Tom's Blog

Summer Creeking

2010-07-25T15:52:00.004+01:00

Soo! Paddle season in Ireland is well over, but every now and then we get the downpour needed. To get a beautiful sunny day combined with water in the rivers is such a treat and you can really appreciate the beauty of the place.

Working nights in a bar I was happy to finally get home at 4am Sunday night, only to have Mr. Barry Loughnane on the phone at the crack of dawn the next morning! He rocked up with a boat and some gear for me to use and we headed for Ireland's crown jewel the Flesk river. To warm u we hit up the clydagh which runs unto the harder Flesk section. Felt so good to be back in a boat and on some quality water, no better feeling!

Dave Higgins showed us why he's got to be one of the fastest learning paddlers in the country, on the water since October, he styled his way down no trouble!

Later myself and Barry BoaterX the same river before heading out to another classic the Roughty. Met up with some friends and had a nice spin, running all the bigger drops a few times to squeeze th most out of them. We finished the day with some scouting/paddling of the higher up section of Roughty river although I had to leave early the boys had a bit of an epic with one of the boats getting pinned. They finally got back 4 hours later at 11pm!haha

So 5 rivers in 1 day I can't complain! Gear all held out real well the DoubleDutches were so good catching perfect allowing me to hit the boofs and make the quick turns with ease. Cheaper and lighter then DoubleDiamonds the lads were using. The acute crank really came into play too firing the boat forward with that extra power each stroke :)

Water has left us again so its back to work and hopefully a quick trip to England in August for some freestyle before Nationals round 2!

Thanks for reading!

Tomás

Germany 2010

2010-06-16T16:49:00.000+01:00

Well!

So World Cup was an interesting one this year! Heading over to Munich to find the place lashing rain out of the heavens and no hole in sight! By the time the competition was to be held the water was so high even the wave that had replaced the hole was washed over!

With no comp in Plattling we headed to Munich for some sightseeing and hopefully some paddling on the epic city waves!

We found the wave on Saturday and had a nice 2hour session which made it all worthwhile going to germany!!lol

Of course I had to make a video:)

Enjoy!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVMMWr1dbLY

National 2010

2010-05-01T22:52:00.000+01:00

The first round of the 2010 Nationals was held today at Curragower Limerick. Great day, sun and water can't ask for much more! Great work Irishfreestyle for getting it on! Thanks guys!

The UL boyohs were out in force as usual with us taking top 3 in mens expert. I haven't got the rest of the results yet but congrads to David O Sullivan for 1st place. Conor Bredin and myself took 2nd and 3rd respectifully. Check out my quick video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URwMfv-wgig

Sorry for quality, will be a HD one uploaded later tonight.

And here is HD version :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnuCra1zxSs

Quick helmet review

2010-04-29T12:56:00.000+01:00

Quick helmet review!

Sooo! Had my shiny Predator Lee out yesterday:) I think I have dont scratch my helmet syndrom, so retarded but I want to keep it clean!

First impressions were very good.

Before I even got to the water I gave it to C-Dog Bredin to try on, comparing it to his sweet strutter he said it fits a lot nicer! Oh ya!

So the peak is great, does a great job sheilding you from the sun, no more squinty eyes!

I fitted mine out with padding before I left, the shark pads are classy and make it very quick and easy to get a great fit.

Also a big thumbs up goes to the tightening ratchet at the back of the helmet. It allows the helmet to hug your head and gives you the confidence that theres no way it can be shifted.

These helmets retail around €110, great price for a beaut helmet. Check tthem out at I-Canoe on my link HERE-->>http://www.i-canoe.com/Helmets/Freeride+Helmets/Predator+Lee+8.html?osCsid=3769050c9cf3b56c60e75cc9c3f3a687

Delighted!

New Video

2010-04-21T19:37:00.000+01:00

For better quality click here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuhrYm3Q0jA and pick 480p resolution

Nottingham & Helmet Delivery!

2010-04-17T18:39:00.000+01:00

Well! Long time no post! Check out the helmets!! Predator mo fo! Just got the delivery yesterday and I am like a kid at christmas! They are kick ass! Fit so well with enough paddling options to fit any weird head! Loving the colours got a nice yellow Predator Lee and the White/Black Six. The Six has looks to have amazing strength and I am going to be a lot happier having the full face for those narrow rocky Irish creeks!

My favouite thing about them is they just look the SH%T!

So we had Easter week 2 weeks ago! Off to Nottingham with Siobhan, Bowser and Dee! What a spot1 Apart from the quality of water that place is brilliant! There were 2 prime holes on the section at our level, top hole and the second pool which was a nasty beating hole! Both spots were great, top hole for learning moves and 2nd pool for working on tricks in a nice fast dynamic spot!

A few pointers if your planning a trip yourself!

->Flying is easy, bus to 5min walk from course for £3.50. Driving is easy also and if you fit 4 in car plus boats its a lot cheaper!

->Check water levels prior arrival, if its too high course can shut due to water quality

->Course fee is £10 a day

->Camping bring warmer gear

->Wellys!

->ASDA is the place to shop, watch out it closed sunday eve, 24hours my arse!

->Avoid eating out, you will not be filled, impossible to find good place!

->2 sessions, 1 sessions, 2 sessions!

->Coaching is available and a great way to see what your doing wrong.

->Video yourself, so useful for getting moves dialled

->There are changing rooms in HPP! Leave your gear there between morn and eve sessions!

Cheap, fun and great kayaking!

Bowser has the camera footage I'l have photos and video soon!!

For the rest of Easter we got some stellar sessions at Curragower wave and are all pumped for Nationals 1st May, loads of moves going on! Also watch out for em Galway boys! Some banter had in the dark and dirty streets of Limerick!haha

Plans! So we of to World Cup after exams! Massive craic to be had! Will getting back to training, once over this tonsillitis, in a big way! Then off to HPP for the 2 months hopefully follwed by a 5 week stint in UGANDA. I cannot wait:)

Next up Nationals, until then

Tomás

Gower April 2010

2010-04-05T01:48:00.000+01:00

Our local has finally come up again after a long drought and here are some shots/video of what was up to.

Camera trouble meant we only had 1 or 2 rides on video here was one of them. Everyone was going big and having the craic we had big cleans back and fronts, lots of airs, pan ams, flip ts and mcnastys going. Big crowd around with the usual UL heads and Barry and Andrew from Galway. Savage craic all round great to see the beauty back up working.

Got some more footage over the next few days files very big and computer struggling to work with them..

Shots are of 1 ride I snuck in on way home to Kerry. Was dropping in Dave his boat/gear so he gave me a spin, gota say wouldn't be too gone on the blades;)

Back to college Tues and with the wave working in the evening were all hoping to get out for some pre-nationals practice.

1 ride on horseshoe

2010-03-07T14:31:00.000Z

Doing a bit of paddling in Ottawa on Mcoys Rapid

The river has so many smaller playspots on it there's always something running.

This is Horseshoe wave at a higher lever then ideal. It was great for learning new tricks and practicing for Thun. If anyone is still wondering what to do for the summer its defo worth considering rafting or kayak instruction over there. Ya wont make much cash but its some craic!

ULKC Varsities Success

2010-02-17T15:07:00.000Z

Last weekend we had one of the biggest kayaking comps in the country, the inter-college kayak Varsities. My own club ULKC had been gunning to win it and there was a great effort put into training for the weekend. Our best results were 2nd in polo, overall long distance winners and 5th in whitewater. Mention has to go to the whitewater team who failed to qulify for next round by 1 second, even with an imploded skirt!! We stormed the Freestyle with ULKC men taking 1, 2 and 3. Myself, Dave and Connor respectively. Kim easily took women's no.1 also. Looks like we're the college to get into if ya want to freestyle!

We left Galway with a nice new karnali kayak, and a shitload of medals!!

Here are a few public pics of the freestyle team taken by Ken Hynes

Gear Review

2010-02-04T20:53:00.000Z

Double Dutch Typhoon 197, 30angle
Power Crank Shaft

Initial reactions when I unwrapped these was they were very light. Much lighter then Werner or other brands by a considerable amount. I was also surprised by how little carbon layering there was on the blade. After trying to give it a flex it was clear to see that the stiffener was doing its job and there were no worries with flex at all. (I’m used to a foam core with 0 flex)

After bringing them into the pool for a night session I was happy to see the shaft is a lot more gripper then my last set. No need to scrap this set down.
On the weekend we had a paddle on the local class 2/3, no water anywhere else unfortunately. On the up side this gave me a chance to try out some new gear including paddles, burn 09 and a brand-x pair of elbow pads

The paddles were superb. They really grab the water, no flutter, lots of power, but not too much that you’re straining yourself. There not a massive blade size but they use their size to the max with very little, if any power loss.

It was also cool to see the blade shape has a lot of top half surface area, giving a relaxed paddle position a relaxed amount of power, while upping the power big time when you drop in those vertical strokes. This gives you a turbo charger switch when you go for that boof or just change to an aggressive stance.

The river was pretty low and I gave the paddles a good bashing to see how they would hold up. Checked them out afterwards and DD must have done a nice job with the edging as they were solid.
Conclusion
Very happy with these super light creeking blades. Nice relaxed feel until you turn on the juice and they perform with lots power and quick reaction, no flex. Very strong. Great feel in the water, new favourite paddle:)

Also Brand-X elbow pads were great, didn't feel awkward at all even over fleece and drysuit.
The Burn was great too! Not doing a review on it, great boat everything was superb even when not properly outfitted. Only downfall is its very slow, not a race boat!

Little Gower

2009-12-13T17:53:00.000Z

With never before seen levels on the Shannon, Ireland longest river, the surf was well and truly up! For a few days we had a new wave in, 5ft high, green crashing face, nicest wave I've ever been on at home. Didn't get pics due to it being a night time session and everyone on the water, but here are some shots of the same wave after the levels dropepd off again.

Photo's are copyright of Donie@skynet.ie

One to watch, Double Dutch paddlers are currently almost finished producing 2 brand new paddles, a Freestyle version-Rage and a Creeking version-Typhoon.

Looking forward to getting my hands on them for next season.

Up Comming Events: Clare Glens Invitational race Jan 30th, Irish Team Trials

Some creeking shots from last 2 weekends

2009-11-03T20:38:00.000Z

Sluice Rodeo, Oct 09

2009-10-20T20:13:00.000+01:00

Well I still havent got a post up from Worlds or Canada but heres something from last weekend, Sluice Rodeo.
Sluice is a wave/hole just outside Dublin city. Very popular with the locals but it's always been my least favourite spot to compete at, just because I could never throw my usual moves as it was so differn't to other features.
The final Irish League competition was held at Sluice last weekend, it was a fundraiser for the Irish team and I was picking up a kayak so I was defo going.
Found the wave a lot more fun with new skills I picked up over the summer and I really enjoyed the Jam format of the competition. 15mins a heat with 5 in each heat. You really get to go for it in that length of time and its great fun when you have some friends with ya.

Anyway I was delighted to win my heat and progress to win the finals in the end. It was my first senior competition to place first and what better place to place then at sluice my old nemisis! Good friends Dave and Connor place 3rd and 5th, great Limerick results!
Finished off with some DVD's in Jenny Kilbrides place Outdoor Evolution in Wicklow. Afterwards we hit the town and had a mad night out in some crazy night club in Blessington! Great weekend.
Over the next few months we have a few competitions comming up, Colligan Games, Glens race and I guess team trials will be held before christmas too. Looking forward to getting back out on the water now, the rain is on the way:)

Gower Photos

2009-10-11T15:44:00.000+01:00

Canada

2009-06-01T01:51:00.000+01:00

Sitting here, the wake of Thin Lizzy, Rush Sturges on the box, mosquito bites and a nice paddlers tan (to the knuckles), I think to myself, life is sweet. Over the last 2 weeks I completed raft training with Riverrun on the Ottawa River, as well as having 6 kayak trips including a weekend on buseater. Raft training means up at 6am and 2 trips per day, 4-5 hours each. Mash this with a few nights on the beer, a te-hi and a poor man’s diet means I’m pretty wrecked.

My body aches, left hand weak, right arm swollen, covered in bites, shoulder tweaked, lips blistered (awful), and last but not least head exhausted. Today was my rest day, I only spent 4 hours in a kayak, Dragons Tongue was nice!

Ottawa River is steady at 15-16 foot. Buseater is surging, greening the odd time between rides. When you hit that wave all hell breaks lose. You are always carving, trying not to bounce off time. If you can make it to the top you’ll have a nice 6-8 foot of ramp to charge down and air your way to bliss! The river has been excellent. There are a few different smaller waves and I’ve been making the most of them while there in. It’s been great.

The weather is changing tomorrow; a low pressure system is arriving. I’m going to chill out for the day. I have a few jobs to do, but I really don’t think I’ll have the motivation to get anything done! It’s so calm here; I just want to enjoy the break from the last crazy 4 weeks.

Evening Sessions

2009-05-07T18:55:00.000+01:00

Over the last few weeks things have been winding down here in college as everyone is in exam mode. It still didnt stop us from having a few evening sessions at gower to keep those muscels burning! Here's a couple of shots of of me putting the all-star through its paces.

Cheers Donie for the pictures

For the last few weeks I've beening sorting out my Summer travels. I'm heading to Ottawa on the 15th of May, hopefully for Bus Eater:) and will be staying with Riverrunners until 19th of August. Should hopefully have a bit of work raft guiding and in the kitchens to pay it all off.

At time of writing I have 8 days to go before I'm jetting off, can;t wait!

Next post will hopefully have shots of bus eater, talk to you soon.

Tomás

Buseater Wave....

Easter 09, Clifden

2009-05-07T18:24:00.000+01:00

With a week off and a driver and car we had to get some water miles in. Clifden was up and running so we set our sights for Galway. Myself, Orky, Dave, Daithi and Lilly headed off with the weather splitting the stones.

Clifden was brilliant. We all had some gerat runs and Daithi lost his playboat virginity!

For the next 2 nights we camped out, with terrible weather

the first night! I was in the car and the suspension was at 90 swaying back and forth with the wind! Needless to say nobody got much sleep!

Had a great surf session too. Waves and wind were BIG!

Was a brilliant mid week trip had great craic camping! We all promised to do it more next semester!

Selections!

2009-03-31T18:38:00.000+01:00

Last Saturday the Nationals and Team Selections took place at Curragower wave Limerick. There had been no water for a month but the committee managed to get the ESB on board for a release! It was sweet! The wave was tough to paddle at the level as it was super flushy, but still had a sweet steep green and a massive foam pile!

I had got sick the week before the comp but after a few meds I was feeling better by compition day, didn't help with the nerves though as I wasn't feeling the most confident! Mom and Dad came up for the day and joined the other supporters on the river bank.
The event went down really smooth and it was a great day! I came in 5th out of the squad and managed to get a place on the Irish team 2009! Woop woop!

Updates over last month and half

2009-03-09T01:11:00.000Z

A few weekends went by there without a post, these are a few pictures from the lads level 4 in
wicklow, a lovely day at gower-portraits by daves sister! and a day at sluice before the varsities kicked off

The Weekend 7/8/03/09

2009-03-09T00:53:00.000Z

Gower, night session

This weekend I stayed home with the hope of getting more paddling in Limerick then in Kerry. Curragower hadn't been working in about 3 weeks but with a good spash of rain during the week I had my fingers crossed.
Micky Brennan was around and sure he's always mad up for a paddle! Anyway my persistence paid off and sure enough at 7.45pm we landed up to a nice, steep, fast curragower! Sweet! Hadn't had a good night paddle in a long time as I was having trouble setting up in the dark. It felt even better then to have a nice few rides and get out of that rut! Big air backstab, woohaey! I'm writing this at 7.30am, were going again:) Loop time!

Next Day
Up this morning at 7.00am. Big waste of time! Got to the wave and the river was completly dry, ESB had turned off water overnight! Balls! Headed back to mine and searched irishwhitewater for a hole that we heard was on the Mulcair. Micky reckoned the water was high enough for it to work. Unfortunatly when we got there it was dry as a bone aswel! Looks sweet though, at least we now know where it is.
Micky on the way to a McNasty

After some thinking and talking to Jackie O we decided to head for Tuam Galway, it had been raining in Galway all morning and the the Hole should be up..., according to out sources!! 2 hours later we got to the hole only to find it at a weak .7m on the gauge, no hole but a tiny wave! Nevertheless, Micky wasn;t going to drive all the way home again so we geared up and got on the water! Surprisingly we had mad craic! After a slow start we started going for a few moves and it was just great fun! As Micky said, it would have been the perfect wave to have in your back garden! Halfway through I started going for a new move the McNasty and after a bit of practice I got it! It's a great feeling learning a new move! Micky wasn't far behind me and hit it a few rides after. We both kept at it for the rest of the session! 4 hours later we were spent! Walking out I couldn't believe we had just spent a full day kayaking on such a tiny feature! Few photos there from Jackie and Myself. Oh and big shout out for Jackie, that was a deadly Mars Bar!

Hopefullly heading to scotland on friday for level 5 training and a few days paddling, should be epic! I'll get the stories and photos up asap!
Tomás

The Pressure Is On!

2009-02-26T19:41:00.000Z

Black and White, looking for the panam...

With only 30 days to the first team trial event I'm starting to feel the pressure. Lack of cash, low water and mounting college work, all adding up to not so perfect training conditions. After positioning 6th at the squad trials I have to move up 1 place minimum to get on the team.
2s Company

After a few days off the ball I've started back into gym work and I've been hitting it hard. This evening's will be my 7th session since monday, todays thurs, and 7.15am spinning classes are no joke!

A carvy right hander

This weekend is family time, due to so much on I havent been home in 8 weeks, thats like school summer holidays! I'll still get the sweet surf at Inch on Saturday, cant wait!
Here are a few pictures from the WITKC guys, I had an edit at them. Gower in full blast a 2 or 3 weeks ago.
Happy browsing:)

2009-02-04T12:09:00.000Z

Just a quick update. Clare Glens was a brill event, My team came in 3rd and we were delighted. Kick ass! The next weekend we had theIrish Team Trials in Tarmonbarry. I had to get in the top ten to get on squad and I finished in 6th place. Just enjoying college at the moment and getting out in gym or kayaking everyday to keep myself going.
Talk to ya later,
Results are below
Clare Glens
1 - ULKC (11.02)
2 - Limerick 2 (11.05)
3 - Limerick 1 (11.06)
4 - South West 1 (11.18)
5 - East 2 (11.22)
6 - Connaught 2 (11.28)
7 - Limerick 3 (11.50)
8 - South 2 (12.11)
9 - South 1 (17.22)
10 Connaught 1 (27.22)

Irish Squad Trials

Senior Men

1st Mark Leonard, 2nd Moogie, 3rd Moe K, 4th Bowsie, 5th Neil Gibson, 6th Tomas O'Donoghue, 7th Mickey b, 8th Dave Crerar, 8th Tom Dunphy, 1 0th Ronnie Brennan

Junior men

1st Rory O'Reilly, 2nd Tim Kiernan, 2nd Rob Price, 4th Coran king, 5th Eoin Farrell

Senior Ladies

1st Kim Sikerman, 2nd Frances O D, 3rd Jenny Kilbride, 4th Sinead O'D, 5th Aisling Corky, 6th Siobhan Mc G

Junior ladies

Niamh, Eimear, Caoimhe

The Clare Glens

2009-01-21T21:42:00.000Z

Aright lads and gals! This week has been bloody mental! With the race on Saturday I’ve been all about the Clare Glens the last few days!
Monday, this was my best day creeking to date. At the get in I rubbed the snow off my cockpit rim and pulled on my spray deck. With a nice flow to keep me off the rocks, 0.5m, I pushed out into the current. My vision slightly impaired by the falling snow, I picked my line, planted my boof stroke (cheers Benny), and sailed off top drop to land flat with a bang. Amazing!
As for records, Sean Mc Tiernan got 5 runs in that day and I managed to come in second with 4. It seemed as the more times I ran the river the cleaner the lines became. We kept going until we were completely shattered. Also a big up to Mickey Brennan, my new team mate for the race. He stomped the river his first time down it! Ah boy da kad! Check out the Video. Mystic is going great!

Wednesday was... epic. Mickey and I sneaked off for a bit of training on our own. The phone gauge was reading 0.3m. Haha, when we got to the river you should have seen the smiles on our faces! It was over .65m! By the time we had got on it was .7m and at the end of the river it had rose to over .75m, touching on .8m! It being Mickey’s second time on it he did brilliant! Big eas was a torrent and the footbridge hole was looking to give us an ass beating! We made it down anyway and carried the boats back up again to have a go from little eas down a second time. It was flipping huge! More please, tomorrow and Friday look great for water too!

Well there’s not much longer to wait now! 2 more days of training and its race time! Looks like we are going have plenty of water too! This is a spectacle not to be missed by any whitewater fan! I can’t wait myself to see the other lads paddle, the teams looks very impressive! This is possibly the best river in the country, and defo the best one to spectate at. There are paths on both sides and two sturdy footbridges crossing the river! One directly over the nastiest hole on the river, just above Big Eas! It’s going to be a super sweet event and the more people to cheer the competitors the better!

Come along and watch some of Irelands most experienced paddlers give it their all on this beautiful, crazy river!

Goodluck!

Oh ya! Gower is back!

2009-01-13T20:13:00.000Z

At last I got a chance to get some training done! Had a blast being back on the wave, missed it over christmas! Spent the day working on my ride for the team trials, I'm happy with the way its coming on! Levels tommorow looks sweet too:)
Gudluck!!

Low water messing

2009-01-13T19:59:00.000Z

I came up to UL with great intentions to et some serious creeking on before the Glens race, only to find the water level had risen, but not enough. Not wanting to waste a day myself Mickie, Conor and Adrian headed to the Castle Connel for our first team training session.
We blasted down in good time and decided to head out to the glens to see if the water levels had risen since the morning. Unfortunatly the were stll rock bottom! After a motivating chat with Ross Redmond we decided to give it a shot anyway! I really wanted to get Mickie out in it to show him the lines! Top drop was sweet but the rest of the river was bloody awful! We learned from our mistakes

Nice shot from inch during new years

2009-01-13T19:56:00.000Z

Nice picture from one of my earlier posts. St. Stephens day paddle at Inch, thats 4 star surf for ya!

Torc picture

2009-01-08T18:38:00.000Z

Maria and I up torc on wednesday!

Inch Camping

2009-01-07T21:49:00.000Z

After staying my place Thursday and Friday night we were ready to hit the road again for a change of scenery. After long hours of mabeys we decided on camping at Inch. The surf was full 5 star which was brilliant, the only problem was the forecast! Janurary 09 has been the coldest since records began in Ireland and the weekend was no differn't!

We stocked up on tesco value, loaded the car, and persuaded dad to drive us to the beach!
The surf was as epic as predicted and we had a great session Saturday. Afterwards we used beach wood to build a sweet fire from which we cooked burgers and mash! Sitting fireside we chatted well into the night.
The next day we felt the rough sleep taking its tool, even getting out of our sleeping bags was hard hard going! The surf wasn't as powerfull so I said I'd try bodyboarding instead! Not my greatest idea ever, I washed up about 90mins later with nothing good to say about the experience! Myself and Dave went for a few pints and then before we knew it we were packed and on the road home again!

Until next time goodluck!

New Years

2009-01-07T21:30:00.000Z

What had to be the least paddling ireland has ever seen for New Year's in Kerry! With no rain due and no surf either it was a slow one for me at home for christmas.

I headed back to glenbeigh for the criac New Years eve to see were all the stories were true! What a night! It's a lawless spot, bar open to 4 am and there were people sining long into the night!
The pub was sweet and had a built in chinese! Lovely! Anyway had mad craic!
The next day we played on the sandhills before Paul, Dave, Daithi and myself heading back to my place in Killarney!

St Stephens Day

2008-12-30T22:43:00.000Z

After a great break for christmas it was time to get back on the water again! St. Stephen's day saw the O' Donoghue family head for Inch for some 4 star surf! Mom, Dad and Tomas
Dad got some pics of the kayaking but I dont have them at the mo I'll try and get my habds on them Anyway it was a lovely swell with a almost clean around 5ft face. It was big but not too big! I was working on my left clean air blunts for gower and started to nail them thank god! We had a brilliant day!
On the way back my parents drope me off at Maria's place and from there we went out in Killarney that night!

Fun times with Maria, Philip and Dave stones:)

Home for Christmas:)

2008-12-21T20:05:00.000Z

It's that time of the year again when we all chillout and eat for a few days! Christmas time! It's nice to get a break from college and be able to come home to this amazing part of the country. If it rains the best rivers are 20 minutes out the road and if its dry I'm heading out on the specialized for some DH biking! Had a lovely cross country run this evening out in Muckross, it was almost dark but I could just about make out the muck from the not muck! I stoped at a ledge looking out onto the lakes and had a sweet view of the lakes and opposite woodlands, it's great to be back home again!

MAJOR PARTY

2008-12-18T16:44:00.000Z

All invited, should be insane! Incorporating ULKC Christmas night out!

Gill week!

2008-12-15T12:02:00.000Z

Had a great few days there last week! Gill Crawley who happens to living out of her jeep the last few weeks was up for a road trip! She came down to Limerick to surf gower for thursday morning and it all kicked off there. Gower was't up to scratch so we headed up to oranmore in Galway! It was my first time there and its a pretty nice hole. Pity it was freezing and oly worked for less then an hour, still a good work out though! Trying to keep those loops straight.

That evening we headed to Jackies for food and tea, nice one Jackie! Stayed in Gill's place for the night. Tuam was working friday so we saddled up and got on the water for around 2. The roads were flooded on the way over, there was no shortage of water! Larry joined us at the put on and we geared up. Tuam was sweet!

Gill took me on a tour of Galway city that evening and I managed to buy some much needed gear in RiverDeep for my skills assesment. Thanks Pat for sorting me out. Stayed in Gill's friend Lisa's place that night, had a few beers a good aul chat.
Saturday was assesment day! I was so unorganised due to the quick dash to Galway on thursday. I got together enough gear from friends to pass and headed off with thanks to Sinead at half 9 to the Boluisce. The level was very high and was an alright run. To be honest it was far from roughty standard! I got Ali Donald and Yani assessing in my group. John and Sully in the group with me. I had great fun all day, even the swimming in my drycag was a bit of a laugh! When I was told I passed I was delighted, I can now get onto doing my level 3 instructor!

Met with Gill that night and with good intentions of paddling T-wave on Sunday we headed to Siobhan MacGrisons place for a bit of banter! Dave C and Mr Mark Leonard were there to greet us and we had a good aul night in the pub!

Sunday was a bit of a disaster with no water anywhere! Gill and I were both shattered anyway and so we just chilled out! We did walk don to have a look at Ballysadare falls, woth creek boats it would have been a deadly run! I got the bus home from Galway and Gill headed to Jackies for more banter!

That was it for my week of paddling! Gill Crawley has got to be one of the nicest people on this island! Shes heading off to New Zealand in Janurary and I wish her all the best with her new teaching job over there! She's sure to have a ball!

Update

2008-12-10T20:43:00.000Z

Today and yesterfay we've been having night sessions at gower, starting around 9 last night and should be on the water around haf 10 tonight, Conor and Orky have a commitee meeting so we'll have to wait until after that. Heres a video I made while messing around at home! I'm getting into the whole video thing, thinking of getting a proper Camcorder with some xmas money. Anyone know any good free editing softwarre to start off with??

Saturday 6/12/08

2008-12-08T16:47:00.000Z

Up at 6.45 to get a lift to the Surf Comp with Louise Kelleher. It was bloody freezing but the waves were sweet! My first surf style competition and I didnt have a clue what I was at! Comp was on in Clare in Duggy, really nice spot from what I saw. A big open beach with a lot of waves to choose from. I got through the heat but knocked out after that. Myself and Dave went for a free surf in our plastics afterwards. Big waves, big moves and big beatdowns! I swear I nearly knocked myself out a few times! Great day!haha

Glens 5/12/08

2008-12-08T16:31:00.000Z

Glens was up and myself and Dave managed to scab a lift off Brian, ya legend! After a mission to the river it turned out to be a nice paddle. Level was a bit on the low side, just under .5, still good craic! Check out the video.
Cheers
Tom

Gower 1/12/08

2008-12-02T15:39:00.000Z

A nice return to Curragower to wash off saturday night. A crisp 1st of December with the sun un the sky. Don't you love Mondays! Conor drove, paul, dave and myself. Level ok..could ferry on but it was bit washy offy. We were all a bit wrecked so it was just a session to get us back on the ball! We hit the gym later, haha. Study day today, tues, no paddling but gyms on later. Hopefully we'll be out again wednesday. Talk to ya later.

Wicklow 29/30/11

2008-12-02T15:14:00.000Z

What had to be the coldest weekend of the year, bloody freezing!
With no water the club travelled to the liffey saturday. Colm Healy was good to lend us 4 demo playboats for the day and we had a surf at sluice while the other ran the river. Man..sluice sucks! After a few doses of brain freeze we headed down the rest of the river with the beginners, they're kicking ass.

Saturday night was always going to be good but with no rain on the way we made it even better!haha

Sunday we didnt paddle but some of the club hit jackson falls. Myself, Paul and Dave eventually managed to get to the drop by foot and took some pictures and video. Some good lines and some not so good!

Cheers to Kev ya legend Egan for the lift.

Gower 27/11/08 First Video

2008-11-27T19:34:00.000Z

Great session at Gower today. Cheers Jackie for the lift in and for doing camera work. Daithi aswel! Big crowd, Me, Dave, Orky C1ing, Gil, Jackie and Larry! Sun was shining and wave was perfect! Had some good training and craic and landed a new move for me, a clean pan-am, was delighted. Everyone had a good time and hopefuly heading out again tomorow!

Made a video of a few my rides, if it will ever upload! Check it out.

3 days at gower 18-20/11/2008

2008-11-24T18:45:00.000Z

3 very differn't days at Curragower. A solo paddle, busing in and out with the boat on my head. Another 1hour+ epic paddle with Dave and Paul to the get on, and some hard training for trials. And a relaxed session testing out kayaks. Theres always something to keep a session from being monotonous, one of the best things about paddling thats probably has a big part in making the sport so addictive.

Colligan Gorge Games 15/11/08

2008-11-17T20:40:00.000Z

Last weekend saw the first Colligan Gorge games! It was a brilliant event, fair play to the organisers! Loved the atmosphere, it was a proper good-buzz competition.

Getting up that morning was hard going. Not having registered, we had to get up at 6.45 to get in on time from Aisling Gofs house, wreckless! When we got to the river were all surprised at the huge numbers and effort put into the event, I wasn't expecting it to be half as big thing as it was.

Junior Final, go to link to buy pics of race

Racing was good fun. Myself, Paul and Dave were put in Junior class after expecting to have to race senior expert, a let off! There was the biggest Junior turn out Ive ever seen at a competion, at least doubling the last one. Its was great to see! Keep it going lads! I got through my heat by the skin of my teeth! I had the race won but forgot to ring the bell, despite the lads screaming at me! Top two got in anyway and I rang it as soon as I saw Dave after getting it!haha In the final I got out first from the gate, closely followed by Dave. We faught tooth and nails all the way down, passing each other out on two occasions and head to head for a lot of it! Near the finish Dave was catching me again and our boats smashed with him ending up flipping into a rocky hole thing. I kept going and finished, a few seconds later Dave cae down pumping blood from his forehead and still came in second! Savage race!

In the Ambulance!

A few minutes later myself and Paul ended up going to the doctor in the ambulance, Dave strapped up inside! Fortunatly he was ok and we partied it off that night!

Kerry 9-10/11/08

2008-11-13T02:50:00.000Z

Saturday we got the glens in at .5. Very nice level. Kevin and Paul were a bit tired and I was groggy but we made it down in one piece. The water level had just rised from .35 to .5 in the half hour it took us to get there so we were luck to get on the river at all!

Sunday was Kerry day. Crashed in my place saturday night, during the trip down it rained constantly so we had high hopes for sunday. We got up bright and early at 8.30am and got to the clydagh valley for 9.15. With Muireann and Mickey on the way down from Cork we decided to run the Clydagh and wait for the before running the middle flesk. In the end Colin Wong joined us aswel.

The river was running at 1meter, a lovely level. All was going good until we got to the first gorge, Colin did rescue. First off was Paul, Paul ended up swimming, followed by myself and Kev just made it out around my boat! A few minutes later another two paddlers who were comming down on their own also swam on the rapid! A pure balls of a experience! Fortunatly the rest of the river went great!

Later we ran the roughty, it was medium level and was good fun, especially the two slots. Kev got a nasty bump on the head, to be honest I was well relieved he managed to roll up after it.

Fun run without too much crazyness! Il put up a video of second slot, bit scary with the rock walls

Great weekend! Cheers Kev for all the driving and cheers Mom and Dad for the warm welcome and dinners!

BoaterX next weekend..should be intesting!

Gower 5/11/08

2008-11-10T14:02:00.000Z

Wednesday myself and Dave got a chance to surf gower through Gill, who was sound enough to bring in our boats for us with her dads landcruiser! Savage machine! Wave wasnt very good though, steepish but very slow. Still got a nice anount of paddling down and got chatting to Sinead about working in Canada over the summer. I hope to god I get a job there! Anyway we had a few surfs, blunts and backstabs but nothing new. Headed back to Ronans afterwards with Graeme H and drank some tea and watched videos!

Sunday 2/11/08

2008-11-03T11:29:00.000Z

Im here at my computer moving as little as possible, muscels are aching! Sunday was epic!

Hit the wave around half 12. Moogie, Bowsi and a few other paddlers arrived at same time. It took me some time to get into form, I took a break and once was back on things started to pull together.

Connor was doing left/right blunts and had his back roundhouse dialled, was even throwing a few backstabs. His pan-am/donkey flip attempts are still getting better and Im sure hel pull one off eventually!

Dave styled it up today with his usual big righty blunts and going for his helix. He must be pretty happy with himself with his clean blunts, a first for him on a river wave I think! Savage

I got my left/right blunts again, hope there stuck now. I went big a few times backwards scoring a few right back air blunts using the flashback method. Possibly 2 or 3 back air pan-ams but didnt have the strength to land them.

All day paddlers got on and left but us 3 just kept on going. At twenty to 6 myself and Lenny got off the water, 5 hours after I put on. The 3 of us headed back to Orkys house and got a lovely bit to eat and some tea before heading home! Thanks to Orky for doing video, feeding us and for the place to stay:) Oh and cheers Lenny for helping us out with our freestyle!

Tarmonbarry Wave 1/11/08

2008-11-01T20:59:00.000Z

Hey all!
Im up at T-Wave here with the lads. Orkys family have kindly taken us in and weve made the most out of it by raiding the fridge as much as we can! Ok me and Conor and Dave took some pictures today so Il get them up.
I was working on my backstabs which are working nicely, Dave is working on Helixs and scored a few Clean Blunts, Conor is ripping it up as usual and stil trying to throw donkey flips, nearly there! Great progression all around. Sadly Ork Ork is missing out this weekend with a dirty sickness!

Bank Holiday Weekend 25-27/10/08

2008-10-27T23:39:00.000Z

What a weekend!! With Monday Clare glens with a few lads. We were worried about low levels but our prayers were answered and we put on at an ideal .4 level, it was pauls first time on the river. The level went up 20cm on our way down and it was clear to see the difference at little eas drop. Another glens virgin managed to lose his paddles before the crux and ended up sailing off the 15footer arms waving, he landed smoothly and the just picked up his paddles which had popped up beside him! Space Cadet!lol I managed to get two runs at big eas and 3 on little eas so was happy out with myself.

That evening it kept raining. We knew the water levels in my homeland off KERRY should be well on there way up! Conor, Paul and I geared up, I grabbed Maria ad we headed off for my place in Killarney. The next moring we got up early and had 3 lovely runs on Kerry classics. Firstly a warm up on the Clydagh, running it blind was such a rush as was grabbing big air on the boof above the big slide. Secondly we headed to the roughty with Kev and Eimear. The run was a little low but a bit of paddling all the same. The second slot was a bit mank but 3 of us ran it and got through fine. To finish off we hit up the middle flesk at around .8 on the gauge. Bit bumpy but it was everyones first time doing it except me, I had a go at leading a group down a class4+ river, fun times!lol

It didnt sop there, on Monday we got packed up again, this time heading to Tuamanbarry wave in Longford. A two and half hour drive but definately worth it! Got my air blunts on both ways so happy out. This is a very nice wave, eddy service(whirlpools and all!), great veiwing and a fast steep face with two shoulders!

Im home at last and dying to get some sleep, up early for collage tomorow!

This week so far..

2008-10-22T15:45:00.000+01:00

Not much happening this week, everyone caught up on midterm exam stuff. Still managed to get to Curragower wave in the city twice. Had a lovely session on tuesday, wave was fairly steep but no ferry on, had to walk around every run which is a bit of a bore.. Had a go at a clean blunt but didnt quite land it, Il keep workin on it.
Wednesday we had a night session on the wave, only got there around half 6 and was dark at sevenish. Wasnt as good as tuesday but still a bit of fun. When we got back we headed to the Unversity arena for the indoor pool session until 11. Had a bit of banter in the pub and then a crowd of us went to my place and hung out. Dave little and o sullivan had a harold and kumar moment and cycled to the chippper at 1am! Got a maths test tommorow so I gota leave the wave for today unfortunatly, rain is on for the weekend though so gota get some high water paddling in somewhere!
Goodluck
Tom

Tuam 14/10/08

2008-10-14T20:51:00.000+01:00

Club trip today to tuam, rain last night ment it was working all day. Great fun, was dying with flu in the morn but took some meds and made it through. All the juniors were pulling off loops and cartwheels with some the lads trying to take it a bit further. Good to see so much progression. Will have some pics up soon. Its full monty night tonight in Icon so tlk ye later.
Tom

Clare glens

2008-10-13T18:55:00.000+01:00

Last sat 11/10/08 a big crowd ran clare glens. My first time on it and at .5 it was on a nice level. Afterwards we got in the cars and ran it a second time. Thanks to Dave Crerar for the pics of me. Sidewinder and big eas

Old pictures

2008-10-13T12:14:00.001+01:00

Team training at Hawii-sur-Rhone, Irish support at Worlds 07, Lenny-world surf champ08 doing a clean air blunt paddle spin at gower-my home spot, 3 paddlers at team training- me in front.

First Blog

2008-10-13T10:39:00.001+01:00

Im Tomas O Donoghue living in Dromroe Village, Unoversity of Limerick. Il post up more later. Here are some pics from last weekend 4/10/08 of ennistymon cascades, a nice river to get me back into creeking mindset.