Liverpool University Canoe Club

How to run a tripThe following has been substantially borrowed and adapted from the excellent Reading University pages, many thanks to Di Clark.

So, you’ve volunteered to run a club trip? Nice one! Here’s all the info you need to know in order to run it in the most faff-free way, and to make sure everyone (including you) has a good time.

GOLDEN RULE NUMBER ONE - There are lots of good people around who can help you. Use them. There are plenty of people to ask advice from, and you can delegate many things - the driving, the river leading, the food etc. Your job is just to make sure the trip happens, to get folk to go, to keep things running smoothly, and to make sure that there is someone to do each thing.

GOLDEN RULE NUMBER TWO - Don’t panic if things go wrong or change at the last minute. It will be OK!

GOLDEN RULE NUMBER THREE - Communicate. People on your trip will feel so much happier if they know what’s going on.

More detailed: Here is the contents of our guide to running a trip - use this as a check-list, but read the more in-depth stuff below as well…

Stage 1 very first

• Book accommodation
• Book buses and start persuading people to drive as soon as possible

Stage 2 between now and the trip

• Tell everyone about the trip well in advance
• Choose what to do about food etc
• Start a trip list early and take deposits
• Plan rivers etc and alternatives
• Is the equipment in good repair and where you need it?
• Make sure people know all the details and what to bring

Stage 3 The trip

• Get the rest of the money
• Load the kit
• Directions for the drivers
• Do the rivers!

Stage 4 The end of the trip

• Put the kit away
• Get everyone home

More detail of everything

• Book accommodation - Best to warn the campsite that there’s a big group coming With bunkhouses / youth hostels / the lakes brownie hut / the uni hut in Wales, this is essential, do it as soon as you can, don’t wait for the start of term. Ask the person who ran last year’s trip about accomodation contact details.
• Book buses and start persuading people to drive as soon as possible - Many of the lovely lovely people who drive our buses are actually working people not students, and require a few weeks advance notice if they are to be asked to drive. People generally go out of their way to help the club, but it is always worth being nice to them and buying them expensive diamonds…..ok, well providing a cheese sandwich might do it I suppose. Buses need to be booked at the Guild office. Book the minibus as early as you possibly can so that its not already taken. Note that not all the buses have towbars / roofracks - ask for the bus you need! Also its worth finding out which clubs have booked the bus before and after your trip so that you can sort out passing keys on. For advice on what to do about buses, ask Cath, she is our guru, and she will know whats best to do. If you can’t get the minibus because its already booked to another club Don’t Panic, run the trip with cars only. Ask car drivers well in advance and work out how many cars / spaces you have. To drive the minibus with trailer, you must be very ancient and have passed your test forever ago - there are only about 4 people in the club who fit this category. To drive the minibus without trailer, you must be over 21. Either way, you need to have a Guild Pass for insurance purposes. Having two or more people on a trip who can drive the bus is obviously a logistical advantage. Think laterally - although your minibus driver may not be allowed to tow the trailer, one of the other club members may be able to tow the trailer on their car instead, ask around.
• Choose what to do about food. Camping trips usually work on an “everyone brings their own food” basis. Trips in huts (University Deniollen hut, brownie hut etc) have recently successfully been run on group cooking basis - the trip organiser or one of her minions goes to supermarket and gets food for everyone: Breakfasts, Eve meal on the Sat and possibly bread/cheese/crisps for lunches. This can work out well because group cooking cuts cost and cuts the number of people fighting in the kitchen. Don’t forget the vegetarians - in fact, a veggie diet for everyone does reduce the chances of food poisoning
• Tell everyone about the trip well in advance - Communication is the key. Always. Use the website, use email, call people, tell everyone about it at every paddling session, tell the rest of committee to tell everyone about it at every paddling session, tell everyone at every paddling session to tell everyone about it at every paddling session and then - tell them again! The truth is, your trip is going to be brilliant. But the typical LUCC club member has an internal calendar written on damp toilet paper with instant-erase ink, so you need to make info available in every possible media and at all possible opportunities in order to make sure that the trip is in everyones conciousness so that they don’t organise a visit to great aunt florence or some geology trip that weekend instead. Its for their own good! If you don’t keep telling them, they will miss out on the Best Trip Ever! Keep going right up until the day you leave. And make sure that everyone has as much info as possible about what the trip will be like - freshers might not realise that the trip is suitable for them unless you tell them. Matt Clarke might not realise that the “lakes trip” is a trip to the lake district, not a trip to a lake, unless you tell him.
• Start a trip list early and take deposits - Deposits guarantee a space in the minibus or a car space. By doing this, you’ll have a better idea of numbers and will be able to plan more effectively. Tell people the cost of the trip - remember that the cost will need to cover: accomodation/camping fees, minibus hire, petrol, tour fees (in the case of Tyne tour), food (if any). So approx £15 for day trip, £25 for weekend camping trip without food, or £35-£40 for hut trip with food is a guide - work it out beforehand. Remember, this is a total bargain - to pay an outdoors centre for a similar trip would cost about £150 per person!
• Plan rivers etc and alternatives. Again, this is one where you can get plenty of advice and help from others - there is a wealth of experience in the club. There are sets of rivers that we do time and time again for fresher trips, or there are guidebooks for other rivers. What you actually do will depend on the eventual makeup of the group - get advice and have alternatives. Think about access. Make sure you have enough safety cover for the group you have. If there is not an experienced enough leader present to do the originally planned trip, swap to something easier. Be prepared to pick easier alternatives if there is not enough cover for the original plan, or if weather conditions or river conditions turn out to be unsuitable. Remember - hiking is a possible alternative if no rivers are in condition on the day. So remind people to take walking gear. Check ukriversguidebook, or paper guidebooks on the area, scottish canoe association webpage, WCA, Canoe England / access campaign (although these last two don’t have that much useful info yet) so that you are aware of the situation on the rivers in the area you are visiting. Oh, and ask other people in the club
• Is the equipment in good repair and where you need it? Ask the equipment officers for advice. For most club trips, equipment is not a problem. But you should think about whether there is enough equipment in good repair for your trip. Especially for e.g. polo tournaments, where the polo boats may need padding or repairing well in advance. If you need to repair airbags or polo boats etc, organise an evening where lots of people can help - many hands make light work - and then when you’ve finished, you’ve got someone to go to the Cambridge pub with. If your trip is a weekend polo trip, you’ll need to use some boats from the pool, so remember to move them to the sheds the previous pool session.
• Make sure people know all the details and what to bring. Send out emails during the week before the trip to remind everyone what they need, where to meet, and what time. Tell everyone what to bring, what the deal is with food, what time and where to meet, what time the vehicles are leaving and where they are going - Again, communication - it really is the key!
• Get the rest of the money. Obviously. And keep track of it on your list. The club needs to get all money in for the trip - if trips start going over budget, then that means that we have to dip into the equipment money, and that means less good kit for the future.
• Load the kit. Remember that each person needs to choose enough kit for themselves, know what it is, sign it out, and make sure it gets put on the bus. Remind people that the loading is everyone’s job. Ask some people to help freshers choose their kit - there are many people who can make sure that they choose appropriate kit which is suitable for them. At the end, add a few extra spraydecks paddles BA and paddles just in case. Sign everything out. Many hands make light work.
• Directions for the drivers. Remember, “follow-m-leader” can end up with accidents or people getting lost - it really is better if someone in each car knows where to go or has a map and can navigate. Remember that some places wont have mobile coverage. Print off maps for each car, especially if its a new place for us.
• Do the rivers! OK, this bit needs more detail than we can put on this page - there are many things to think about here in terms of safety cover, group organisation, decisions on whether a river is runnable / suitable for the group etc. As the trip organiser is not necessarily the person who will be making these decisions, info about these issues is posted in a seperate page.
• Put the kit away - many hands makes light work
• Go home and sleep like a zombie and dream of waterfalls.