Lambay Island 23-01-11

A trip to Lambay Island, about 3 - 4km off the East coast of Ireland, had been on the cards for a while but due to one reason or another I had never gotten round to it.

On Sunday the 23rd January 2011, all the pieces fell into place: we had the sea kayaks already loaded on the van, the weather forecast was calm and clear with minimal swell and we had two locals, Paddy and John McGovern to guide us!

To us River Rats, whose furthest excursion offshore has been to either Dalkey Island or Irelands Eye, this seemed truly epic!  We had enough spare bits and pieces to cover any mishap we could expect but if something did go wrong, there was no swimming 10 metres to the shoreline and walking back to the van for help.

“I did say there was minor swell”

We departed from the harbour in Rush and made surprisingly quick time crossing the few kms to the island.  There was a trawler close to the shore attracting A LOT of birds and as we got closer to the island we could start to pick out it’s features: windmill, jet-black cattle, sheep, hillocks, a small cluster of buildings and what looked like a large walled garden. 

We were aware the locals didn’t take kindly to strangers, so we found a sheltered cove to pull in and take a quick rest and a bite of lunch by the waterline.  Thankfully the day remained calm and clear and we got a great view of the North Dublin coastline to the West and the Mourne Mountains to the North.

 

We didn’t have time to do a full lap of the island, so we headed back up the west coast and made the crossing back to the mainland.

We met a couple of nosey seals who popped up every now and again trailing us back to the harbour in Rush.

All in all a great day and will definitely be back again.

So the training has begun!......Timpeall na Tíre 2011

On the first of June 2011 myself and paddling buddy Danny Egan will be setting off to circumnavigate Ireland by sea kayak. The trip is being run in aid of the Irish Hospice Foundation. A very well deserving chairty, working in Ireland to increase the standard of end of life healthcare in our hospitals. http://www.hospice-foundation.ie
We intend to get around Ireland as quickly as the weather will allow. And we have started a training regime to ensure that this will be possible. Currently the focus is on our diet, plenty of winter sea paddling and the overall increase of our aerobic abilities.
Here are a couple of shots from some recent trips on the east coast, at Rockabill, Lambay Island and Dalkey.

Shag's perched on the islands at skerries





the uninhabited rockabill up close



a rabbit sheltering from a force 6 on dalkey island




returning to loughshiny at dusk





The adventure is being supported by Colm at I-Canoe and Kokatat watersports equipment. If you would like to donate to a good cause please go to this webpage: http://www.mycharity.ie/event/timpeall_na_tire
Donations can be made by laser, visa and mastercard.

Thanks alot from Danny and Paddy, plenty more information soon to follow.

Learn to Paddle K1 Day 6

Day 6 was a wet and windy day with no chance in getting out in a K2 I had a beginner training session which I did whilst paddling a K1 good work in bad conditions with no swims and a successful morning I then took advantage of the wet conditions heading for the mountains for a quick spin down the Avonmore.

Levels were medium nice to be back in something that turns

 

The evening then took me back to the pool for a bit of indoor coaching working with Lacken CC and then teaching a bit of rolling!

 

A very busy day all set for the K2 Race tomorrow!!!

Learning to Paddle K1 Day 4 and 5

Day 4 / 5 was a bit boring, spending time indoors working on fitness and a bit of technique unfortunately it doesnt make great viewing but here she is!

 

 

Hopefully tomorrow is time to learn K2 :-) now that could be intresting :-)

CANI Paddlefest 2011

The CANI Paddlefest has been announced to run over the weekend of the 18th – 20th March 2011.

The CANI Paddlefest always proves to be an eventful and insightful weekend with lots of clinics, demos and impartial advice.

I-CANOE will be there, and we suggest you should be too!

Further details can be found at the link below:

http://www.cani.org.uk/?module=datalistdetail&itemid=0755d3df-3640-45a5-958f-f7c41d327126

They’re Here! – Wavesport Project X

The new Wavesport Project X’s arrived this week – as you can see Ronnie and Bernie were pretty excited.

Here’s a few comparison snaps of Wavesports new Freestyle Machine.

Project 48X meet Project 56X

 

They balance nicely on edge!

Project 48X v’s Allstar (can you tell which is which?)

Project 48X v’s Allstar – Allstar’s slightly longer but there’s not much in it

Learning to K1 Day 3

Day 3 went well with a nice paddle round half the lake really getting the hang of it,

Until I stopped to look at the plane hmmm…. lose concentration for 2 seconds and … Splash

 

Day 4 im going to look at using an indoor machine… at least I cant get wet

Day 5 On the water K1 Practice

Day 6 Might even get a shot in a K2

Day 7 3 laps of the lake :-)

Learning to K1 Day 2

Day 2 of my challenge and I decided to try winged paddles......

 

I found them nice and powerful in the forward stroke but nothing on the back of the blade, They have a nice pull through the water but I did find them a little trippy on entry

so after a successful K1 paddle I decided to really test them out :-)

 

 

Next up I think I need to learn some technique :-)

Learning to K1 Day 1

Well ive set myself the challenge im going to learn to paddle K1 this week!

From no experience to doing 3 laps of the lake next sunday.

 

Day 1 Didnt start too well a couple of swims but luckily being the only K1 Paddler in a drysuit has got its advantages!

 

anyway check out the video!

 

Tomorrow im going to attempt the use of wings!

.Adrian