I was looking for an alternative gift for a friend last Christmas and came across a deal for powerboating with Adventure Training Ireland. The lads run city kayaking, powerboating and sailing from their base at North Wall Quay by the Jeanie Johnston. We booked in for last Saturday morning and on the stroke of 11am, made our way out onto the river for the two hour experience. Jonathan, our guide, ran us through the basics of powerboating and then handed the controls over to us. We cruised up the Liffey as far as the Ha’penny, getting to see a few bridges as we went but the low tide wouldn’t allow us to venture further.
Turning around and heading for the harbour, we got some practice at slaloming through the dolphins that protect the Samuel Beckett bridge and passed the Lauren L luxury yaucht moored by Sir John Rogerson’s Quay. The rent on that for a week? €700k. Once we’d cleared the East Link, it was time to take the speed up a notch and we spotted a tall ship in the distance. Racing out to meet it, we saw it was the Cisne Branco from Brazil with one of the Dublin tugs waiting to escort her into the quays. We spent time in the bay learning how to do some more advanced manoeuvres before returning to overtake the incoming tall ship. It’s hard to describe the thrill of a powerboat experience but I’d highly recommend checking it out at some point. ATI’s site is over here and I’m hoping to do the city kayaking soon. Good times.