Liverpool University Canoe Club

Only 2 and a bit weeks left of term, but still plenty to keep you amused.

Christie Cup tomorrow!!  Boys and girls.  We won last year…  Still time to get on the teams.  Also would be really good to see everyone at Revs afterwards for (celebratory) drinks and pizzas.

13th March - Safety Day

17th March - St Paddy’s day Hardman crawl.  Set to me immemorable…

20th March - Hannah’s magical mystery tour.  Scotland people really really need to go.  Baked goodies offered for a helper organiser, river leaders and drivers…

21st March - last docks polo of the year. 

25th March (tbc) - AGM.  Chance to pick some new victims, sorry committee for next year.  Nominations are open on the forum.

SCOTLAND!!!!!!!!!!  Yay

****CONGRATULATIONS!!!!  Helen has become mummy to a beautiful baby boy :)   I hope that both of you are well and we get to meet him soon!  ****

Much less importantly, theses are all the amazingly exciting events planned so far:

Sunday 31st January: slalom practice at HPP  (James and Mary)
Weekend 13-14th Feb: slalom  (James and Mary)
Sunday 21st Feb: polo at the docks  (Emily)
Weekend 27-28th Feb: polo in Cardiff  (Emily)
Weekend 6-7th March: NSR  (Flic)
Saturday 20th March: pre-Scotland safety day. COMPULSARY IF YOU GO TO SCOTLAND  (Flic)
Weekend 13-14th March: Safety course
1-5th April: Scotland trip  (Flic)

The weekend’s paddle was very good, well done to our semi-freshers!

In total there was: me, stu, hannah, a hungova Mark B, lloyd, Scott, Ben and Oli!

We did the Leven - down to Backbarrow bridge. The bridge has suffered quite a lot of damage from the floods, and is blocked off to cars, but to our delight the rapid below it is still sweet :-). And then we carried on down and did the section below Backbarrow.

We finished with plenty of day light left so went and did the Kent. The rivers were flowing on a medium to low to our surprise but provided enjoyment to everyone. With team no faff we got off the Kent at around 5ish so plenty of time for the pub!

We did have lots of unfortunate swims by Ben - but it was his first time on white water and afterwards when he defrosted he said he had a real good time. Well done you, you did very well and conquered a lot of your fear

Nearly everyone took a roll under Backbarrow Bridge - I did and Mark did I think but we will blame it on him being hung over. Stu said lloyd was vertically upside-down even tho lloyd will say he was pulling a move!!

Further down river Scott took a very unfortunate swim on the Leven, quite a fun rapid came up around a blind bend, but was handled well by all.

Now everyone was warmed up it was on to the Kent! Nice level. S-bend was quite interesting and I think numerous rolls were taken at the bottom! I was stuck in a huge stopper for quite some time (ahem, I was playing) so Stu came down and decided to plough into me and try and knock me out which just resulted in both of us going over and me still being stuck in it and him getting out fine. I eventually got out and was still in my boat

Next was L-shaped weir where it was a little interesting with Hannah taking a swim just before the weir - but she was rescued swiftly and carried on. Force falls was good fun as usual - I think only stu stayed up right and got a good ‘boof’!

It was Oli and Scott’s first time and they thoroughly enjoyed the excitement of both rivers well done to all and thank you for a great day’s paddling!

Scotland - I think people should hurry up as Grey Corrie Lodge just about full (organisers Speak to Will) Easter is first weekend in April (1st - 5th)

Alps… not sure when end of summer term is but i hope it gets organised and goes ahead!!!

xxx

Forum discussion about 17th Jan trip report

This year’s christmas meal saw lots of stocking-related people descended on Revs for some christmas fun.  There were some fantastic costumes -big shout out to Lois and Kat for their amazing present costumes!  Some interesting ones…Ade’s fishnets.  Some fun but not entirely festive ones…Dennis the Menace.  Some matching ones…and some home-made ones.  I was very impressed :)  Some fantastic food, banter and even better cocktails later and it was time to head into the big city.  After a tour of Liverpool’s finest establishments we ended in the finest (and the busiest) of the lot - the Razzzzz!  A big thank you for to our very social social secs Squirrel and Soph for organising such a night of fun, hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did.

Merry Christmas!!!!  See you all in the new year, and indeed new decade.

BUCS slalom is next term - check your diary for the 13/14 Feb now - you can grab your place now by telling James/Mary, at the dinner tonight, at the pool session tommorow, or by email: slalom@lucanoe.info. Video of LUCC at BUCS slalom 2008:

If you want to know exactly what sort of excellent weekend you’d be letting yourself in for, ask anyone who went on the recent BUCS WWR (see Finn and Lois’s report) - The BUCS slalom is very similar, (camp, race, party, camp, race some more) but at a different venue - the short artificial course near Nottingham, with the added fun of going between (or attempting to go between) some stripy barber poles.

Find out more about BUCS slalom: BUCS slalom website

Message from James:

Ok guys, seems early, but this has to be booked well in advance, deadline is the end of term!

BUCS slalom 13th&14th Feb at Holme Pierrepont, Nottingham

Its subsidised by the AU, so should be a very cheap weekend (as a guide WWR was a mere £10). It should be suitible for all who have been on a few river trips, as it is an artificial course with lots of safety, but
we would like as many of you as possible to come on the *practice weekend (date TBC*), esspecially freshers to keep carnage to a minimum for the actual event! Its going to be an awesome weekend with plenty of partying as well as paddling and everyones welcome to cheer on/offer moral support/fish the rest of us out! Send replies to slalom@lucanoe.info

Get your names down now, and get practicing!     Cheers,  James

Reminder of how BUCS works:

Its a race - short white water course, attempt to go between the poles. You are elegible to enter the race as long as a) you are a proper student of Liv Uni and b) you have your AU card (sports card) c) You tell James soon so that he can send the entry form in. If you aren’t a proper liv uni student, you can still go along and help with safety/getting the C2 back up quickly for multiple runs/paddle and accompany freshers down the river/take pictures/cheer from the side.

Cost: About £10 for the weekend, which is basically the cost of the (ace) party. This year the party theme is: Valentine’s day. The AU subsidises the accom and entry fee, which is why the weekend is so cheap.

Participation counts: Its a competition between all british universities - by entering the race, you win points for Liverpool Uni - in fact, you get a point for just making it down the course. You get more points if you do middling well, and loads of points if you come in the top 10. You can enter the race in the normal class (usual river boat, suitable for everyone, or if you like,  a proper slalom boat), or in the C1 or C2 class if you’ve had a proper practice in those boats. Also, there are team events, where you do the course in threes. There is a maximum number we can enter in each class, so sign up quick. We add up all our points, and compare with other unis. We usually do well overall because we have a good mixture of decent paddlers and new folk willing to have a go. In BUCS WWR, Liv Uni came 5th, wooooo! Impressive stuff. Here’s to success in the slalom too, have fun.

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LCC: Monday night 14th December – 8PM at Liverpool Marina, “Genes Advanced Whitewater” will be showing. FREE TO ALL INTERESTED PADDLERS

This is the last Monday evening in local club LCC’s talks series before Christmas but they will resume again in early January.

“Gene17″’s third DVD in the advanced whitewater techniques series, covering boofing, flaring, drops and waterfalls.

The evening will be held at the Liverpool Marina Bar and Restaurant. As usual, the upstairs conference room (past the bar and turn left up the stairs)  Please arrive for 7:45ish for an 8:00pm start. Maps and more details of the venue…..

Liverpool Marina Bar & Grill, Coburg Wharf, Sefton Street, Liverpool, L3 4BP

Report by: Finn M and Lois

Photos by: Jon W and James R

Following Violet’s advice: bring every piece of clothing you own, we arrived at the sheds a little late with many large bags in tow to see everyone else with the same monumental quantity of necessary bags. Good to see everyone was in the full swing of getting stuff ready very efficiently, however we were shortly joined by Orla and Kieran who helped us slow down our preparations to a stop. They decided winter camping really wasn’t for them and they certainly weren’t going to spend a tenner for the opportunity. Guys, what a mistake!
After a quick trip to The Green Giant and The Big L for tea we got on the road for the short journey to our camp site near Skipton. There was an air of quiet concern towards the rear of the bus and towards the front: The Idiots Guide to The Universities Architecture Course. Tents went up in seconds for some when we got to the camp site, Trucker12 had his awesome pimped out van with integrated insulation. Overflow and DrummerBoy must have been on their 4th by the time their tents were up and the drinking continued on our journey to see RubberDuck. Shocked by his rare clothing addition, a ‘typically RubberDuck yellow’ hat which complemented his all seasons leggings.
 
No joking a very cold night for some of the single tent occupants, not a huge amount of sleeping to be had. It didn’t rain though which was a bonus. At some point during the night DrummerBoy realised he had forgotten his Cag, not a good trip to be doing that. DrummerBoy was the first person to be racing in the morning and sprung into action sharpish at Mamma D’s call.
We woke up on Saturday ready for a day of racing. It was pretty cold but not raining - unusual for Yorkshire. Mamma D drove us all down to the start with the sound of Christmas songs and the lads all changed into their gear for their early races. DrummerBoy made a grand start to the day on his white water racer, and a solid time of 9min59 from Overflow put him top of the Liverpool boys. Bandit, Beaver and BossMan were also awesome. LilDuck, also at the event took a spare slot and had a great run. RubberDuck then had a little triathlon to be getting on with, time to release the C2!!  Mamma D and Sodbuster did amazingly in their C2 to make it down in 11th, only swimming 3 times! RubberDuck (keeping cool on the CB) in sweet contact with Overflow throughout rescued the forsaken craft each time.
The K1 races secured a lot of points for the girls, with Violet coming an overall 5th, closely followed by Sodbuster and Mamma D in 9th and 14th – nice one. FullMoon, NightQueen and CueBall also put in wicked runs. Distructo may have swum!!! The girls team events then got underway. Sodbuster, Mamma D and Violet put in a great time of 10min37 to secure 3rd place for the girls. FullMoon, NightQueen and Distructo lead by DrummerBoy then made it down with no swims to come in a respectable (I think) 10th. Overall it was a good day for BUCS points and a great day for burgers. Huge thanks to Mamma D, Sodbuster, SuicideJockey, DrummerBoy, Overflow and Violet for being amazing safety throughout the day, and Trucker12 for shipping everyone from the finish to the top multiple times!
Once back at the campsite the team prepared to eat dinner with some van-side drinking games, which to be honest I’m not convinced anyone understood. The free dinner was yum. With full stomachs we then headed down to join the party. Pretty good night with much crazy dancing; the like of which I’ve never seen outside Liverpool Canoe Club. I feel we owned this party. We then made our way back up to bed to get some quality sleep before Sunday’s races.
We arrived at the river, just below the Thruscross Reservoir, all singing Christmas songs. Sodbuster reckons this should be a new tradition for club trips….. throughout the year! First team to run in the morning was Overflow, Bandit and DrummerBoy. They bashed through using Dancers, preferred over the wave hoppers for this run, achieving 16th out of 43 teams. Overflow and DrummerBoy had bet Mamma D, Violet and Sodbuster that they would beat their time. The excitement when they did actually beat the time is testament to woman’s power in the club, two men have never been so happy to beat a girl’s time. Time to beat: 10:37.0, Men’s team: 10:23.2.
The sprints followed the last team runs. A very short section of river with fast flowing water no major hazards just one aim, GO DAM FAST!!! The eager beavers from the other Uni’s were all queuing up at the start for quite a while. That’s not Liverpool’s style… We waited along the short stretch till there was no queue at all and they were pleading for us to get on before we showed everyone how to do it. With major logistical preparation, like clockwork, we took over the start line. Mamma D, Sodbuster, FullMoon, NightQueen, Distructo and CueBall all bashed their way through without any hassle and recorded some ace times. Scores: Violet, 6th. Mamma D, 12th. Sodbuster, 13th.  After DrummerBoy grabbed Mamma D’s paddles Overflow and DrummerBoy got on to do there runs. Very shaky from DrummerBoy but an awesome run by Overflow. Overflow, 21.81… 24th. SuicideJockey, 24.19… 31st out of 112 men. Just an idea of how close this run is. Trucker12 was excellent grabbing everyone as they crossed the line, legend.
With literally no faff the boats were on the trailer, people changed, everyone but Overflow (who was late and therefore, left behind… and might still be there). On the bus and we’re good to go.
Everyone was well speedy at the sheds, we were away within minutes. Makes me wonder what usually takes so long!!! Mamma D did a great job of not falling asleep at the wheel too often and also missed most of the gates out of the camp site. Thanks for dropping us all off.
We have put in some results here but it makes us a little cross eyed so for full results go to: http://www.bucswwr.org.uk/results.php
 
Report by:
DrummerBoy & Destructo
 
Disambiguation
 
Flic - violet
John - trucker one two
Ade - rubber duck
Mary - mamma D
Sam - over flow
Finn- Drummer Boy
Kat - night queen
Lois - Destructo
Kim - Sodbuster
Mel - Full moon
Jim - Suicide jockey
Rhys - Boss Man
Emily - Cue Ball
Iain - Beaver
James - Bandit

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Here’s a report about Tuesday night’s talk at LCC. Incidentally, LCC are running a whole series of informal kayaking Lectures, slideshows and DVD evenings, mostly Free, and approximately fortnightly - well worth heading down to. As those who’ve been to the recent talks (Simon Willis talk, and rolling talk) know, LCC are v friendly, any local paddlers are welcome to the evenings,  and I expect the organisers would also be very happy if you have an idea for a future talk or slideshow and would like to get involved - see LCC website for list of talks.  The next two are:

Mon 7th Dec - “Fuelling the Paddle Engine - A Paddler’s Diet” a talk by Frankie Annan (Free)
Mon 14th Dec - DVD Evening - “Genes Advanced White Water” - (Free)

Both at the Marina restaurant (near Merseysport) - starting 8pm, get there a bit earlier in time to get a drink.

We went to see Simon Willis’s talk at LCC. He was advertising his recent book - about a Scottish Sea Kayak Trail - a “how-to” book for paddling a trip along the whole Western coast of Scotland - and also Gordon Brown’s coaching DVD (sea paddling techniques). So we got to see quite a bit of footage of very beautiful scottish coastline, and also hear how one would go about doing a sea touring trip of the west coast.

Something to give us a bit of a sea-kayaking bug.

Doing the whole trip would involve around 17 days of paddling, plus a very random and variable number of bad-weather-days - in their case 14 (!) - and at least a couple of days for the shuttle - so its not something you can easily fit into a quick break. But the info is all there, and has also been split into four smaller chunks, somewhat more managable for smaller amounts of time.

The coaching DVD has two elements to it - the main thread of the DVD is a four day journey up the coast of Skye,  following a mixed group of paddlers, as they push their paddling skills, do some wild camping, and visit small islands off the  coast. In addition to this, interspersed with the journey, is a coaching progression, arranged in eight modules,  filmed in both calm and rough conditions. The DVD menu is set up so that its also possible to watch just the  journey, or just the coaching.
The whole thing is very professionally made - very slick - and the journey part of the story is  interesting, especially as one of the paddlers is a ranger, giving informative and charming commentary on Skye history,  from ancient cairns to 19th century shark fishing settlements, as well as some lovely wildlife bits.

By having a professional broadcaster running the project, the whole feel of both book and DVD are that they have been given the “Countryfile” or “Coast” treatment - listening to Simon Willis’s paced and narrato-mercial voiceover makes you feel that you are in your living room watching something on the 8pm slot of BBC2, being informatised to
But that is no bad thing. I’m actually rather fond of the more informal, raw feel of other kayak DVDs, but its certainly very nice too to see something as polished and High Def as this one. We got told quite a bit of info about how the filming had been done, what kind of cameras etc, and how they had achieved the to-camera coaching instruction and paddler-view using a scaffold on the front of the kayak, and a clever mic set-up - it is very effective, and Ade wants one for his spud.

Date  Wed 16 Dec Time 7.30 pm Venue Revolution (in town) Cost £15 for 3 courses What to wear posh, or fancy dress (theme TBC) Drinks there is some wine included, and you can either buy more drinks one at a time, or get some wristband deal as you go in. Going to be lovely - book your place now as the booking will be next week, and places go fast.

Get your menu choices and dosh to Soph and Squirrel now - they’ll be collecting both at the next pool session/pub and at the WWR weekend this weekend.  social@lucanoe.info

Starter Choices: French onion soup Or  Tart Or Tiger prawns Or Pear and Ham salad

Main Choices: Turkey Or Steak Or Cod Or Mushroom Thing

Puddings: Chocolate pudding Or Lime and Choc Cheesecake Or Strawberry Mousse

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This weekend was always going to be a total biblical weekend with the amount of water around! We set off late (ahem sorry guys) on Friday evening ready to tackle a Noah’s Ark Scene J all the cars arrived later that evening at the hut with no problems – well I say no problems, some cars took alot longer than others. But that’s Welsh sign posts for ya!

When we arrived to our horror the ‘usual’ pub had been boarded up, which left us with no option but to head down to the only other pub in the village, ‘The Bull’! Now this pub had character!! Everybody was lovely lol – even the big bellied bouncer who took a liking to most of the girls in the group. For some reason that baffles me, he didn’t take to Pete straight away :s. However the little pub which was now packed out with all 20 of us coped very well with us and the beer was flowing nicely. It must of been around half 12 we decided to make a move back to hut up the top of the hill.

A few people decided they were not cold enough and decided to strip down to the bare minimum and take a dip in the stream!! Not sure Phil Ade or Kieran will ever be able to reproduce after that night J Back at the hut more drinking was to be done along with the usual games such as table turning. I do believe it was Lindsay who took the record from all the boys with around 5 turns of the table in a row! Of course all the boys tried to prove they were the Alpha male but failed miserably.

The hut started to quiet down a little by around 3am but there was a little stir in the house  - was it a mouse – no it was Rhys who decided to get up out of his bed and empty the entire contents of his stomach all over the dinning room table, floor, Pete’s coat and my leopard print wellies!! After what can only be said to be a very poor effort to clean it up he decided to get back into bed and leave the horror scene for the early risers! Lets just say he had beans and sausages for tea that evening as the chunks were evidence.

So Saturday morning around 8am the hardcore group (Ade, Phil, Ginge, Matt C, Jamie, Squirrel and Sam) decided to get up and paddle the Ogwen. They came back all smiles and said it was a great run but to our surprise the water level was not too high! Great!!

Around 11am we all headed off to the Llugwy which was also at a reasonable level. Quite an easy and nice warm up for the fresher’s, but it rained the whole time we were on the river and the levels rose quite alot. I think by the time we got to Cobden Falls Orla had been out her boat a few times (but decided to get off and walk to the bottom to meet us) Kieran and Emma had all been fishing, however, they were all still smiling and we proceeded down Cobden Falls!! This ‘would be my first time on this river and Cobden Falls looked ‘Scary’ ! I think Sam said he went down and messed up the start, the middle and the end so not such a good decent. Fortunately for most of us there was a chicken shoot down the far far left. This was also a little tricky and caused Joss and Rys to take a little dip and me to roll – but all got down safely.

From the Falls down to Pont Cyfyng was just big and bouncy, fun rapids and then we all got out above what can only be described as the biggest, pant wetting, cross my heart and hope to live rapid of all times; Pont Cyfyng was totally immense looking down from the road above it. Ade and Phil looked at their line for a while but in the end did the walk of shame and joined the rest of us below the rapid!! Was a great day!

Saturday night after we all had full bellies more drinking was being held along with more drinking games. That night we were joined by the Sunday crew – Stu, Hannah, Jon and Special (Ginges’ friend). We headed down to the pub quite late that night and it was even more packed as it was auction night and karaoke for the whole village. A few of us sat in a back room and played poker - was good fun and some of the locals joined in. Some others were playing pass the 5p – which also enticed the locals. The 40 something caretaker of the hut we were staying in got to know a few people quite well. I believe it was Jamie that said for someone who is nearly 50 she had a great arse! Not sure what went on between those two but i do know that her husband was overlooking and im sorry to say but Jamie would have been no match for him J. After the pub we headed back to the hut for yet more drinking and it seemed that my room had quite alot of love going on – but that’s not for me to talk about

Sunday’s paddling comprised of another early run of the Ogwen. This time only Ade, Stu, Sam and Phil managed to get up and they said it was a totally different river with the amount of rain that fell all day Saturday and through the night. I think Ade had to take a roll (!!) The rest of us packed up our kit and cleaned the hut, ready to leave when they got back.

We decided to paddle the Dee on our way home as would have been the only suitable river for the fresher’s that day. We did the upper part of the Dee – from Carrog down to Horseshoe Falls then from Chain Bridge down to Town Falls. The upper bit was supposed to be something like a 14k flat paddle and even though it was flat, the river was so big and fast flowing that it didn’t take long at all – was big and bouncy and perfect for our fresher’s. Everybody portaged Horseshoe Falls apart from Ade I think and it was at this point some of our fresher’s got off the water. The next section was totally massive – I have never seen the Dee so big, it was unrecognisable. Serpents tail started from the restaurant just below the bridge and was a stoppery mess all the way to a single big eddy just below where the usual serpents tail finishes. I think Matt E swam most of it as was difficult to get him or his boat out for a while. He later told me that he rolled up in a stopper with no paddles in his hand and though he was upright he did not have the skills to surf the stopper and get out of it with the palms of his hands, so pulled out and swam, for what im sure felt like ages!!  Kieran who was in my group did very well but got totally munched by the last stopper at the end! Well done you though. I went down with penny – i got stuck in the first stopper but managed to get out just as she came wizzing past shouting ‘C’mon Kay this is ace’ then she got stuck in the next stopper and called me for help but i just shouted ‘Paddle harder Penny’ and she got out ok lol. We ran this section mostly straight down the centre of the river. Then there was a monster of stoppers at the end and i bounced through but looked behind me to see penny upside down, but after a few attempts she was upright again!

Matt E and Kieran got back in their boats and we set off again. We were at eddy lines in no time and ran that whole section as one big rapid – awesome big bouncy fun.

Now by this time it had started getting darker, so the decision was made to take anybody who didn’t want to run town to get off above it – Matt E and Kieran got off (that was all i think)?

Then we set off towards the bridge in little groups and were told we were to run the river far far left. I was in the last group with Squirrel and Jamie. There was a big munchy stopper as we went over the weir. Was abit sticky but everybody managed to get through apart from Jamie – i looked behind to see him getting a working in the stopper and after a few seconds he pops out! I shouted to Squirrel who was in front that there was a swimmer and he dropped back to help him. I was quite worried at this point as i was approaching the bridge on my own and couldn’t really stop to help Jamie as it was stopper after stopper and i needed the speed to get through them all. So i decided to plough on through and try to catch up Ginge who was quite away in front of me. There were trees everywhere and i could see her stopper dodging and she went through one of the middle arches, so i decided to follow. There was a tree under that arch but was easy to get past and then a clear run to the get out where i shouted to Stu that Jamie was somewhere upriver out of his boat. The middle arch happened to be the best route as i later found out that the far left arch had lots of strainers after it that were avoidable but difficult and unfortunately caught Katie out! She had quite a nasty swim but her and her boat were rescued swiftly by Phil and Ade.

Then the only person left to help was Jamie and his boat that were both on top of a tree. Took a while but with combined help both boat and person made it safely to the bank, just before visibility had gone!

We all decided later that it was probably better to have run town falls the normal route and down river right and just be more cautious when coming up to the weir – but what the hell – how many times do you get to run town falls river left J

 Was a totally awesome weekend of paddling and thanks to everyone that came along!! I think Orla has some pictures of the weekend so get asking her on facebook! Please feel free to add comments of anything i have missed!

Thanks to the drivers and river leaders. Cant wait for the next trip.

(p.s Joke of the weekend: what vegetable should  you never take on a boat?…. A Leak) J J J

Love Kaylia

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