Hi All, As the current situation develops, we have been forced to cancel more and more club trips and courses. It is looking more likely that we may have to stop most if not all club activities as further advice is given over the coming week(s). In addition to suspending all pool sessions, upcoming courses and residential trips from this weekend onwards we are also suspending all sessions involving team sports (eg no rules polo / canoe polo games and sessions) until further notice. We are using the latest advice to clubs given by British Canoeing: Clubs are advised to consider if and how they are able to run activities which adhere to the government advice, specifically regarding travel and social distancing recommendations. For some clubs and in some circumstances, club committees might assess that some activities can continue safely. However, the way that clubs operate and the facilities available to each club varies greatly which means that some club activities will need to be suspended for the time being. Currently, we still allowing small groups of members who live very locally to attend distance paddling sessions at the docks and individual surfing at locations like Crosby. This effectively means that you will be paddling on your own but within sight of others on the water. Members should ensure they always follow all social distancing guidelines. These include not sharing lifts with people outside your immediate family or using public transport, to keep 2 metres apart and to wash your hands regularly. We will continue to monitor the situation as it develops and update our calendar and advice accordingly. LCC

Hi All, I am sure you are all keeping up with the current situation.   British Canoeing released a statement late last night cancelling all British Canoeing Events until at least the end of April 2020.  https://www.britishcanoeing.org.uk/news/2020/british-canoeing-coronavirus-covid-19-update   This may have been a little premature given that schools etc are still fully open but they were thinking of big events with people travelling from all around the country.   Last night we cancelled all pool sessions going forward until the end of April.  Members spent some time returning boats to the docks ready for May.  Our junior club will be suspended for the time being but hopefully will return to the Docks on the 5th May 2020 as normal. For our outside events (Docks / paddles etc) we intend to continue as normal for now until more specific advice is given.   Members should still continue to follow good practise, refrain from any unnecessary contact and try to keep 2 meters space between people / paddlers.  Fortunately, this is relatively easy to do in a canoe however we probably should not hand out any food or cake etc.   Any no rules polo should now be no contact polo! In addition to the above, advice is not to spend more than 15 minutes talking or socialising with others even with the 2 meters rule so you should return home soon after the session.   Members may also wish to take their own 99.9% hand sanitiser or fresh water and soap to wash their hands before and after the session.  It goes without saying that if you or your family have any of the symptom’s or you are in a high risk group (over 70 or with underlying health problems) your should not attend any club session. All paddles and docks sessions will be dependent on a key […]

Photo of the Month Please send any photos to website@liverpoolcanoeclub.co.uk March 2020 Click here to see the photos and to vote for your favourite.

Sunday 8th March WW skills session change the location from The River Dee to Afon Llugwy A fun Whitewater Intro Skills Transfer Day on The Afon Llugwy with Nic, Vic, Enda and Jonathan. Briefing in the Plas y Brenin cafe. Debrief in the Siabod Cafe with hot drinks and scones.  

A few photos from last Saturday on the Dee and Sunday’s trip on the Lower Tryweryn – great weekend, thanks to all – by Nikki Aldridge 

White Water Kayak Improvers Trip – Saturday 14th March LCC on the Lower Tryweryn. Lots of upstream play and many good experiences today. Ace team ! Ian Colwyn  Cracking day on the river. Little apprehensive at first as haven’t paddled moving water for several months. Thanks for everything Dave and Fi. See you next time. Jenna Katherine  A fantastic day. Felt like I practiced lots of skills. Thanks Dave and Fi x

Sea Kayak Support Session Number 1 by Roger Colman On a wet and windy Thursday evening I attended, as a student (not as an assistant) the first of Ian Bell’s Sea Kayak Support Sessions. You may have noticed that these sessions were entitled Ian Bell and Roger Colman, but let me assure you all, in the words of a famous, fictional Spanish waiter, ‘I know nothing’ when it comes to navigation and trip planning.  I got a lift there, did not lift a finger to help Ian and then got a lift home again (thanks Derek) so a good night all-round. The course was packed out, all places taken. It was a good thing that the Wallasey District Scout Centre was available to the club and I have little doubt that Ian also had the major role in organising the venue as well as delivering this Introduction to Coastal Navigation and Weather session. I was surprised to see so many faces that I not only recognised but having been at the club for a while now, could even put a fair few names too.  Obviously, there is no guarantee that it was always going to be a matching pair, right name – right face, but for such a big club with so many faces I am slowly getting better at this. I was also surprised to realise how many I had paddled with at one time or another. (Why were they here – I thought they knew what they were doing!) It was a good evening with plenty of questions, in addition to “when’s the tea break?”, and I learnt about available resources; tidal range and flow; stream atlas’ and diamonds; over falls and tide races. If I struggled with the maths, I could find a picture book thingy, oh […]

Photo of the Month Please send any photos to website@liverpoolcanoeclub.co.uk February 2020 # 1 Ron Wood seal launch – Dave Gentle 15 votes (42%) # 2 NW Youth League 2020 – Craig Ford 5 votes (14%) # 3 Festive Docks Paddle 2019 from Julie Brookes 5 votes (14%) # 4 Improvers Trip Bull Bay to Brick works 2020 Emily Stephenson 0001 4 votes (11%) # 5 Andy on the Improvers Trip Sea Kayak Trip – Vic Leather 4 votes (11%) # 6 Crazy kayaker on the Tryweryn – Jim Duffy 3 votes (8%)

The Paddler issue 51 Winter 2020 edition The International magazine for recreational paddlers The Paddler can be read in three ways: Free tablet and smart phone HTML5 optimised edition: http://paddlerezine.com Free Joomag desktop page-flip digital issue: https://joom.ag/p9me Perfect-bound 132-page printed: https://thepaddlermag.com/subs-print-paddler All the best Peter

Your club activities might be changing – new proposals by British Canoeing have been announced – Your comments online may be used in plans going forward. Of particular concern to us will be Proposal 9 – Coaching, Leadership and Instructing Qualifications Please click here for the anonymous online survey with British Canoeing…… 9: Coaching, Leadership and Instructing Qualifications Whilst the majority of coaches are qualified, our regulations allow for some individuals to lead and coach paddling activities on the basis of an assessment of their competence made by club committee members.  It is proposed to change this so that all coaches, leaders and instructors will be required to hold a certified British Canoeing qualification and be currently qualified with all necessary updates undertaken. This means that 95% of all coaching and leading in the club could stop. This together with the plan to remove peer paddling from being covered by any third party insurance or as a club activity would mean that the club could no longer operate or at least would be radically different from now. This would mean for LCC: Dock paddling would stop except for led groups of 4 (BC Qualified sheltered water leader with all updates) Most river trips would stop Most sea trips would stop Club weekends and residentials would not happen unless qualified leaders and coaches were available for all groups of 4. All other club activities would need to be reviewed including pool sessions and surfing etc. I would welcome all members to review the proposals and to respond with their views, especially to proposal 9, as this will have severe repercussions on all our paddling with the club if the proposal is approved and implemented in October 2020. Please click here for the anonymous online survey with British Canoeing……

NWC Youth League Canoe Polo Our two teams again played in the second tournament and it is clear many of the paddlers are developing confidence and skills. To find out more see the YouTube video of the match between our two teams (Embedded below or click here….) Photos of the tournament…. Junior paddlers from age 9 to 15 are welcome to join us in the league. If you want to come along to the last two tournaments, please register your interest here. All the boats and equipment needed is provided. You do not need to wear a spray deck unless you want to. Click here for more information……

Liverpool International Canoe Polo Tournament  Click here to pay for your part of the entry for a team. We need 6 per team before the club will enter a team. Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th May ’20   Princes Parade, Liverpool, L3 1DL Liverpool International Canoe Polo Tournament The Princes Dock venue lies within the shadows of the world-famous Liver Birds as such is an excellent opportunity to showcase our sport. With other events and activities within the River Festival all within sight we expect to generate a lot of interest. Please note under our event licence we have been allocated a number of car parking spaces at 2 cars per team. More information……. Instructions You will be allocated to one of our teams. We need 6 people per team before we will enter – If there are not enough players we will refund the money to you. We usually have 3 teams. Contact the Polo representative if you have any questions…(polo@liverpoolcanoeclub.co.uk) LCC entry for International Polo tournaments this summer on our bookwhen pages is now open.   If you want to be included in any of the teams this year please sign up and pay now. You will be allocated to one of our teams. We need 6 people per team before we will enter – If there are not enough players we will refund the money to you. We usually have 3 teams. Contact the Polo representative if you have any questions…(polo@liverpoolcanoeclub.co.uk) Liverpool International  9 -10th  May 2020  https://bookwhen.com/lcc/e/ev-sd73-20200509000000 Canoe Polo National Championships 13-14th June 2020 https://bookwhen.com/lcc/e/ev-soch-20200613000000 Hull International 4 – 5th July 2020  https://bookwhen.com/lcc/e/ev-s2b5-20200704000000

Quite a few people said they were also interested in buying a PLB and asked me to pass on what I found out so I thought I should post back to the LCC email list. Here’s a summary – thanks to the replies I got from Bob Hamilton, Kris D’Aout, Pete Burgess, Mike Alter and Simon Webster. I want a PLB – these are small enough to fit in a BA pocket (EPIRBs are much bigger and are designed to be attached to a boat and they are registered to the boat whereas PLBs are registered to the individual). Most PLBs need manual activation. PLBs are registered to Falmouth coastguard and you can specify which sports you are doing eg walking plus kayaking. Nobody had used them in anger so there was no feedback on that but you should test the batteries every 3 years or so. People used two different PLB manufacturers: McMurdo – FastFind / Find Me / FastFind 220 – (Kris, Pete, Bob) fits in BA/PFD and can be used inland as well as at sea. Waterproof so doesn’t need to be in a case. The 220 floats when it is in its neoprene cover and needs to be sent away to replace the battery but battery lasts at least 3 years. Ocean Signal – rescueME – (Simon, Mike) easily fits in your PFD, has a  funky neoprene case that makes it float, but still allows easy activation. Good battery life. Requires manual activation including pulling out aerial. Getting the aerial out with cold hands might be a bit fiddly. £194 via Amazon. 

My first tournament with Liverpool Canoe Club by Jake O`Connell So, after only 2 training sessions I was allowed to play for the LCC team in the league. Everybody has been nothing but welcoming and the coaching has been amazing… Play and pick up as you go along! Everybody is more than happy to help you out and share tips and info on the game! I competed in my first competitive league game and within 15 second had already scored my first goal!! Tips picked up from the coaches and teammates helped massively and as the games progressed, we dominated the game and scoring 4 goals total in the games. So happy to be a part of LCC. Jake! More Photos…….

Photo of the Month Please send any photos to website@liverpoolcanoeclub.co.uk February 2020 Click here to see the photos and to vote for your favourite.