The folks in Kilkenny Aqua Canoe Club are no different and looking forward to getting out on the water as much as possible. The club has been in existence for about ten years  now and has taken part in all aspects of paddle sport with notable success in Kayak Polo. In recent times the clubs juniors have taken to freestyle kayaking and acquitting themselves extremely well at the 2010 Sluice rodeo and have a growing interest in white-water paddling. From chatting to Roger McClure club chairman we thought it might be a good idea to run an RSR course for club members to help equip them with some skills and techniques to make their time in and around the water safer.

The club had never done any of this kind of stuff before but the fantastic thing about the RSR syllabus is that it can be very easily targeted to suits the groups experience and needs. I was delighted that on the Sunday morning myself and other local instructor Aidan Doran showed up to run the course we were not only greeted by some fantastic winter sun but also by some very enthusiastic participants.

As the day went by we introduced the guys to all sort of principles which lay the foundations for a safe and systematic approach to rescue which can be applied to any incident or potential situation.  As with all RSR courses there is a certain amount of bank based learning to be done before we start to get down to the playing in the water.

During our throw bag workshop I got a chance to test out all of new throw bags I purchased for clients to use and try out on these courses, some were fantastic others just OK and one in particular is only fit for the scrap heap. As a course provider its always a little nerve wrecking on that first demo throw to make sure you nail it but a humbling remainder that without exception we all need to practice to keep those skills sharp for when we need them in a real life situation.

I have to say well done to every one who took part for getting stuck in for all the in water drills, as you can imagine in October the water wasn’t exactly tepid and the guys were not as lucky as me to be wearing a Kokatat Drysuit.

In all it was a great day to be a part of and reminds me of how much I enjoy running theses courses and how flexible and adaptable the RSR syllabus is. I look forward to getting out on the water with KIlkenny Aqua Canoe Club over the coming winter months helping the members progress as much as I can.

For anyone interested in doing an RSR course as an individual or for your club / group of friends make your way over the the Coaching and Instruction part of my website or contact me for details.

Adrian

]]> http://adrianshanahan.com/wordpress/index.php/2010/10/river-safety-rescue-1/feed/ 0 http://adrianshanahan.com/wordpress/index.php/2010/04/carlesberg-dont-do/ http://adrianshanahan.com/wordpress/index.php/2010/04/carlesberg-dont-do/#comments Tue, 06 Apr 2010 15:24:40 +0000 Adrian Shanahan http://adrianshanahan.com/wordpress/?p=1017 Don’t do places to learn the basics of free style kayaking, but if they did they might start with somewhere like Kilkenny!

I’m sure most paddlers have heard of the river Nore which flows through Kilkenny City but I’d be fairly certain only a small few are aware of the little gem of a play spot that was created some years ago during the flood relief scheme.

To be clear this is no Curragower / Sluice / Clifden or Tuam but it is in my estimation one of the best places I’ve been to to introduce people to the the basics of freestyle kayaking.

The weir itself is a large downstream U shape which creates 3 different features which work at varying river levels. One of the great things is it works when the whole country has almost turned into a dessert right the way through to where its almost washed out.

A location like this is never going to excite the next world champion but it’s being visited by a few folks who can more than hold their own at completions and every one has had a great time here. The moves list that can be done here is not huge but for the beginner and improver you shall be kept busy, we have had spins every which way,Blasts, shuvits, low angle ends, variations of phelixs & pistol flip (type thing..watch your elbows be warned )

Sadly it isn’t not deep enough to loop but I suspect at higher levels some one lighter than my good self might be able to eak out a loop in the centre hole.

You can park and play at the spot or you can take it in as part of a river trip on the Nore itself, there is a nice deep pool above the weir to hone your flat water skills and pools below the weir to collect any possible swimmers.

Three Features, One Location, Clean Water

Good Times!

With the new motorway now open its just on and hour and 10mins form Dublin so all those who seem to live on the Boyne should take a closer look.

Here is a quick bit of video of it at current higher levels, I was just playing with a new camera and editing program so its a bit pants. Gives you a rough idea of what the place is like though.

That’s about it for now, there are a whole bunch of updates going up in the Coaching & Instruction part of the site in the next couple of days along with the 2010 course calendar, have a check back and see if there is anything your interested in.

Adrian

Apart from my some what random departure into robotics I have finally gotten around to  start making some sort of sense of the “Coaching & Instruction” part of my wee website. Up until now it was kinda a case of drop me a line and we will see what we can do, I’m trying to put a whole lot more structure in place to make it easier for anyone looking for stuff and give a better idea of what’s on offer.

Its all very much a work in progress at the moment with lots of information to be added not to mention I’m still wrestling with an online course calendar / booking system.

Lots of stuff is set for change over the coming weeks but it will give you an idea of what I’ve planned.

On an unrelated note my little blog here was nominated for an 2010 Irish Blog Award in the “ Best Sport & Recreation Blog” and has reached it as far as the penultimate round of judging with the finalist being nominated later this week. I was more than a little surprised to be nominated and in a cheesy Oscars type feeling its a bit of an honour to even get this far.

I’d also like to give a bit of a shout out to Nathan Kingerlee of Outdoors Ireland who is also nominated in the same category as me, myself and Nathan used to work together way back in the day in Baltinglass OEC. Its great to see less traditional sports being represented alongside the likes of Soccer / Rugby & GAA.

That’s about it for now, I best get back to my rain dancing.

Adrian

So I have broke the onlyish kinda rule I set my self when I started this blog thin up, “to keep it updated regularly”. The only positive is that I’ve had loads of stuff on as of late which included some boating & good times.

Clifden Fun Rodeo 09

So for the few weeks leading up to the weekend of 20th/21st of June myself , Bowsie & some of the NUIG/GMIT kayak club crew were busy making plans for Event 2 of the IFS league which was to be held in Clifden Co. Galway.

The idea of the event was was pretty straight forward, “lets get everyone over to Clifden do a training / freestyle event lash a BBQ & beach party in the middle of it all and hope every one has a savage time”. From the feed back we have gotten I say it’s safe to say we did what we set out to do.

We had to limit the numbers to 50 for the competition itself but the training day was open to more and the BBQ was all comers welcome.

After the feature had stopped working on day one we held a quick flatwater rodeo so all the folks cold show their skills to the judges. This was only put in for a bit of “Fun” but I did notice allot or serious faces in the eddy & even heard talk of “ride plan’s”. It was a great spectacle showing off a variety of paddle spins / self reasuces / huge loops and epic cartwheel sequences. In the end Ger O Reily in his pink boat took first place.

That evening were had a BBQ out in the dunes in Dunloughin (or however its spelt), Colm Healy /Ethan / Michelle / Donna cooked up a storm on the BBQ’s making sure everyone was stuffed to the gills with food before they had a social drink. We had DJ Shmenda ( NUIG Oldie) was manning the decks of our make shift mobile night club and blasted the tunes out late late into the night.

I reckon Caitriona O Brein’s photo sums up how most people felt the next day.

After a clean up of the camp site we headed back into clifden to set up for the competition itself!

There was a super turn out for the event with some great runs being put down across all of the classes, a special mention has to be made to Conor Bredin & Adrian Durrant who put down some some nice entry loops.

All in all it was a cracking weekend and folks who were there are really looking forward to hitting up Cork for next months event. There will be a full rundown of results & league standings on IFS in the next day or so, but here is an over all of the weekends scores.

On a personal note I would like to thank everyone who made the event possible, all the guys in NUIG , the people who traveled, the time keepers , judges , scribes, River Deep mountain high, Peak UK, DJ Shmenda, to Bowsie for going to going to bed early so he would be fresh to judge on Sunday and thanks to all those who said thanks.

I-Canoe video night for Irish Freestyle team.

Adrian D & Colm in i-canoe decided to run a bit of a video / social night in the shop to show case the entries for a video comp they had run along with trying to raise some funds for the Irish Freestyle Team who are heading to Thun at the end of the summer. I didn’t make it to the night myself as I was across the far side of the country at the time but I’m informed that it was great craic and loads of prizes were given out.

Well when I say I wasn’t there myself…. Mr Healy owner of i-canoe decided to show a bit of film he made a couple of weeks ago of a spin we had on the Dargle where I had a “paddle malfunction”. I reckon whit friends like this who need enemies…lol Anyway have a laugh at my expense.

After we had gotten of the Dargle we made a quick dash across to Laragh we we got a speed / dusk descent of the Avonmore followed by a pint in Lynamhs. Not a bad round up to a funny evening of after woork boating.

Prior to that paddle incident on the Dargle I had being using Select W1 paddles and really liked but finally gave in to the temptation of Foam Core Werners. In waiting for my custom Werners to arrive I had put my Select’s up for sale not thinking they would shift quick with money being tighter for everyone these but two days later and I had to fall back on some 10 year old Rough Stuff Tempests which were long long past their best before I brought them on the Dargle that evening.

Happy days yesterday when I package arrived in i-canoe for me of two new sets of paddles, 191cm Double Diamonds & 200cm Sho-guns . I know some of ye are thinking 200cm that’s massive but trust me its the forwards for rivers ( or more like back to Slalom style paddles) . Initial impressions apart from they fuel my Carbon fetish is that they feel, super light , rigid & responsive. I am really looking forward to getting some quality river time with them as opposed to the canal outside the shop.

A day out for the dogs..

Last weekend Tullamore Canoe Club held an open day for members of the public to come along and try canoeing and kayaking which also doubled up as a social gathering for friend to catch up and try some new boats. Colm and myself headed along for the day and brought loads of different boats from wild water racers / crossover boats and the worlds newest boat manufactures “Big Dog Kayaks”.

We had a couple of different sizes of the Havoc (playboat) and one of the Kaos ( river play) there on the day and folks were lining up to see how they handled. Most people seemed quiet impressed, myself and Colm had to wait until the very end of the day before we got a shot in them. I had spent the the the previous while doing some freestyle coaching so when I eventually managed to get a go I was pretty spent. What I would say is that the sizing is quiet strange and the outfitting would need a bit more tweaking before I would be happy with it, overall not a bad boat and it give the impression that to would be responsive and loose on a wave.

Last night we had them on the canal with our team looping monkey AD just to make sure they go big on the loops.

So that’s about it for now, there has been loads more happening and the next couple of months it looking good with the Cork Rodeo coming up , a trip to Canada boating and a trip to the World Freestyle Champs in Thun also, not to mention what ever summer boating the Irish weather allows.

Fair play for reading this far, chat to ye later.

Adrian

]]> http://adrianshanahan.com/wordpress/index.php/2009/06/bumper-blog-update/feed/ 0 http://adrianshanahan.com/wordpress/index.php/2009/05/boyne-river-bash/ http://adrianshanahan.com/wordpress/index.php/2009/05/boyne-river-bash/#comments Sun, 17 May 2009 22:00:57 +0000 Adrian Shanahan http://adrianshanahan.com/wordpress/?p=262

Just a quick note on this:

So of you may know I am currently part of the Irish Freestyle Committee this year and part of our job is to help promote freestyle kayaking and help introduce new people to the sport. I decided to run a “river freestyle” training  day on the river Boyne. Now to be honest the Boyne is far form a freestyle feature meca but there was just enough to allow us have a quality day on the river going over all sorts of things.

We had almost 30 people on the water so the banter was flying and a good day was had by ever one who was there. One of the big things for me was that there was a visible improvement in skills from all the participants on the day, we covered everything for cartwheels / loops / spins & and even some river safety too just to keep the day well rounded. Its fun days out like this that remind me why I was attracted to freestyle all those years ago.

A couple of things I learned on the day we that there are only so many cartwheels you can do before your shoulders feel like thae want to fall off & that every one loves a free t-shirt.

I’m not sure how it happened but everyone seemed to happen but everyone forgot their camera, must have been too busy pulling awesome moves..

I would like to give huge thanks to all the coaches that gave up their time to make the day possible and also to Colm from i-canoe for making the organisation easy for me.

Laters,

Adrian

Colm after a long long day on the river

“Stretching  those legs”

“Smiles & good times all round”

I travelled over to give a bit of a hand out on the judging front & to have a bit of a blast on Ireland’s most fun freestyle feature.

The judges looking on as Dee sets up

The levels in the feature were pretty good but the weather blew up a gale so I was super impressed with the new Irish freestyle judging tent we had for the day. But despite the gale force winds there were some bid smiles from all the folks taking part.

There were loops a plenty all day!

This was was the first event held at Tuam and hopefully it will be the first of many, it really was a fun day and is what freestyle comps should be all about.

First time competitor Mickie Brennan on his way to taking 1st place

The photos above are from Conor ” Bessie” Allen