good day on the dargle

hi kayaking in Ireland in summer is great . Last week i was watching the rain coming in started arranging to meet up with friends at the dargle , then on sunday it all came together rain good friends rivers could it get any better . We all met up at the take out of the dargle at 0830, on the way there the roads were flooded so i know this was going to be a big day , when i got there i was right 5 blocks and brown is it come up ? some of the lads were there Mike the bull Good , H , swimo , where is Rob the leader of this mad group of miss fits yep mr murphy is in bed so we waited for him , one hour later and gang all together had theriver dropped had it hell it had come up by about three inchs o well change and on we go . All good pull into eddy on the left just before main falls we all know that the last eddy would be washed out . It look cool water crashing on the walls then over the main falls , the paddle over the main falls is going to be fast , then i heard the lads say dilly you ran this bigger than this yep i had that does not mean i was not nervous . Mike and Rob ran first i did resue all went well , then it was my go ,a long walk back up to my boat alone . In i get and away i go , fast and painless , i pulled into an eddy just before the biggest hole on the river i was just about to get back in to my boat when H came flying over the falls hit stright into the hole , well he cart wheeled, looped , he put up a great fight but this time the river was just that little to big , yep he swam long and hard swim , he got out and one very sore leg and sore pride , swimo and H walked off the river so it was just the three of us , we ran the rest of the river and found H boat's pulled it out , paddled on the smiles on every body faces getting bigger with each drop , the end comes all to soon , great day on the dargle

last day here italy

hi all a couple of us ran the home run yesterday grade 4 run in good water levers every body was styling it making the the paddle all the fun , sesisa is a great river for learning on .Great meal last night DC keeping the table entertained with tales of travel to far off lands . Last day here all packed now getting ready sad to be leaving but i know i will be back again ,

italy

hi toady we ran the lower sesisa. Today things we work on were body roation , body positioning , forward paddling, back to basics . The sesisa was a big level , most of the run was grade 3 with one grade 5 rapid all went well . In the afternoon we ran lower end of the grande where we did some boat pinnings . We put a causalty on a rock so it was back to work for me then one quick ran down the sorba slides a little higher water than yesterday all good do ,

Italy trip

hi today we played around with ropes in the morning [ pig rigs , v lowers , synge line , vector drag].Then after tying me up in knots we had some food then on to the sermanza grade 4 - 5 the first big drop i took a swim, ledge drop with a hole in the centre i boofed the hole but reversed back into got a good beat down , helmet sucked off me i swam out of the hole all good so got gear back together and ran the left line , all going good , then near the end we all swam for crack .

hi landed in france on monday then drove to italy because the rivers are to high . Paddle today on the sesia and the sorba slides , the sesia is great river not like a lot of rivers in this area , more rapids and less drops , the sesia is grade 4 water levels was good , sorba slides is a quick run over in about 5 min , 2 slides and one drop in between , this is about grade 4 run also and the water level was good

sunday trip

hi Sunday 25 may we all started out from mill lane 0900 James , Claire and myself .We all gouped into my car and headed for Stackalan , another member of the club was there ready and waiting john . So we drove my car to the get out Slane , then it was back to Stackalan let the action start . The first weir at Stackalan no problems all went well , all was good over the next three wierrs till the big A , i said will we go over the broken part? the gang looked at me and away we went at this stage friends of mine had joined us Ken and Eddy , Ken went down down first all ok then James still ok Eddy and things were looking all good , John next in his big boat well he stopped half way down looking at me whats going to happen next the water pulled him down the rest of the weir all still ok , then Claire same again hit a rock half way down and stopped this time do Claire was push upside down and she ran the rest of the weir upside down , she was knock around a little bit Trim woman are made of hard stuff ,only two more weirs to go then home ,
All was good, and great day on the river with trim canoe club

the blackwater

one Sunday trim canoe club decided to head for navan and hit the blackwater , we got on behind the motor test centre , { the last time i was here i was doing my driving test i was nervous then and i am nervous now on the water i go } the first weir we get to is only about 10 meters from the put on , the lads { Brian , Johnathan, Owen} were all looking at me which way to go down so i ran down backwards on the right side , then the lads followed all went well , then on to a natural drop we all ran it on the left saying to our selfs this would be a great drop if it had more water , then on to next weir which has a mill on the right hand side.We ran this on the right hand side,on to the last weir. This one has a mill on the left hand side .There is a danger of ending up under the mill on the left we .Ran this weir on the middle left every one got on well . We paddle on to where the Blackwater joins the Boyne , then on to Slackalan .Another great day on the water with Trim canoe club,

coming home

just hanging around

hi Sunday came had to meet at HQ at 6.30am , all the guys ready and waiting to go , two vehicle were go to Dublin port driving on to the ferry ulises with equipment , another car went to Dublin air port to meet with Irish coast guard and to jump on board the helicopter , they are going to winched onto the ferry , this is exercise working with the Irish ferries , Irish coast guard , Walsh fire service , R A F , and the Walsh ambulance service , when we landed on board we were told there are six casualties with mostly burns injuries , we grab our gear and made our way down to the casualties , there injuries ranged from minor burns to cardiac arrest , they there was a chemical incidence and the Walsh fire service were dropped in by the R A F sea king , the fire service bought the patients to by becam , all went well all patients professionally looked after by all services , great day