I've been asked to do the Liffey Descent this year with some guys from my
club and was after some information about it that I can't really figure out
from any websites!

The first is, what grade is the river? If there's something nasty you don't
like the look of can you portage?

The second is, we're not really in it for the winning and the racing. More
for the laughs and the fun of doing it! Is this something that is
acceptable? All the info I've seen is focussing on the winning.

Many thanks,

Charlie.

On Fri, 17 Jun 2005 09:38:52 +0100, "Charlie"
wrote:

I've been asked to do the Liffey Descent this year with some guys from my
club and was after some information about it that I can't really figure out
from any websites!

This any help?

http://www.swaledaleoutdoorclub.org....hinireland.htm

Paul Brooks

Sounds interesting. Not so sure if I'll be up for that after all. Sounds
like far too many people and too much chance of being separated from my
group! (I wouldn't like to paddle it on my own as I'm still very nervous
about things like weirs!)

Charlie.

"Paul Brooks" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 17 Jun 2005 09:38:52 +0100, "Charlie"
wrote:

I've been asked to do the Liffey Descent this year with some guys from my
club and was after some information about it that I can't really figure
out
from any websites!

This any help?


http://www.swaledaleoutdoorclub.org....hinireland.htm

Paul Brooks

Charlie wrote:
I've been asked to do the Liffey Descent this year with some guys from my
club and was after some information about it that I can't really figure out
from any websites!

The first is, what grade is the river? If there's something nasty you don't
like the look of can you portage?

The river is grade 1 & 2. The only nasties are the weirs. About 10 of
them if I remember. You probably can portage them, but there's not
really much point because they're the fun bit! The rest of the race is a
long slog! (17 miles)

There is a portage around a dam about half-way along the course.


The second is, we're not really in it for the winning and the racing. More
for the laughs and the fun of doing it! Is this something that is
acceptable? All the info I've seen is focussing on the winning.

They vaguely try to discourage 'social' paddlers, but there are plenty
of social paddlers there. Why else would they have a class for
general-purpose boats? They do, however, have a time cutoff to complete
the race. When I paddled it - a long time ago - the cut-off was 5 hours,
and myself & friends completed in about 4.5 hours. I was paddling a
Corsica S.

I haven't looked in any detail, but here is the main web site:
http://www.liffeydescent.com/

--
Conor O'Neill, at home in Bristol, UK

"Conor O'Neill" wrote in message
. uk...


The river is grade 1 & 2. The only nasties are the weirs. About 10 of
them if I remember. You probably can portage them, but there's not
really much point because they're the fun bit! The rest of the race is a
long slog! (17 miles)


How nasty is nasty? I ran Chapel Falls (just) last weekend at Tryweryn and
the lower section of Tryweryn, so that would give you an idea of where I am.
I'm a relative newbie, started paddling at the end of last summer but took
2/3 months off due to broken toe, so I've not been doing it long!

Charlie.

Talking of the Liffey Descent, I read on an Irish web site that some locals
paddle in the General Purpose K1 class using Gola Sprint and Gola Deceptor
kayaks which I understand barely make the 4.20 m length guide spec and are
in fact fast as you-know-what.

Didn't manage to find out much about Gola kayaks on the web, most Google
hits point to a shoe manufacturer and my guess would be that's not it.

Anybody know anything about Gola deceptive kayaks?

WN




"Charlie" wrote in message
...

"Conor O'Neill" wrote in message
. uk...


The river is grade 1 & 2. The only nasties are the weirs. About 10 of
them if I remember. You probably can portage them, but there's not
really much point because they're the fun bit! The rest of the race is a
long slog! (17 miles)


How nasty is nasty? I ran Chapel Falls (just) last weekend at Tryweryn
and
the lower section of Tryweryn, so that would give you an idea of where I
am.
I'm a relative newbie, started paddling at the end of last summer but took
2/3 months off due to broken toe, so I've not been doing it long!

Charlie.

Charlie wrote:
"Conor O'Neill" wrote in message
. uk...


The river is grade 1 & 2. The only nasties are the weirs. About 10 of
them if I remember. You probably can portage them, but there's not
really much point because they're the fun bit! The rest of the race is a
long slog! (17 miles)



How nasty is nasty? I ran Chapel Falls (just) last weekend at Tryweryn and
the lower section of Tryweryn, so that would give you an idea of where I am.
I'm a relative newbie, started paddling at the end of last summer but took
2/3 months off due to broken toe, so I've not been doing it long!

Charlie.

I've been away - now I can reply.

If you can paddle Chapel Falls, then the weirs on the Liffey will be
fine. The weirs are (if I remember) mostly large sloping affairs, some
with some irregular structure, and there are a couple of large V-shaped
weirs towards the end. People fall out on all of them, and there are
divers who help you get to the bank (but they tend not to pick up your
boat and/or paddles for you!). I'd never advise swimming down a weir
voluntarily, but these are probably about as safe as you'd get.

--
Conor O'Neill, at home in Bristol, UK