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Displaying items by tag: Bressie

Musician Niall Breslin has set out on a challenging 300km voyage kayaking the River Shannon from Dowra to Limerick to raise funds for mental-health resources.

Breslin, or Bressie as he’s widely known, is part of a group with five other inexperienced kayakers taking part in The Rising charity challenge, as Newstalk reports.

“I haven’t thought it through in any shape,” Bressie told Newstalk’s The Hard Shoulder before heading to the start in Co Cavan,

“I don’t fit in a kayak as well which is a bad starting point - so, I’m kind of squeezing myself into it.”

Commenting on social media on Friday (30 June) after his first day on the paddle, from Dowra to Carrick-on-Shannon, Bressie said: “It was no what I expected. A real challenge.”

He added: “We had to talk the first 3km because of rocks and how shallow it was. Lough Allen hit us hard. Wasn’t in a great mood. We had to fight every second to get across. We are all exhausted and I also sprained [an] ankle but we are still rocking.

“Thank you so much to everyone who came out to support us today. Really helped get us through.”

Newstalk has more on the story HERE.

Published in Kayaking

About Pamela Lee, Irish Offshore Sailor

Ireland has produced some of the world’s most dedicated offshore sailors, and Pamela Lee of Greystones is one of them. She has made a name for herself in the sailing world, having worked as a mate on a charter Super-yacht for two and a half years. After coming ashore, she has been fully committed to her offshore sailing ambitions since 2019.

Lee has raced in various craft, including Figaro 3s, Class 40, Tp 52s, and multihulls, and has eight transatlantic crossings under her belt. In partnership with Kenny Rumball, Lee supported Rumball’s La Solitaire du Figaro sailing campaign to secure the Irish berth in the proposed Mixed Offshore Keelboat event for the Paris 2024 Olympics.

One of Lee’s stated main aims is to promote female empowerment in sport, and she set out to establish a double-handed Round Ireland speed record with Englishwoman Cat Hunt in the winter of 2020. This campaign gained much publicity, and Lee expressed pride in bringing sailing and offshore sailing, in particular, into the conversation for 2020.

To further her offshore sailing career, Lee moved to France, where she has recently secured a place to skipper a yacht in the Transat Jacques Vabre Challenge in October 2023. Lee’s passion and dedication to offshore sailing are inspiring, and her achievements are a testament to her hard work and perseverance.