Liverpool University Canoe Club

Hello !

May I first welcome the fresher’s into what I hope will be a wet and wonderful year with Liverpool Canoe Club ! To all those more established members I hope you’re all aware of how much a success Fresher’s fair was and are looking forward to the forthcoming year . Can I take this chance to thank all of those involved with making it a fun and frenzied day. With a bit of luck the fruits of our labour shall present themselves in the form of new club members!  If you’re a fresher, and reading this, do please take a minute to browse the site and if there are any questions don’t hesitate to contact us !

I hope to see many of you tonight…

Take care !

Tammy- social sec x

First social of term, its going to be large! Starting at both the student bars at once - Carnatic bar and R&G Bar from 7.30 pm onwards, then merging together and heading into town. Freshers, its will be very easy to spot who the canoeists are, join us in the bar! If in doubt, look out for our lovely social secretaries Tammy and Finn.

Lloyd Andy Tammy

Finn Squirrel Sambo

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Freshers Trip: Leaving Friday eve 3th Oct - back Sunday eve 5th Oct (at the end of Week 1)

Sign up at freshers fair. Or contact Stu / Andy R now. Best fresher trip ever, this will be to North Wales.

The luxury barn in wales, near Bedgelert is our freshery destination. food will be inclusive. It will cost £25, includes everything: transport, 2 nights accomodation, breakfast and supper.

Meeting all the new folk and having a party in Wales and kayaking in beautiful Glaslyn valley.

Transport: We are taking 2 minibuses and a bunch of cars. Total 40 people. Freshers / new people get priority for minibus seats, boats and kit, so if you are an un-new person and can bring or borrow a personal boat, that’s great. If you can bring spare thermals to lend to a fresher, even better.

Rivers/Lake: Will be suitable for all including beginners

Accomodation: Luxury! Camping barn with kitchen and heat. Mattresses are provided, or bring a thermorest/camping mat. Bring sleeping bag

Food: breakfast and supper on saturday are provided, and cooked by Tammy and Lloyd, yummy. Bring snacks/sandwiches for journey and lunch, and beer/drinks with you.

Equipment: We provide everything you need: Boat, paddle etc. Its good to bring a cagoule if you have one - e.g. a hiking cagoule. Please also bring any warm clothes which you think might be suitable - thermals / man made tops / old trainers good. Cotton things, bad for canoeing in as they stay cold. If you’ve got your own wetsuit, great! If not, don’t worry, the club also has a number of delightful wetsuits and cagoules - choose them from the sheds on the Friday eve.

Meeting: 6pm on the friday evening at the sheds

Getting home: Tea time ish on the Sunday evening

Other things to bring: As well as sleeping bag and changes of clothes, please bring walking boots / trainers in case we go a walk.

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Just a heads-up about this symposium - Each university can send up to 4 students on the annual BCU safety symposium - Priority is to folk who are most involved in, or want to get more involved in, trip planning, or pool sessions, or river leading, or coaching. That could be committee members, or other folk who are keen to help with club stuff. Get in touch with Andy R if you would like to go on this.

Its at Plas-y-Brenin activity centre in N. Wales.

Its a good opportunity to meet up with folk from other Unis and compare ideas for running a club well.

Here is a report about 2007 symposium:

Team Pyranha report on 2007 Symposium

Or ask folk who went on last year’s.

Transport

Only 4 people can go from each uni, so the obvious transport would be to take one car and share petrol costs.

The Cost

Ask Andy about the cost - it is very subsidised by the BCU, so it certainly isn’t very much.

The Format:

You choose one workshop each day from the following list - as you can see, these are a combination, with some workshops to help your personal skillset - opportunity to get assessed for new UKCC star awards, and foundation safety awards - as well as workshops which are designed to help you help your club - tips on river leading and trip planning, and ideas for pool sessions. As you can see, there are wet and dry sessions - you can do rivers or sit in a lecture room and learn about planning. Its up to you.

Click for Printable Version of Workshop List

Student Safety Seminar

Workshops 2008

Saturday PM:

Running Productive Pool Sessions - Swimming pools are an amazing resource if you know how to use them. This session explores how you can help your club make the most of your pool session. Bring swimming stuff!

2* Assessment - Exactly what it says on the tin. A chance to be assessed on the new UKCC syllabus.

Foundation Safety Test - A chance to be assessed on the new syllabus. You will be getting wet, so dress accordingly.

Running Productive Taster Sessions - A good taster session in Fresher’s Week will ensure you get more people into your club. This sessions explores the ideas behind a good taster session.

Open Boating for those who don’t - Come and find out what all the fuss is about!

Tea time Q+A sessions:
These sessions give you a chance to pick the brains of both some of the UK’s top coaches and most experienced student kayakers on the following subjects:

The relationship between the BCU, AU and You
River Trip Planning
Club Kit
Overseas Trips
Sea and Surf

Sunday all day workshops:

Running an Intro river trip - How to ensure people’s first taste of white water doesn’t scare the bejesus out of them, hurt anyone, or cause carnage in general.

Running an intermediate river trip - This one looks at how you can move people on from merely following to being independent on the river.

Running steep rivers safely - How you can let people really push themselves safely.

3* Assessment - A chance to be assessed on the new UKCC syllabus.

WWSR - The Practical! - A chance to gain some practical safety and rescue experience. You will get wet doing this workshop!

WW Personal Skills - Is there an area of your kayaking that needs some improvement? Come and get some coaching!
 
Effective Coaching - There’s more to coaching than just yelling at people. This workshop explores how you can really help people develop by becoming a more effective coach.
 
Sea and Surf - A look at the factors affecting running a safe trip on the salt water side of things.

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This summer Europe hosted the World cup tour, starting in Prague where I heard it rained alot, then a week in Augsburg, Germany followed by the round up in Thun Switzerland.

 

I joined the GBR team in Augsburg at the white water slalom course. The competition was in a hole which took every ounce of energy to just stay upright in, never mind nail tricks. It was hard work and I finished in 24^th place. Not too bad considering I’ve virtually had a year off freestyle kayaking.

The men’s paddling was spectacular to watch as they jumped very high into the air and executed some insane moves both left and right in order to score highly.

 The weather for the trip was awesome, nice hot sunshine (unlike the UK was experiencing) which made putting on wet kit to train in a little more enjoyable. Even I ran out of spare dry kit!

Before driving straight to Thun I visited a kayaking friend out in Versam up in the Swiss mountains for a night. The house looked straight over the valley where they raft guide during the summer and ski during the winter. It was gorgeous so I’m totally migrating out there!

The competition in Thun is based right in the centre of the city on a wave which forms just once a year for a kayak event. This event got huge numbers of people watching due its location. There were hoards of people on looking the freestyle kayaking, king of the wave, Big air contest and a Rafting extravaganza. Thun is the venue for the world championships next September so it was good to experience the wave so I know what to train for next year.

The competition was tough; the pro kayakers from the USA were throwing down some awesome rides in the 45seconds on the wave. I finished 20^th but really enjoyed watching the rest of the competition.

After the event and some crazy partying in the local club Cafe Mokka I drove to Bremgarten, a wave in a small town right outside Zurich. The water level was brilliant, forming a nice wave during the morning and it got even bigger after lunch. We surfed there for around 4 hours and then drove to the Rhinefall, the largest waterfall in Europe. There was an impressive amount of water going over that drop, so I figured I’d leave it for perhaps the next trip out to Europe, if anyone fancies it??

Hope you enjoy the photos, see you on the water soon!!

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