Liverpool University Canoe Club

May Bank holiday weekend saw typical British weather as we headed to the west coast of Wales to St Davids. We arrived late friday night after leaving ahead of schedule with minimum faff which must be a record for the club. We arrived in St Davids where we met some others in the local pub, after a few fizzy sherbet lemons we went and found the campsite and put up tents in the dark.

Saturday morning the majority of the uni members got up at 7 to bright sunshine and paddled around the bay and onto whitesands beach to try and get the best surf early on. There was some surf but nothing huge, which was good for beginners like me. After messing around on the beach for a while we decided to head back to the campsite, some paddled back and some walk around the coast. On the paddle back we saw some of the ex uni members paddling the other way and struggling with the tide and head wind. I then had a lazy Saturday afternoon at the campsite and watched the sun set before heading to the pub in the evening. Others were more active and went for walks or bike rides around the area.

Sunday morning we woke to rain and no surf and many took a while to venture out of their tents. Some of us ventured into town to see what there was to do, so we ended up in the pub less than 12 hours after leaving it, this time with many cups of tea instead of pints. Sambo and Flic then arrived having just brought monopoly, so a 3 and a half hour monopoly session followed. After this the rain had stopped so we headed to the beach nearest the campsite to play frizzbe and play on the rocks and rock pools.

Monday morning the strong winds that we had most of the weekend persisted, we took down tents and loaded the van and trailer and drove to whitesands for a last morning surfing, the surf was better than it was on Saturday and everyone seemed to be having a great time. It started to rain but this makes no difference when you’re in the big wet ocean being struck by waves. We came off the water got changed and some of us began loading the trailer. An hour later all the boats were tied to the trailer and I was absolutely soaked by the time I got in the van to leave. We left at 2:30 and arrived back about 7:30. All the way home we heard of severe weather warning and gales force winds in the south of Wales, but it didn’t seem to have effected us too badly. We only had 3 tents damaged by the wind and rain, so unfortunately Kayla and co didn’t quite have such a good weekend as the rest of us did.

I found this a really relaxing weekend, and a good break after exams, so would thoroughly recommend it to anyone next year. 

Photos: Sue, Jon, Flic, HelenJ

 

Please could all Alps folk fill in the attached form and return to Martin - you won’t be allowed on the bus til you’ve done that, cheers.

alpsdisclaimer

Also, please jot the details of your next of kin on the back: Name, Address, Phone number, and what relation they are to you.

Medical details: If you have any medical condition which we should know about, please let Martin know - details will be kept confidential, and only for the duration of the trip.

If you’ve not sorted your insurance yet, check thread on the forum, Ash found a good deal.

EHIC card, if you’ve not got one yet, apply on line.

Not long now! Hooray.

Photos by Flic

 

The BCU North West Paddle Weekend is happening on the weekend of 7/8 June in the Anderton Center (Rivington Reservoir, Lancashire) - its the weekend when term ends, and its the weekend before you go to the Alps.

Its organised by  bcunw and its open to anyone who wants to improve their skills. In past years, this weekend has been just for coaches, but its now has more sessions on various things and is open to anyone in the BCU. You can still use the weekend to do your coach update or L2 assessment, but you can now use it instead to learn canoe sailing, to get your 3* skills or to do your foundation safety and rescue award or do workshops on games or on sea kayaking, or plenty of other things - check the program (link below) to see what is available in the parallell sessions. There is also a bunch of kayak talks, and a party.

You can go to as much or as little of it as you want - the cost is from £15 for the one day coach update (that’s two update workshops and a keynote lecture), up to £55 for a whole weekend of mix and match practical/theory workshops, talks, and paddle skills. including food, accomodation, and party.

If you want to go to this, you do need to get your form in pretty quick - by this friday - or get in touch with the organiser Gill Davies (\manchester CC). If you want to use the weekend to get your L2 (old style) assessment, then suggest you also phone Ian Bell, regional RCO, as well as sending the forms.

Map      Info     Entry form    Program

 

Hi All,

It’s come to that time where you all grumble, and watch the moths fly
from your wallets.

I need the remaining £150 from those listed in my email (also on the forum) for the Alps trip.
Please pay by BACS if possible; into the account in the email (or on your PM if your registered here?!). If not then, I’ll need a cheque or cash asap. I’m about in Liverpool right up until the trip, and will accept Cheques through Andy at the St David’s trip if that’s your next contact with us!

Watch this space for remaining details,

Cheers

Martin

Aussie Dave: Scotland parts 1, 2 and 3

Another trip, another video. Scotland was tops and now we have video to prove it. Same formula as every video, stick some cool tunes in the background and enjoy the carnage.

After a brief chat with Andy Rahooooo it has been decided he is looking after DVD production for this year. So keep an eye out for A Scotland with bonus other stuff to roll of the press some time in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, a full big screen fat arse version of these clips landed in Bagot Street this afternoon, so if you want to watch it knock on their door.

Words: Helen H Photos: Alison B http://www.koolkayaking.co.uk

Dave R and I went to Bala for the weekend. There were over 200 guides and scouts, around 30 coaches, from all over the NW, and 2 days of continuous sunshine. I was paired up with Tom, another coach from an Air Cadet group, and we were assigned two groups of 6 kids - a one-star group, and a “paddle passport” group. Tom was super and knew lots of games, and the kids were great, really eager to learn stuff. For one of the sessions we used Bell Boats, which can fit up to 12 folk on each - these are good for having wars between pirate ships.

The whole event is really well organised - this is down to hard work by Ian and Alison Bell, managing all the information and equipment - everything is set up and ready for you to get on the water and coach. After 4 x 1.5 hour coaching sessions a day, you are absolutely exhausted, and ready to sit around with the other coaches drinking wine and chilling out, listening to guitars and paddling stories, or watching kayak DVDs in the mess tent.

This was a very fun event, though exhausting. Anyone wanting to help next year, that would be great. Its an opportunity to get either L1 or L2 Training and assessment if you do not have those things yet, and to have a very fun time teaching a bunch of kids.

More details about the annual scout Bala weekend can be found at:

http://www.koolkayaking.co.uk/

Only £20!

Pick your hoody colour (ignore the first email I sent out about colours!) and size. £3 extra to get your name printed on it.

I’ll be collecting money until 22nd May (2 weeks yesterday) so get your orders in fast! If you want to pay by paypal, the cost of the hoodies are £20.88 (to cover paypal costs). The email address is fallingspiral@hotmail.com

If you live further afield we can sort out postage.

Look forward to see you all wearing them soon!

Laura (Medic Dave)x

 

Stu is going to Norwayland for the summer, raft guiding and travelling. To celebrate the end of exams, and to wave Stu off, cake party in Sefton park next tuesday afternoon, see this thread for more details.

“Final plan
Meet in the park at around 1pm with drinks and cake and happy smiles
Spend all day in park enjoying pims”

Sunshine booked.

See email from Tammy.

TUES 20TH MAY

Wristbands available from Tammy now:

£8 includes multi-club access, BBQ, fire spinnage, bands etc. Its going to be a big one.

Join this event at facebook and see the whole list of clubs and bands

 

Photo by AndySq