Join up and splash out

YOUR LIFESTYLE: In the third part of our series on taking up a new activity, Emmet Malonedecides to explore kayaking after enjoying the sport on an overseas holiday

IT’S ALMOST 14 years since I was roped into taking part in the Liffey Descent. My preparation consisted of one session learning how to slide down a weir on my backside and then swim to shore while holding on to my paddle. Sure enough, I had to do a fair bit of both over the course of the afternoon.

My enduring memory of the whole enterprise, undertaken in a large Canadian boat with two very experienced paddlers, is of the large crowds that gathered at the weirs over the lower part of the 29km course.

Naively I assumed they were there to cheer us on, marathon-style, but I soon came to realise they had actually camped out to laugh at us falling in.

Not that I blamed them. Indeed, I remember resolving that the next time I had anything to do with the event I’d be up there, beer in hand, chuckling at the misfortune of others.

Then last summer, in southwest France, my 11-year-old daughter and I spent a wonderful afternoon paddling down a river and canal to the sea. She asked recently whether we might be going back this year, and specifically asked if we could go kayaking again. It was only then that I wondered why we hadn’t bothered looking to try our hand at it at home. Apparently I’m not alone.

“A lot of people come to us having been to New Zealand or somewhere and done the Milford Sound and then come back only to be surprised by the fact that there are great locations to go out all around Ireland,” says Eileen Murphy of Shearwater Sea Kayaking (shearwater seakayaking.ie).

The Howth-based company is one of many running training courses pitched at all levels, as well as escorted weekends away in various parts of the west coast.

The Irish Canoe Union and its many member clubs are the other main starting points for those looking to give the sport a try, with the association, for instance, running courses in the evenings and over weekends at the Strawberry Beds on a regular basis.

For some, a single feat of endurance like the Liffey Descent may provide the inspiration, but there is no shortage of other options, most of which can be fairly easily explored once you master the basics.

“We get some people who come along, do a course and then simply disappear again because they’ve ticked the box,” says Rory Power of the Wild Water Kayak Club, the country’s largest, “but for those who want to go on, we organise river trips every couple of weeks as well as ‘come and try it’ sessions in the other disciplines.”

Wild Water runs kids’ sessions in pools during the winter months, and there is also an indoor winter canoe polo league, which, he acknowledges, often resembles “organised chaos”.

Many of the club’s members will have been involved in the Junior Liffey Descent, which took place over a 13km course at the weekend. As laughing at kids is generally frowned upon in these enlightened times, it seems safe to assume that evil Lucanites will be saving themselves for the main event on September 4th.

WHAT THEY SAY . . .

‘Officially the numbers are very steady, maybe going up slightly, but the reality is that a lot of people simply don’t register with the Irish Canoe Union [ICU] unless they are getting into the sport in some sort of competitive way, because that’s when they need insurance,” says Cormac Cassidy, an ICU national executive member who also helps to run the Swan Dodgers club and school-based outfit St MacDara’s Swans.

“Obviously we’d say that they should, because there are a lot of support mechanisms there to help people who want to get the most out of the sport.

“The union, for instance, provides a ‘bridging club’ for those who want to develop their interest before making the commitment of buying all the equipment. It means that everything is provided for the following year too.”

Many clubs offer this sort of service, and all provide advice on safe paddling.

WHAT IT DOES . . .

‘It’s an interesting one,” says Dr Giles Warrington, a physiologist and exercise specialist based at DCU, “because there are so many aspects to canoeing, from the Olympic disciplines that we’ve seen Eoin Rheinisch and Ian Wiley compete in, to the very recreational side of things, which is very well suited to family groups.

“Because your weight is distributed over water, it’s a very low-impact activity, which is good, but it’s got great strength benefits, provides a really good cardiovascular workout, helps with flexibility and co-ordination and even produces a bit of lower-body workout too.

“Events like slalom involve a highly skilled use of strength. In all disciplines there is quite a small muscle mass propelling the boat, but you expend quite a lot of calories and potentially generate a fair bit of fatigue, although not as much as with running.”

WHAT IT TAKES . . .

Aside from an ability to swim (at least 50m is recommended) and an awareness that safety is an important issue, a basic, entry-level general purpose boat starts at about €650 new, according to Paul Donnelly of the Great Outdoors Watersports Store in Clarendon Market, Dublin.

The other essentials are a paddle (€70 and up) and a buoyancy aid (about €60), after which the optional extras include a spraydeck (€30), which keeps water out of your boat (“unless you’ve enough blubber to plug the hole”, according to Donnelly), a weather-resistant jacket or “kag” for about the same, a wetsuit (€55 plus) and a helmet (€35).

You can, he says, spend an awful lot more on most of the items, but everything you need is provided on beginners’ courses, and sometimes for quite a while afterwards, while buying second-hand is another cost-effective option.

Courses generally range from €140 to €200, which should be more than enough to get you started.