Sea Kayaking - 07/14

Sea Kayaking

Instructor - Matthew Kelleher


We began our trip at the pier at Star Outdoors Kenmare and heading down towards Kenmare town. This was my first time in a sea kayak since having a bad experience in delphi shortly before so I was nervous to say the least. What made it much better was the fact that it was perfect calm conditions. On our way down Matt was kind enough to be extremely patient with the pace at which I was moving and also the amount of nervous expletives being thrown around the place.


On our way down we saw hundreds of 'Compass Jellyfish'. These are definitely the most common in Ireland but their sting is only similar to a nettle sting. 

When we got to the bridge we decided to head back up the bay to hopefully sea the seal colony. Half way back up the bay it we got a small wind against us and I ended up going over. This was so frustrating as I was doing so well and building confidence again. We continued on up the bay and saw one common seal. Apparently the seal colonies hadn't been around as much as other years. After this we headed back to Star but as it was on spring tides it was extremely low on the way and when we were about 100m from the pier we ended up having to hop out and drag our boats through silt. 

SUP - 03/15 - 07/15

SUP

Just after a fell in :)

Instructor - Jarlath McHale


Day 1:


We started out by meeting at Islandeady and getting in there. As it was my first time SUPing Jarlath ran through a few basics with me before we left. We started on our knees and then hen we were out from the shore we could pop up to a standing position. He also told me that any time the wind was strong or i just felt uncomfortable that I should kneel again because it's easier. 
When we started we were head to wind for the first 30 mins and I could feel the pressure building in my arms already. We aimed for a point on a small island up ahead and when we got there I relaxed and then..........fell in :) Really really cold but great fun.
We carried on as the wind blew across us and eventually went behind us. Our aim was to get down to Lough Lannagh and get out at the car park where we left the van. We estimated that it would've taken about 3 - 3 and a half hours but after 1 hour we were already half way. The wind was pushing us so hard that we didn't have to paddle at all. As we were firing on down through the bilberry we had to dodge loads of low hanging branches which actually added to the fun of it. We ended up getting to the car park in under 3 hours which was completely unexpected. 
This was a really long and easy paddle but I would love to do it again when there's not as much wind. 


Day 2:


A good friend and former outdoor Niall Tansy asked if I would go for a paddle with Jarlath for his cousins birthday so I said yes. 

Birthday Banter :)

This time around we decided to meet at Lough Lannagh and left from there. We got in at Lannagh Village and went up past the bridge. We stayed on our knees until we got that far as we started head to wind. We then learned how to pop up correctly while holding the paddle.....and not dropping it. We were each successful, some more unstable than others but once again as we got going it got easier. We then turned around and decided to go down as far as the bridge at Aldi. On the way down we learned how to do different turns. After an encounter with a tesco trolley and other various objects we decided to head back and have a few races. I ended up winning the first but Nialls cousin won the next two. Jarlath then decided to join the race as well but I reckon he definitely had some kind of engine with him. 

Coasteering Rescue And Skills Course. - 09-10/07/14

Coasteering Course Kenmare 

Learning jump techniques on Day 1

Instructors - Paul Norris & John Hynes

Day 1:

We began the day by going through some theory in the class room. This was mainly to learn about the organisation behind coasteering which is called the IACP (Irish Association of Coasteering Professionals). After this we got suited and booted and went down to the water. Here we learned the basic skills of coasteering which included proper jump technique, swimming techniques and entries. We also learned how to measure jumps and also determine if a site is suitable or not for coasteering. 
After a while of playing in the swell and jumping in from different spots we did the 200m swim. Being able to confidently swim this distance is a requirement when being assessed for the instructorship. It's a lot harder to swim any distance when wearing a buoyancy aid. 

To finish the Day we went back into the class room and went over the skills we had done and how to teach others those skills. We also went through some of the rescue equipment involved and the different rescues that are used in coasteering. This was to give us an idea of what we were going to be doing on day 2. 

Day 2:

To start this day we went to a small island out from Star Outdoors Adventure Centre to practice some throwing techniques with the throw bags. This was great as it gave us a really good idea of what its like. We then learned how to rescue someone by towing them with our zambeezi belts. These belts had both a through rope as well as tow rope on them. Here we had to swim out 100m to someone, get them to turn over onto their backs, hook the tow rope around their buoyancy aids and tow them back 100m. This was really tough to begin with but after a few times we got the hang of it. We then went back to the classroom and had a de-breif about the course. We were also told about instructor courses and how to go about getting on them. This wasn't very straight forward though as all the courses were full up until february. 

Happy Out :)