Winter Paddling

The last few weeks of rain has made for some great levels right across the country, here's a quick video of the last week at Tuam Hole

National Championships & The Flesk

Last week saw the first round of the National Championships take place, kicking the season off in style at Curragower wave. With juniors of old now making the step up to seniors there was a noticeable jump in competition for the top spots. The competition saw big moves being thrown down and with the light fading the street lights lit up to create the perfect setting.

During the heats there was no doubt that this was the most competitive competition in a long while and with a full season to go it can only get better. The format was four rides best two count giving everyone a chance to go for it safe in the knowledge that if you messed up you had three more rides to go.  I managed to piece together two good rides to take top spot by only a few points with the new 2014 rock star proving its worth on a wave as well as in a hole. Big thanks to Eoin Keyes and all his helpers for putting on a great show.

The following day the rain kept falling so a spin down to Kerry was in order to put my new Karma through its paces. With the Flesk race just over a month away there was no better place to go.





All photos thanks to Oisin McHugh, check out his facebook page here

Meghalaya , India

A few weeks ago I got a phone call from some old friends, brothers Joe and Dan Rea Dickins; who between them have spent the last few years exploring new rivers in all corners of the world. After some pleasantries we came to the matter at hand; Meghalaya , a state in north east India with untold boating potential. Recognized officially as the wettest place on earth with a  native meaning of "the abode of clouds" , it did not take long for me to get on board. The guys first came upon Meghalaya after a recommendation from a friend as they were approaching the back end of their trip in Asia last year. A two month trip that barely scratched the surface followed, bearing more then enough classic descents to ensure they were coming back this year.

So the plan, get to Meghalaya for as long as I can whilst juggling lectures and exams on the horizon.......  With a three week window that was reduced to almost two due to visa trouble, I headed east shortly after the guys had left.

Once I arrived at our base in Shillong the plan for our first trip began to take shape. A two day decent of the Upper Khri. The terrain looked steep but manageable with some drops of questionable size thrown in. A two day trip turned into three with another night spent on the walk out.

After being unable to find our ideal get on we made use of an upper tributary adding an extra five kilometers to the decent. After a day spent covering as much ground as we could on what proved to be a little low on water ;day two began to produce. Drops, gorges, and boulder gardens, sometimes all at once turned our attitudes to the river as we started to cover good ground. The level was a bit less then ideal with the larger drops needing a bit more water to clean them up but everything else was flowing at healthy levels. After a portage around a seventy odd foot drop the river gained some volume and we were treated to some nice read and run class four for the last few k.

After a short stay in Shillong to refuel and restock we hit the road again for what we hoped would be a week full of boating. Bound for the Ri Lang, Ri Wang and the Upper Kynshi we made the days travel west. When we arrived at the Ri Lang at what we have hoped to be a park and huck section we were met with a river still near flood, crashing through a gorge with no sign of the gradient slowing down. After some optimistic scouting for another day we decided to just head to the upper Kynshi, a forty k section that should have a more manageable drainage.......

Arriving at the put in late at night we set up the traps and hammocks just as the rain began to fall. The last of the monsoon had not left just yet and we had a night of torrential rain. Come morning the river had rose considerable and lost its dark blue colour for a more familiar Irish brown. We set off with the rain still falling with some uncertainty at what might lie ahead. After a few read and run rapids that pushed our loaded boats around like foam boaters we got to our first portage. With rain still pouring down , now accompanied by thunder and lightening we started hacking our way through the thick jungle until we found a put on half way down the rapid. With the thought in our minds that we had passed the steep section we had marked out on google earth we paddled on thinking it was going to be less walking and more paddling from now on.....

It didn't take long until we really did find the steep section and with the extra water the night's rain had provided it seemed like the perfect spot to stop for lunch. The gps showed roughly a straight kilometer to where we could get on and start covering as much ground as we could before setting up camp for the night. The resulting walk was an eventful one with leaches, cows goats and the small population of a rural Indian village following us on our roundabout trip back to the river.

Back on the river our fortunes started to turn with the sky clearing and the rapids becoming more manageable. As we came to what would be our last rapid of the day we were met with our first big continuous clean run. Blasting down we left with high spirits and soon found an ideal camp atop a hill over looking the next rapid. A dry night followed allowing the river to drop back to what would be a perfect level.

Day two started with what we had marked the second steep section. With much reduced levels it proved a great start to the day. A few kilometers of moving flat followed to what led to the best section of the trip. Ten kilometers of pool drop class four/five. Rapid after rapid kept coming being made all the sweeter by the blazing sun. With only one portage the kilometers flew by culminating in a massive wave train that left us with an essence of Sliverback about it.

Setting up camp between the walls of a gorge with a clear sky overhead we treated ourselves to a fest of taboodles. With only a few kilometers to go to the following day we could afford a lie in and a relaxing night.

With nothing more expected of the Kynshi we paddled on in the morning only for the gradient to keep dropping with a great finish along side Nongkhnum Island, India's second largest river island. Zorba our trip coordinator found us just as we came upon our last rapid taking away any ensuing bushwhack to find the jeep.

With only a few days left till I had to make the trek home and the uncertainty of the length of trip for each river we put on we took some down time to enjoy the place we were in and the amazing culture and sights it had to offer.

Meghalaya has the potential to become an amazing destination for whitewater kayaking into the future. With countless more runs marked on maps yet to be explored , it looks like at least another ten years or more to truly get a grips on all that Meghalaya has to offer. I am already looking forward to the next opportunity to get back to this amazing part of the world.

Worlds Wrap Up

The 2013 World Championships have finally come to close with the sleepy mountain resort of NOC  returning to the norm. For the past two months paddlers from all over the world have been making the treck to the Nantahala Gorge with it all coming to a climax on Sunday as finals were played out. No Irish paddlers made the finals this year but we had some promising results with Billy Brett and David McClure making it through to the semi finals in Junior Men finishing 9th and 10th respectively giving us something to cheer for.

With the big jump in standard this year competition was fiercer then ever with the cut to make it out of prelims in 20th place being 1500. To give you some perspective Stephen Wright posted a score of 1400 to sit in first place after prelims at the 2011 worlds in Plattling. The jump in standard was great to see and made the event great for spectators. Some massive rides were thrown down with the height of it coming in the quarter finals with Mathieu Dumoulin laying down an unbelievable ride of 1520 with nearly every move being linked with end over end cartwheels and splits while going huge on all his loop moves. However Mathieu was not at the top of the board long as Dane Jackson then topped it with a 1560 getting huge and clean bonus's on all his loop moves. Dane went on to put in another 1500+ second ride to set a new record for a two ride combined score of over 3100 points. With all the big scores some surprises were on the cards with 2011 world champion James Bebbington making an early exit in 11th place.

Semi finals took place Saturday night under the flood lights which lit up the Nantahala river as if it was daylight. With a packed crowd squeezed in trying to get a good view of the action the atmosphere made for an electric semi final round. Prior to the light set up bring seen there was some concern and a push by some to have the semi finals moved back during daylight. At the last worlds quarter finals were held under lights but due to the size of the river lights on all sides of the river were not possible making it difficult to seem where you were in the feature at all times. The team at NOC put together a light set up that took away this fear with lights enclosing the river on all sides to light it up as bright as day. Hopefully we will see more events under the light as it really does create a special atmosphere. 

Scores under the lights did not reach the height of the quarter finals but were no less impressive with Dane Jackson taking top spot once again with a ride of 1200 +. Mathieu Dumoulin was the surprise casualty of the semi finals going out in 6th place to Britain's Alan Ward who took the last place in Sundays final. 

Sunday saw finals kick off early with Men's and Women's squirt first where Clay Wright and Claire O Hara took the honors. Next up was OC1 with Jordan Poffenberger taking top spot throwing some impressive mcnasty's along the way. Juniors were up next with local paddler Rowan Stuart taking top spot in Junior Women. Junior Men's final showed just how good the next generation of seniors are with it taking a ride of over 1000 points to just get on the podium. Americas Hunter Katich taking top spot with a ride take would have seen him place well in the seniors final. In C1 Jordan Poffenberger knocked Dane Jackson off top spot to claim his second word title of the day with an spectacular ride of over 1000 points

Women's finals saw the action heating up with Japanese paddler Hitomi Takaku taking top sport with her first ride of 650 points. She held the lead until the last ride of the final when Clare O Hara pulled it out of the bag with a ride of just over 700 points. Mens finals saw some big score once again with the top three all hitting 1200 + rides. Dane Jackson took top spot to complete the Worlds having lead at every round of the competition. Peter Csonka was narrowly beat in the second place by only seven points.  Tomasz Czaplicki rounded off the podium in his carbon Dagger Jitsu capping a great competition for him.

The results for the Irish Guys in senior and junor men's were as follows

Senior Men
31st   Barry Loughnane

34th  Tom Dunphy
37th  Andrew Regan
51st  Robbie O'Shea
59th  Conor Macken

Junor Men
9th    Billy Brett
10th  David McClure
18th  Shane Little