Italy – Day 2

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• Headed back to the Egua this morning and found it less busy than yesterday.
• Everyone had good lines on the entry slide (Shoulder-cam video below) and then (for me a least) it went downhill from there – figuratively and physically.
• Had a sloppy line through the S Bend and ended up in the recircing eddy only to be joined by Colm S a minute later.
• Intended to go left on the slot drop but lazily petoned the centre rock and ended up going down backwards.
• Finally managed to completely screw up the end of the next slide, losing the tops of my knuckles in the process but it’ll make for great video!

Egua Entry Slide

• After a quick dose of caffeine in Varallo and a parade by the local marching band and dignitaries we headed back up the Sesia Valley to Piode.
• Putting in at Piode, below the main falls, we cruised down to Scopello, skipping Hugo’s Hole but enjoying the bigger volume class III/IV boogie water.

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Italy – Day 1

• Took a trip up to the Egua to check levels.  Levels were good but river was very busy so we headed back down to do a quick run on the Sermenza.
• After a quick gelato and expresso break, it was off to the Gronda, checking the Sorba Slides en route.
• Levels again were perfect and we put on at the top of the valley.
• After a bit of bony boulder dodging, some small slides and one portage, things cleaned up and got steeper from there!

 

• The drive to the put in leaves you in no doubt as to how steep and concentrated this river is, but once on the water, it is still hard to believe.
• We breezed through the last slides and drops and even though they were steeper and more impressive, technically they were easier too.
• A well deserved feast of anti-pizza was had that evening in the campsite restaurant with lashings of Grappa to wash it all down.

Italy – Day 0

• Got up at 4am after 2 hours worth of sleep.  Van pre-loaded with all the gear – just.
• Got to the airport by 5.  Unloaded and checked in within the hour.  Happy Wheel worked a treat (more on that later).
• Touched down into Milan Linate 15 mins early and with all gear present and intact.
• Retrieved the rental car and van and after a few laps of the airport breezed up to the Sesia Valley within 2 hours.
• Quick warm up on the Lower Sesia raft run to knock some of the (many) cobwebs off.
• Landed in campsite in Campertogno in plenty of time for pizza and biero’s;-)

River Inny, Open Canoe Video

Short headcam video of a river trip on the Inny from Abbeyshrule to Shrule Bridge on the weekend of the 18th April 2010.

Enjoy!

Colm

Becky Mason Weekend (16th-18th April 2010)

Becky Mason Weekend, Lough Ennell and River Inny

Becky Mason Weekend, Lough Ennell and River Inny

Headcam Video of River Inny Coming Soon…

Gear Review: Liquid Logic Speedloader Throwbag

The new throwbag from Liquid Logic, aka the Speedloader,
was billed as the best thing since the wheel with regards to the speed and ease of repacking the bag after use. After Colm at I-Canoe got a shipment in, I got a chance to put this product through it’s paces on a number of Swiftwater Rescue Courses I ran in March and April of 2010 in Co. Wicklow and Co. Clare.

As I run a number of SRT courses and thus use a lot of throwbags in demonstrating and instructing throwbag techniques I try to expose students to a variety of throwbags so they can make informed judgements about various pros and cons of the different bags; thus when a new bag comes on the market I try to ensure I have it for the next course. In the past this was the case with WRSI Hail Mary Bag and, now is the case the the LL Speedloader Bag.

Well, returning to the story: how does the bag fare in trials? In my personal opinion, like all throwbags and most gear I have used, it has its plus points and its minus points.



The most important factor in any bag is how well it throws and how accurately and true it sails to its intended target and how well the rope tails out of the bag. On this I found the bag threw reasonably well, both underarm, sidearm and over arm and true, in comparison to most of the other bags used, yielding an average score of 7.5 / 10.
Turning to the major selling point of this bag the speed of repacking (hence the name: Speedloader) how good is this bag in comparison to most other bags? My answer is good but not as good as expected, yielding a score of 8/10.

It was quick, and certainly far quicker and easier than most bags, but not much quicker than for example the HF Weasel. Maybe with more practice the speed maybe increased, but I found that you had to place it on the ground to reap the maximum benefits of a fast repack, whereas I could repack the HF Weasel almost as quickly still standing up.

The thickness of the round rope for me is the biggest drawback as it is not very user friendly, yielding a score of 6/10; it is a bit like handling cheese wire when the load comes on in comparison to some of the thicker and flatter ropes.





However the thinner rope allows a greater length to be packed in a compact bag which means a greater range of people can more easily throw the bag to its full length; which is after all the most important factor. On the plus side the rope, for its diameter, seems stronger than some of the alternative bags with flat ropes, as well as some of the ‘larger’ diameter ropes giving larger, more unwieldy bags. On the negative side this rope is quite pricy, especially if cost is an issue, in comparison to some throwbags and this may be a deciding factor for some paddlers!

Overall I would score this bag 7/10; it is a decent alternative to some of the bags out there and is worth considering, especially for people with smaller hands as it’s lightweight, compact design means that it is easy to throw and easy to pack.

In the future I would like to see developments such as a thicker rope, although not at the expense of a too large a bag (there is a fine balance!) and a waist mounted belt system.

CANI Paddlefest 2010

Some photo's of last weekends action at the CANI Paddlefest 2010.

Hooked Live 27-28th Feb 2010

Over the weekend of 27th-28th of Feb Team I-Canoe put their days fishing experience in at the deep end, talking the talk and swimming like fish we did it!

The Event was the first Hooked event to be run at Citywest, Dublin. A new venue for a event of his nature with a large exhibition hall as well as beautiful golf course with lakes the organisers did a great job getting the best fisherman around to do demonstrations and presentations of their experiences and their skill.

Then their was us a bunch of more than able whitewater kayakers showing how great sit on top fishing could be!

And ..........

It was suprisingly successful!

Over the weekend we had a lot of interest of all the boats with demos out on the lake as well as stand we had pretty much a full line up including a fully kitted out Wilderness systems Commander

and probably a first for both Ireland and I-Canoe a Gigbob From NRS

The boats were looked at, sat in, commented on. by just about every person through the door. They provide a safe secure platform to reach secluded areas and are a fraction of the cost some were paying for lake boats.

with more and more people taking advantage of water activities it makes sense to buy something for every purpose weather its a toy for the beach with the kids that you simply add a rod holder to head out fishing or a out and out fishing boat you head out in using a kayak to fish from is environmentally a much better solution.

As well as showing off boats many of our suppliers have added a range of angling specific accessories to their 2010 line ups including

Rod holders and accessories for all boats

Including GigBob, Boundary Boots, Boundary Socks,

Including Nomad boots, and the SuperNova Angler Drysuit

For your chance to win this fantastic angling suit come and see us at CANI Paddlefest on the 12th-14th March

With all these products available fishing from a kayak goes from a wicked idea to reality in only a few minutes.

For more information on any products please contact us shop@i-canoe.com

As part of the event we sponsored a prize of our Demo Ride 135 used in the last blog post this competition was run in the Irish Star one of Ireland's most popular newspapers.

the prizes was collected at the show well done!!

Thanks to

Kokatat, for the Supernova Prize

Bennett at NRS for getting us the Gigbob sorted

Ant and team at System X for all our accessories and Manta Ray help

Shane at progressive distribution for demo wilderness equipment and accessories help

Mark at rough Stuff for his beautiful Stand

The rest of Team I-Canoe for help with build, set up and manning the stand and demo lake on a very bitter weekend!

Gone Fishin’ (To Catch A Cold)

Last Sunday (21st Feb ‘10), despite the return of the cold weather, Wai Har, Niall “Macker” McCrea, John Henry and myself had made plans to head out on our first kayak fishing trip to see what all the fuss is about.  As most of us come from a predominantly river/white-water background, Niall was delegated as leader being the only one who actually fishes on a regular basis.

To help us in our quest, we decided to take the new fleet of Wilderness Systems Angling Kayaks for a test run to see how they compare and to see what conditions suit each different craft.  The 3 Kayaks we had to test were (from left): Tarpon 140 (green), Commander 120 (sand) and Ride 135 (sand).

For location, we chose a small secluded lake outside Roosky which is reasonably sheltered and has good road access.  Thankfully the day we chose had little to no wind which meant the lake was glassy flat.  Unfortunately, it turned out to be exceptionally cold with the centre of the lake having a thin crust of ice to paddle through.

To start with, Wai Har took the Commander, Niall took the Ride, John had his open canoe and I took the Tarpon.

The Tarpon, being the longest kayak on test was naturally the fastest.  The Tarpon series are fast, high performance sit on tops (SOTs) which are available in much longer lengths and tend to be considerably narrower than most other SOT makes and models.  The Tarpon 140 makes a great tourer with the ability to cover long distances with ease and at a fast cruising pace.  Once you get the kayak moving, it naturally wants to keep going and going.  Turning is surprisingly good especially for such a long kayak and stability is reasonable too.  However compared to the other kayaks on test, this has the narrowest beam and would therefore be the least stable of the three.  John commented that even though he could paddle it easily, he would prefer more stability for when the kayak is stationary and in fishing “mode”.  Storage in the Tarpon 140 is immense and the central hatch is great for storing spare rods and split paddles inside which are still easily accessible from the seating position.  Either side of the hatch are small pockets which are also great for small accessories/tools that need to be in easy reach.  The new seating system introduced last year is very comfy and offers good back/thigh support thanks to the height adjustable backrest and seat pad.

Wai Har jumped in the newest model in the fleet: The Commander 120.  At 12ft it was also the shortest kayak but even so it still offers tons of carrying and storage capacity.  This is also different from the other two Wilderness Kayaks as in it is more of a “Sit In Top” rather than a Sit On Top.  The seating position is lower than normal and the sides of the kayaks come higher around the paddler which gives a more enclosed feeling.  This feature is probably its biggest strength but also its biggest drawback. 

I think it’s fair to say we all really enjoyed paddling the Commander.  First impressions of being big, bulky and slow are quickly dispelled revealing a nimble, stable and manouverable kayak.  Wai Har being the smallest of all the paddlers out today, managed brilliantly and got lost in her own little world both paddling thru the ice and also when casting for fish.  The SlideTrax mounting system means that rod holders and the accessory board can be mounted at a convenient position from the paddler.  The seating system was the comfiest of all the kayaks although the slide-locking system was a little finicky (especially with cold fingers).  Standing up in the Commander proved very stable which would make accessing the stern and bow areas for storage very easy and even casting while standing is an option.   

Now the drawbacks.  The first thing I noticed the Commander as needing is a bung.  As this is a single skin Sit In Top, it has no internal drainage, so emptying, even on dry land proves tricky.  As the sides/gunwales wrap around at the top, water pools on the inside of the kayak (even when upside down) and can only be got rid of with a sponge. 

The fact that there is no internal drainage also limits the extremity of conditions it is feasible to paddle the Commander in.  Paddling out through even a moderate beach-break or swell would be difficult if not impossible.  And the possibility of becoming swamped with water would be very serious indeed making a bilge pump and/or bailer an essential accessory item to carry. 

That’s it for Part 1.  Stay tuned for Part 2 when we review the Ride 135 and also a Prospector Canoe!

Technorati Tags: Canoe,Kayak,Sit On Top,Angling,Fishing,Wilderness Systems,I-Canoe,Paddling,Kayaking,Canoeing.

Winter Sessions

Well, it's been a while since the last update and there has been some fun times in the mean time. November saw epic flooding across the country, this washed out a lot of the main playspots around the country but provide some great river running, if you could find a river at a reasonably sane level.

All set for providing safety - Barry, Dee, Brian, Donal, Rob Dawg &Kav.

I got out on the Boluisce 3 times in a week, not bad for someone who lives in Dublin. One of those spins was the day after Dee celebrated her birthday out in Spiddal. It was perfect to wash away the cobwebs. Everyone made their lines on the river, but the birthday girl had an accident with a random rock, which called for James and a block of surf wax to come to the rescue and seal the leak.

Bowsie running the top drop.

Photos are thanks to John Staunton. Below is a video John put together of the day on the Boluisce. Enjoy.

After the flood began to recede, the usual winter playspot began to show themselves. We had some lovely levels at Tuam which we got some footage of. Enjoy Dee, Sinead, Shane and myself showing off the skills. Thanks God for NRS mitts and a skull cap, this is, remember, the coldest place in the WORLD.

The traditional trip to Kerry for New Years paddling and partying was struck down by a severe lack of water, which was replaced by lots of snow and ice. So with no paddling to be done it left a lot of time for partying with natives of Tralee. And of course a bit of hill walking in the snow.

Jean and Rob Dawg, looking lost on their way to the top of Mount Brandon.

View of Inch Strand with Carrauntoohil in the background.

We joined in with the local festivities in Tralee, with a spot of trolley racing. Above shows Rob in the passenger seat with Barry at the wheel.

To finish the Christmas hols and before headin back to the day job in the smoke i managed to get a couple of great Gower sessions in.

The new All Star really flies on the wave. It has amazing speed for such a short boat.

I am looking forward to comparing it to the 'Smoother', when it (if it ever) gets its debut surf!!

Above Dee carving up Gower.

So, that was my winter sessions, I am hoping for a nice wet Spring to keep the rivers flowing and I'm looking forward to competition season, with team trial, nationals and the national league events just around the corner. Bring'em on.

Talk soon

bowsie

New Year Sales, Snow and Snowmen

With the new year upon us comes the time of year everybody rushes around looking for a bargain....... well we'd better stick with tradition check the online shop www.I-canoe.com for details.The 1st week of business brought with it an avalanch of snow more snow than most had ever seen this was the perfect opportunity for some good frozen fun!

with snowmen

Ice Kayaking

And Snow Boating!

Happy New year!

Be safe!