Friday 30 July 2010

The Month of July

July is traditionally our busiest month. This year has been no exception! Firstly there was the much fated Foundation, Safety and Rescue Course - this course saw attendance beset by illness and exploding engines. Well done to Tony and Phil for passing.
Then came a weekend of BCU Two Star. Congratulations to Harry, Phil and Amy on gaining this award and I hope to see you guys again on the water soon,
The last weekend of good weather saw me out on the hills taking Adrian through his NNAS Silver award. Congratulations on passing the assessment, I'm sure you now know exactly where Cranbury Rock is! I’m sure Adrian took away a lot of new techniques that will keep him safe in the hills and add to his enjoyment of our wonderful uplands.
Then it started to rain! Normally this is a good sign, but for the weekend of a Three Star training course this was bad news. We have to run these courses on grade 2 water. Trying to find a river without a flood warning that had water in it was impossible. So, sorry guys and see you on the rescheduled course on 7th & 8th August!

Our other news is welcome aboard Jonny! The last time I meet Jonny he was 12 and paddling slalom C1, now he's at uni and regularly paddling things his mum doesn't ask questions about. Jonny's going to be joining us to help out with some of the more technical courses, so look out for him if you're paddling with us this summer.

Those of you who’ve paddled with us for sometime know my views on open canoes – old playboaters never die, they just get in a spin! Well we’ve purchased two Venture Ontario Opens from Endless River in Worcestershire. These boats are fantastic – low to the water, easy to paddle, with a good turn of speed and very manoeuvrable. If you want your mind changing on open canoes or just fancy giving it a go, why not come down to the river one Thursday and try one.

On the SUP front, the board has at last been in salt water! Rides waves like a dream, even in a closed out 4 foot swell at Borth. Forecast said waves would be a foot, but didn’t account for the wind - the line up ended somewhere off the coast of Ireland. Anyway I still had fun (among the odd wipeout).

See you all out on the water again soon!