I wasn’t able to join Kris’s Mersey trip last month so decided to do my own on Easter Day. Having checked with Mersey VTS before starting to cross the channel, an incoming vessel bound for Gladston Dock raised an objection so I had to return to the East side.  With a Spring Tide in full flow, staying put wasn’t going to be easy but there was a convenient eddy just by the big red cranes.  Eventually I made it across to the Wirral side but it was a frustating 15 minutes with all that free energy being wasted. My target was the cafe at Eastham Ferry but there was no easy exit there so I continued to Eastham Lock where the Ship Canal starts.  The entrance lock is huge, I’ve never seen anything like it.  Lunch was taken on some stepped banking nearby. With the tide having turned, it was a quick ride home.  I followed the Eastham markers first then crossed to the Garston side for a different perpective on our familiar stamping ground.  Drifting along with the tide is a great way to see Liverpool seafront close up. Mersey VTS was working well; it was reassuring to hear my presence being announced to any relevant traffic. On returning to Blundellsands, the shoreline had turned to gooey silt. Fine for the birds but it was a messy process for me to gain firm ground.  Crosby Lifeguards were patrolling nearby so I called them for guidance as to the best route up the beach. As Kris said, this estuary needs to be paddled more 🙂

The Sun Koshi is the longest trip in river miles offered in Nepal and is rated as one of the top ten river expeditions in the world. Starting near the Tibetan border and draining off the Eastern Himalayas all the way to the sacred Ganges River in India, this river offers big volume whitewater. Full report to follow but 9  club members paddled some of the biggest water that they  had seen.  It was a great trip and Paddle Nepal were superb.

I would like to get the coach CPD training we talked about off the ground. What I am proposing is three evening sessions and a weekend of practical application on the 14/15April. I will open it up to 10/12 current coaches in the club from any discipline and at any coaching level all I ask is that they are open to new ideas and will get involved. The evening sessions will last around 2 hrs and will cover theory on decision making, leadership and coaching behaviours. I will try and secure a room at College for this with dates to be arranged. On the weekend we will look at applying these theories (so the evening sessions will need to come before) in a sheltered water environment, this would be discipline specific with 6-8 places per session. 3- 3.5 hrs each in length. The course is free to club members. A proposed programme for the weekend could be: Saturday 9-12:30 Sheltered water kayak 13:00 – 16:30 Sheltered water canoe Sunday 10-13:00 sea kayak sheltered water. Kind regards Matthew Giblin If interested please contact Matt Giblin asap matt.giblin@icloud.com

Hi everyone – can I thank the club for organising the VHF radio course a few weeks back, we spent a very enjoyable Sunday learning together. Paul and Scott from Sea Voice were great teachers, and…. we all passed! I am now thinking about a VHF radio and have a few questions please. The course providers recommend the iCom models and I know some of my colleagues own these. Do you have recommendations for other makes or models? The Cobra ones seem to be the best value. And – if you were buying from new would you spend the extra for DSC? Thanks everyone, and look forward to seeing you up in Scotland over Easter. My own choice would be the icom M71, waterproof, very durable, easy to operate and the battery lasts for ages.  If you buy from icom direct they can price match and will programme channel 0 open for rx only, meaning you can listen to the rescue services but not transmit on that channel.  Often quite entertaining when on a long paddle.   DSC generally shortens battery life considerably as it continuously does all sorts of other stuff in the background too, most of which isn’t really necessary. I’d rather have a radio that I know will still have power when I need it even on a multiday trip and have a totally independent means of signalling help should I REALLY need it..  My understanding of DSC (although someone may correct me) is that as it’s a VHF signal it still requires line of sight and for the signal being strong enough to be picked up.  If you think about the places we paddle, close to high cliffs, narrow bays etc. you can see that line of site can often be a problem. If things really hit the fan I […]

Liverpool CC Under 18s are NWC Div 3 Canoe Polo League Champions.  Congratulations to the team.  Why not come a long and give canoe polo a go on Tuesdays – see calendar for venue details. All the equipment is provided – all welcome.

Congratulations to: Stuart Conway Sarah Horton Alan Peachment Paul Goetzee Trevor Strain If you encountered an emergency at sea would you know how to call for help? The Marine VHF Radio is an important piece of safety equipment onboard, understanding the correct procedures when operating the VHF Radio is vital and could save you or your crews’ lives. ” Prepare for the worst and hope for the best” Learn all the Marine VHF Radio procedures and practice using the inbuilt digital selective calling marine radio simulator.  These courses are run in conjunction with seavoice training. https://www.seavoice-training.co.uk/ The discount to any LCC member is £15 off the normal course price of £90     Here is the voucher code LCC15 that members can use if they book directly on to a classroom-based VHF Radio course.   The Exam fee is always £60 which is paid directly to the RYA and not us. Fundamentally this course is designed for all paddlers irrespective of craft. The objective is to teach simple and safe skills that can be applied appropriately.

Click here to see all the entrants and to vote for your favourite………..

# 1  Congratulations to Kris D Aout for his photo “Bonfire paddle – River of Light on the Mersey” #2  Steve Stanford “Craig surfing at Burrs Weir” #3 Kathy Morton “Pete discovers he is a zen master somewhere near Glenuig” See the other places on our Photo of the Month Page……….  

Nice to meet new people Mark Arron Neil thanks Stu Ian Ian for the support. Well done on the trip Aaron and Neil – excellent – I know it was very fast and big and bouncy you did great.  I know it was a significant step up. 0.86m at Marple Bridge Thanks all John A

Just some pics from two weeks ago with Becka on a trip to Spain (by train) for lessons at https://www.surfskicenter.com/tarifa It’s a totally different paddling technique, which makes it interesting. We don’t have room, money or capacity to buy these surfskis on top of everything else, but if anyone can let us out to play for a day on theirs on a session we could pass on everything that we learnt (which was included in 2hrs of classroom lessons a day in Tarifa).