DUEMSTUFF BLOG

Here is a video of our recent trip to Canada training for the 2013 world championships
watch?v=xQWYrXC76oc&feature=plcp

Well, this time last week my very own Pyranha Jed arrived and I got the chance to paddle it last Thursday. Heres a video of my first few moments in the boat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxFq32CO-R0&list=UUnBJsPd6EokHdq4U9qX9qww&index=1&feature=plcp

In other words, my 2012 duemstuff gear arrived today and it looks fantastic, can’t wait to get it out on the water.

So its winter time and the river are getting harder and harder to paddle with the cold. So I have been taking a bit of my boating to the pool. Summed up in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY6C9XyKP28

Last weekend myself and a few friends made the long journey up north to county Donegal to compete in this years Crana Canoe Weekend. The Crana Canoe weekend is an event held every year and includes many different event including slalom, sea kayak race, freestyle and BoaterX.

The event started off  last Saturday morning, with freestyle. The freestyle was held on 3 different features on the river, using a 15 minute jam session format to ensure that every competitor had a fair chance. The first 2 features were very shallow, and were most suited for fun move like air guitars and paddle spins. The 3rd feature however was a big nasty pour-over, with plenty of power, and giving lots of people their fair share of beatdowns. Despite this, it was still a lot of fun to have a competition in a hole in which you wanted to compete in but sometimes afraid to throw certain moves. This hole was nice for throwing end after end of cartwheels, splits and tricky woos, you could also get some air with loops too. I put down some good rides that put me in 1st place at the end of it all.

On Sunday, the boaterX was had on the main falls, known as the claw! It was a really nice course that brought its fair share of beatdowns. We were divided into heats, between juniors and seniors, with the first 2 people going through from each heat into the Gold final, and the 3rd and 4th from each heat into the Bronze final. I just about won my heat with a really bad line down the claw that caused me to capsize, but I was lucky enough to have put enough ground between me and 2nd place to fight my way to victory with a very closely contested heat between myself and Shane Harkin, a Junior Irish Team Slalom Paddler, which got us both to the Gold final. The Gold final was also very hotly contested between myself, Shane Harkin, Shane Little and Conor Macken, both of whom are members of the IrishFreestyle team with myself and very close friends of mine. I got off to a good start getting into the lead for the flat straights, but coming into the whitewater section Shane Little had just overtaken me and was in the lead coming into the Claw, fortunately I had a better line this time and just managed to burst past Shane after the claw and taking 1st place in the BoaterX as well as Freestyle. All in all a good weekend boating. I leave you now with a short video made from the weekend.

watch?v=5bPEsJ0g2kY

Later

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuwJu1IEBMk&feature=feedu

Quick video of one of my local waves that came in last weekend for the Liffey Decent

After a long and painfully dry summer, we had over 24 hours of rain here in Dublin, and it brought up my local and favourite playspot….Sluice!

Heres a video of the day – watch?v=HenrbB3iQh4

On the 15th of October, there will be the infamous Sluice Rodeo, where this year we are expecting a record number of paddlers, this will be the last event on the Irish Freestyle calendar, and decide the Irish Team for Euros 2012. Visit http://www.sluicerodeo.com/ for details of the competition.

Until Next Time,

Robbie

Just back from spending a week on the whitewater course in Nottingham, England. Here is a video:

watch?v=bMjWtXuTllA&feature=channel_video_title

Later

I have been back from the worlds for over 2 weeks now and I am still constantly looking back on how a great experience it was, not only have I learned a lot in relation to freestyle but I also learned a lot about character and the mental side of competition, that no matter what you should enjoy yourself.

I did not have the best competition I have ever had, as my rides never came together and had too many flushes and I ended up with a disappointing 22nd place. But, now that I have seen what standard is had at Internationals and I know what I have to work on to be in with a shot for the 2012 European Championships, and then maybe the next World Championships, which will be my first as a Senior man.

Next up is a trip to HPP whitewater course in Nottingham, England. Keep an eye out for an update and a video from HPP in the coming weeks. I leave you with a couple of pictures from the worlds.

Team Ireland

Later

Last weekend, myself and two friends travelled across the country to a tidal feature called Clifden, here is a video from our weekends paddling

watch?v=CSOkM5INKik&feature=feedlik

Last weekend, I went down to Limerick, for a competition on a wave called Curragower. I had just got my Duem gear the day before so I was really looking forward to get on the water.
Few Photos of the day:

Juniors Men’s Result: 1.Conor Macken 2.Robbie O’Shea 3. Shane Little/Alan Murphy

2 videos from the last 2 weekends, doing Irish Team Trials

Event 1: Clifden, Co. Galway
watch?v=wnHPgxtQDQU&feature=channel_video_title

Event 2: Sluice, Co. Dublin
watch?v=xqwbnr_vg9w&feature=channel_video_title

Junior Men’s Team: Robbie O’Shea, Conor Macken, Billy Brett

Videos Courtesy of the Sluice Crew

I’m just back from a BoaterX race on the river Annamoe, County Wicklow. The race consisted of a few nice technical rapids with rocks etc. and down jacksons falls. The event was approriately named Wacko on the Jacko. Early Saturday we had the individual races on the short course, 4 in each heat with 2 heats for the Junior Men, I had a head to head battle with my paddling partner and close friend, Shane Little, I came through to win the heat, but the first 2 in each heat got into the final, which means Shane got in too. A bit later we had the Final, again myself and Shane got really good starts and left the other guy behind, we were neck and neck when Shane got the advantage above the falls and flew in to take the victory, I was a little disappointed but happy for him and happy I still got 2nd. Later, we had the Team event on the short course with a twist….one member of a team had to throw a paddle threw a hoop, another member had to do a roll on a certain section of the river and the final member had to slap a sign above the falls, my Team, Myself, Shane Little and Conor Macken, took the victory in that. Then, Finally this morning we had the Team event on the Long Course, a course of 2 km. We kept the same team. After a huge team effort we came through in a very respectable time of 12min 37sec, beating some of the Expert Men’s teams and winning Junior Mens by a full minute. Needless to say it was a great weekend. For more information on the Wacko on the Jacko see wacko.ie

My Team

Junior Mens Final, Shane in front, Me following

On the falls

Robbie O’Shea