The PaddlerUK magazine March 2015 issue 1 | Page 5

ANDREW REGAN

Finding the spark

again…

In starting this piece I can’t help but comment on the recent kayak related
tragedies that have struck the kayaking community at home and abroad. Juanito
de Uguarte was somebody I had met regularly on the Ottawa River in Canada.
Mostly I just spent time listening in on his coaching tips
and taking note of his endless stream of positivity that
he gave to paddlers he was coaching everyday. We
didn’t speak a great deal, only to greet and thank each
other when we worked together to help in customer
rescues. he was just one of those people that you look
up to without even knowing why and I know the
people who do know him well are going to miss him
very much.

Getting to the Alps was the easy bit. The University of
Limerick Kayak Club make its annual pilgrimage to the
Sesia valley in Northern Italy and I hopped on the
banter bus and two blurry days later we were on the
Sesia River. I helped to run an intense advanced week
course for the club mainly consisting of two river trips
a day and reached a peak on the advanced Egua r