Before I
left the house on Friday morning I thought that we were going to have a very
damp weekend. However, after checking
out the forecast on several different sites I was reassured that the weather
would be dry. Once again clubs from all
over Northern Ireland met at the Share Centre for a weekend of Paddlesport
activities and a bit of craic.
On the
Friday night people arrived to get signed in and meet up with paddlers and
friends from across the north. Everyone
was delighted to discover that they had dry weather for putting the tents
up. The Share Centre provided us with a
cosy room to use as our base, where everyone could relax, unwind and enjoy the
craic.
We decided
on Saturday morning that the wind was at the right conditions for everyone to
go on the one trip. We met at the
water’s edge at 10am, to get boats and equipment organised. We left the slipway at 11am to begin our
journey around the islands of Lough Erne.
We headed north up around Rabbit Island.
We had lunch at Tiraroe Jetty. We
then travelled from there to Tranish to show everyone the new bothy. What we didn’t know was that it was occupied,
and the residents we quite shocked to see 70 paddlers at their back door! We then travelled to the south end of
Tranish, where the group split. Some
returned to the Share Centre and the others went on a longer trip down by the Inish Rath island. There was a
BBQ that night in the bar with a fuse competition to follow. The competition was originally for the kids,
however the adults soon showed their competitive spirit and we had club against
club matches for several hours!!
Because of
the smaller numbers this year the clubs and CANI could meet the participants
needs for the sessions on Sunday morning. The sessions were made up of a sea kayak
trip, rolling, open canoe skills and fundamental movement skills. Everyone has praised the people involved in
the sessions very highly and a big thank you goes out to them all. At
2pm a Sunday dinner was served. This
gave everyone a chance to get back together again, say their final farewells
and thank everyone for a great weekend.
Please
follow links below for comments and photos from all of the clubs involved. The few remaining clubs to send in articles will be linked over the next week.
University
of Ulster Jordanstown Canoe Club
Mid Ulster
Canoe and Kayak Club
Lisburn City
Paddlers
Sit on Top Touring Club
Belfast
Kayak Club
C3 Craigavon
Canoe Club
Intercity
Paddlers
Erne
Paddlers
Blazing
Paddles
Causeway
Coast Kayak Association
Photos from
Clubfest by Navarat Turner
Video from Clubfest by Ali McCreery
I would like
to say a huge thanks to Navarat and to all of the clubs involved.