moving water

family in Ranger. A&H in sevylor inflatable.

had hoped to make a bit of a journey on the Bann from Newferry into lough beg, but with jetskis and wind, and the flow on the water, decided to go to Portglenone and play.

paddled mostly in the Sevylor inflatable.

played with eddies, eddy lines, ferry glides.

also practiced paddling with double-blade paddle. It's been a while.

rescue practice - lower lough erne

Gareth & me:


Gareth in water
I X-Rescued Gareth's filled boat
Gareth climbed over the far side, me holding his boat down from my own

Me in the water
Gareth curled my boat to empty
I climbed up the middle using both boats

additional practice
I tried a curl,
Gareth tried an X-rescue
Gareth tried up the middle - prefers over the side
I tried over the side - prefer up the middle.

All-In.
we sat astride Gareth's upturned boat and X'd mine, recovered quite quickly, boat was about 1/3 full,
Gareth tried to climb in and capsized. might have been better if I'd counterbalanced the other side.

first-boat recovery took longer the second time (tired, but also spent time trying to get the boat emptier; never really succeeded in better than 1/3.)

I think I went in first this time, Gareth counterbalancing other side. successfully X'd Gareth's boat and he came in over the side.

for next time, should stay closer to shore in case something does go wrong.


paddled back to jetty

Rescuing children
S: swam from jetty to boat and came in over the side. needed very little assistance
R: Gareth helped her from jetty to boat - easy to pull aboard by BA shoulder straps
E: as R... better water confidence
C: panicked a bit in water, but came aboard as R&E


future scenarios:
kids with two boats
two paddlers climbing into one boat
towing
throw lines
can you recover and bail an upturned boat?
recover an injured/unconscious paddler

Lusty Beg

participants: 4 adults, 4 children (two boats) camped at LoanEden. a very good commercial campsite, half mile from lough shore. paddled from Kesh to Lusty Beg following the shoreline then straight back across open water.

Cutts-Marina

participants: me, 3 children, one novice adult. put in at Cutts, and paddled to the Marina, stopping at pretty much every canoe step.

got chatting to sailboat owner

Tunny Cut

participants: 2 weather: cloudy, light south-westerly wind put in at Sandy Bay and paddled along between the shore and Ram's as far as Tunny Cut. Lough Neagh was a bit choppy, splashed over the bows once or twice, but nothing too scary. Tunny cut can be identified by the mound of earth on its South side. There's a large rectangular man-made inlet just beyond it with a big barn-like boathouse herons and swans galore, but no kingfishers. paddled along the cut, under two bridges (the second has what appears to be supporting beams beneath it, but two have been cut away (!) allowing ample space to pass. very scenic ruler-straight canal with low banks. Reached Portmore Lough which is an RSPB bird sanctuary, so turned and retraced route back to sandy bay.

3 men in a boat

location: Newferry

participants: 3 - Gareth, Malcolm, John
craft: open canoe (1)
weather: calm

Arrived Newferry 9pm the place was very busy with jetskis and speedboats
launched from slipway, three in one boat.

paddled out into lough Beg heading southeast.  observed ducks, swans, herons, occasional fish jumping, and the smoke-like clouds of flies above the trees around the lough.

water is very shallow away from the navigation channel. 
On return, we landed on the island at the north end of the lough, but it's not easy to explore because it's so damp.

the one where we nearly left the car key.

location: Portna - Movanagher

participants:  4 adults 4 children (4-8 yrs) 2 adult novices, 2 adult some experience 4 children beginners
craft: open canoes (2)
weather: light southerly winds, intermittent sunshine

2 vehicles to put-in downstream of portna lock
vehicle transfer to movanagher.

stopped at unmarked canoe step east of Tully Hill (C928149) to picnic and assess for camping. [close to river - flat, suitable for tents; further in - trees suitable for hammock, but not tents]

paddled on to Movanagher - (C918163) paid lockkeeper and demonstrated lock to novices.

[Movanagher suitable for camping - tap outside house, flat areas for tents, south (west) side of canal suitable for hammocks or tents - plus visible from canal road for remote group assessment]

Participants: 2 adults (some experience) 4 children (novice)
weather: light westerly winds, brief drizzle.

parked at Portglenone marina, launched fom slipway
paddled upriver for just over a mile, brief stop at canoe step at forest.
turned and paddled back to slipway for takeout

location: Portglenone
participants: Community Rescue Antrim & Portglenone
craft: n/a

reminder of water safety protocol theory; practice in the use of throw bags and life rings both in the playing field, and on the river using a volunteer casualty.

BB trip down the Bann was a great success. It was windy, so instead of starting in Antrim and paddling across the North Shore of Lough Neagh the decision was made to start in Toome. In one way I was disappointed because I've never paddled the whole way before, but it would have been a bit of a hairy ride. There's places along that north shore where even in a canoe it's too shallow to paddle less than a mile out. That means you're exposed, and it means the waves are big and close together. Fun, but not with 20 inexperienced paddlers in tow. So, with two paddlers much less experienced than the others, Evan and I split up and took one each just before we entered Lough Beg. I had Ian, who is a rugby player. That means he's ... larger than me. and with the wind coming from the west across the lough, we were weathervaning the whole way. As Ian gained confidence and his technique improved, we were able to keep up with the rest of the group, and with both of us paddling on the windward side of the boat to counter the wind, we were able to work our way to the front. As we paddled through the group I was pointing out the techniques of the other paddlers to Ian, so when we got to Newferry he was ready to try steering. I didn't say too much, just kept a steady pace and encouraged him to feel what body, boat and paddle were doing. He'd absorbed the earlier instruction, and before long was steering the boat with confidence. first night we camped at Portna lock where there is a sheltered grassy area, toilets and a tap. Saturday morning we portaged down to the lower side of the lock, and set off. Evan and I got in early and played briefly in the moving water below the traps before heading off down river. We rested in the boats going through the lock at movanagher, and stopped a few times at some of the many canoe steps along the river. Coming up to Agivey Bridge, the weather was miserable, and it's a dreary paddle at that stage anyway, so we stopped for 20 minutes for a break. that was miserable too. I tried boiling the Kelly Kettle and making couscous curry, but didn't cook it for long enough. ugh. Chocolate saved the day though. back in the boats we paddled to Drumaheglis. At £16.50 per tent, per night, (and remember most of our lads were in 1 or 2-man tents), it was a huge expense, but the hot showers and other facilities were most welcome. I left the group after they had set up camp for the night. Next day they paddled to Coleraine Marina for the get-out, including rafting up and running the rapids into Coleraine.

participants: 10 BB duke of edinburgh, 3 DoE leaders, 2 canoe providers, Evan, John

training for the boys for their duke of edinburgh practice. 
paddled up to the bridge,
then carried out some exercises to demonstrate wind and the weathervane effect.
had a few races to practice moving sideways, backwards, forwards, stopping and steering.
showed one of the DoE leaders how to throw a throwbag
and we provided bank cover while the boys practised X rescues.

location: Lough Neagh
participants: 5
weather: cold, light wind

learned how to come up to plane, proceeded to river Maine, practiced turns.
continued on to Cranfield using markers to navigate.
returned to sixmilewater

location: movanagher lock canal
craft: open canoe
participants: Evan, John
weather: windy

tried Sixmilewater and Newferry before finding a sheltered spot in the lock canal at movanagher to try out the new canoe. 
spent a couple of hours practising technique including J, Indian, Canadian strokes, hanging draw, sculling draw, and bow and stern sweeps, both solo and paired up.
also commented on each others' coaching techniques.

presentation prepared on whitewater basics.