Summer Garb

Short video of a bit of Garb footage from the last while. Levels are a little on the low side for Garb at the moment so praying for some rain to bring it back.

Uganda

This year with college out of the way I was able to make my second trip to Uganda to paddle the White Nile. I headed out in February after the Kayak Intervarsities for two months. With the Bujagali dam now complete and with it the loss of all the white water above it I was unsure how this trip would go, as on our last trip we spend the majority of our time at NRE making the most of the Sliverback section.

We based ourselves at the Hairy Lemon which is an island on the river five minutes paddle from Nile Special. Its pretty much a paddlers paradise with three meals a day, tea and coffee every morning and some of the worlds best paddling right beside you. Our first day on the river we jumped on from Kalagala and got a pleasant surprise to see how much the levels have increased.

Dropping off Kalagala

During the first three weeks levels were high enough to have some sick Malalue sessions which is the nicest wave on the river, super smooth like ower but way bigger and faster.  At these levels Nile Special was pretty trashy and would give you a good kicking so it was nice to have another option in the evenings.

Shuttle from Malalue

Shortly after Moe arrived levels dropped slightly which meant no more Malalue but special was at prime levels, big green and paddle on.  Days would usually finish up with a special session with the sun setting in the background, hard to find a better place in the world to spend an evening.As for the river with the higher levels the rapids got a lot bigger, most noticeable on Itanda, at these levels it really can give you serious beat down if you get it wrong. Luckily i managed to avoid it this time despite a close call on a run with down with Moe with us both getting kicked off the back if pencil sharpener hitting the Cuban and Moe taking a friendly surf in the ash tray. Lesson of the day was don't go down the entrance ramp side by side.

On the back of Pencil Sharpener

Last time we were out we didnt get a chance to run Dead Dutchman, its a tricky one to scout as without a serious bush wack you cant see the entry being the crux move to punch through a wave that feeds into one of the worst looking poor overs i have ever seen. Once your past that you drop down a ramp into a series of massive surging waves that will eat you if you get unlucky. About ninty five percent of the volume of the Nile flows down this rapid so you get some incredible boils and whirlpools.


As for a paddling destination Uganda still has it all, warm water, big waves, friendly locals and a laid back lifestyle. I cant recomend it highly enough for a trip abroad.  I will definitely be back again.

Dropping down the ramp on Dead Dutchman

Here a quick video of out trip that Andrew put together.




As for now I have just arrived in Canada to work and paddle on the Ottawa river for the summer. First few days on the river have been good here, warm weather already and hopefully some good play will come in this week.That's about it for now, hopefully will get an update up during the summer

Galway Fest

Last weekend Galway Fest kicked off with freestyle at Tuam hole. Levels were a little on the low side but it still make for a great event with almost fifty competitors taking to the water. Competition was fierce in all classes with the juniors posting scores that would have placed them well in senior mens. The heats were ran off in jam format so everyone had plenty of time to stick their tricks and make up their top eight which made up their overall score.


Sunday saw the whitewater event take place on the Boluisce River.There was a great turn out on the day with over seventy paddlers racing the course. The format for the day was a time trial with the six fastest racers going through to a boater x final. The course was a bit over a kilometer long with a grand stand finish running through Poll Gorm and under the footbridge.

First heat about to kick off

I made it into the top six for the boater x along with Colin wong, Moe Kelleher , Paddy McGover,  Eoin Keys &  Brian Cahill. The start had us sitting backwards at the back of our boats which through up the option of doing the race without a spray deck to save time at the start. I got away quick at the start opting to leave off my deck and had a long battle with Moe Kelleher before Colin Wong took him out of it. I managed to get the front of my deck on half way down the shortened final course which just about saved me.

Colin Wong charging to the finish

Racing past the last road bridge I held a narrow lead over Paddy McGovern and despite almost getting back looped in the fish counter above Poll Gorm managed to hold on by half a boat length to take first place.

Final of the boater x

The scoring for Galway Fest gave equal weighting freestyle and whitewater to make up the final results to decide who took home the prizes. The idea behind this was the get people competing in both events that would normally only do one and also make it a full weekend of paddling for everyone. It seemed pretty successful with plenty of new faces at both events

I ended up taking first place with wins in both freestyle & whitewater with Moe Kelleher in second followed by Paddy McGovern in third. In Senior Womens Niamh Cleary took top spot with a win in the whitewater and a second place finish in freestyle followed by Siobhan McGriskin and Laura Giffin. Junior Mens saw Billy Brett come out on top followed by Robbie O Shea and Shane Little. Full results with scores & times are here.

Hopefully we can bring this event back next year and keep it going year after year. A big thanks to everyone who helped out on the day, with all the help both days ran off very smoothly. Thanks to all our sponsors Wavesport , Dagger, AT Paddles, I Canoe & River Deep Mountain High for supporting the event. Also a big thanks to Canoeing Ireland who helped Insure the event.

Photos are thanks to Shane Cronin and Ultan 0'Byrne

High Water Caher

At the end of November I headed back to the River Caher which I had paddled for the first time two weeks earlier, on what I was told was a medium level. This time the get on was under more then two foot of water, the river was pumping and the sun was out. What more can you ask for.






I haven't updated this much over the last while but I have a lot planned for the new few months so I'll try keep it posted on where and what I'm at. First off Galway Fest this weekend!