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 :) 

03/12/13 - ARCHERY G.M.I.T Castlebar

Weather

Today was about 8-9 degrees celsius again. Rained for most of the day.


Goals for Today

Today our main goal was to be able to teach a full session of archery to a classmate by the end of the day. 


Session Evaluation

Today was a funny one as I ended up arriving to college too early. When I arrived there was nobody in the hall so I presumed that it was called off. I then decided to go and work in the library before walking past St.Mary's hall about an hour later and seeing that it was actually on. 
When I finally did arrive to Archery we began by shooting from the 18 metre line. Tommy was teaching me how to correct my shots by looking at my previous and working around it.  This was really effective as if I hit the 12 o'clock mark with my first arrow I should aim at the 6 o'clock mark with the next. This would hopefully result in me hitting the centre more. After shooting for a while we went for our lunch break. 
When we came back we started running through teaching each other an archery session right through from start to finish. Tommy was really good after we did this as he took notes on what we had done wrong or forgotten. This meant that we were able to consciously fix what we did wrong when we ran through it a second and third time. 


Evaluation of Goals

Today we focused on teaching. I felt that I was much better today and I was much more comfortable at teaching than last week. Hopefully after a few more sessions of archery I'll be ready for the instructorship.

19/11/13 - ARCHERY G.M.I.T Castlebar

Weather

Today was 9-10 degrees celsius. Overcast in the morning but sunny in the afternoon with the odd few showers, just in time for walking home :)


Goals for Today

Get familiar with the different equipment used in archery as well as learning the basic skills.


Session Evaluation

Today the first thing that Tommy went through with us was all the equipment used in archery. While he was teaching us this he asked us to take notes as it would be handy to look at before progressing onwards. He was extremely thorough when telling us about the equipment but especially so with the safety equipment such as finger tabs and bracers. This was really good as it really hit home with me how important the safety gear was in archery as I had never really done Archery before.

We were then brought down to the 10 metre line and Tommy demonstrated how to shoot from there. After this we were each given a bow and we shot from the 10 metre line until lunch time. Here Tommy thought us about all the safety terms used while shooting and really pushed how important they are. Before doing archery I didn't think that there was so much to it but obviously there is. 

After lunch we started shooting from the 18 metre line. This was a huge difference. I got up to a standard of hitting the yellows nearly every time from the 10 metre line but when we moved back to 18 metres I was missing the whole board. We then had a mini competition between all of us. Tommy ran it as if we were going for our instructorships. We had to get 400 pints with 60 arrows. I was nowhere near hitting 400 but hopefully with some practice I'll be at that standard in no time. 


Evaluation of Goals

By the end of the day I was able to name every part of the bow and arrow as well as knowing all the terminology for safety words etc. I also learned the basic skills. 


Environmental Interest

As we were in doors all week there was no environmental points of interest so I decided to include this. When I got up this morning and looked out the kitchen window this is what I saw on tree behind the the bird feeder. 

I had never seen one of these in our garden before and I probably should've known what it was due to having Orla's environmental studies class but sadly I didn't. After some research I found out that it is a 'Chaffinch'. This is a male as it has a rusty red chest  and grey cap. 

12/11/13 - ORIENTEERING G.M.I.T Castlebar

Orienteering Site for Today

Weather

Today was about 8-9 degrees celsius. It rained at the start of the day but thankfully it stayed away for the afternoon. 

Goals for Today

Today we had to deliver the session to Geo with each of us assigned a different aspect of orienteering. I had to teach a map memory exercise but not the same one as Geo thought last week. 

Session Evaluation

Today Geo set us up with a laminator and all the bits and pieces we needed in the heritage lab in order to prepare for our games. He decided to give us about half an hour altogether before starting. 

We then went out to the area where the walkway is to the gear stores and began the session with Martha kicking it off doing a map recognition exercise with us. This involved us running over and back sticking pieces of the map up on the opposite wall in order to make it over there. After each game Geo had a de brief with us and told us how we could make it better or change it up a bit. 

Next up was Paddy. Paddy did a punching exercise with us. Here he explained how to punch a card correctly and then ran a short exercise outside. He gave each of us a control card and made us run around and find each control in that area while making sure we punched the cards correctly. 

After this it was my turn. I was doing the map memory exercise so I decided to do a relay type game. Here I split the class into two separate groups. I then put four cones on both the groups sides of the yard and four on the other side directly across from either group. Under the cones at their side their was a different piece of map. They had to look at this piece without touching it, then memorise it, run across to the other four cones and find the corresponding piece and bring it back in order to match it up. The first team back with all map pieces matched up wins. 

After each game I felt that Geo's de-briefs were very clear and helpful. He gave us some really good ideas on how to change the games also. 

After my game it was Ged's turn. He ran a symbol recognition game with us. This was also a relay type game. We were split into teams (Boys vs Girls) and we had to run over and back the yard collecting symbols and bringing them back to the corresponding names. This was ran excellently as he used the full length of the yard which meant we were all wrecked by the end of it. 

After the lunch break Siobhán, Alison and Joe ran the cross country, star and score events. I felt that they ran these very well besides making a small mistake making the maps. We all ended up getting very competitive with Joe barely beating me by 20 points at the end :(.

Sad Times.. 

Overall I felt that the whole course was excellent. I was really shocked with how much I enjoyed as a week ago I was thinking of not showing up and maybe trying to get on something else. 

Evaluation of Goals

Today I delivered a game on map memory. This went extremely well with the feedback from the class being excellent also.

05/11/13 - ORIENTEERING, G.M.I.T Castlebar.

Weather

Today was a lot colder as the temperature had dropped to 7 - 8 degrees celsius. Stayed sunny and dry throughout the day. 

Goals for today

The goals for today were to become familiar with all the skills of orienteering as well as all the teaching techniques of orienteering. Another personal goal for me was to try and stay alert and not fall asleep as orienteering was probably bottom of my list activity wise.

Session Evaluation 

Today Geo met us in the board room upstairs in GMIT. He began by telling us about his role within the orienteering association of Ireland and how everything is run. We then went straight into learning about the different teaching techniques.

Firstly Geo split the class into two groups. The first activity he did with us was a map jigsaw. Here he gave each team a cut up map and told us to race to put it together. This was a good way of getting us re-familiarised with orienteering maps. 

Straight away after this Geo did a symbol recognition activity with us which I thought he ran extremely well. He set up a flip chart at the other end of the room with symbols on it and we had to run one by one up to the chart, take a symbol, bring it back and match it with the words on the ground. I think Geo ran this very well as even though the two teams were getting some wrong, he made us sort it out ourselves rather than fixing it for us.

The next game that he ran with us was a map memory exercise. Here we had a sheet with 1 - 10 and we had to go from one end of the room to the other matching the map pieces up on the sheet without actually taking them off the wall. This was an excellent game as it made you really remember certain symbols and features on the map. 

We then had a lunch break but when we came back we looked at maps and control cards. Here Geo showed us how to use a map properly and also how to fill in a control card properly also. 

After this we went straight into learning about the different types of orienteering event that can be run such as 'star, cross country and score'. We then ran each of these competitively  amongst the class around the college.

After this Geo had a de-brief with us in the canteen and told us each to take an aspect of teaching orienteering and teach the class that aspect next Tuesday but it wasn't allowed to be the same way as he had thought that aspect. 

Evaluation of Goals

Today we went through all the aspects of orienteering as well as how to teach all of these aspects also. 

Before I did this I was unbelievably apprehensive about it and I even felt like not going in to college as any previous experience I had with orienteering was a bad/BORING one. However I am absolutely shocked about how much fun I had today and how much interest I had also. There was such a massive change in my mood from the morning to the evening. I ended up coming home and checking online to see if there were any upcoming events the following weekend. 

I would definitely recommend everyone to do this course.

22/10/13 - SURFING Keel Bay, Achill, Co. Mayo

Very bad surf today

Weather

Today was about 9 - 10 degrees celsius and stayed dry throughout the day. We had a strong onshore wind which made the waves very messy.


Goals for Today

Today I wanted to practice what I had been thought over the last few weeks and try and get my basic skills off to a tee.


Session Evaluation

Today Wayne began by having a quick chat with us about the surf conditions. He told us that the conditions were very bad but on the plus side there was a reef break which meant we could get out back easily enough. We then got changed and went into the water. Wayne didn't come surfing today as his back was still giving him trouble. 

We all decided to surf out back today but when some of us got out there, we found that it was too messy and strong. We all only stayed surfing for about 45 minutes altogether and then decided to come in and change. Wayne then had a de-brief with us and explained how today's surfing conditions were probably the worst conditions possible for beginners. 


Evaluation of Goals 

Today I was really disappointed with the surf as I was particularly pumped about getting out there this morning. I felt that I didn't get to work on the basics as much as I hoped but on the plus side I did get to work on my breathing as I was under the water more than on top of the board.


Environmental Interest

Today we had a reef break at Keel. This means that the waves were breaking on a reef under the water instead of breaking onto the beach. This made it much easier to get out back as we didn't have to break through all the white water waves in the process.