The PaddlerUK magazine March 2015 issue 1 | Page 6

ThePaddlerUK 6

spent a fantastic two weeks in Norway finishing with the
famous Pimp and Ho party at the Sjoa River Festival
before a three-day drive back to the UK. Over the
summer I discovered that always travelling with the same
crew can become a comfort zone in itself. By breaking
out of this comfort zone I managed to paddle with at
least 20 different groups of people over the summer.
It’s fascinating how different crews no matter what their
ability level, operate in different ways on the river in how
they communicate, run safety and paddle and I felt I was
in a state of constant learning throughout my time
abroad and loved every minute. The only advice I can
offer to people is that while having a crew that you
know and trust is always a huge asset, you can take so
much from paddling with new people all the time.
A minor shoulder injury near the end of the Norway
trip felt like a minor blip in an otherwise fantastic
summer. Unfortunately the minor shoulder turned out
to be more serious then first thought after re-injuring
it while working and I had to undertake physio
exercises six times a day to be able to get fit for the
European Championships in Slovakia.
After a fantastic summer full of wilderness
experiences and adventures down new rivers around
mainland Europe and Norway I just felt disinterested
and fed-up at myself for not being able to paddle to
my ability in the competition. I got home and
immediately began a semester of college but the
disinterest remained.

Photo: Mike Shaw

I took up board surfing and forgot about kayaking for a
few weeks, finally getting myself back in a kayak at the
end of October for a high water day on the Clare Glens,
which ended in my first swim in Ireland for four years. My
shoulder was still hurting and I wasn't enjoying kayaking.

Their hilarious phone call and coercion got me out of
bed and to the high water river. I remembered the
feeling of redemption and the buzz of overcoming
self-doubt when I nailed my line on the rapid that had
made me swim weeks beforehand. High fives at the
end of the river with the people I like to kayak with
most and I could feel the love returning.
Last Saturday was the day I realised I will be kayaking
until I can no longer physically kayak anymore. I kept
up my involvement in running the Ennistymon Race
and although it was a day tinged in sadness, as we
remembered Shane and Niall, the atmosphere and
buzz about the place was amazing. Meeting friends I
hadn't seen for months, greeting new people I hadn't
met before and just joking around and laughing all day
whilst running waterfalls made me realise that these
were the sort of experiences that got people like
Shane, Niall and Juanito addicted to the sport in the
first place and falling away from this atmosphere and
community would be a massive mistake.
I'll sign off by leaving some a video I created
recently of an amazing summer.Thanks for
Reading and have a great 2015 – Andrew

EuroTrash | Summer 2014

I didn’t hesitate and

Shortly after this news of various tragic events began
to filter through. I focused my attention on a tough
semester of assignments and exams and forgot about
kayaking completely. Luckily I have good friends who
rang me at 8am the morning after my exams finished
having probably recognized my fading from the scene
over the past few months.

Andrew Regan
https://vimeo.com/11