Dave Crerar - Freeride Kayaker

South Ram

2011-07-04T21:32:00.001-07:00

After moving to Alberta, and presuming that there was no paddling to be had I was plesently supprised to get an invitation from Mikkel St. Jean Duncan to run the South Ram on Canada Day Weekend here in Canada. This two day expedition was a much needed change from driving 10,000 km's over and back to from the Ottawa and studying away here in Vermillion Fire Fighting school.

Ledge drops

The South Ram is an awesome 2-4+ 2 day section of river, 50-60KM's in length located just outside Rocky Mountain House on Hwy 752. An unlikely spot for such a gem considering you can see for miles in every direction on the drive up. Friday night started with meeting the group, Mikkel being the only one I had paddled with before.

Setting up rappel day 1

Unfortunately the logging road that allows for a simple take out only metres form the river bank was locked with the most heavy set logging road gate I have ever seen in Canada. No bribing the locals with a few beers to get into this one. So we continued another 7KM down stream and parked a couple of cars there.

Dave Crerar ledge drops credit: Jeff Germaine

Mikkel St Jean Duncan peering over the 80 footer

Having run shuttle that night we were ready to go early the next morning and set on our way for what was my first time down the Ram or any river in Alberta for that matter. This river produces some nice challenging grade four rapids in between truely beautiful canyons and mamonth cliff walls. In the weeks previous to out decent the river had flash flood from 40cms up to 700.

Dave Crerar Table Top Falls credit: Mikkel St Jean Duncan

This meant that the erosion was clearly visable and the drift wood was left stranded 30-40 feet above the water level at some points. the first day had most of the challenging white water, with a nice 3 ledge section followed by an 80 footer that we rapelled around, which was then followed by table rock falls, a 40 foot water fall with an interesting lead in. Our final rapid of the first day was a small 50ft slide which took us to our campsite.

Group on slide end of day 1

2 successful runs

Camp site day 1

The second day started with a beautiful sunrise meaning all our new Level Six Dry Gear was warmed up and ready to go for our second day, not being the most experienced over night kayaker warm clothes were definitely a plus considering I tried to survive on Mr. Noodles and Chunky soup.. Lesson learned. The second day brought with it one of the more challenging portages I have ever experienced, along a trail a mountain goat would be happy to survive. This left us with a 2 hour paddle out and a truely epic finish walk out to the cars.

Morning of Day 2

Table top Falls from below credit: Lianne Germaine

Some eager locals took quading to a whole new level

All in all this was an amazing introduction to Albertan paddling and what this foreseeable future has in store for me. Thanks again to Mikkel and his possy, and the eye opening experience they brought me along for.

Pretty satisfied, Dave Crerar and Mikkel St. Jean Duncan after a 80ft. rappel

Ottawa 2011 Video

2011-07-04T18:48:00.000-07:00

Ottawa 2011

2011-07-04T18:33:00.001-07:00

So it has been 5 awesome years working for Wilderness Tours and Ottawa Kayak School here on the Ottawa river. The Ottawa was my first stop when I first got to Canada and it has been my home away from home over the last few years I have been here in Canada. I can not stress enough the versatility, homeliness and the unique culture surrounding this river. Weather just heading to the Ottawa to paddle for a brief time or to start a career in the outdoor industry you would be hard pressed not to notice to close knit nature of the Ottawa Valley.

Unfortunately it is time to move on, onwards to ALberta to sample what the rest of this amazing country has to offer. Already within a week and thanks to Mikkel St Jean Duncan I have been shown around some of Alberta's classics and have really managed to test out Level 6's new Reign Top on the Ram River and expect to test it out a whole bunch more. Check in again soon for the video....

Dave Crerar 2010 creeking

2011-02-14T14:33:00.000-08:00

This is some footage from my 2010 creeking trips...

Untitled from Dave Crerar on Vimeo.

2010-12-04T20:22:00.000-08:00

This years kayaking season kick-started in April with a long and intense drive across Canada’s expansive mid lands. Working on the ski hills during the winter I was very excited to get back across the country to start our spring mission. This year I banded together with a large group of international paddles and headed into Quebec for what I was to learn would be ‘Stakeout’. We spent the best part of 6 weeks travelling around Quebec.

The majority of our time was spent working out of a town called Chicoutimi, while also dropping by Montreal and Quebec to get a taste of the culture that these cities had to offer. While in Quebec we had the chance to scout out and run a number of first descents, notably we witnessed Erik Boomer first D. of Magnan Falls. This part of Canada has a lot to offer and can definitely turn into another white-water Mecca for the white-water kayaking world. May brought to a close my first ‘Stakeout’ mission in Quebec and it was back to the Ottawa to start working for the summer.

Despite the low water and slow season Ottawa river life kept me really busy. Ottawa Kayak School was busy this year with lots of new faces making their way to the river. We saw 100’s of kayakers move through the school here, which is really awesome for the sport. It’s great to see people motivated and eager to try new sports, especially such a minority sport. With low water always comes a good season for freestyle kayaking. We arrived to Garb, however it did not last for too long and push button resurfaced after a few seasons in hiding.

Although push button isn’t the biggest wave it meant lots of missions to Lachine, which was amazing. I had never been before and am kicking myself for it. However I think it was some of the best wave surfing I have had yet. The end of the season on the Ottawa brought with it the first Pan American Championship. We had 5 countries competing with a line up consisting of some of the worlds best kayakers. Placing 12 was not in my desired top 10 however looking back at the competition put it all in perspective.

Gauley fest has just passed and brought about the end of this years season for me. This was another event I have never had the pleasure of participating in. Gauley was an amazingly well put together festival with lots of old friends people who were incredibly keen to progress in kayaking. BC has been a lot shorter than previous years, however it has been great to catch up with old friends and paddle the last bit of what BC has to offer.

Before the winter I had a few weeks free and headed home to see all the family and get some of that Irish kayaking in again, Ireland being Ireland produced a copious amount of rain while I was at home, however just before an extreme race event I managed to injure myself, pretty good this time too, kickfliping a creekboat on an Irish creek... is not such a good idea and it ended up with a trip to hospital and lots of drugs, I even had the whole intern team watch on as they put me back together.

This is not to say that I had a bad year. this has been one of my best seasons yet. Lets hope that winter is a little morethan fall... stay tuned DC

BTYI premiere and new trailer

2010-11-08T01:01:00.000-08:00

Saturday 13th of November, Waterford, 9pm be there.

BottomsUpKayaking - Better Than You Imagined - Trailer 4 from Five 2 Nine Productions on Vimeo.

Better Than You Imagined

2010-10-14T09:00:00.001-07:00

This is a new video due to release at the end of this month, filmed in Canada, New Zealand, South Korea, Thailand, North Carolina, Australia, Ecuador, it is shaping up to me a really good flick. The best thing about it is it will be online for public download for anyone, after the international film premieres.

Canadian showings start October 29th in Ottawa, the Irish Premiere will be on Saturday the 13th of November at the Colligan Gorge Games in Dangarvan.

The film is put together by Blake Mahoney, Mike McKay, Tyler Fox, and Mike Kobzik a combination of film makers from the Five to Nine and Bottoms Up Kayaking contingents. Check out the trailers that have been put together so far. Each of the film makers has edited their own piece to keep you entertained until launch day.

Five2Nine -Better Than You Imagined - Trailer 1 from Five 2 Nine Productions on Vimeo.

Bottoms Up - Better Than You Imagined - Trailer 2 from Five 2 Nine Productions on Vimeo.

Five2Nine - Better Than You Imagined - Trailer 3 from Five 2 Nine Productions on Vimeo.

Pan Ams 2010

2010-10-14T08:18:00.001-07:00

This August we had our first ever Pan American Championships on the Ottawa river. With 5 countries represented this made the even a bit more of a Pan American/ Irish/ British championships. It has been quite a while since I have competed and so I was pretty nervous even before the line up of competitors was announced.

Dave Crerar

In the eddy were some of the world’s best kayakers, a little unnerving for any paddler. I have to admit the atmosphere that surrounds a competition is not what I remember. What I used to consider competition was butterflies, nerves and imminent embarrassment on front of some of the world’s best boaters.

Joel Kowalski

However this time having good friend on the bank and in my heats made me really see a positive side to competitive kayaking once more. IT was much more like having a push button session with a lot of friends, than an intense competition.

Joel Kowalski

The beats certainly helped as well with the Ottawa’s very own resident DJ spinning his best throughout the whole day. Although I didn’t make the top 10 like I had wanted I left with a new lease of enthusiasm and determination for competition.

Tino Specht

Gauley was next week and now Ireland, can’t wait to taste a bit of home for a while. The full results are at the bottom.

Dave Crerar

These shots were taken by Holly Chester and are myself and some of the others in the competition. As can be seen Level Six was very well represented both in the eddy and on scoreboard.

C1
1 Dane Jackson

2 Jordan Poffenberger

3 Eric Jackson

4 Francois Bergeron-Proulx

Jr Women

1 Sara-Jane Daub

2 Alex Maggs

3 Lauren Burress

4 Taylor Cote

5 Jessica Droujko

Jr Men

1 Dane Jackson

2 Adam Chappell

3 Kalob Grady

4 James Metcalfe

5 Jacob Slobodian

Pro Women

1 Ruth Gordon

2 Emily Jackson

3 Katie Quinn

4 Alex Shallhorn

5 Katie Kowalski (L6)

Pro Men

1 Stephen Wright

2 Eric Jackson

3 Joel Kowalski (L6)

4 Devyn Scott

5 Tino Specht (L6)

6 Francois Bergeron-Proulx

7 Ben Fraser

8 Tyler Curtis

9 Matt Hamilton (L6)

10 Keegan Grady (L6)

11 Jose Rodriguez

12 Dave Crerar (L6)

13 Zack Boles(L6)

14 Thomas Harding

15 Brandon Fasan

Lachine

2010-10-14T08:14:00.000-07:00

Lachine located on the St Laurence, only a short drive from Montreal’s downtown, is one of the best waves I have ever surfed. However, not really knowing where we were going, it took a little longer than usual to get there. Montreal being a big city, it took us a while to find our friends house, who turned out not to be there. So we ventured to the car park by Lachine.

Leaving the others to have the car I slept on the ground in the car park. However being the big city that Montreal is, the cops woke us up about 5 minutes after my head hit the pillow and got us up out of bed. But after a few minutes of my appalling French and their patience we explained to them, that we were not drinking or doing drugs so they let us be and we slept through the night.

We woke up to a few keen surfers the next morning, who proceeded to call us ‘skids’, which I never really got, regardless we got up grabbed food for the day and headed out to the wave.

I was told not having a jet ski to help with the loop around made a big difference, despite this it is one of the best waves I have ever been on. It was surreal how far away from the bank you really were when you were surfing.

The waves size and speed let out some great potential for big tricks. The day we had seen some big aerial pan-am’s, clean blunts, and air screws.

Although work with Ottawa Kayak School only allowed us a one-day trip to Montreal I have to say it was one of the best one-day surf session I have had in a long while. I guarantee there will be more trips out there, and not to mention the creek races the US fall has in store for us.

Stay tuned…

Quebec Guide

2010-10-14T08:12:00.000-07:00

Located in East-Central Canada, Quebec is one of the worlds more unexplored water havens. Quebec’s land mass is twenty two times the size of Ireland, and with a population of only 7.5 million people, this territory is largely uncharted. The backwater river systems of Quebec are currently being uncovered by a small group of paddlers. This international group has been ticking of first descents all over the territory. Despite two years of research and kayaking this area still has a lot to offer up to the kayaker willing to put in the work.

Quebec is comparable to the white-water found in BC, however if you do your homework right you are far more likely to find yourself on a first descent out in the Quebec wilderness. Quebec does have certain discrepancies to the white-water Mecca’s kayakers are used too. Most of the land in the uninhabited areas is either under the control of governmental preservation groups, or it is private land. This means that entry and egress can prove to be quite difficult. A lot of the creeks are located in ecological preservation zones (ZEC), these are areas of forestland rezoned for preservation, and logging. ZEC areas are monitored, meaning, you have to pay to get into a majority of these zones. Once you have established that care must be taken in order to keep the peace between kayakers and local Quebecers, the province will hand up some amazing rewards throughout the course of your trip.

Quebec rivers offer a range of III-V+ rivers depending on what you are looking for. There are varying characteristics from each river to the next, some offering mind blowing slides and drops, while others offer up some technical boulder garden style kayaking. Either way Quebec offers kayaking for a range of kayaking abilities.

There are a number of possible base camps depending on where you may happen to find yourself in this vast province. In between Quebec City and Montreal is one area that offers up a number of easily acceptable rivers, making the planning of consecutive missions an easy task for any boater. In the Quebec City - Montreal area you can find the Mastigouche, Shawinigan, and Neilson rivers. These rivers offer up a range features and all are accessible by car, thus making it is easy enough to run shuttles with the right beta.

The Saguenay region, located 180 km’s from Quebec City, holds a hand full of Quebec’s classic white water. The town of Chicoutimi serves as an ideal spot to base your team when exploring the rivers of this region. From here you can access the rivers that flow into the Saguenay River from both the North and South. Hotels are relatively expensive and there is not too much camping around the area, however the river put-ins and take-outs are mostly located on ZEC land, which provide camping, at a small cost for a limited time. The rivers in Southern Saguenay are a little harder to access with some shuttles taking as long as 3 hours round trip. Despite these long turnarounds, the area offers up some of the most rewarding whitewater in Quebec.

So far in this area, we have paddled eight different rivers within 10 days. These rivers range from grade III – V, with varying characteristics. Using Google maps and local beta we were able to locate some first descents, namely, the Upper Petit Saguenay and the Portage River. The Saguenay-North area, which was uncovered and explored by a multi-national team last year, provides even more classic whitewater. Again the majority of the rivers are located on ZEC land, and so you can expect to pay small fee and camp at your desired river put-ins and take-outs. In the Saguenay-North area you will find rivers such as the Ulrik, Pilot, St. Margaret North, West, and Olaf, all of which were discovered in the spring of 2009.

In order to catch the best of Quebec’s white water you need to be in the area for the spring snow melt. This can be hard to time perfectly, but historically it tends to happen in May. At present there are no guidebooks for this area. A local by the name of Pat Levesque is currently writing a guidebook, (keep an eye out for it at www.kayaksaguenay.com). All other information must be gathered from the kayak Quebec website (insert site address) and from others who have paddled in the area. It is important to keep the peace with locals and ZEC officials, and so care must be taken when driving into these areas.

Information:

How to get there: Either fly into Montreal, Quebec or Ottawa and drive into the white water regions.

Where to stay: ZEC parks for a cheap nights camping, hotels using priceline.com for the best deal

Where to eat: Seeing as Quebec is famous for poutine it is a must to grab some roadside French goodness.

Water Levels: Some of the levels can be found at www.quebecwhitewater.com however sometimes you must extrapolate levels based on surrounding drainages.

When to paddle: April to June

Rivers:

Petit Saguenay Class III-IV continuous whitewater

Upper Petit Saguenay III-IV boogey boating with some IV drops in between. Is surrounded by private land.

Moulain Downtown III-V+ pool drop slides and drops, minutes from downtown Chicoutimi

Brais Louis III-IV Boulder Garden-style with canyon section and a few drops, long paddle to take out.

Middle Valain III-IV+ pool drops, entry and exit on private land

Lower Valain III-V boulder gardens, slides and drops, enter on private land exit in a public park

Portage Amazing IV-V canyon style steep creek, lengthy flat-water in the middle of the 28km run. Stout triple drop into Easy entry and exit, beautiful campsite at put in.

Neilson A Section III-IV boulder garden style creeks

Neilson B Section III-V boulder garden and pool drop rapids, easy entry and exit in a public park

Shawinigan III-IV Slides and drops

Mastigouche Class III-IV+ slides and drops. Beautiful trail along the whole run littered with scenic camping spots.

Huit Chutes Epitome of IV-V steep-creeking, easy entry and exit. Full on non-stop Quebec classic.

Paddler: Dave Crerar

Photo's: Lu Irwin, Tyler Fox, Josh Neilson, Blake Mahoney

A Mars Creek Race

2010-05-23T15:44:00.001-07:00

COMPETITORS WAITING AT THE TOP - PHOTO: DAVE CRERAR

This weekend, the Quebec kayaking community gathered in Chicoutimi for the first ever A Mars downriver race. It has to be said these guys sure know how to throw a good event. Pat Levesque (www.kayaksaguenay.com) set up an amazing show on the middle section of the A Mars river, just 10Km’s up from the take out. With over 30 competitors is was an awesome turn out for such a small, tight community of boaters. It says a lot for the work Mr. Levesque has put in over the last few years, increasing awareness as to what Quebec can offer the kayaking world. Best of all we got to paddle the new Vilan S, great boat!

BENOIT ARSENAULT PHOTO: DAVE CRERAR

Their were four classes, Pro, Intermediate, C-1, and Juniors. Everyone was timed as they kayaked down the 1Km stretch of water, with safety set up along the way. It has to be said it was an impressive show from all involved, especially those new to the sport as some of these rapids were III+-IV.Canada took gold and silver in the pro race, it being a multi cultural class. Standings for the other catagories were composed of Quebec locals.

DAVE CRERAR TOP DROP - PHOTO: TYLER FOX

After the race Josh Neilson and Rush Sturges premiered their movies, Realm and Dream Result a little bit outside downtown Chicoutimi, after which we headed to the local karaoke bar for a $5 all you could drink. As I said the lads from Quebec know how to put ona show. We happened to land in Chicoutimi the night of the areas high school grad balls, which meant no hotels and a car park amp session after the after party. Chicoutimi is an amazing area for kayaking, I would advise anyone to hit this area up for spring mission, it is one not to be missed.

Pro Intermediate C1 Junior

Tyler Fox Marie-Claire Sevard Vincent DuPont Francois Nadeau

Blake Mahoney Vincent LeBlanc Alex Brouchard

Dave Crerar Cheryl McGreggor Zach Zwanenburg

Check in again soon.

DC - www.davecrerar.blogspot.com

DAVE CRERAR CHARGING INTO 3rd - PHOTO: TYLER FOX

Dave Crerar Spring 2010

2010-05-18T18:37:00.000-07:00

Photo: Tyler Fox

Spring has been unique this year in that it didn't involve slaving away in the books while all my friends went kayaking all over the world. This year I got to stay outdoors and travel to Quebec for spring boating.

Photo: Louise Irwin

Quebec brought with it a lot of surprises, what I had anticipated to be a creeking trip. With a minimal snow in Eastern Canada this past winter it meant an early and small snow melt. However this meant that there was even more possibility to explore Quebec.

Photo: Tyler Fox

This change in scenery was a nice change from the icy cold of the BC ski resort I had spent my winter at. IT has been great to get back into a boat and explore another part of the world.

Photo: Tyler Fox

We have managed to paddle almost 20 rivers in the time we have been there and so far have covered 2 first descents. With two more weeks left in Quebec I am sure there is more to follow. Keep tuned for more pics. Laters DC

Spring 2010

2010-04-04T14:32:00.000-07:00

So it’s almost time to go again. A winter of snow really reminds you how good kayaking really is. We’re leaving BC in a week to get to the L6 Capital Cup and Dream Result premier in Ottawa on the 24^th of April and then into Quebec with the Bottoms Up crew to creek. Lets pray we get the water. Stay tuned for lots of pictures and video this spring and summer.

BC Mission

2009-09-24T19:00:00.000-07:00

Summer was spent as per usual boating on the Ottawa with the odd trip to the Gat to catch High Tension. This year however differed in that I finished University and am now have a degree. No plans to do anything with that right now. For the past month I have been boating in British Columbia with a group of friends. It is a little different to driving at home in Ireland, driving from Ottawa to Vancouver takes the same amount of time as it does to cross Ireland 12 times, so you can only imagine to road rage... After finally getting to BC we have managed to get to Skook, through Squamish, Whistler, Revelstoke and Golden. It is always weird switching between creeking and freestyle, especially when you put 3 months in-between each switch. This year was no different in that switching was tricky, but boating out here has been amazing, once the snow begins to fall it is up to Big White in Kelowna to get on with making a living in the outdoors for a few years. Check in again soon.. DC

Summertime and the livin’ is easy

2009-07-18T08:50:00.000-07:00

Being back on the Ottawa river has been great, levels have been surprisingly normal and we have seen all features from Mini-Bus to Corner wave, Garb has even tempted to show its face, however rain has been the order of the day for the last couple of weeks and this has brought the river up again.

Life on the Ottawa can be described as nothing other than being sick, teaching for OKS and then heading out for a few hours each evening to session at Corner wave has been unbelievable. That coupled with the people and unique atmosphere, truly makes this place a paddlers haven.

Training has been very productive, working on a mixture of hole and wave moves keeps everything interesting and the drive super high. With only 8 weeks left, and having already having spent a good amount of time at High Tension its time to start heading to Québec to visit the Rouge and Chutes de Pleasance (spelling is clearly wrong but what can you expect from an Irish man).

So all in all life here is really good, you guys should check it out for sure.

Till next time, Dave Crerar

Winter Write up

2009-04-14T12:18:00.000-07:00

The end to one of the hardest years of my life has finally come. I have done my final exams and have started putting the finishing touches on what seemed like a never ending thesis. Although college has demanded almost 60 hours a week, yeah more than a full-time real job, I have still done more paddling this season that I have before. With college coming first partying was put on the back burner and kayaking took on the role of making sure I didn’t lose my mind. This did mean that I got some really cool paddling sessions this season.

Matt from Wales

Ireland is not typically your go to destination for kayaking, we have all of Europe to our right and Africa a short cheap hop from most international hubs in order to keep us occupied. But as I couldn’t get the time to travel this year I made the best of what our little island has to offer, and depending on rain it can surprise you.

Adrian Shanahan

Dave Crerar

Freestyle was a number one priority this season and I spent a lot of time dialling in cleans at my local spot, which is a particularly weird feature. This meant putting on the Level 6 mitts and firing it up in the coldest temperatures I have ever experienced on the water. But its worth it when your training pays off and you get the pat on the back from friends or you see your new training rides coming together in competition.

Dave Crerar

Paddy Mc Govern

There is a lot of scrapey creeking to be done here at home, you gotta make the most of the rivers, really get your skills up, if you don’t use the river you can get bored easily. But just as we have to motivate ourselves to keep training on our small play features you can get some days when it all pays off. The last of this seasons rain fell last week and we got a few runs done before it all drained away for the summer.

Nick Doran

Dave Crerar

It’s now time to get back on the road and kayak harder rivers and bigger waves. First stop is Ottawa to work for Wilderness tours in order to earn some cash, then BC and up to the hills for some snow. It’s always a very busy time when you are leaving home. Flights to be booked, visas to be sorted and gear to be ordered. It’s great having the help of such generous companies like Level 6, Squarerock/ Jackson, Werner, Predator and Teva who not only keep us looking good but also allow us to travel light.

Ross Redmond

Dave Crerar

So only six more weeks getting the last words of my thesis written and earning some more euros before I start out on my biggest journey yet. Ill check back in soon. DC

Dave Crerar

Old Man River

Photo Cedits:

Nick Doran

Moe Kelleher

Dave Cerar

Ross Redmond

Sinead O'Donnel

Francis O'Donel

The Clare Glens

2008-10-13T10:49:00.000-07:00

Dave Crerar

Schools way to hard, its lashing rain, and Im tired of staring at my wall doing marketing projects, deffo a perfect time for a break. So up at the crack of dawn and off to the South Whest for a bit of a creek fest while the water lasted.

Kev Eagan

A few of us met up and had a few runs down one of Irelands better creeks. Even though the water was dropping fast we managed to get a good few runs in a and a load of photos.

Moe Kelleher

Dave Crerar

I didn't get everyone up her on the blog, but these are some of the better photos.

Irish sunset on the N7

Enjoy

DC

Last words of summer......

2008-09-09T15:56:00.000-07:00

So Im back at home in Dublin reminiscing on an unbelievable summer that has just passed, great times amongst some new great friends.

Not only was the party unreal but the kayaking was on par if not better, which basically means it was savage.

Having come such a long way with my playboating and over all kayaking the summer ended with a pretty serious thud when I came of my long-board shirtless at 60Km/h yeah that’s right 60, it was retarded. But what can you do but take it in your stride, cut the doctors recommended time of the water in half and wait.

At home now in Ireland I’m working for kayaking.ie and free lance for myself, so if you guys hear of anyone looking for clinics in playboaitng or regular kayaking give me a shout.

And last but not least this summer could NOT have happened without the help of my sponsors, Zeal optics , MDAC, Predator , Level 6, Werner and Aaron Dempsey in Squarerock who helped me out with a few JK boats.

Cheers Guys, enjoy the photos theres loads of ‘em and stay tuned.

DC

Davey C on the Ottawa

2008-07-26T13:01:00.000-07:00

This is possibly one of the best places to spend your summer. I’ve been up here two months and bus eater only went out a week or two ago, it’s been pretty damn good.

It's at a bit of an inbetween level now but the level is beginning to drop and some of the other famous spots are beginning to come in.

Ive been surfing here, working for Ottawa Kayak School and enjoying all the other aspects of the river atmosphere. Enjoy these pics and I’ll have loads more as the levels change.

Irish National Champs

2008-05-01T17:15:00.000-07:00

Irish National Champs

Ladies watching on

Dave Crerar during finals

This years National Champs have drawn to a close, two very well run comps on two of Irelands best features. The turnouts were not what everyone expected, which leaves the question open were those lads from over the ponds right in when they coined the phrase “rodeo is dead”, it could be going that way here in Ireland. But never the less it did not take away from the competition.

Dave Crerar

Sinead O'Donnell

Moe Kelleher

First round was on anon-retainable wave in Limerick, the event was run over two freezing cold, windy days, as you would expect of our random ass weather. The heats were close and I managed to sneak into the top 5 for the mens final. Tendonitis breathing down my neck meant a quick ibuprofen stop and on I went. Unfortunately I finished in 4th for this round with the Kelleher bro’s and Neil Gibson firing ahead with some pretty nice rides. Junior mens had a decent size turnout, with some still competition, but a newcomer to Irish freestyle, and surf-kayaking champ Corin King stole gold, With his little bro. Jake following in close second. The ladies was also a tight one, Kim Sikerman stealing a victory closely followed by Siobhan McG.

Len Kelleher

Corin King

The second round had us travel across the country to the west coast, with the feature being tidal, you don’t get much time to train unless your there a few days before the competition. Ladies and juniors were run off in their entirety on Saturday, closing off their national champs. Junior Men Saw Corin take gold again and in turn made him National Champ for this year.

Coran King

Dave Crerar

Emer Farrell came first for Junior Ladies. Senior Men were run off on Sunday with a tight race to the podium. Moe Kelleher came 1st sealing him his National Champs Trophy for this year, with me in 2nd and Len Kelleher in Third. So this year the top Irish men are Myself, Len Kelleher. and Moe Kelleher.

Dave Crerar

Kim Sikerman

Jake King

Results:

Men K1
1: Moe Kelleher
2: Len Kelleher
3: Dave Crerar

Ladies K1
1: Kim Sikerman
2: Siobhan Mc Griskin
3: Muirean Lynch

JNR Men K1
1: Corin King
2: Eoin Farrell
3: Jake King

JNR Ladies
1: Caoimhe Farrell
2: Emer Farrell

Mens C1
1: Dave Crerar
2: John O’Rourke

Irish National Champs Round 1

2008-04-06T11:20:00.001-07:00

Irish National Champs Round 1

Dave Crerar

The first round of the Irish national Champs went of this past weekend in Limerick. With cold weather and exams looming the turnout was mediocre compared to previous years, but the tunes were blasting out and we still went along to have a bit of craic. As the feature is non retainable we all got 4 runs in the first found, which is pretty sweet as you get more paddling time. We had a great junior turnout this year also.

Len Kelleher

Anthony Yapp

The heats went off without a hitch, the mens was a close comp all the way to the end, the Kelleher bro’s giving it hard as per usual and Neil Gibson and myself in hot pursuit all the way to the finals, however in the end it was the older Moe Kelleher that took gold, Gibson second and Len third, bowzie 4th and myself 5th.

Coran, Jnr Number 1

Neil Gibson

We had a bit of a charade played out on Saturday afternoon when the ladies refused to continue, as it was too cold, and so they retired to the comfort of some tea and cake, only in Ireland. Their finals were played out today and Kim was the outright winner. Juniors was an interesting comp, some finding it hard to catch the wave, we even had a kid out in a Jackson Kayaks Fun 1, which I thought was pretty cool.

Kelleher Bro's

Event one of the two part series went off without a hitch, Bowzie was great and had everyone register, organised and on the water on time, which I believe, is relatively unheard of here in Ireland.

Kim Sikerman

Jenny Kilbride

Prizes were sponsored by Munster Dive and Canoe and Kayaking.ie. Round two will be taking place in two weeks in Clifden. A big shout out is in order for all the organisers and competitors and of course all the judges who froze for two days some not even getting a chance to paddle, thanks a million and see you in a few weeks.

Len Kelleher

Dave Crerar

Photo’s taken by Ross Redmond & Dave Crerar

Schools Out

2008-03-20T03:53:00.000-07:00

Spring is finally here and college has just finished up for Easter. That’s two weeks off, well that’s what they say and then they give you 7 assignments, but I decided to head west to where the Irish water was, to get the as much paddling as possible before I had to sit in the library for hours on end.

So I packed my gear and hopped into the jeep, and off to the west cost I went. There were only a few spots working out west, so we headed off to them for a few days play. Jackie O, Moogie, and Bowzie were but a few that joined in.

The plan was to head to Galway and paddle at Tuam, a river hole and then off to Clifden, which is a tidal hole and in my opinion the best play-spot in Ireland. The group were really going for it, it was sweet.There is nothing better than driving across Ireland when the weather is good. The sunsets can be unreal and especially after the last storms of winter.

It was good to meet up with old friends and go for a paddle, but it is March in Ireland and it was bloody cold , and mitts were the order of the day. Four days with two sessions each has me beat and sadly feckin’ college work beckoned me back home, but not long till National Champs and more road trips…. Till then I’m out… DC

Photo's by Jackie O & Dave Crerar

2008-01-10T08:09:00.000-08:00

Last weekend brought about my first day at work with kayaking.ie, it was great to be back on the water and even more fun to be sharing it with a group of new paddling mates.

We started off on Saturday, the sun was shining the waters on the Inny were perfect and it was the glorious temperature of 2 degrees celcius, yes that’s two above freezing, welcome home Davey boy.

Surfing, tail-squirts and spins were the order of the day for the first of Alex Stanley’s Freestyle Fundamentals courses. Well run, Moe Kelleher and I had our lesson plans all set and took to the water.

The group were great fun, advancing at every bit of criticism and enjoying the water even though it was Baltic. Despite the cold weather our group excelled and by the end of the weekend everyone was surfing and tail-squirting their way down the river.

Check out Kayaking.ie for more freestyle courses in the near future

2007-10-20T16:05:00.000-07:00

So fall has finally fallen on Ontario, with the leaves turning all shades of brown. My mother has come to visit and I decided to show her the real Canada, and not just Toronto. So with the help of our trusty sat nav system we set off East accross Ontario and up to Ottawa. I had never really stopped in Ottawa to take in how beautiful it is. Even though it was raining torentially we still braved the streets to see the sights, but quickly.

Once we had soaked in enough of Ottawa, literally, we drove on up to Beachburg, where we stopped by in Wilderness Tours and then into Sharkys for dinner and a few welcomed beers after our 8 hours of driving. Saturday brought an early start, needless to say I couldn't have cared less, its been nearly 2 months since I've lifted a paddle and so I was deligthed to see some familiar faces and get onto the water.

We started with a ramp sesh in Keenerville and then headed on down the river. Marg, my mother, hadn't been on the water in five years, she had broken her ankle pthonging a drop and never went back, so we expected this reintroduction to be sketchy. But no, down the ramp she went, and layed down the standard of the day when she whipped out a nice ariel poo turn, go on Marg you legend. We rafted down some rapids and went duckie style down the rest.

Paddling on the Ottawa is amazing during the summer, paddling during fall is breathtaking, although the river is low the fall colours are amazing and the silence when you paddle down the river is really special. I have to say a special thanks to Corey Volt, Joel and Katie Kowalski for helping me fet mom back on the water again. And of corse Sharky. However corney it may sound its pretty cool sharing the water with your mom. Well done Marg.

While racing accross Alagonquin park i got stoped for doing 130 in an 80 zone, the look on the police mans face when I handed him an Irish driving licence was priceless, needless to say he hadn't a clue what I was saying and so had to let myself and my mother go without any charges. Who said being Irish was worthless?

Ok I must head for dinner in our Huntsville hotel, while savouring this lovely sunset. Check in soon for more, DC

2007-08-16T06:41:00.000-07:00

Ottawa River

So after nearly 2 months in Chicago I go the finger out and moved up to the Ottawa and I’ve been here nearly two weeks now.

The Ottawa River is a playboaters heaven.You have a choice of so many different features to play on every day. Thanks to Moe Kelleher I've been set up pretty good, I'm working with Wilderness Tours working with their kayak school and their Keener program.

This basically means I'm set up in a sweet little cabin on the side of the river facing the first big rapid of the river and two really nice features called baby face and corner wave.

Garb came in last week and so we’ve been down there whenever we get a chance and we got a few pictures the other day of myself and Moe on garb. I’ve three more weeks here before I go across to Toronto for uni. So stay tuned for more photos and maybe a little video.

Click here for more pics....

2007-01-08T08:11:00.000-08:00

So alls been pretty quiet on my front of late, untill the Flesk Jam late December, Micky Barry put on an excellent show with the event running smoothly, quite suprizing considering the amount of people there.

Picture there is courtesy of Conor Bredin. I'm glad to say I won the event, with Louis Kelleher coming 2nd and Colin Wong coming 3rd and keeping Cork in it.

Check out the Video Secetion for some fo the heats, taken from Daithi Power. DC

2006-11-08T01:33:00.000-08:00

I know its late, but check out the Voyagers in France last june....

And dont forget to check out my photo section for all new photos of my European tour.

Later..... dc

2006-08-17T09:56:00.000-07:00

It took a while but Ive finaly got around to posting for the last time. Im only home two weeks and it seems ages, but it has to be said this was one of the best trips of my life. Never before have I pushed myself and scared myself so much. However this is what i think made this particular trip so memorable. This trip couldnt have been done without the help of a few people. So I must say thanks to Munster Dive & Canoe , Lowe Alpine, and of corse jackie henessey and colin wong.

On my last week in Norway I competed in the Sjoa extreme festival. I did well in my time trials but failed miserably in the boater cross! Rather imbarasing realy!

With festivals come parties and we didn't hold back at all as can be seen below. Pimps and Ho's was teh theme. A great night was had by all which was polished of by an early morning drive down a Norweegen holside by Rob Coffey. Quote of the night... "oh hello rosie, i didnt see you there" kala oriodan while sitting ontop of rosie. Until next time folks... video up some time soon. DC

2006-07-07T05:28:00.000-07:00

When i say Norway inevitably causes brown wet man i meant it! Just here over a week now and its unreal.

There are rivers everywhere. We have been tickin of runs all over the place here in voss, Including a river called the Lower Myrkadelsilva which, it has to be said, is the hardest river I've ever done. 5 hours and serious courage needed......

We were introduced to two Norweigen boys in the Skydive campsite who took myself and Colin on a mission to find nosebreaker, did we read the guide book..... no! We hiked up and down a narrow train track along the Rhondelselva, only to notice a few seconds after we got through a tunnel and off the tracks that bullet trains make no noise at all, moral of the story norweigens are nuts! till next time.....

2006-07-07T05:16:00.000-07:00

And so Switzerland ended with a bang, snax set his hand on fire, Jackie got the drunkest I've ever seen anyone get and we had a whopper, and when i say whopper i mean whopper, drive. We drove all the way up through Europe to Kiel to catch our ferry.

I am begining to think travelling with mr. wong and miss hennessy means car trouble. Last year they wrecked a van in france and this year while on the autobahn we were forced to make an emergency stop(this being illegal by the way) in order to let the radior explode into the cockpit of the van. After the minor car trouble and some dodgy border inspections, we made it safely to the ferry. After a day on the ferry we pulled into the last few days of the voss extreme festival.

We're camping in a sky diving training center so each morning is like world war 3, with people droping out of the sky all day long.

Norway so far has left nothing to the imagination providing sweet paddling that inevitably causes a little brown wet.... more to come soon....

2006-06-24T03:38:00.000-07:00

We've hit Switzerland and man have we landed on our feet, staying in a chalet only 30 minutes from a handful of good runs. This country is some sight, with miles and miles of snow tipped mountains sprawling around in all directions and wee little creeks raging in-between these vallies. Unfortunately internet cafés are non existent here…..

With the help of the lads in Swiss Raft Adventure (http://www.swiftraftadventures.ch/) we have been shown some of the regions classics. A sweet creek called the Medals Bach near a town called Decentieshas provided much entertainment with crisp clean 15 foot drops and exciting rapids. It has to be said however that this river has stripped me of my dignity on more than one occasion. We also got in a hairy river called the Sant Vixerine, which begins with 70ft of pure narl and a play run by the name of the Vorderhein.

Not every kayaking trip is solely about kayaking, again thanks to Swiss Raft Adventure we were introduced to canyoning, ‘twas quite the craic ab-sailing down creeks that with any water would be amazing runs. We were abseiled down 50ft waterfalls and dropped down 20ft slides.
We have another week or so here and then we are off to Norway… the red bull mountain bike trials are on here in Flims at hte moment so we should have some good fotos up of that soon...

2006-06-24T02:48:00.000-07:00

Another two weeks have slipped by and we are now in Switzerland. We got to the Guil and the Durance gorge done before my shoulder went again (damn Corsica). Mr Wong took a wee blast in Embrun, before he and the girls took on the Durance gorge, were talking (go on rosser) Kate, Kim, Kala, Michelle and Jackie all did well including the portage of death, and by portage of death I mean you wanted to die when you were doing it.

One of the days we didn’t get any paddling in we headed up to the Biasse to take a wee gander at its legendary class 4 tight rapids, but we decided it was to mank to run so just chilled and had a walk around the waterfalls that feed the dirty beast.

And so we moved onto Switzerland, 6 hours of driving with a stop over in a posh lay-by which had swings, bloody swings. We got into Switzerland after a wee drug interrogation and then headed up to Colin’s mate, Jared who is hosting us up in a mountain side chalet. We’ve ran a few rivers but no pics yet… I’ll get em pics of or sexy mugs up soon……..

2006-06-10T06:32:00.000-07:00

Week two and only two hundred euro later, I have completed a week of guiding and have managed to complete some of Frances classics with Colin and jackie. The group we had were great craic, we had 6 guys out from voyagers kayak club in Dublin(www.voyagers.ie) They provided us with great craic and so,e good kayaking.

The guys got the Upper and middle guil, the durance and some good training in on the slalom corse in l'Argentiere(excuse the spelling).

Thanks to the guys we were put up in a hill side villa hot tub and sauna included! We saw a huge improvement in the guys kayaking over the week as can be seen from the pics.... thanks lads and I'll have the video up as soon as possible!

After the guys left myself and colin got the guil from chateau q down to the lake a few times twas the craic.... Till next time folks.....

2006-05-18T13:55:00.000-07:00

Check Out Gashed in our Videos section, a recent production made by me and cillian delaney.... Enjoy

Video Section

2006-05-18T11:06:00.000-07:00

Whats up,

I'm Dave Crerar, Im known for many a thing but what you will hear watch and read here is the life i lead while kayaking, the banter, the tears and of corse the kayaking.....

Later