A low sluice training session with the Rockies,

 

Quick video of a low sluice session.

Rockhoppers Freestyle at sluice

Teaching the rockhoppers some more freestyle with huge improvements, well done to all

video by Bernard Walsh

Yellow River, Co. Leitrim

With the rain falling we took a drive to lovely Leitrim to try out the Yellow river,

the Map showed a nice gradient and we can see the beautiful Pol an eas waterfall at the get out

One more Irish tree and barbed wire river later here’s the video,

yellow river

filmed with the DogCam HD Wide camera.

 

.Adrian

Clifden Weekend and Oranmore Video

August bank holiday weekend saw the Clifden Beach party rodeo weekend return after a break,

This year was set to be bigger and better with 45 people in attendance,Thank has to go to team paddlers Billy, Bowsie and Barry giving flat-water coaching clinics on a wild windy salt lake, this was followed by a small flat-water competition and a 45 person long eddy queue for the evening hole session.

The Evening beach party was a little washed out but as always the Galway crew made themselves a party under the cover of the IFS tent with bottles of Bucky and anything else they could find.

Sunday saw a slow start to the day with most people opting to hide away from the rain in search of warmth and food.

The comp kicked off Sunday afternoon with a large tide due,

We ran he event as 15minute jam sessions a format favoured by most as it gives time to really work the score sheet.

Off went the heats with big loops and flurries of ends  right up until the tide changed when we ran a quick inflatable comp, this was won by Orky and his Airplane off the bridge. The Heats restarted with the Expert men, unfortunately the timing was slightly out as we spent 15 minutes getting eaten by the hole we were followed by another expert heat which as the hole died saw big rides from both Barry and Bowsie to see them take 1st and 2nd spot in the comp, other winners included

Expert Men – Barry Loughnane

Masters – Garvan Smith

Sport Men – Lee Doherty

Sport Women – Caoimhe Farrell

Junior Men – Billy Brett

Flat-water – Billy Brett

A special mention has to go out to Mairead Barnwell for finishing 2nd in the masters a great performance, well done!

Sunday saw clear sky's and the wind drop just in time for a nice BBQ on the beach,

Monday we decided to head to Oranmore to find out what all the fuss is about, a small tidal feature just outside Galway,

We were very impressed an extremely good spot! very jealous its not on the east coast!

Here's the Video

Team I-Canoe @ Oranmore

Liffey Training Trips Aug 11

This week I took some time off from junior courses to run some river trip activities for some of my squad paddlers, the aim was to teach them how water worked and mover and to give them a better understanding ready for the forthcoming Lower liffey and liffey descent races,

A very low river…..

As always the cameras were rolling

I was trying out my new DogCam Bullet HD Wide with great success, whilst the lads were using the good al faithful Gopro HD Wide,

Heres the results, Enjoy

DogCam Bullet HD Wide

GoPro

GoPro

PHOTO OF THE MONTH

THIS MONTHS PHOTO OF THE MONTH WINNER IS JOHN HENRY WITH THIS LITTLE BEAUTY.

SPECIAL SPOT PRIZE FOR THE PERSON WHO CAN NAME THE RIVER AND PLACE (PLACE COMMENT BELOW)!

CLIFDEN BEACH PARTY WEEKEND!

It was that time of year again! clifden beach party hit off on saturday morning with a flatwater workshop for people who wanted to work on their flatwater moves and advance even more , we split up into 3 groups each group was split into skill so we had the paddlers who were just getting there squirts to paddlers who were finishing their flatwater loops! , it was great to see so many different people out on the water . who said freestyle was dead in ireland. After the workshop the hole was due to be up soon so we headed up for the flatwater competition which was great fun for everyone . i finished up first with Brian Cahill and Barry Loughnanne just behind me in second and third place .After the hole started to pick up everyone had hit the eddy which was jam packed with people we all had our practice runs for the day and headed back towards the campsite for some grub and TLC.

The Beach Party was next but the weather was not on our side and only the brave ventured outside the tent. the next day we had a quick brief about the competition which was for the IFS league and trials for the Euros 2012 .I was in one of the biggest classes junior mens in which was some great paddlers like the sluice crew and the locals. we had 15 minute jam sessions which suited everyone and made it alot more fun in the eddy . in the end i finished first with conor macken and ciaran martin just behind me.
all in all it was a great event a one that will have to be done again.

Billy