River Trip Guide

River Trips

1. To attend river trips, club members must be of a suitable level of proficiency, and have good water confidence. In accordance with club rules, the leaders have right of refusal on people attending. Equipment hire, as usual, is €5 for the trip.

2. If a paddler is of a suitable level of skill, and is not putting themselves in danger by doing so, it is expected that all the more advanced paddlers on a river trip behave as part of the safety and rescue on the trip, and must behave accordingly.

3. There will be a collection of €4 per person for trips to Boyle, Streedagh, Tulan, Duff, Lower Deel (and similar distances) and €5 for Inny. This money will be distributed to the drivers to help cover fuel costs.

4. River trips are cold and wet, and as winter pushes in, they will get more so. People are advised to prepare for this properly with their clothing on and off the water, and to also remember to bring plenty of food and drink on the trip. During the winter months, wetsuits and cags MUST be worn. No bare legs.

Please post up on the forum under a trips thread if you are coming to the trip so the trip leader knows who and what to expect.

Juniors who have Level 2 or 3 skills must have an adult with them on all river trips and peer paddles.

River levels can be checked at: [Only admins are allowed to see this link] and [Only admins are allowed to see this link]

YouTube has a good selection of videos of other clubs running most rivers.

Descriptions of rivers and playspots at:
[Only admins are allowed to see this link]
and:
[Only admins are allowed to see this link]

Garavogue
Suitable for intermediate paddlers who have a confident roll. Grade 2.
Stick gauge opp Toffs – min height 0.8m. There's also a flow meter on it that can be read online at: [Only admins are allowed to see this link]
Description: [Only admins are allowed to see this link]
Best meeting three hours before high tide as this means there is a good amount of water behind you from the bridge down, in case of capsizing, but can also be done 2 hours after high tide onwards. It can even be done at low tide if there is sufficient water in the river ie 1.2 high.

Lower Deel River
Runs through Crossmolina, Co. Mayo. Grade 2 to 3. About an hour and a half away. Nice river to run with something for everybody. For people with moving water experience only. Min height – 0.8m. Really good at 1.2m. Level drops very quickly after rainfall.
[Only admins are allowed to see this link]
At [Only admins are allowed to see this link] search for Ballycarroon for levels or
[Only admins are allowed to see this link]

Bunduff (Duff) River
Grade 2/3. A few quick drops followed by one of the most fun waterfalls you will ever paddle.
[Only admins are allowed to see this link]

Ballaghnatrillick
Any one done it?

Boyle River
Abbey Bridge gauge needs to be min height 0.5m on the [Only admins are allowed to see this link] site or at:
[Only admins are allowed to see this link]
This is perfect for first timers to white water, and for the more advanced, the stoppers are fun. Levels need to be higher for the features to be worthwhile for the intermediate paddlers. Careful on the stoppers at higher levels especially. This river takes a day or two to fill and loses water slow than the others, so it is good for a day or two after the rain stops.
[Only admins are allowed to see this link]

Easkey
Grade 3 to 4. Suitable for people who have no problem catching eddies. There are two rapids, which we get out and scout and you can decide if you do or do not want to run them. Miss your eddy and you will be doing them if you want to or not... but all the rest is simple enough. Bring PLENTY of food and warm clothing and tea and all your rescue gear.
[Only admins are allowed to see this link]

Owenmore River
This is suitable for level 2 paddlers, it's not far away Just up past Collooney.

Bonet
Manorhamilton to Dromahair
A scenic three-hour paddle on fairly easy water, mostly flat with a few areas of white water. Get in at The bridge at Derryherk - 54° 17.105', -8° 12.312'. Or at the ford at 54° 16.001', -8° 13.251'. One point at the old bridge on the L4171 crosses the river is worth scouting to check the line. Get out at the bridge at the back of the Abbey Manor Hotel in Dromahair, before the Grade 3 drops further ahead. Can be done in most water heights.

The ford at 54° 16.001', -8° 13.251' is good for surfing the wave nearing around 1.8m. Any higher and it flattens out as the river is in full flood. You can just get in and out at the ford.

Bonet, Dromahair
Grade 3. Nice large drop in the middle, followed by a sweet, but too-short class 3 run to the finish. Min height 1.2m. 1.8m is full on and too high for most.
[Only admins are allowed to see this link]
Arty video! [Only admins are allowed to see this link]

Colooney Falls
Need a good flow of water as it is a long drop into a small pool that can be a bit shallow. If the Bonet is reading at least 1.55m then it is probably runnable. Anything lower and there will not be enough water to cushion the fall! Basically, it will have needed to rain a good amount the night before or have been raining steadily for days. Set up good safety as there are rocks either side of the drop zone.

Ballysadare Falls
If Colooney is running then Balysadare probably is.
[Only admins are allowed to see this link]

The Inny River
Very easy and fun river - suitable for most abilities.  Definitely a brilliant river for our beginner/intermediates...really good fun and safe river!

Dunniel River, Co Sligo
[Only admins are allowed to see this link]
A banging start with two nice falls. Most of the rest is scant on eddy service and is mostly tucked into a gorge precluding easy swimmer rescue. The whole thing is narrow, shallow, tree-filled and rescue unfriendly. But has some nice lines and drops to make up for all this.

Tuam Hole
Waterlevel at:
[Only admins are allowed to see this link] - 1.1 and above works.
Description at: [Only admins are allowed to see this link]
1.5 hours away but well worth the trip for freestyle practice.

The Shannon Blueway
Drumshanbo to Carrick. A fantastic day out.
See [Only admins are allowed to see this link]

Owengar River in Cork - There is a race there usually in November.

Ennistymon Falls Race in Clare Galway in November.

Post up if you have anything to add.