This weekend was my first ISKA symposium. I joined the association specifically to go to it, though I will maintain my membership from now on. The symposium took place in the Gold Coast Resort Hotel in Dungarvan, near Ballinacourty Harbour. I did all my paddling with the Greenland paddle during the weekend.
Overall the symposium was great. It was a very welcoming group of maybe 150-200 people, with plenty of activities during the day. There wasn’t much going on in the venue if you weren’t paddling, which was kind of a shame but it’s not a real complaint; just that it would have been cool to have something like a room showing documentaries or something like that for people like me who took some time out.
Friday
I arrived down around 2.30pm, having gone out for breakfast with Andrew to celebrate the new house purchase. I got booked in fairly quickly and met up with a few people. There was a trip from Helvick Head with Mick O’Farrell organised so we drove over there and had a really lovely paddle in the late afternoon sun.
Jean Mooney lent me her Greenland paddle for this trip and it was really nice to use. The loom is much closer to the right width for me, and it is a lighter, springier paddle than Jonathon’s. That actually made me a bit worried about breaking it but it’s possible that it’s just the right amount of flex. I can’t wait to have my own one, fully customised for me and my boat.
There was a big, slow swell during the trip that was something I hadn’t experienced before. I loved it; there was loads of whitewater around the rocks and the combination of the light, the terrain, the foam and the sound of the water was gorgeous.
We went through a fairly rough pass between some rocks that took quite a bit of analysis before attempting it, though when I went through the timing worked out so well that it felt simple. We circled around and went through it again via a different route, through kind of canyon that was just fantastic; covered in foam and full of whitewater.
We stopped on a sandy cove for a break. There were significant waves, so it was a challenging landing. I wiped out trying to land, which was a shame. I’d have liked to try again, though a small part of the reason I messed up was that I was trying to protect Jean’s paddle, which would have made a second attempt a bit pointless. However I was disappointed that I didn’t think to try leaning into the wave and bracing myself. It’s just something I’ll have to try and get more practice with.
Saturday
On Saturday morning I went to the Greenland rolling session. That was great. I got about 30-40 minutes in the kayak with Peter (Henderton?). He seems like a really nice chap and I enjoyed his teaching style. I did reasonably well at rolling. The main problems I had were consistency and overthinking. I got about 3 or 4 rolls fairly well, though my hand position was a bit off each time. The other times I ended up getting confused about which direction to move the paddle and just lost it. Overall though I was happy with myself and I feel sure that I will eventually get pretty good at it.
After that I did the strokes clinic with Keith and Mick O’Farrell. That was very interesting and helpful. I was surprised by just how much emphasis was placed on foot power and I’m looking forward to putting that into practice when out with others. I feel like I learned a lot of new information to start experimenting with and that a new phase of technique-improvement is now ahead of me. What is really tantalising is the impression I get that a better technique could really mitigate a lot of the exhaustion and fatigue that builds up over about 4 hours of paddling for me; and that maybe I could progress to much longer paddles in the near future – especially if I can resolve my back-pain issues.
The Saturday morning sessions really tired out my hip flexors and so I decided to do nothing in the afternoon. I just hung around, went for a couple of walks, chatted with some people and took a shower. That evening there was the main meal, AGM and raffle, which took up most of the night from about 6.30.
Hazel and Emer hosted aperatifs in their house before the meal, which was very nice. The meal itself was pretty disappointing. It was ridiculous that we got exactly the same fare as the carvery which cost about a third of what we paid. Myself and Emer couldn’t get seats together or with people we knew so we ate in the bar before going in for the speeches. There was a good atmosphere though, and the evening was very enjoyable.
Sunday
On Sunday I took a look at the rolling session again, but it seemed fully subscribed and I was happy enough to leave it and save my hip flexors! I did the strokes clinic again which was good. Conditions were a lot windier and we had a much bigger crowd, so it wasn’t as nuanced, but I still enjoyed it a lot and found it very helpful.
At one point we were practising edging while turning 360 degrees. I ended up capsizing and briefly considered trying to roll! However I realised two things: One; if I failed I would have to do a wet exit which would just cause unnecessary drama. That was linked to the second thing, which was that the water was so shallow I could put the end of the paddle on the floor! So I just levered myself up off the sand and carried on. The one good thing about it was that when I realised I was struggling to fully lift myself out of the water, I remembered that I should lean back and slide myself onto the back deck, which worked like a charm; one rolling lesson put into practice to some extent at least!
After the strokes clinic I said my goodbyes, ate my packed lunch in the car and headed home.
One really great aspect of the weekend was that I met a good few people from the Mayo area who were very friendly and were happy to invite me to meet up for paddling and join their groups. It kind of snuck by me a bit at first because I have that tendency to analyse/criticise my “social skills”, but they seem like a great bunch and it totally feels like I will have an immediate community of paddlers to join as soon as I feel like it. That’s pretty amazing 🙂
So a great weekend in total, the only let-down being minor issues with the venue. I enjoyed myself, met some lovely people and made some real progress in paddling skills that are important to me.