Turned out nice again!

The weather has been outstanding! While looking at the home page on the website I realised that the video of the Smurfs heading off to Jackfield was shot on 2^nd October 2010, how different the weather is a year on. We headed down the Severn prepared for a cold session and were quite happy not to be freezing. Yesterday I went to Burton on Trent for a FSRT provider’s course and wearing a drysuit became more an act of endurance that the necessity it had been last October. I could have got away with sharing intimate contact with the water, but there’s probably a very good reason that the water of the Trent became famous for being turned into beer and not taken for its healing properties.

Hence today has become a rest day, much needed after spending Friday night listening to the traffic on the A38. Why do hotel chains put their buildings on industrial estates? Certainly isn’t for the benefit of their guests. Rest day means the course calendar has finally been updated and I may even make a start on the staff profiles. As for the shop prices, this may take a lot longer as I’m not yet suffering from the sort of downward spiralling geekery that motivates me to spend hours producing PayPal button scripts. Just the thought of it is a cure for insomnia, so if you’re after a bargin checkout the shop. The prices are listed still haven’t had the VAT updated on many items.

I know we’re still not as cheap as some of the outdoor superstores, but there is still a degree of ethics in our lines. We do source from UK companies (even if they choose to get the stuff made up aboard – their choice not ours) and paying a little more to the manufacturer helps pay for continuing research and development. Something that is being eroded by the big stores buying in bulk, the amount they buy means they could be stocked for up to two years and the price they pay means less funding is available for R&D. This why boat design may not be changing a fast as it was ten years ago and why designs have ceased being radical. So next time you see a cheap piece of kit at a large superstore just off the motorway – just think about what you’re buying into. As for ebay – don’t even get me started on that one!

Anyway, back to the weather. The dry spell may have seen some rivers at an all time low, but it has meant no summer floods for the first time in years and a summer season without any courses being rescheduled and no dodging day boats on the canal. It has also meant more clients out on the water and hopefully more people deciding to take up paddling as a sport.

As the long days of summer drop into the dark depths of winter the rivers will once more fill and begin to flow. When this happens expect to see us out on the water and hopefully you will feel inspired to join us!