironde at a level worth running. The Sorba Slides were at a brilliant level, much higher than the last time we ran them so we ran them once or twice and then started looking for new lines on them. Unfortunatly one of those new lines was centre line on the bottom slide, which I thought would bring me over the big cushion wave at the bottom, styling the drop. What actually happened was I crashed into the cushion wave and got thrown upsidedown against the rock wall on river left, bashing most of my knuckles and badly cutting my thumb. A pretty sickening end to the day, and I should probably stay off the water for a day or two to let it heal up a bit but hopefully it will sort itself out quickly.

Jezierski in A Final of Canoe Sprint World Cup in Duisburg

info@afloat.ie (Liam Gorman) — Sat, 26 May 2012 17:24:08 +0000

# CANOEING: Andrzej Jezierski won his semi-final of the C1 200 metres and moved confidently into tomorrow’s A Final at the World Cup in Duisburg in Germany. He finished second…

Watkins Impresses at Canoe Sprint World Cup

info@afloat.ie (Liam Gorman) — Fri, 25 May 2012 18:13:18 +0000

# CANOEING: Barry Watkins had an excellent first day at the Canoe Sprint World Cup in Duisburg in Germany. He qualified for the A Final of the K1 500 metres,…

Pincher Creek Festival

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Crerar) — Fri, 25 May 2012 15:27:00 +0000

Pincher Creek This past May long weekend saw the first of Western Canada’s whitewater festivals. Pincher creek is an area in the southern part of Alberta, located in the South-East and boasts some incredible views and some incredible white water.

This area provides an almost erie contrast in land formation. Looking East you can see Alberta famed expanse of flat or rich land, and to the West the Rockies soar straight up out of the flat lands providing a wall of sorts that separates Alberta and British Columbia. For those of you that are regular Gauley Festival attendees, Pincher Creek festival provides a similar sort of atmosphere.

The ambiguity of the event provides an amazing sense of community and really shows the strong presence kayaking has in Alberta. Although there are not as many vendors at this event, a number of stores provided demo’s and Aquabatics provided guided trips and clinics for those interested over the weekend. For those looking to push their limits there was a great selection of rivers all within a two hour drive from the festival camp grounds.

Being new to Alberta these events provide a great way to meet new people and get a grip of what this area has to offer. With the helo of a few knowledgeable locals we managed to tick off four runs over the weekend, some with as many as eighteen people on the water at one time. Although a logistic task of sorts, it was great to see so many people out pushing their limits and regardless of level everyone seemed to rendezvous back at the camp group for home made dinners,camp fires and tales from the days boating.

A big thank you to all the organizers, Aquabatics, Endless Adventure, Undercurrents, and Just Liquid for sponsoring the event, and putting on such a great show...

Egua

noreply@blogger.com (EoinK) — Wed, 23 May 2012 19:27:00 +0000

Another quick one from the Egua:

Getting loads of footage out here but uploading anything longer just isnt going to happen!

Egua

noreply@blogger.com (EoinK) — Wed, 23 May 2012 08:44:00 +0000

The weather has finally changed here in Italy and all the levels are up again. Loads of snow fell on the mountains the day before yesterday while we were getting rained on and now that the weathers warm again thats all melting and giving us some sweet rivers to play on.

We got out on the Egua yesterday which is the classic run in the area, between Neil styling top drop and cylinder drop and me landing front and back freewheels off the autoboof it was a really good day! We got lots of footage too so we're happy out!

Hopefully the next few days stay the same. The plan for this morning is to head to the Egua again and then check out the Sermenzino in the afternoon when the levels come up a bit. The forecast is pretty good for the next few days so everything should be running well!

Volunteers Required

Sun, 20 May 2012 19:52:48 +0000

The Junior Liffey takes place next Saturday, 26th May and the Marathon committee are looking for volunteers to help out with rescue. If you are free and willing to support paddlers of the future contact Brendan O’Brien at brendangobrien@gmail.com or 0868532032.

Italy!!

noreply@blogger.com (EoinK) — Sun, 20 May 2012 19:02:00 +0000

So, for the last few days myself and Neil Slevin have been cruising around Val Sesia in Piemonte, Italy running some sweet rivers! So far the weathers been fairly chilly here so the levels are low enough but hopefully they'll come up again in the next few days before the festival.

So far we've hit the lower Sesia, the Sermenza and the upper Sesia, all without major incident but we did have some interesting moments on Mollia rapid on the Upper Sesia earlier on today! No swims but I did spend about 15 seconds pinned upside down at the bottom of a drop before I managed to push off from the rock; great way to set up for the second half of the rapid! ULKC are out here too so we've done a good bit of paddling and coaching with them. We did a pretty decent boof coaching session with them on the lower Sermenza yesterday which was some craic.

The internet connection here is pretty rubbish so uploading any decent length videos is out of question but here's a quick teaser:

The plan for the next few days depends on water levels but we're hoping to move onto some of the steep bedrock classics like the Egua and the Sermenzino. They havnt really been running over the last few days tho so fingers crossed!

Jerzieski Finishes Fifth in B Final at Canoe Sprint World Cup

info@afloat.ie (Liam Gorman) — Sun, 20 May 2012 16:09:10 +0000

#CANOEING: Newly-qualified Olympian Andrzej Jerzieski finished fifth in the B Final (14th overall) in the C1 200 metres at the Canoe Sprint World Cup in Poznan in Poland today. Canoe…

What now?

Sun, 20 May 2012 13:21:04 +0000

I’ve never felt so lost as the past week. It’s just been over a week now since I failed in qualifying for the London Olympics. A dream, gone, just like that, I felt it so close, and now it’s just gone. I’ve been through my run countless of times, and every time it’s the same story, “What the Hell happened?”.

B Final Place for Jezierski in Canoe Sprint World Cup

info@afloat.ie (Liam Gorman) — Sat, 19 May 2012 17:06:35 +0000

CANOEING: New Ireland star Andrzej Jezierski qualified for the B Final at the canoe sprint World Cup in Poznan in Poland. Jezierski finished fourth in his semi-final, just over three…

Watkins and Egan Semi-Finalists at Canoe Sprint World Cup

info@afloat.ie (Liam Gorman) — Fri, 18 May 2012 17:04:30 +0000

#CANOEING: Ireland’s Barry Watkins reached two semi-finals at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup in Poznan in Poland today. He came closest to reaching the A Final in the K1…

Jezierski Qualifies Ireland Boat for Olympic Games

info@afloat.ie (Liam Gorman) — Thu, 17 May 2012 15:50:31 +0000

# CANOEING; Ireland booked a place for a third canoeist at the Olympic Games as Andrzej Jezierski fought through difficult conditions to take second place in the Olympic Qualifier in…

Egan Seventh In Olympic Qualifier A Final

info@afloat.ie (Liam Gorman) — Thu, 17 May 2012 09:45:06 +0000

#CANOEING: Jenny Egan missed out on the automatic Olympic qualification places in the women’s K1 500 metres at the European Canoe Sprint qualification event in Poznan in Poland today. The…

Jezierski Gives Ireland Second Finalist at Canoe Sprint Olympic Qualifier

info@afloat.ie (Liam Gorman) — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:36:23 +0000

#CANOEING: Two Ireland boats have qualified for tomorrow’s finals at the European Olympic Qualifier for canoe sprint in Poznan in Poland. Andrzej Jezierski won his heat of the C1 200,…