River Kayaking with West Coast Kayaking
River kayaking means many things to many different people. Rivers in Ireland are graded from Class 1 to Class 5 depending on difficulty – and we love them all ! Beginners can really get a feel for the river and learn all of the strokes and techniques required on class 1 and 2 rivers before moving on to the harder rivers at the grades above – or not - the beauty of the sport is that YOU decide how hard or easy you want to take things. Leisurely float down a class 1 river ? Flat out and pushing hard on class 5 ? No problem, we do it all, just tell us where you are at and we will take it from there. We use the latest Dagger GTX kayaks and run trips and courses for beginners from multiple locations such as Doorley Park in Sligo and the Boyle River. For improvers the Easky river provides an adrenaline filled trip and a chance to hone those whitewater skills. For the advanced rivers like the Roogagh and Glenarm never fail to thrill.
We also run international trips. A weekend spent on the class 3/4 Treweryn River in North Wales is the perfect way to pack as much kayaking into one weekend as humanly possible ! Hot showers, changing rooms and a cafe make a very comfortable playground.
Come the springtime we also travel further afield. When the snow starts melting in the beautiful French and Italian Alps our kayaking playgrounds fill with water and they have the added advantage of sunshine and warm weather too ! Later this year we will also be running a trip to Panama for some of the best whitewater on the planet. These trips can again be tailored to almost any level of paddler from level 2 upwards – just contact us and have a chat about where you are at and we can design a package to suit you.
We also run the full range of Canoeing Ireland certified courses and assessments from levels 1 – 5. Details of each syllabus can be found here:
These training courses will be run on a variety of rivers depending on the level of the group and the weather conditions on the day. Training can also be tailored to the needs of your group. You don’t want a specific course but your group or club would like to focus on river running techniques or group dynamics ? No problem – just let us know in advance and we can put a format together that meets your needs.
