Great Island Kayak Race 07

This is the second year that the lads in Cork have organised the kayak race around Great Island. The course is roughly 25km and myself, Pat and Mick have entered our names (not as serious contenders!). We've been looking forward to this since before Christmas and despite the recent wet and windy weather it was a bright day with winds F2/F3 forecast. High tide was just before 10AM so the organisers scheduled the start to coincide. The elite racers got off to a flying start and the rest of us paddled along at various rates. Top finishing time was 2hr 15mins and we came in some time later (I won't say how late!). Suffice to say we weren't first and we weren't last. We had a BBQ back in Marlogue Inn followed by presentation of prizes. We really enjoyed the day and a big thank you to the lads in Cork for organising the event. Looking forward to doing it again next year.

Christmas Paddle 07

Well, its the time of year again for festive paddles. We met up with some other groups (Comeragh paddlers and Celtic paddlers) in Dunmore East and headed off to Ballymacaw, where we stopped for lunch and mince pies. Niall Durnan brought along some mulled wine and that went down very well! Since the day was so nice it was decided to continue paddling towards Brownstown Head but some of the group needed to return home early and they headed straight back to Dunmore.
On the return trip we passed on the shore side near a rock outcrop close to Falskirt rock where some large waves were breaking. Normally this rock tends to provide shelter on the inside but since it was only almost submerged it was acting more like a reef and churning up lots of surf. We thought we had avoided the worst but it seems we were caught there during a set. I saw a wave coming towards me from the side. When I looked up it started to peel and break. Given that in a kayak you're about 3ft high, I reckon the wave height was about 6ft. This was the first time I was side on in a breaking wave where all I could see was a wall of water and not the far side! I clearly remember saying "Oh shit" and then all went snowy as I got tossed under in the wave. I tried bracing but no effect. With the shock and awe effect I didn't feel any cold when I submerged and was a bit disoriented so I didn't manage to try a roll. John managed the incident from a distance and Ciaran did the rescue. The same wave also had hit John but he managed to high brace on the wave and didn't go under. John joked this was about the only good thing the Nordkapp ever did for him!
This is my second trip in my new Aquanaut and I'm very pleased with how it handles. The back band is another story. I had no support and ended up using my tow rope swivelled round my waist to lean back on. I'll definitely need to get some foam for outfitting.
Next paddle is the Great Island Race in Cork and this should be a bit of craic.

Paddle to Hook Head

We've been hoping to get some good conditions to go around Hook Head and the day finally arrived. Neap tide, slack winds and slack water gave us an ideal opportunity to head for the Hook. The previous day started very foggy and I thought this would be repeated today but fortunately visibility was good so we headed across. We got over in about 50mins and conditions outside the Hook was calm. However there were breaking waves close to the rocks and these needed some watching. We noticed some divers climbing ashore above an inlet and decided to investigate further to see if it was a possible landing point. On entering the inlet we discovered it wasn't as calm as we thought and instead found ourselves in crossfire of incoming waves from different directions. The waves weren't big but combined with the surge and scend of the inlet and the lack of manoeuvrability led to one of the group surfing unintentionally. This led to a BDF moment (be da f**k) and being tossed out of the boat. He is now the only one who can boast about going swimming at the Hook! With some careful timing we left the inlet and headed out to calmer water before heading back after some refreshments on the water.
We all got home nice and early - good to have a family friendly paddle occasionally.

Tramore Bay to Brownstown Head

We met up with the Commeragh paddlers for a trip from Tramore Pier to the Metalman and across past Brownstown Hd. Beautiful morning and nice flat conditions. Paul brought along his newly made Greenland paddle. It was much lighter than I expected. I gave it a try and despite being unfeathered wasn't that awkward to use. After paddling with it for a while you would get used to it but I did find the varnished shaft a bit slippery - this is only a prototype so looking forward to trying the next model.
Ciaran Foley caught some nice waves and put some air under the kayak over a reef past Brownstown amid some "yeehaws" from the crowd! I didn't manage to get any photos as my battery died. It's the first time this happened and I expect it drained on the shelf at home since its last full charge. In future I must charge before using.
On the way back we had a wet session and some towing exercises. The wind and swell had picked up from earlier and made the rescues more realistic. It was good to catch up on this stuff as we probably neglected it over the summer(?). The lads showed me how to daisy chain a long tow rope to reduce its length so that will make things handy if you need just a shorter tow rope.
I haven't paddled for a few weeks and it was great to get back on the water. Overall we paddled just under 18k

Saltees Paddle

We decided to do a trip to the Saltees on our own to give us a flavour for planning a trip involving tidal streams etc. We reckoned the first trip should occur at neap tides to allow a margin of error if we got the tide planning wrong. Four of us met in Joe's house on Wednesday and we looked at the charts etc. We agreed our best window was from Wednesday (neap day) to about Saturday. Beyond Saturday the tidal flows would increase and when all factors were considered including weather forecast the group decided that Saturday was the best day. I also got my VHF call sign on the Friday so at least if we had to 'Mayday' it would be an official transmission!
Unfortunately Pat couldn't make it on the day but we managed the required safety quorum of 3 - myself, Joe and Mick. We arrive in Kilmore at about 1030 and were on the water about 1200. LW/HW in Kilmore was 1000/1620 so our calculations put slack water around 1200 and 1830 or so. We were concerned about the dreaded St Patricks bridge and could see from Kilmore the ripples over it stretching out to Little Saltee. At 1200 the current would be West so there wouldn't be any problem with St Patricks bridge. I put in my first call to the Coast Guard and filed a TR (trip report). We started paddling to Great Saltee and there was no tidal drift noticable. We wondered also about Seber Bridge but all we encountered there was a small chop.
We put ashore about 1315 on a landing spot on the north of the island and met some divers who we shared lunch with on the island. The views from the top of the island were beautiful and we couldn't leave the island without paddling all around it.
The North West of the island had some nice swells and it was a bit of a craic paddling through those. As soon as we turned the corner for the southern part of the island it was perfectly flat and calm. Very enjoyable relaxing looking at the birds and the seals. Joe also discovered that you should never look up at a nesting bird colony with your mouth open! Mick also got some dive bomb marks on his baseball cap.
On the homeward journey we decided to land on one of the golden beaches facing us on Little Saltee. The short rest would be a welcome break before paddling back encountering the East flowing tide across St Patrick's. However when we got to Little Saltee we noticed the 'golden' beaches were nothing more than round boulders but decided to land anyway. We were all slipping and stumbling round the place on the stones and we christened this 'ball bearing beach'.
We then headed back for Kilmore and reckoned we would have some tidal stream effects to contend with. Conditions were very lumpy off Little Saltee until we made out into deep water. Paddling across St Patricks we had a East flowing 1kn current so we had to take that into account and ferry to the West of Kilmore.
We landed ashore about 1800 and I contacted Coast Guard - the signal at Kilmore wasn't great and they requested a radio check as they mentioned I was breaking up.
Great trip and looking forward to doing it again!

Dolphins in Dunmore East

We met in Dunmore East with and debated whether to paddle Loftus Hall or Portally. We decided to head across to Loftus Hall. On the way over we noticed a pod of dolphins splashing around. There were five in total and were very playful and curious. At one point a dolphin shot about 6 feet vertically from the water and I managed to get a photo of the re-entry (probably a dolphin version of the re-entry and roll!) They seemed to enjoy coming towards the kayaks in a group and then diving just a few feet from us and blowing air when underneath. At one point I saw a dolphin surfing towards me in one of the swells on its side in the water. Really amazing to see them playing. Some of the locals reckon the dolphins are there the past few weeks. Amazing animals and certainly the high point of all the photos we've taken since being on the water.

We then decided to paddle to Portally instead of Loftus Hall and Joe cooked a spot of lunch (LIDL sausages) - very tasty and welcome with the warm drinks. With the shite weather we're having I'm going to always bring hot drinks from now on. You would think that in August you could still get by with cold bottles of water but we cooled down quick enough when ashore.

Typical Irish summer's day

Five of us went for regular Sunday morning paddle around Garurus. It started as a clear day with lots of showers forecast. When it did eventually rain it bucketed down very heavy and lasted the remainder of the time we were on the water. We sheltered in a nearby cave while the lads put on their cags (I was already wearing mine as I'm classed as a shiver baby!). Check out one of the photos and you can see the line of rain hitting the water at the caves entrance - a sort of eddyline of rain.
I practised some more rolling today and I was glad that I still could roll and it hadn't disappeared since last week. Lots more practice required but by the end of summer I should be sorted.
Hopefully the weather will settle down and we can get in some mid week evening paddles.

Another paddle in glorious sunshine

We had out regular Sunday morning paddle in beautiful sunshine. Met in Garrurus at 10AM and paddled to Annstown and back. Bumped into some other people on the water in a mixture of sit on tops and regular kayaks. Pat and Paul spotted a sea otter.
I've finally ditched the Pawlatta in favour of the screw roll. Last week I had trouble rolling with the Pawlatta and decided to try the screw roll. Mick was spotting me and reckoned I was just about there. Even though the roll felt good I didn't quiet manage to come up. I find the extra leverage of Pawlatta is hard on the elbow and I'm now wondering if it was my choice of this roll which strained it in the first place. So this week I decided to totally drop the Pawlatta and concentrate on the screw roll. I gave three attempts and come up each time! I was amazed at how effortless it felt.
The elbow is making good progress - nightly icing combined with my elbow strap (developed by a kayaker www.jacstrap.com) when paddling is proving a great help.

Return to the water !

Well its been about 5 weeks since my last paddle. The weather hasn't been great so I've only missed two trips. It looks like I picked a good month to take a rest with my elbow injury. I did the VHF radio course and passed the exam so my next thing is to apply for a call sign. I also learned how to tie a few knots. The water knot and figure eight knots have now been added to my repertoire of how to get tangled up.
I rested my tennis elbow injury for the few weeks and have also being doing some strengthening exercises. Mick O'Meara suggested using an ice pack on the elbow every night for about 20 mins just before going to bed and that is really helping. I also use an elbow brace every time I go paddling so that should stop the elbow getting any worse and also help it to heal.
We had a nice paddle today and practised some towing and also some rescues and rolls. The water has warmed up a good bit and no longer freezes the face as soon as you go under. We had a good fun in Garurus so roll on more of the warm weather.

Passage to Dunmore East Paddle

We decided to have a decent estuary paddle and paddle from Passage East to Dunmore East. We invited lots of people but in the end only myself, Joe and Mick turned up. We met in Dunmore at 0830 and organised car shuttles back to Passage. Tide was going out so we had a south flowing current and a south easterly wind (upper F3). Conditions were a bit choppy. The current certainly helped our speed and were averaging about 8.5km/h down to Duncannon. The previous week myself and Pat did the same stretch against a north flowing current and our speed was only about 4km/h.
There were some really heavy showers when we were in the middle of the estuary and we also had some nice waves to cut through.
When we got back to Passage we were able to appreciate the effects of "wind over tide". At this stage the water was dead flat and you could actually see the current flowing up the river. This combined with a southerly wind flattened things a lot - wind with tide. Its great to see real world examples of things you're taught (unashamed plug for www.seapaddling.com)
I seem to be developing some sort of tennis elbow pain in my right arm. I suspect I strained something during the rolling sessions when I may have muscled some rolls. I'm going to give it a rest until the end of May and not do any paddling. Hopefully this combined with some physio will get me sorted.
I'll update the blog with progress on my elbow condition!

My first roll in the sea!

Today we had a nice paddle from Kilfarrasey to Boatstrand. Total distance covered was just under 12km so this is all helping build up the paddle miles for longer trips this summer.
We stopped in Annestown on the return journey and I decided to try a roll. I've had mixed success at our pool sessions using a mixture of pawlatta and screw rolls. I could do with a bit of a confidence boost. I put the head under water and used Kens boat for some Eskimo rescues to get used to the cold. After 4 or 5 dips I could feel a headache from the cold so I decided to try and roll. Pass or fail I would only do it once. In case the whole thing went pear shaped and I had to get out of the boat we were close to the beach.
I went under, tried to roll using the pawlatta and came up first time! Oddly it seemed easier in the sea despite all the gear - I suppose it does help the buoyancy. It was also a good test for the new Chillcheater dry gear. The first time I went under I had forgotten to zipper up the neck so a small amount of water came in. With the neck zippered it provided a good seal and I was bone dry.
All in all a good day!

Brownstown Head Paddle

After an absence of several weeks its great to be back in the sea again. We had rolling classes in Splashworld and also organised some sessions ourselves. These took up Sunday evenings for the past 6-8 weeks so it was difficult to get in our regular Sunday paddles. Good to see that everyone managed to roll and all it takes now is braving the cold water in the sea (I'll wait until May!)
Today's paddle was 14km and took us from the pier in Tramore past Brownstown Head and almost as far as Ballymacaw. We stopped in Goats Cove for lunch and then headed back.
Mick just got his boat and was pleased with its first sea trial. I got a chance to play with my new GPS (courtesy of Aldi) and we still can't agree if we should use miles, nautical miles or kilometres. Next paddle is scheduled for Easter Monday so lets hope we have as good a day weather wise.

The Barrow Locks

The three amigoes (Joe Pat, Steve) had an early start. Met on the Ross Rd at 8:15 to head to St Mullins and on to Ballytiglea bridge past Borris. We put in about 10:30 and the current was about 3kn. Good flow helped us along the way. We decided to do the trip on the East side thus avoiding all the weirs. It did mean that we had lots of portage with the boats which was a pain after the first few locks. We did shot the weir at Ballingrane Lock which was the smallest. The flow on the weir side was very strong and not really suitable for sea kayaks so we opted to give the rest a miss and play safe. The St. Mullins Lock was very awkward to get the boats back in the water. The only place we could find was a small cutaway on the 'island' between the Lock and weir side. We lost about half an hour figuring that one out. A tiring day and I never carried the boats so much - I'm looking forward to the next sea trip!

Cappoquin to Youghal Paddle

We decided to revisit this trip this time in sea kayaks only and see how things would turn out. High tide in Cappoquin was 8:00 so we arranged to meet on Cork Rd at 7:00 and hopefully be on the be on water around 9:00. Only myself and Pat could make the trip since Joe had the 'flu and none of the sit-on-toppers stepped up to the mantle to take up the offer of the spare boat!
We were on the water in Cappoquin at 9:30 and came ashore in Youghal at 12:30. Total time on the water was about 2.5hrs as we stopped along the way for a cuppa. What surprised me about this trip was a spring tide (high tide Youghal at 6:45 and low tide at 13:00) and I reckoned we'd whizz along down the river. This certainly wasn't the case and the current was pretty slack all the way. Probably to take advantage of the outgoing tide you needed to be further downstream around 10:00 (hour three in rule of twelfths) but this would mean paddling against the incoming tide in Cappoquin given the offset of an hour. Anyway it was nice to reach Youghal and take our time going under the bridge without any currents to worry about.
The trip itself was a mixture of frost, mist and sunshine in that order as the day progressed and check out the pics in the web album. This was a nice trip to get in between the weekly rolling sessions and Pat (aka Pat the 1st roller) was dead chuffed to complete the trip and next time maybe we'll have a bigger group.
On another note I needed to get some windscreen wipers in Deevys and made an impulse purchase of the admiralty chart of Waterford Harbour. I'm trying to remember all the detail Mick O'Meara told us but first thing I did was look at the tidal diamond in the estuary. On an outgoing spring tide the max flow is just under 1.5kts (normally 0.5kts) in hours +3 and +4 so while its not something you want to paddle against it still won't be like a jet stream. This chart might come in handy over the summer evenings for some trips over to the Wexford side.

Helvick Paddle

A total of five of us paddled from the Gold Coast to just beyond Helvick head. The day had a nice touch of spring and the there was little or wind. Nice clear views of Mine Head and the also the mountains. The trip photos are on the web album.
Looking forward to the rolling sessions in Splashworld tomorrow!