River Kayaking/White-water Kayaking

FreekyGeek

Hi all, does anybody know a club, or outdoor adventure centre, that I can go river kayaking with? I'm not looking for a slow paddle down a calm river, I go sea kayaking for that. What I'm looking for is more like white water kayaking :cool: I'm not sure is it possible to do that here in Ireland as I can't find anything on the net about it and I've never seen or heard of it being done here.

Any info at all would be great.
Thanks.

tadhg123

There isnt much whitewater in Ireland during the summer. Theres plenty of OECs that'll bring you out on easier stuff though www.oec.ie
A lot of the river paddling here is done through the college clubs. There's a club in cork called Phoenix. They're based at the Lee Fields.
A few links for ya
www.irishfreestyle.com
www.canoe.ie
www.h2oextreme.net

Moonbeam

http://www.irishcanoeunion.com/ should be able to provide you with info.

www.wwkc.net is a Dublin based club

AK47

hi all, me and a few mates have sit on top kayaks and are looking for some decent river paddling routes, most info relates to whitewater stuff but looking for more open flat water for exploration - anyone know some decent rever paddling routes?

Jegger

www.irishwhitewater.com is good

Bill-e

AK47 wrote: »

hi all, me and a few mates have sit on top kayaks and are looking for some decent river paddling routes, most info relates to whitewater stuff but looking for more open flat water for exploration - anyone know some decent rever paddling routes?

Sorry to revive an old thread but it saves me asking the same question.

Anyone know any routes like this?

Tabnabs

MOVED FROM SAILING & BOATING

yomchi

This might help http://www.irishwhitewater.com/river_guide/index.php

Possedion

just looking at the river guides. Is Weils Disease really a problem on the Boyne and Liffey... seriously is this not scaremongering.

KenHy

Yes, it is a problem, a rare one but it occurs nonetheless. Simple precautions such as bringing handwash gel and washing hands before lunch, covering open cuts and not spending time scrambling on banks can pretty much eliminate the risk.

Possedion

cheers Ken, I never realised that this was an issue on rivers moving at an ok pace... must bring the antiseptic gel!!

yomchi

Possedion wrote: »

cheers Ken, I never realised that this was an issue on rivers moving at an ok pace... must bring the antiseptic gel!!

It's an issue anytime you've got animals that can carry the bacteria and rats aren't the only carriers, the problem for kayakers is that it can live a long time in moist or wet conditions. The main flow of the river isn't really the issue as the amount of water there dilutes - the problem is soggy banks which is where we get on and get off or if you've taken a swim etc. I'm not sure why they say the Boyne and the Liffey are worse than other places as every river will have rats close by. I think for the Liffey, sluice in Lucan is a bad spot because people play there so there is a lot of climbing back over the weir etc.

thetonynator

Supposed to quite bad around the sluice area i've heard before.

yomchi

If you take all the precautions you reduce the chances of contracting the disease, cover open wounds, be mindful of where you place your hands and nothing like a bottle of alcohol based hand cleanser on stand by