I first moved to Ireland in 2019. There is a visa for a year from America and I thought, well how wonderful would that be. I'm a bit Irish sure yeah but so is every other American. When I first moved here I thought I'd probably love it and do I. They can't keep me away. I lived here for almost two years and have come back every fall and spring since, (except this fall), to paddle and teach dance.
When I moved to Dublin I started swing dancing and that actually changed my life. I have danced my whole life, in ballet, jazz, etc. but when I found lindy hop, and started tap dancing again I realized that they're dances you can do your whole life, and still teach and social dance, for a long time. The pandemic came about and I decided to stay because I had a perfectly average and happy quality of life that I made for myself, and was hoping to hold onto until the main lockdowns were over. I had moved across the world and was loving it, and hadn't even gone paddling yet. This was a great choice, and I was here more than half a year more because they kept extending my visa and I was not about to argue with that.
So once lockdown was lifted, even though I lived in Dublin, I had wanted to paddle on the west coast and see some islands. I grew up on Bainbridge Island, Washington, did ocean activities in the summer, and have only ever lived on small islands, besides Minnesota. I got in contact with Chris McDaid who kindly offered to lend me a boat, paddle and other kit. Up until right now, May 2024, I had barely any paddle gear in Ireland, and haven’t even owned that much to begin with, as someone who constantly moves. So we went out to Mason Island and what a huge pleasure to meet so many lovely paddlers who immediately started pointed fingers at me – which was a good sign. Chris will never let me forget when I jokingly said “back in the day” as a 23 year old. Bless my heart. I met other paddlers then and paddled for some weekends with Cathal in Clew Bay and in Killarney after that which was great fun and saw Mic and Colin some of those times too. I love paddling on the west coast, I hope I still do during this trip.
I hope to be at this years symposium, I missed last years but really enjoy being in groups of such experienced and kind paddlers. I went in Dungarvan in 2021, Ballycastle in 2022, and then to Nigel’s symposium in Anglesey, 2023. I met Steve Smith in Dungarvan and he invited me up to Northern Ireland to paddle, which I did several times as well, and he became my support for this trip later when I decided to do it. I met Jon Hynes in Dungarvan as well and he actually put the whole thing in my mind. I had watched his documentary a couple of years before and then upon meeting him he said cheerfully “fantastic, glad you liked it, when are you going to do the trip?” and I stuttered something about oh heavens no I couldn’t. And I’ve been thinking about it ever since. It’s been incredible to receive so much advice and knowledge from Sue Honan, Jon Hynes, John Dempsey, Michael O’Farrell, Steve Smith and every Irish paddler I’ve met has been so supportive.
I decided in my winter season in 2022/23, to give the trip a try in summer 2024. I work at the Outward Bound School in Minnesota leading dog sledding and cross country skiing expeditions, and used to do our 28 day canoe trips in the summer and a course kayaking in the Apostle Islands. One night on an 8 day winter expedition, cooking over and eating around a massive fire in the -30 degree (Celsius) conditions, it suddenly clicked to commit. And it’s been great for my forward purposeful thinking of physical and mental preparation. When I got back from that course, suddenly I got tunnel vision into this amazing thing and it’s all I’ve been thinking about for the last year and a half.
This last summer I worked at Camp Orkila in the San Juan Islands, in Washington State, assistant directing their teen expeditions program, as well as leading a one month kayak trip around the islands with teenagers. I grew up in that area and had worked there before for a couple of seasons leading sailing expeditions and paddled there, and part of the decision to go back was for this great program for a month on the water. This was a great test to see as well, do I hate paddling every day for a month? Nope, it was a dream, and my participants were such amazing, driven young people, like me when I was 16. I stayed for the fall as well, assistant directing the outdoor education program, and trained solo on the weekends. This was great for practicing skills and going to my favorite islands.
So now, I am so excited to be living outside again, as I'm quite comfortable doing and we’ll give it a go and I’ll do my best. What I have learned leading trips with Outward Bound is that my risk management is quite good, and I’ll be deciding on wind, weather, tide/swell, moon phase, how my body is feeling and coastal terrain for the day, before I get into that boat. The purpose for me is to enjoy it and to get to be on an expedition. If I’m stressed the whole time, there is no point, although I’ll probably be shaking with all kinds of emotion at the launch, but I’m okay with that.
Here are photos from Dungarvan, Ballycastle and Anglesey symposiums.
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