Devizes to Westminster 2014

First of all I think it would be polite of us to tell you a little about our dynamic duo. Tiarnán and myself (Alan) have been paddling together for quite a while, 12 years or so. We learnt the basics of kayaking at a young age from Malahide Sea Scouts, an organisation that’s close to both our hearts and one which, along Diabetes Ireland, is one of our chosen charities for this event, detail on our charities and how to donate can be found below. Over the years we completed kayak skills courses and instructor training together and were only pitted against one another when we each captained the kayak clubs of our respective universities (don’t mention inter-varsities 2013!).

                                             Photos provided by Conor Finegan 
An ‘Inspired’ Idea…
It was on a mild St. Patricks day last year when, after one too many Guinness, that we had the enlightened idea of attempting the Devises to Westminster, a legendary kayak race with a reputation for being the worlds toughest. We were inspired by two of our former leaders from Malahide Seas Scouts, Andy O’Connell and Paul Tyrrell who had completed the same race a decade previously. The advice we have received from these guys, as well as members of their support crews has been invaluable.

                                             Photos provided by Conor Finegan 

The Race

The race itself is 125 miles long and takes place on the canals west of Devises, in Wiltshire England and later along the River Thames, finishing at Westminster bridge in London. Teams of two paddle K2 (Tandem) kayaks non-stop for the duration of the race which usually takes between 20-26 hours to complete. It involves around 90,000 paddle strokes and also requires the crews to navigate (usually by walking around or ‘portaging’) 70 locks along the canal. Each team requires a support crew to provide them with food, drink and clean clothes as well as morale support throughout the race. The race takes place during the Easter bank holiday weekend and this year takes place on the 18th of April, exactly 59 days from the writing of this entry, Yikes!

                                             Photos provided by Conor Finegan 

The Charities

Malahide Sea Scouts (www.malahideseascouts.ie)

Both myself and Tíarnan have been members of this remarkable youth organisation since childhood. It was volunteer leaders of Malahide Sea Scouts who first introduced us to kayaking as well as the outdoors generally. Today we both volunteer as leaders ourselves, and the organisation has grown to provide unique experiences and lessons in life to over 600 youth members. We have chosen Malahide Sea Scouts specifically because our current den, which was completed in 1984 and despite served us very well for almost 30 years, is now badly in need of repair and renovation. It has no wheelchair access, poor infrastructure, a leaking roof and is an eyesore on the shore of Malahide Estuary. The funds raised here will go towards building an extension and making the necessary improvements.

1. A much needed new roof.
2. Environmentally sound building.
3. A safer compliant building.
4. Significantly more space for storage and meeting rooms.
5. More rooms to run specific skills training.
6. A child friendly and disability friendly proofed building with a lift.
7. Appropriate facilities for all the volunteers that support and give their time to our Group.
8. A youth room.

Diabetes Ireland (www.diabetes.ie)

Diabetes Ireland is another great charity we have chosen to support. We are racing as part of ‘Team Diabetes’ and the funds we raise for this charity will go towards to providing support, education and motivation to all people affected by diabetes, as well as toward funding research into a cure for diabetes. I (Alan) am a type 1 diabetic and anyone who knows me will be well aware that I operate at about 150% the activity level of the average Joe. Few people, therefore know more then myself about the importance of having the right information and support available to allow you to not only to survive and be healthy but to live life to the full and achieve your goals. This is the kind of practical support and advice Diabetes Ireland is providing on the ground for people with diabetes in Ireland.

If you feel you could help support us our online donation my charity page can be found at http://www.mycharity.ie/event_Donate1.php?donationTypeID=900101&userEventID=58385

The training program is going better than expected, sticking to our weekly plan of a four mile sprint, 16 mile intermediate session and finally a 20 mile + session has us in great shape. On Sunday the 16th of February we put on outside the village of Rhodes and paddled 32 miles in five and a half hours into Celbridge Paddlers club. As well as being a good training session we also learnt a lot on the paddle, our idea of distances between refueling turned out to be a little optimistic which lead to both of us going through our food and hitting the wall  before reaching the support crew. We have done a good bit of practice on portages but the stretch really showed us not all locks have easy exit points and some times it is easier scrambling up the bank.

On the bright side all of the gear provided by I-canoe has been ideal, we are wearing super light and non-restricting custom Peak UK  buoyancy aids with a Marsport drinking system clipped onto the front, under that we have breathable Extrasport Xtended Wear splash cag keeping us warm and toasty without soaking us in sweat. Along with the drinking system I-Canoe also sourced box pogies and zippy decks from Marsport, without these getting in and out of the boat on the 77 portages along our rout would take twice as long. One set of Kemocraft wing paddles were kindly donated to our cause and I-canoe were able to find a matching set and both are cutting through the water nicely. The last topic in our gear talk is the boat, We have done all our training up to now in a PMB rivercraft Zambezi K2 but this is more of a downriver racer with plenty of supporting struts so after 10 years since she last completed this epic race we have been given a 16 kg Van dusen racer, her time in the shed and one too many Liffey descents had her in bad shape but we have her repaired and polished to a shiny finish, her relaunch date is this Saturday 22nd of feb . 

Only a few more weeks left to prepare so time to really get the head down. If you want to sponsor us, once again our My Charity page can be found at the following link
 http://www.mycharity.ie/event_Donate1.php?donationTypeID=900101&userEventID=58385

Ennistymon Falls Race

Last weekend saw the second edition of the Jackson Kayak Irish Whitewater Race League take place on Ennistymon Falls in Co Clare. A short section right in the middle of town jam packed with drops slides and plenty of different lines makes it the perfect race venue. One again the rain obliged topping up the river level on Friday to give the perfect level come race day.  The first edition of the race saw a great turn out with paddlers from all over the country making the trip out west for a sunny day of racing.

The day started off with the time trial race with thirty paddlers going off at one minute intervals trying to find the fastest line through the falls and down the rapids. With a short course times were tight with only seconds separating most of the field. Colin Wong fresh from his second place finish in the Nile River Festival made a winning return taking first place by one second to Eoin Keyes in second place. Len Kelleher  had solid run to take third while I managed to take fourth spot just ahead of a tight pack of five paddlers tied for fifth place.

Susan Doyle took the win in the women's time trial  with Dervla McAuley a close second with the same result coming out of a closely fought boater x.

Next up was the Men's boater X with heats of six racing down the falls. Four heats sprinted down the falls with the top two from each heat going through to the grand final. Colin Wong , Eoin keyes , Dave Holden, David Horkin, Brian Cahill, Mark Scanlon, Sean Cahill and I made up the final and after a false start all raced to the lip of the falls.  I had a clean start and broke away in second behind David Horkin with Colin Wong close behind. David was to quick on the rest of the course so I had to settle for second place with Colin holding on to third.

The day was rounded off with mass paddle down falls making an awesome spectacle for the locals out for a walk. Hopefully this race will become an annual installment on the race calender as it was one of the best race days to date.

Results

Up next is Galway Fest in two weeks time and all is still to play for with the top prize of a Jackson Karma for the top unsponsored paddler along with sick line entries for the top three places in the League. Its great to see new faces turning up at every event and hopefully we might see a few new races popping up to.

Here's some gopro footage of the boater x final and more photos from the race below.

Check Whether Your Knot is Knotted Correctly or Not

Nearly all throwbags have a looped knot in the end for tying/clipping onto.

Ideally this loop should be small to avoid the risk of accidentally trapping someone's fingers to the bag when it is under tension.

For this demonstration, we are using the Nookie 15 metre throw line which is easy to pack, has nice thick rope which is easy to handle and a listed breaking strain of 13 kN.

The loop in the Nookie bag is tied using a bowline knot. Now, all knots reduce a ropes overall strength by a certain amount and some knots reduce it by more than others.  A bowline can reduce the strength to approx 60% of the total breaking strain whereas a figure of 8 would reduce it to around 80%/90%.

So after making the loop on the outside of the bag as small as possible, I tied a figure of 8 first...

... Which I then retreaded.  I added a cable tie at the base of the knot to stop the loose end from making a nuasence of itself.

And here it, the finished knot - much tidier than before.

Unfortunately we don't have the resources to check and retie every bag we sell but it is good practise to check your bag regularly to ensure it is in good working order.

303 Fabric Guard – It’s beading marvellous!

We recently got a few bottles of 303 Fabric Guard back into stock and I decided to test some on my 5 year old NRS drysuit.  303 Fabric Guard is flammable, highly toxic, very expensive (compared to competitor products) and has major restrictions on its transportation - which all must mean it’s pretty good stuff!

As you can imagine, the original water repellent coating on the suit had long since been washed off.  After a brief, fairly light application of Fabric Guard, I was amazed at how effective it was (see photo for proof).  It also smells like bubblegum, which is a pleasant side effect.

The 16oz/475ml trigger bottle size offers the easiest application and best value for money.  One bottle should be enough to do one suit two or three times (depending on condition of the suit) or one full set of gear (suit, top, pants, etc…) at least once.

While none of these products (Fabric Guard, Nikwax, Graingers) will waterproof a tattered garment full of holes, they do offer a good option in terms of extending the life of a suit that has been looked after and just needs a little TLC.

Place your order here:

http://www.i-canoe.com/en/Repair_Materials_Kits.187/303.91/303-FAB-GUARD/303_Fabric_Guard.1823.html

Wavesport Kayaks Mobius–First Impressions

So its been just over a month since we took the first delivery of the new Wavesport Mobius freestyle kayak.

I’ve only had it out on a few brief occasions but I can safely say, this boat is a thousand times better than its predecessor, the Project X.

I’m well within the weight range of the medium size, the Mobius 57 and there’s plenty of room to get comfortable.  I always found the Project X 56 a bit of a handful to throw around on flatwater and a little unbalanced and clunky on the tail.  The Mobius 57, even though it’s got an extra gallon of volume feels like a much smaller and better balanced boat.  Linking ends is easy and there’s plenty of volume right around the knees when chucking loops, space godzillas, etc…

The Ergo Play outfitting allows you to adjust the seat, on the go and without any tools.  The ratchet seat pad allows you to lock right into the thigh braces but I still found I’d need a happy seat/seat belt to stop me getting pushed up off the seat during loops.

I’ve yet to try the Mobius on a proper wave feature but all the feedback I’ve received so far is that it is very fast and loose and able to surf green waves other playboats would just fall off the back of.

All in all, a great addition to the Wavesport line and a kayak I’m looking forward paddling more in the future.

Happy Paddling,

Colm