The Alpine Dream: 3 Weeks, 1 Wedding and Whole Bunch of Smelly Paddlers

The Alpine Dream: 3 Weeks, 1 Wedding and Whole Bunch of Smelly Paddlers

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Our adventure begins in Dublin Airport at 5am, Guinness in one hand, Burger King bag in the other, giving Ireland the send-off it deserved. There we were, 20 or so overly-excited kayakers on a plane looking down over the expansive Alpine mountains that we soon hoped to conquer.

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(Photo Courtesy of Jessie Langridge)

We arrived in Italy at around 10am and the vibes of the two weeks to come started to settle around us as we pulled out our bright blue wife-beaters and five ukuleles and lay ourselves in the sun. Eventually, the oh-so-familiar UL Wolves Sprinter and Minibus came rolling around the corner with kayaks in-tow and suddenly the butterflies set in and the adventure was all too real.

We set up camp in the tiny village of Kobarid in Slovenia and tried to mentally prepare ourselves for what was to be some of the most incredible, beautiful, exhausting yet hilarious few weeks of our lives.

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(Photo Courtesy of Daragh Heffernan)

The first few days were spent along various sections of Slovenia’s 138km Soča river to give our advanced lads a chance to relax and us beginners a chance to settle into our new kayaking routine. We ran Prijon Factory and became quickly acquainted with Slovenia’s incredible crystal blue, yet freezing, water and breathtaking scenery. Next was Serp 1 and Serp 2 which boosted our confidence plenty and was a nice little step up. We ran a section of the Soča called Mini Gorge which ended up as my favourite day of paddling and honestly one of the most fun days of my whole life (it was really gorge-ous!!). Having a great day on the river leaves you with an amazing buzz and drive to live life as fully as possible.

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(Photo Courtesy of Eoin Howard)

But with the good times come the bad, and as we traveled to spend our final week France we met a rocky start. The water was faster, pushier and definitely took some adjusting. In this week we were pushed to our limits, and I saw such improvements in all the paddlers who had come on the trip. Us girls stuck together for encouragement and motivation and by the time the Slalom Racecourse came around everyone was back in great form. Racing your friends down a quick, bouncy, 150m stretch of water is seriously fun. I ran that section of river at least six times and competed in every category I could (Duo champs, WOO!).

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(Photo Courtesy of Luize Smith)

We also had a great final day following some of our own paddlers down a grade 4/5 level river hopping out of the Sprinter every five minutes to act as ULKC’s very own paparazzi and cheerleading squad. We were left very proud by what our own boys could do, and followed up their run of Middle Guil with a good aul girls’ day on Sunshine Run which was the perfect round off to an amazing trip (shoutout to Derv for being a class river leader!).

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(Photo Courtesy of Aisling McCarthy)

On the way to catch our ferry home to Ireland, we even got some sightseeing done in Paris and Mont-Saint Michel in Normandy (trust me, you have never seen such a rough-looking, smelly bunch of people in such a pretty, picturesque setting). All in all, this kayaking trip brought me so much more confidence in my paddling skills and brought me even closer to the people I already considered my second family. It was organised incredibly well, there’s no better team for it. Can’t wait for next year, lads. ULKC for life!!

By Aisling McCarthy

ULKC 40th Anniversary Celebrations

ULKC 40th Anniversary Celebrations

The University of Limerick Kayak Club’s 40th Anniversary celebrations kicked off on the 9th of April with a trip down the Castleconnell section of the Shannon. The Castleconnell has been a training ground for the UL Kayak Club since its inception and in recent years has proven its worth by aiding ULKC to win their 7th consecutive Intervarsity title this year. Overall we had more than 100 people kayaking down the river on the day, the group I was placed in had 30 members both young and old. We paddled down the river and after some of the more challenging rapids you could see the smiles of older members as if they had experienced the thrill of white-water for the first time once again. I overheard one person say ‘I forgot how much I missed this!’ We paddled the river quite quickly and without incident. At the get-off there was soup and tea provided by the volunteers who made the trip a roaring success.

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Paddler Conor Bredin ‘cooling his head’ towards the end of the river trip. Photo Courtesy of Eoin Howard.

Later that evening celebrations took place in the form of a black tie ball in the SouthCourt Hotel. A prosecco reception welcomed both previous and present members, with some less than sober students hogging the photographer’s camera! The atmosphere was made all the more vibrant with older members meeting for the first time in years. Everyone settled in at their tables and tucked into a fantastic three course meal. After dinner there was an award ceremony where previous club captains were presented with medals of appreciation for the work they had done for the club. Seeing the drastic age difference between the previous captains was something I will never forget. Each one had put countless hours of work into organizing trips, training and the general progression of the club. After the speeches from Gavin Sheehan and other important actors in the club the real celebration started. Music was supplied by ULKC’s own band BanterStar Galactifunk.

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40 Years in 1 Photo. Captain’s from the past 40 years after cleaning up for the ball. Photo courtesy of Oisín McHugh.

On the Sunday morning weary heads arose to descend on the Curragower rapids located in the shadow of King Johns Castle. The rapids are present 2 hours before and after low tide, with the right water level they form a wave that is known to kayakers as ‘Gower’. Unfortunately the weather was quite poor with strong winds blowing down river making it extremely difficult for us to catch the wave and surf it. As the day progressed the weather improved and a large group of older members turned up. I decided to hop on the water with them just to make sure we didn’t have any surprises with them injuring themselves. While we were unloading our boats one of them spotted a Necky Orbit fish and his reaction was nothing less than that of a child at Christmas. They still knew the wave like it was the back of their hand and taught me a few tricks on how to ferry onto Gower.

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The Captain’s Memento. Engraved with “In honour of your dedication and hard work that made ULKC what it is today, we thank you”, these medals were awarded to the Captains of the past 40 years. Photo courtesy of Oisín McHugh.

A huge thanks to the organisation Committee of Gavin Sheehan, Caoimhe Farrell, Conor Lowe, Brian O’Mahony, Jack Phelan, Daragh Heffernan, Patricia Flynn, Orla Cullen and Stephen O’Dea for their months of work, without which the weekend would never have been the success it was.

7th Consecutive Intervarsities Title for ULKC!!!

7th Consecutive Intervarsities Title for ULKC!!!

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ULKC have matched NUIGs record for most consecutive Irish Kayak Intervarsity titles after winning their seventh title in a row on the 7th of February.

 

The weekend consisted of paddlers competing in five different disciplines of kayaking. Canoe Polo kicked off the competition on the Friday morning. For those unfamiliar with the rules of Canoe Polo it’s a team event with 5 players on each side, it also has some similarities to hurling, rugby and soccer.

 

UL had been seeded into the toughest group in the whole competition with Letterkenny IT, NUI Maynooth and DCU to play and get to the semi-finals. The DCU game was our first match and also the most important, in the past matches had been settled with only one goal in the difference. UL managed a huge upset victory against DCU along a massive score line of 10-2. That wasn’t the only score line ULKC dominated, Letterkenny and Maynooth were beaten 10-0 and 9-0 respectively.

 

In the semi-finals UL faced an extremely strong and intimidating DIT team with a number of international paddlers in their ranks. After the first half UL were 6-1 down, a quick team talk at half time and a change in game plan meant UL were ready for war. Quick goals off the break brought the score line to 6-5. Some conservative play and timewasting by DIT meant that the final score was 7-5 to DIT.

 

This loss was not all bad news though as we were still in the 3rd place playoff against NUIG. We decided before the match that we would play a team of only first and second years, which paid off as Conor Lowe shot two screamers past the NUIG goalkeeper. The score at fulltime was 2-1 to UL putting us third place in polo.12716213_228584330811301_5471886035095539862_o

 

The second event to take place on Friday was the flatwater slalom race, a short timed race course with a number of gates which must be correctly navigated. The super-quick UL slalom squad placed 3rd in this event. 12496188_227316300938104_3760754295419399035_o

 

On Saturday morning groggy heads were woken to compete in the white-water event. The race is a timed sprint down a number of intense rapids. ULKCs representatives in this event were: Mark Scanlon, Caoimhe Farrell, Gavin Sheehan and Jack Phelan. Collectively they placed 1st in this event after a blistering run. In the afternoon the freestyle event took place in Tuam, the conditions on the water were less than desirable. A piercingly cold wind and a lack of sunlight meant the competition was set to be a cold one.

 

Freestyle kayaking is essentially trying to do a many tricks on river wave in a set time period, the harder a move is the more points it scores. UL had a solid crew consisting of Andrew Regan, Conor Lowe, Caoimhe Farrell and Eoin Keyes. The atmosphere along the river bank watching the competition was fantastic, UL were by far the loudest with their chanting and cheering whenever one of their paddlers completed a difficult move. UL came second in this event to NUIG, their experienced paddlers and knowledge of the feature made sure they were miles ahead of the competition. The Final event of the competition was the long-distance race, UL paddlers earned plenty of medals in their individual classes earning first place overall in long distance.12440675_228488024154265_8575124033388057289_o

A huge thank you to all ULKC paddlers who competed at varsities, also a special mention to Simon McCormack for training the Polo team and Oisin Farrell for training the slalom team. We hope to see you in 2017 at the University of Ulster. #8inarow

By Sam O’Connor

ULKC Donegal Trip 2016

ULKC Donegal Trip 2016

Here’s a summary of this years January trip to Donegal written by one of our member’s, Joe Doyle.

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ULKC GO UP THE DUFF!

On a fine, crisp winters morning the UL kayak club set off on yet another one of our notorious end of semester trips. This year we went to Donegal for a week of intense kayaking and seeing a few sights around the north.

January 16th we set off from the UL boathouse with a minibus and sprinter loaded up with some of the finest kayaks and kayakers ever to grace the university… Kind of.  To kick start the journey we had to endure a 3 hour packing session that involved the essential spice bag break. 6:30pm we were off on the road eager to get at some of the rivers in Donegal.

On the first day we took on the great ‘Duff’ river but thankfully in low levels of water as it becomes an entirely different river with a bit of rainfall in the surrounding areas. It was a short river requiring some skill and thought to take on. Thankfully we had some adrenaline hungry paddlers ready to get on at a moments notice. We hopped into our gear and got straight into our kayaks to take on the elements of the Duff. With twists and turns at every corner followed by three drops we soon found ourselves staring at the horizon line of a 13ft waterfall at the end of the river. Hearts beating out of our chests we paddled on straight towards it one by one (once the safety had been set up). Personally, coming up to the very edge I didn’t have time to think as soon as I  could see the bottom I was already in the air charging on down towards the water. One brief moment of weightlessness and it was all over with screams of joy and encouragement coming from members of the club.  It was an experience of a lifetime and not to be missed on future trips.

The next day we decided we would give our new freshers a nice old river to hone their skills and develop as proper kayakers. Guided by one of the locals we set off for the ‘Fin’, a river located in Leitrim with an easy get on and a gentle start which was all too needed for a club of kayakers who got up at 8am for it. We spent the day paddling and going over the basics. A necessity for any kayaker if we wish to improve and climb the ranks.

The next day we did the upper section of the river known by its really obvious name ‘The Upper Fin’. This river required some good skills and knowledge of how water flows which we had meticulously drilled into our freshers the day before so we were read to take on the challenge and were sailing on through with ease. This really brought up the comradery and spirit amongst the club to really see everyone improving. Of course this was followed by sandwiches and our daily trip to Aldi to ensure no paddler ever goes hungry! As someone who eats a lot I am forever grateful.

Finally! Our rest day had arrived. To celebrate a day where we could finally relax we all hopped on a bus to see the Giant’s Causeway in the Northern Ireland and walk across a famous rope bridge near-by. Seeing the Giant’s Causeway really stuck with me as I just couldn’t get over how perfectly hexagonally shaped everything was without human interference.  Truly a sight to behold and I would recommend it to anyone. Following this we made food and went to the only Decathlon in Ireland where we basically handed over our bank accounts in exchange for gear!

We spent the rest of the trip paddling the ‘Duff’ at higher waters until we finally had to say goodbye to Donegal and prepare ourselves for the start of another amazing kayak filled semester!

ULKC 40th Celebrations!!

Tickets for our 40th anniversary celebrations taking place on April 9th-10th 2016 are ON SALE NOW! Follow this link to purchase your ticket: http://www.eventbrite.ie/e/ulkc-40-year-anniversary-tickets…

Tickets are 50 euro with a 3 euro Eventbrite service charge. Places are limited so if you want to attend make sure to buy your ticket soon! Upon purchase, you will receive an email with detailed information about the weekend including discounted hotel room rates around Limerick City. The ticket price goes towards a champagne reception, a 3 course meal, the band, DJ, professional photography, discounted drinks, a full magazine to commemorate the event, mementos for all attendees and also some speeches from some special guests! All paddling activities are free!

Please keep spreading the word. All members old and new are invited. We hope to see you there!