Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Storm Desmond Creates Rapids For Kayakers, Big Swells For Surfing

20th December 2015

#StormDesmond - With many parts of the country still recovering from the effects of Storm Desmond earlier this month – and Galway in particular facing a €12 million clean-up bill – it might be surprising to learn that some people turned the conditions to their advantage.

But that's exactly what a group of intrepid kayakers did in Ennistymon, Co Clare, as the floodwaters turned part of the Cullenagh River into raging rapids – and local TD Timmy Dooley happened to be there to record it all on video, as the Belfast Telegraph reports.

Elsewhere, Northern Irish big wave surfer Al Mennie wasn't about to pass up the opportunity to paddle out to the 20-foot swells generated by the storm, captured in all their glory in a photo gallery on Uproxx.

Published in Kayaking
MacDara Conroy

About The Author

MacDara Conroy

Email The Author

MacDara Conroy is a contributor covering all things on the water, from boating and wildlife to science and business

We've got a favour to ask

More people are reading Afloat.ie than ever thanks to the power of the internet but we're in stormy seas because advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news sites, we haven’t put up a paywall because we want to keep our marine journalism open.

Afloat.ie is Ireland's only full–time marine journalism team and it takes time, money and hard work to produce our content.

So you can see why we need to ask for your help.

If everyone chipped in, we can enhance our coverage and our future would be more secure. You can help us through a small donation. Thank you.

Direct Donation to Afloat button