Back in business!

Paddlemaster’s blog, star date….. Well it feels a bit like that. I didn’t realise it has been so long since the last one. No, I haven’t been travelling at warp speed and arrived five years before I blasted off, but some days it feels like it.

The main reason for no blog is I haven’t been doing much paddling. I did have the opportunity to go a bit further with paddling and finally realised it’s the being outside I enjoy and not placing myself in immediate danger - that is my reason for being on the water. That’s one reason I also go underwater when ever there’s an opportunity. A chance to meet some wonderful creatures, rather than pushing the limits of physics and biology. This has resulted in me becoming a PADI Divemaster.

The second reason has been the ARK accountant. As posted on Facebook – no soul, a swinging brick for a heart and profit/loss spreadsheet for guidance. She works on the basis of no profit, no business. Funny how she’s the one who attends church on a Sunday!

For me it’s spiritual. I could paddle without the business, but it is one way of broadening my coaching. At work and in a club,  I would be stuck with kids all the time. Many of whom don’t want to be there and the activity offered becomes so watered down, it doesn’t resemble the kayaking as I know it. When training as a L2 coach I hated the ‘games’, just learn to paddle the boat or go home was my philosophy. That’s probably why I was crap at sports at school, what is the point in chasing some ball around a piece of flattened field? Get out and explore, there’s no rules beyond the gate.

Also coaching privately has bought me into contact with some wonderful people. Many who have become friends and it has also given me the chance to introduce old friends into a new world. Come join the darkside where flowing water is revered rather than feared!

I would like to thank a number of people out there for their support and encouragement, but can’t publish names for legal reasons. Phil H – thanks for your business advice, you put the soul back into it. Phil T we paddled far too many rivers together, shame he’s defected to bikes. Billy H – we just can’t go there and finally Pam, where can I even begin? Not only has she supported me through life and 10 years of AR Kayaking, but if it hadn’t been for Pam threatening to burn the boat 20 years ago, I would have been out of paddling, growing a beard and wearing pink trousers. The last one being grounds for divorce!

Seriously, if life becomes too serious – get a boat and paddle.