Coasteering: the cool new adventure activity

COASTEERING is an awkward amalgam of the words “coast” and “orienteering” and it essentially involves going from point A to point B along the coastline, avoiding C — the soft stretches of sandy beach.

Tue, 22 Apr, 2014 - 01:00

Conor Power

Accompanied by my 13-year-old son, we set out in a group of eight on a cool March morning from Garretstown Beach near Kinsale with G’Town Surf School, who have recently branched into this relatively new and intriguing discipline. We stood on a grassy height overlooking the beach in our coasteering gear, listening to the preliminary safety talk by Paddy Keating. A qualified coasteering instructor, he received his training in the UK, where the sport was conceived and developed by a bunch of hardy Welsh devotees.

Paddy was showing us how to jump from a height into water without coming to grief. One step well forward, then swing your arms forward, letting them give you forward momentum. It’s basically all about staying moving forward. Then close your legs and jump straight down, feet first, ensuring to bend the knees slightly, just in case you hit something solid — a highly unlikely event, both Paddy and owner Steve Tobin assured us.

Everything seemed clear in our heads, so off we trekked across the grassy edge of Ireland, before walking out onto its craggy fringes of unforgiving dark rock. We walked out along a wide finger of rocky peninsula. Paddy was standing close to the edge of the rock and pointing down into a narrow inlet. My instinct was to move away from there, but in coasteering, you often do just the opposite of what you’re supposed to do, it seems.

“Right. We’re going to jump in there. The swell will carry you through that narrow passage there that we call ‘the credit card slot’ and then you’ll get onto that rock there with all the seaweed on it and make your way out.”

I knew this was the kind of thing you do when you “coasteer”, but standing there with the cold March wind whipping at my bare fingers and nose, I didn’t feel quite ready for it. Paddy was saying something about the depth being okay and making sure to bend the knees. I looked around at the others, but they were all lining up in obeisance. The question “Are you serious?” was on the tip of my tongue.

The first man jumped. I was next. Mild fear for a split-second, followed by exhilaration. As soon as I resurfaced, I remembered to tap my head twice and give the thumbs up to let everyone know that I was fine (otherwise, Paddy had said, you run the risk of getting mouth-to-mouth resuscitation from one of the instructors), then started swimming like a shipwrecked pirate being chased by a shark. With the help of the lads, I clambered up gasping onto firm rough rock again.

Once I got my breath back, we were off over the rocks once more, finding large pools of water to jump into and swim/clamber out of again. In coasteering, there are two kinds of swimming — “aggressive”, which is essentially just swimming as best you can in an undignified manner in your buoyancy aid; and then there’s the other kind which is floating along in very shallow water where there are rocks just underneath. For this, you lift up your lower legs, assuming a sky-diving position and do a shallow breaststroke to pull yourself along. It’s the preferable option to walking in an area where you can easily twist an ankle. The water was cold but moving around does get you warmed up fast, although I’d advise wearing diving gloves to keep your fingers warm.

As we continued our trek along the coastline, the jump-off points began to get higher (but only if you’re comfortable to do it). It struck me as we were going along that coasteering involves going to the places and doing the sort of things that your mammy warned you not to. This explains part of the addictive drive to keep going — knowing that more adventure and challenge await around the next corner. One minute, you’re literally catching your breath on a rock, wondering if you should think about going somewhere warm and dry. The next, you’re all enthusiastic again about leaping into a ravine screaming “woo-hoo!”.

Coasteering also gives you a unique perspective of the coastline that you wouldn’t get under any other circumstances. It’s a bit like being shipwrecked under controlled conditions, where your survival is assured and the emphasis is on fun.

When we finished, I was exhausted but I was already thinking of my next day out. One of the reasons for the growth in popularity of coasteering is that it’s an activity you can throw yourself into and do to some degree of competence from day one. The other reason is that it’s a group activity. You rely on each other to stay safe, so it’s becoming very popular with groups where team-building and physical enjoyment are the order of the day. And because it’s never too late to learn to swim, it’s also never too late to start getting intimate with the craggy ends of our coastline.

WHERE TO NEXT?

We sampled coasteering with Steve Tobin of Garretstown Surf School. Coasteering is €30 per person but group rates are available. For more information, see www.surfgtown.com or call 087-8768549.

Coasteering is catching on, with many adventure centres adding it to their menu — but some without having adequate insurance. It’s important to check this out.

Cork

Garretstown Surf School, www.surfgtown.com, Steve Tobin. 087-8768549; Swell Surf School, Inch. www.swellsurfschool.ie. 087-9803206

Some good advice for swimmers and surfers...Know your beach.http://t.co/xt8VuMm4Hx http://t.co/jODk0XLExt
— GTown_Surf (@GTown_Surf) February 26, 2014