Roof racks and spacing for carrying kayaks and canoes. Canoes and kayaks vary in length and in general the longer the boat the longer the spacing should be between the bars. However, as the boats tend to go to a vee shape towards the ends so do not sit well on flat bars if the length between them is too large. My bars have 95cm between them and boats sit well either flat or on their sides. This does not have to apply if you have cradles to sit them in but again 95 – 100cm is ideal for sea kayaks in cradles or river kayaks flat or on side. Racing boats are often carried in V shaped carriers with extra length but most general-purpose kayaks sit well with 95cm spacing. Your spacing of 65cm seems a little close but will depend on how your kayaks sits at that spacing. A 3m kayak may bounce and pitch up and down as you go over bumps. Car and roof rack spacing maybe for general luggage (eg suit cases). The width referred to in previous emails is the width of the bars and it helps to have bars that stick out a little. Try to avoid trendy sculptured bars (see photo below) recommended by some manufactures. The curve and plastic fittings at the end mean that kayaks do not sit well and in practice you cannot fit many kayaks on the bars! I recommend the Thule aero system below – with an extra 10cm on either end it is ideal for carrying several kayaks. A final word – roof racks are only rated for a maximum 75 or 100kg of weight on top. Crashing or breaking at speed with kayaks on can mean they tear the roof rack off, brake the straps […]

Photo of the Month Please send any photos to website@liverpoolcanoeclub.co.uk August 2019 Click here to see the photos and to vote for your favourite.

Photo of the Month Please send any photos to website@liverpoolcanoeclub.co.uk July 2019 # 1 The Lower Tryweryn trip by Dave Gentle 38 votes (28%) # 2 Tarifa Spain May 2019 25 Kt Downwind in double surfski Stephen Marnell 25 votes (19%) # 3 Parliament House Cave on Anglesey – K Steer 22 votes (16%) # 4 Open Boat Sailing on Lake Bala – Nikki Aldridge 20 votes (15%) # 5 Sea kayak trip on Anglesey Dave Gentle 16 votes (12%) # 6 Stand Up Paddleboarding during the Open Day by Christine Fay 13 votes (10%)

Race Report from Last year’s event – we still have lots of places available to club members – paddle as a group or an individual we have you covered! Hilbre Island Sea Kayak Race 2018 This was the eighth year that Liverpool Canoe Club has run  the Hilbre Island Sea Kayak Race based at Dee Sailing Club in Thurstaston. With the tide rolling in at a fast rate of knots it was decided to go for an on-the-water start this year. Precisely at 1pm our secretary, Carole Thomas blasted the hooter and the flotilla was off. With almost perfect conditions and a later start time it was sure to be a fast race this year as the leaders would be rounding the islands at high water. Paddlers had been advised to head inshore of the racing dinghy`s at West Kirby and then to head out to the shallows around the Little Eye. The hot weather brought its own problems, paddlers needed to stay hydrated. It was great to see the numerous safety kayakers this year marked with yellow High Visibility Vests. The little eye racers rounded and returned inshore while those heading for Hilbre set off to the outside of Middle Eye and small overfalls on the end of Hilbre. When all kayaks were heading for home the 4 rescue boats (Ridged Hull Inflatables) practised rescuing paddlers with some of the safety kayakers and then shadowed the paddlers back past West Kirby and on to Thurstaston. The tide had changed so the remaining paddlers had to fight hard against the ever-quickening ebb tide. Back at the sailing club we tidied up, showered and enjoyed the BBQ and drinks provided by our hosts Dee Sailing Club. This year Go Kayaking provided a number of demo sea kayaks and items from the shop. Andy Lees, shop manager also presented […]

Sunday 7th July – Clubs annual Sea Kayak Event at Dee Sailing Club As usual the Sundays Dock Session on Sunday 7th July has been moved to coincide with the Sea Kayak race and Club BBQ at Dee Sailing Club. Go Kayaking will be there with demo boats and gear for sale. This is an ideal day out for the family with access to the beach, BBQ and club house at Dee Sailing club. We hope that all of you pop along to support the club or take part in the event. We especially want club members to enter the events – rescue boats and safety kayaker cover all events. West Kirby event (4km) paddles along the shore to West Kirby Sailing Club and back (2 circuits of the docks). Ideal for those new to the sport, in general purpose kayaks, SOTs, SUPs or juniors paddlers. Little Eye event (8Km) paddles clockwise around the little eye island and back along the shore to Dee Sailing Club (4 circuits of the docks). Ideal for Fast touring boats, Doubles and racing SUPs Hilbre Race (13Km) – for more experienced paddlers in Sea Kayaks, Ladies Sea Kayaks, Tandem Sea kayaks, Racing Surf Skis, High-performance Sea Kayaks. Club kayaks and equipment can be loaned for this event – just book in the usual way. You do not have to race, we are happy for groups of paddlers to tour around the route in groups but it is an ideal way to paddle on the sea in relative safety. Please enter to receive a start bib. To book a place please go to the main page on the club website or click here to enter……. NB I still need a couple of volunteers to control access to road / parking area – please email website@liverpoolcanoeclub.co.uk […]

Junior Club Camping Weekend at Anglesey Outdoors June 2019 This year we were based at the Anglesey Outdoors center near Porth Dafarch. This is an ideal setting for the juniors as we have our own field away from the other users with plenty of space. Some families cheated this year and booked a Yurt or Cabin, one with a hot tub!! One family even opted to stay inside the center with heated rooms. The rest of us camped outdoors. On the Friday we put up the tents and played games on the campsite. Later we got the fire going inside the Cabin before all going to bed. It rained overnight. Saturday morning saw an early start and we arrived at 4 Mile Bridge (so called as it is four miles from Holyhead). Here we played in the surf way and went through the tunnel lots of times. The current soon slowed and everyone went through. After a short break and picnic we were off in the boats again and paddled across the inland sea and saw lots of birds and wildlife. Back at the campsite for lunch some of us got our kites out. It was very windy and some crashed into the bushes. At 3pm it was off to the beach at Porth Dafarch. Some played on the sand, the tide was out so we soon had a surfing and swimming session. Later we had the BBQ on the campsite and more games before we all went to bed. On the Sunday we had a go at coasteering on one of the beaches along the coast. We swam out to a small island and then round some cliffs and found a narrow cave and crack that led us back to the start. We then headed off to 4 Mile […]

Club Open Day April 2019 Every year the club runs an open day on the last Sunday in April. The event is open to All, young and old, members and non-members, We have a large range of boats and equipment and our friendly members will be on hand to offer advice or answer any questions you may have. There was a Paddling Tour of the Docks, Rolling competition, races and events. We also had a “bring and buy” sale for any canoe or kayaking gear. Go Kayaking were there with their demo-fleet to try and buy. Ella Clews was the official photographer for the event and has produce a fantastic set of photos capturing the day. Members can see all of the on the media > club photos page……

Tryweryn weekend by John Cooke With the Tryweryn not releasing over the weekend and rain forecast we arrived at the campsite late afternoon to find Craig E was already set up, pitching the tents in the pouring rain was not an enjoyable experience, Craig and Alexsander arrived complete with gazebo which was erected and used as our dining room for tea. Later on, Dom arrived with a large family tent that we converted in to the party tent and would be the saving grace of the weekend. By now with an ever-increasing number of tents/vans we were building a Tryweryn village. Saturday morning and not much sleep due to the rain pouring all night, other paddlers joined us and unfortunately the sheer weight of water on the gazebo had made it collapse, no more dining room! The good news was the river was in fact 20cm higher than if they had actually released and 14 paddlers split in to two groups set off for a paddle which would take 3 hours, we were back on schedule for the original purpose off the trip. With a shuttle back to the campsite we all went to the cafe at the Tryweryn for some lunch. Lunch done and dusted and some new paddlers on site it was time for a second run, the rain had stopped and the river was dropping quickly so the second lap was done in just over an hour. Mission complete, back to the campsite for a shower and barbeque with a couple of drinks thrown in for good measure, the party tent was utilised later on until it was time for bed. Sunday morning and it had been decided to go to the Dee as this was on the way home for most people, and it was running […]

Liverpool International Canoe Polo Tournament by Craig Ford The weekend of 1st and 2nd June saw Liverpool Canoe Club enter two polo teams into the open age class 3 & 4 along with the U16 youth team.  Once the final details were published the U16 team (Aleksander, Dean, Harvey, JJ, Myles) was placed in the class 4 with LCC Coburg (Ben, Craig, Keith, Mark, Mike, Norman, Paul) with a head to head tie between the two teams for Sunday morning. This meant that our new youth team in their first tournament was placed to play against a couple of other youth teams and 8 adult teams from around the UK. Whilst the weather was relatively bleak the results from Saturday saw LCC Coburg and the U16 team tied in first place overnight.  By the end of the round robin the U16s were placed second leaving them playing for 1st or 2nd place.  With blustery conditions prevailing the U16s had a fantastic performance and should feel proud to finish runners up against much more experienced adult opposition. LCC Coburg in their inaugural outing as a team finished 6th with a spirited set of performances. Meanwhile LCC Brunswick (Aaron, Callum, John, Josh, Luke, Sam) were placed against Div3 teams including a GB Development team gathered from top players around the UK.  Again hard fought battles saw their efforts rewarded with a 3rd place trophy. Well done to everyone for their efforts.  Bring on the Hull tournament in 3 weeks time! Craig Ford

Arisaig May 2019 A bit more by John Fay and Bob Hamilton Arisaig is about 350 miles from Liverpool and despite having booked a superb cottage with all Mod Cons, for our weeks stay, the original though of getting on the water on our arrival soon paled. Even though it was on the doorstep. A quick cuppa and a rest followed by emptying the van, was more needed than carrying kayaks over the beach. Our accommodation at Invercaimbe was, we had found, very popular and while trying to get optimum tide times for our week was not possible, that actually gave us no real problems. Our first few forays around the area where just great fun. The forecast was never for strong winds, but we always seemed to get more than anticipated and it gave us the chance to play close to “home”. There is a stream right past the farm, which looked to be a good place to put in>>>>>>>>>Errr, not so good as it was very shallow as we tried to paddle downstream Ha Ha. Anyway a few good sessions in varying conditions where had, including a visit to Arisaig Marina which proved to be a bit of a slog and with no suitable place to get out for a leg stretch. The beach here is most inhospitable with foul smelling mud, boulders and seaweed. A retreat to a crushed coral beach was made on our return for a break and some shelter from the breeze. Some seals found us of interest here. A favourite area of mine has been Loch Nan Uamh, putting in at an ideal location about ½ mile North of the railway viaduct featured in “Harry Potter” unfortunately we were advised by a local fisherman that the owner of the land had changed hands […]

The weather was ideal, stable high pressure and winds forecast to be less than force 4. The group decided to paddle from Porth Clais and take the remaining flood tide (Neaps) out and around the outside of Ramsey Island. There was always an option to bail and head down the inside of the sound if things looked a little rough. We ferried across to the end of Ynys Elun and surveyed Midland Gap. The tide was tailing off and we thought we could all slip through and then down the outside of the island. Although there was little wind, we did have a sizable swell running and this combined with the tide created a small race between the gap. We slipped through without any upset but it did give rise to some interesting water. The tide swept us along past some tall cliffs with waves breaking in places. Some considered making a landing on Aber Mawr (a large west facing beach with large cobbles). We decided against this as landing and launching would be a little challenging Next came several large caves with deep passages together with a few arches. The group worked its way around the north end of the island and once on the sheltered east side found several beaches – the sun was out, lunch started and stoves roared. We spent a little while in the sun waiting for the tide to swing round and ebb through the sound. Some overfalls started to run in the middle of the sound and discussion centered around horse rock and its subsequent overalls. Before long we took to the water again and explored the features around the landing / pier on the island. We even threaded the “bitches rocks”. Hardly any tide was running as we made our way back […]

Photo of the Month Please send any photos to website@liverpoolcanoeclub.co.uk July 2019 Click here to see the photos and to vote for your favourite.

Saturday from Porth Dafarch around the Stacks and back Nikki and Martin with South Stack in the distance. Parliament House Cave – Martin points at the roof. The Otter looking for food at Penryn Mawr Sunday from Church Bay out to the Skerries and back. Andy and Nikki with the Skerries Light in the Distance I didn’t get a picture of the puffins or the porpoise but I did get a picture of the otter  🙂

Photo of the Month Please send any photos to website@liverpoolcanoeclub.co.uk June 2019 # 1 Sun setting over Arisag by John Fay 35 votes (39%) # 2 Dee Bore on Good Friday by Colin Smith 16 votes (18%) # 3 Open Canoe trip on the Banwy Nikki Aldridge 12 votes (13%) # 4 Bow stall on the Tees WW Course by John Cooke 9 votes (10%) # 5 Its a dogs life by Christine Fay 9 votes (10%) # 6 Farndon to Chester paddle Nadezda Ford and Roger Colman by Neil Jones 8 votes (9%)