Continue reading »]]> Well its been a while since I’ve checked in here, because I’ve been spending most of my time surfing and kitesurfing on the westcoast of Ireland. September and October are perfect months, lots of swell before the winter storms start rolling in.

When it rains though, the rivers are quick to rise and its time to go boating. Some photos of a recent solo mission on one of Ireland’s best creeks, the Flesk in the Kingdom of Kerry.

Continue reading »]]>

I’m just back from a month long mission in Nepal and Morocco for which I got my hands on a brand new Pyranha Everest for some multiday action. My first reaction on seeing the the massive Everest was ‘I’m never going to be able to paddle this’. At 75 kilos, I thought the Everest would be simply too big for me to enjoy.

I was wrong. With a bit of practice, and some adjustment of technique, I can attest that the Everest must be the best multiday expedition boat or big volume creek boat on the market at the moment. Larger paddlers will love the volume behind the seat, but even lighter paddlers can really appreciate this boat.

The first thing to say about the Everest is that it is not the Burn. The Burn is a classic in its own right, super manoeuverable and responsive and incredible easy edge to edge for rolling flares and boofs. My first day in the Everest on the Upper Bhote Kosi was a disaster as I was trying to paddle the Everest as if it were a Burn and as a result missing eddies, messing up lines.

But about half way down the Bhote Kosi, I began to paddle the Everest like it should be paddled; fast, hard and in a straight line. Gone are the subtle adjustments and edge control of the Burn, in favour of speed and power. The speed was incredible, charging over and through sticky ledge holes as if they didn’t exist.

On the Marsyandi (2 days) and Karnali (5 days), loaded with self support gear the Everest handled beautifully, with no noticable loss of performance (unlike the vast majority of creek boats which start handling like pigs with more than two or three days gear in them). In fact the main issue I had with the Everest was coming to terms with its tremendous speed and not overcooking moves.

The Burn will remain my boat of choice for technical, low volume creeks. But for multiday expeditions, and for big volume creeks like in Norway, the Everest is unbeatable.

Phots by Rosie Cripps and Rob Coffey

For more info on recent missions check out liveoncemedia.com

Continue reading »]]> Just back from an awesome mission to Portugal, and I reckon it ranks on a par with Corsica and Italy in terms of quality whitewater.

Highlight of the trip was probably a run down the beautiful Castro in dense fog. Smooth, clean granite slides and drops.

For more information on the rivers of Portugal, I’ve put together a river guide at liveoncemedia.com

Photos by Jim Kennedy

Continue reading »]]> Never mind the Green Race, everyone knows that Ireland’s Big Boat Bonanza was the place to be last weekend…well for the party at least. A strong Team Pyranha contingent made their way to the bone dry Wicklow Mountains for yet another weekend of Guinness and carnage. Alan Ellard, Liz Bell, Bob Campbell, Ally Collett, Loz Brown, Deb Cook, Bob Marchant and Richard Brooks made the journey from the UK, meeting up with long time team pyranha members Kipper Maguire and Ali Donald.

Friday night started out well enough, but by three in the morning I was singing Raglan Road on the open mike, and pretty much cleared the bar. Time for bed.

The next morning came around altogether too quickly, and saw teams of three race down the short course

Casper and the Dutch boys took first place in the team event, just ahead of myself, Dave Carroll and Simon Westgarth, with Kipper Maguire’s team in third.

With the formalities over, the party could begin.

Watch out Pat Keller, we’re comin to get you:)

Photos: Pete Barron and Michelle Granaghan

Continue reading »]]>

This august a motley crew consisting of myself, Ali Donald, Dave Carroll, Rosie Cripps and Sam Hughes found ourselves on the roof of the world in Ladakh, India. The idea was to paddle some classic multiday rivers like the Tsarap, Zanskar and Indus.

Global warming has turned the weather in the Himalaya on its head- this year the usually arid, high altitude desert around Leh has been experiencing monsoon like conditions. The Indus experienced its highest flows since 1978.

We put on the Tsarap at 12,500 feet in high water, but doable conditions. On the first 3 days of the trip it rained, rained and rained most of the day and all night. Fresh snowfall peppered the peaks. Landslides came down in the night, blocking the precarious trekking trail ahead which was our only escape route if someone was injured or things just went wrong. Before long, the river looked like it was in full flood and showed no signs of dropping. The only safe option was to leave the boats and walk our way out with our remaining 3 days worth of food…or should I say mountaineer?! Three days and a couple of giant Himalayan peaks later the 5 of us staggered up the last slope to the road.

A few days later, at normal high flows, we put back on the Tsarap, and had an amazing and successful four day run down the Tsarap and Zanskar gorges.

Highlight of the trip was spending a night with the buddist monks at Phuchtal monastery, a medieval setting untouched by the modern world. We were amazed by the generosity and kindness of the monks, and the harshness of the landscape they lived in.

After the Zanskar we teamed up with local boys Shalabh and Babu, and continued down a section of the Indus which was only run for the first time last year. This was definately the paddling highlight of the trip- massive volume wavetrains with some monster holes to avoid.

After many more adventures, some 400 km on the river, and some pretty tired bodies later we finished the Indus, tired but satisfied.

 The Tsarap/ Zanskar is one of the world’s great river journeys, go soon before they build a road to Phuchtal and up the Zanskar gorge.

None of us could get over the hospitality of the Indian people we met along the way, how good the food was and how easy the logistics were. Just don’t get on the Tsarap if it looks like its going to rain .

Photos: Rosie Cripps and Rob Coffey

Continue reading »]]> Some people reckon that the West coast of North America is the best kayaking road trip you can do, but for me the best bang for your buck is the European tour- starting in Corsica, working up through Slovenia, Italy and France to the mecca of Norway. 

My season began in Corsica in April, through to Slovenia and France in May and June before arriving in Norway in July. Happy days!

Norway is definately one of the most incredible countries on earth, awesome whitewater in a wilderness environment. This year we didn’t make it up to the Arctic circle, but we saw some beautiful places all the same.

This year was a pretty low water year in Norway which translates roughly as still more than enough water.

 Despite this fact everytime I arrive in Voss it starts to rain. This is not a good thing. Two years in a row I’ve terrorised myself with monster water levels. This year it was a highest ever run down the Brandseth with the Warriors. After a few days we couldn’t take it any more and left to sit in the sun over in the Sjoa Valley for the Sjoafest!

We paddled dozens of new rivers, covered 7000 miles in the van on the round trip from Ireland, and were fit and ready for our mission to India. Mission accomplished!

Photos: Rob Coffey and Rosie Cripps