River Dee by Paul Harwood Today`s trip took six paddlers down to Llangollen. Three Canoeists, consisting one Traditional canoe, one OC1, and one C1 were followed by three kayak playboats. We met at River Active at 10.30am, paid our three quid and got on the river. We had a little go in the middle hole and spent about three hours on the bottom wave. It was quite busy with paddlers doing their 3 star Freestyle Award, and we were even joined by Superstar paddler Bren Orton. A great day on the water. Totally aching now.

Posted on December 29, 2018 by thepaddlerezine in canoeing gear. No.1: Safety series: be prepared and stay safe: https://thepaddlermag.com/be-prepared-and-stay-safe/ No.2: working as a team on the water: https://thepaddlermag.com/safety-series-no-2-working-as-a-team-on-the-water/ No.3: swim, chase, throw: https://thepaddlermag.com/chris-brain-coaching-swim-chase-throw/ By Chris Brain In the fourth part of the Paddler safety series we will be looking at recovering pinned boats from the river. If there was one recommendation that I could make that would help you to avoid having to deal with this situation at all in the first place, it would be airbags! Get yourself some bow and stern airbags and make sure they are inflated before you set off. It is important to remember that there is no substitute for professional training in this area and this must be combined with experience in order to effectively use the ideas and techniques contained in this series. This article is not intended to replace formal training. Our previous articles have focused on preparation, simple rescues, working together on the river and above all avoiding incidents happening in the first place. The techniques covered in this article assume that you have read the previous chapters. Self-team-victim-kit It is essential to remember that our boats are not as important are we are. This means that we shouldn’t put ourselves in any unnecessary danger to rescue them and we shouldn’t prioritise them over our own safety. Too often I see paddlers getting straight in the river (on foot or even swimming) to try and rescue their kayak or canoe, ultimately putting themselves at risk. However, in some situations a stuck boat could range from simply being a mild inconvenience to being your only way to get to safety out of a steep gorge. Therefore, having some straightforward techniques which can help you recover your boat can be very helpful. Stop and think (make a proper plan) If […]

Previous year’s winners….. Photo of the Month Please send any photos to website@liverpoolcanoeclub.co.uk January 2019 Click here to see the photos and to vote for your favourite. December 2018 # 1 Wigan Lock to Chorley paddle by John Fay 10 votes (24%) # 2 Julie and John Selfie byJohn Fay 7 votes (17%) # 3 River Lune OC1 Paddle by Paul Harwood 7 votes (17%) # 4 River Dee Improvers Trip by Keith Steer 7 votes (17%) # 5 Harvey Harwood takes on the Strid by Paul Harwood 6 votes (14%) # 6 Hilbre Island Lunch stop by Martin Page 5 votes (12%)

Liverpool Canoe Club Annual Christmas Docks Paddle by Julie Brookes Considering the dismal weather today the turnout was exceptional.  Twenty-nine (I think as I lost count) hardy souls plus one ‘Jug’ alias Penny braved the nonstop rain and cold temperatures to paddle to the Royal Albert Dock.  Apart from varying kayaks, opens, and sea kayaks the paddlers looked a right bunch too!  Did we all go to Asda and Tesco for our Santa T-shirts?  Two paddlers were definitely ‘twins’. So this colourful group and festively ‘dressed’ kayaks (I’m taking out a contract for supply of tinsel next year) eventually stopped at the Bandstand slipway, by the carousel, where we munched our way through mince pies, cakes, chocolates and hot drinks.  This was our excuse to give us plenty of energy for the return journey back to the LCC compound and slipway. On our arrival kayaks were returned to the racks and we all dispersed to the sounds of “Merry Christmas”, “Happy New Year”, see you in 2019 etc. etc. What a lovely way to start this very special time of the year and thank you all. Julie Brookes  More Photos…..

River Leven Improvers Trip – Saturday 15th December River levels had been dropping all week along with the temperatures. With the threat of storm force winds, cold and freezing rain we decided to head to the River Leven. Windermere would provide decent water levels (just under medium flow) and some shelter from the biting winds. We had met up at Starbucks, junction 3 of the M58 and we quickly sorted boats and left a number of cars on local side roads. Putting in at Newby Bridge just below the small weir we went through breaking in and out together with basic ferry gliding. There were a number of other groups on the river and soon came across brick chute weir. This was safely negotiated and some of us spent a little while playing in the surf wave below. The next drop is shot centre left but be careful to follow the flow aiming right (rocks on the left bank). A few surf waves, chutes and eddies followed before we came across “Neil’s nemesis” where he broke his Werner paddle on the last outing. This was Colin`s first river and he decided to spin on a rock near the top and run the rapid backwards. The inevitable happened and after a short swim was quickly reunited with his paddle and boat. A few more rocky rapids led to the usual get off at the motor museum. The freezing rain then hit just as we were loading up to return to the top. The quick drop in temperature ensured that we decided to call it a day and go straight to the café to warm up. We were soon all warmed up and a few more paddling trips were planned and discussed. Watch out for the next improvers introduction to white water […]

Registration for Swim Event Safety Kayak Supervision for Triathlons, Swim-Runs etc. by Jim Duffy Registration for Swim Event Safety Kayak Supervision for Triathlons, Swim-Runs etc. Swim Safety, one of the biggest swim event companies in the country, have published a calendar of provisional event dates for 2019 available to view below. These provisional dates are a guide for kayaker who are interested. Swim Safety will be officially opening 2019 recruitment on the registration system in March 2019. Swim Safety are always looking for kayakers to join the event water safety teams. Kayakers need to be at 2 Star or above standard or hold a Swim Event Safety Award. If you’ve not worked with Swim Safety before and would like to you can register on their online registration system. By registering with Swim Safety you will receive all notifications regarding 2019 recruitment. http://swim-safety.co.uk/2019-recruitment/ Save the Date – Provisional Pre-Season Training Day Dates Swim Safety have reserved Saturday 27th April for pre-season training days. The format including exact sessions we will run and timings are still being finalised but the dates will be as follows – North – near Manchester, Venue TBC – Saturday 27th April 2019 New to Kayak Supervision of Triathlons, Swim-Runs etc? If you are new to kayak safety swim supervision you might like to register for the kayak team for the Bolton Ironman on Sunday 14th July at Pennington Flash or the Warrington Dolphins Royal Albert Dock Open Swim which is held in late August. There are usually about 15 Liverpool Canoe Club members who make up part of a team of 45 kayakers and so you would know some of the people involved and it’s a great experience despite the 5.00am start! If you have any further questions you could email me at jjduf2012@virginmedia.com Jim Duffy  

Winter Rolling Challenge For those of you who are new to the club, each winter we have a rolling challenge. The Aim is to see how many full roll’s (360 degrees) you can make in 30 secs.  Be they paddle, hand, stick, bar or tandem (pairs in the duo) rolls. This quick test gives you a reference to how good or bad your rolling is getting (if performed annually !!!!!) Last  Monday a few members had a go. Well done All So hopefully see more of you at the pool (2 more weeks until pool closes over Christmas) Dave Reynolds  Name Rank Paddle Rolls Dave Gentle 2 8 Fiona Gentle 5 6 Steve Alcock 1 9 Jonathan Richardson 3 7 Martin Eley 7 3 Dom Fahey 3 7 Peter Walmsley 6 5 Name Rank Bar Rolls Dan Stancioiu 3 8 Mark Broderick 4 7 John Edwards 1 11 Ellie Clews (Junior) 1 11 Name Rank Alternate side Rolls Steve Alcock 2 11

Paddling Film Festival 21st November 2018 at the Liverpool Marina Last chance to buy a ticket online and join us for tomorrows film festival.  The Alaska Sea Kayaking and Indus WW films are especially good.   Films start at 7:30pm – online tickets will be at the door. See you all there.  Click here to reserve your seat.. We will be showing the best short films from this year`s entry.  This is the only UK showing of this unique collection of films – £5 (if booked in advance). £10 on the door Do not miss this great chance to see these films. Click here to reserve your seat.. INSIDE THE INDUS – A PAKISTANI ODYSSEY CATEGORIES: Whitewater • DURATION: 20:20 Follow adventure kayakers Aniol Serrasolses, Mike Dawson and Ciaran Heurteau as they venture into the Rondu Gorge on the Indus River in Northern Pakistan to take on extreme whitewater. This is the story of their eight-day journey through the gorge. DIRECTOR: Ciaran Heurteau • PRODUCER: Mike Dawson INTO TWIN GALAXIES – A GREENLAND EPIC CATEGORIES: Whitewater • DURATION: 26:59 Three National Geographic Adventurers Of The Year embark on an insane kayaking mission in Greenland. Using kite skis, they tow their whitewater kayaks over 1,000 kilometers on the Greenland Ice Cap to reach the most northern river ever paddled. DIRECTOR: Jochen Schmoll • PRODUCERS: Red Bull Media House, Drehxtrem CHARGING ARC CATEGORIES: Whitewater DURATION: Duration Time 2:59 Find the seam of the fold and you’re in. Jim Snyder waltzes along nature’s turbulent mysteries in his prototype squirt boat under the Cheat River Narrows in West Virginia. Charging Arc is the observer’s path through the water in relation to everything else. DIRECTOR & PRODUCER: Gabe DeWitt CONVERSESSIONS CATEGORIES: SUP DURATION: 6:34 ConverSESSIONS peers into the minds and surng of three standup paddleboarding legends: Dave Kalama, Colin McPhillips and […]

Photo of the Month Congratulations to Michael O’Rourke for his winning photograph for November Photo of the Month – Please vote for your favourite for December Please send any photos to website@liverpoolcanoeclub.co.uk December 2018 Click here to see the photos and to vote for your favourite. November 2018 # 1 Sarah Gille swimming Château-Queyras gorge – Michael O’Rourke 25 votes (37%) # 2 Tees Barrage – Paul Harwood in a C1 – By Fiona Barry 14 votes (21%) # 3 Andy prepares some whisky on the rocks – Keith Steer 10 votes (15%) # 4 Happy birthday – Kathy Morton 7 votes (10%) # 5 Welcome home Frankie, if only for one day – Kathy Morton 7 votes (10%) # 6 Jim forgets something – Kathy Morton 5 votes (7%)

Wigan Top Lock to Chorley by – John Fay Haigh Hall, Fredericks Ice Cream parlour and the Boatyard (double decker) Bus Cafe were a couple of the sites we enjoyed on our 15.5 mile return journey from the Wigan top lock to Chorley.       This part of the Leeds/Liverpool canal was one section we hadn’t done before but apparently it was ten miles lock free. Julie Brookes and myself met at a respectful 10:30am and unloaded kayaks. I had decided to take Penny the Jug so was on a sit-on-top kayak whilst Julie has her trusty Flex. As most members know Penny has a dislike of anything of the bird variety and it was this that led to her first swim. Barking at the ducks, before we had even launched, we heard a plop. Looking into the canal we could just make out Penny’s head covered in green algae and brown leaves. She looked like a soldier with a camouflage helmet on. After rescue one we were off. This was a really nice stretch of canal. On one of our recent Weaver paddles I posted a photo of us paddling through thick green duckweed which just looked like a carpet covering the water. This time the water in places was covered in brown leaves so thick that they almost stopped our kayaks dead. The canal towpath was quite busy with cyclists and walkers and one lady dismounted her bike to take photos of us. She said that she wanted a hobby that both her and her husband could do together and like the look of our kayaks. Well, you never know, we might have inspired a couple of new kayak members. By the time we arrived in Chorley we knew that we would be making the return journey […]

OC1/C1 Canoeing – The Lune 24 OC1 and C1 canoes with just 2 kayaks. Some good water levels provided some good fun amongst a mass paddle of canoes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2WZeJLhFdA Paul Harwood

River Dee Improvers WW River Trip Sunday 11th November by Gary Thomas Today’s improvers trip took place amidst glorious Autumn weather.  There were plenty of participants, split into 4 groups.  After the usual shuttle, we headed off from Ponsonby Arms for the 9 kilometer paddle to the get out at Ty Mawr Country Park. The usual grade 1-2 start felt a bit ‘pushy’ after plenty of rainfall, but it helped increase the enjoyment and presented an achievable challenge for those quite new to kayaking rivers like this. A lunch stop on the bank coincided with some warm sunshine, after which we made are way under Pontcysillte Aqueduct towards the get out at Ty Mawr. Everything went reasonably incident-free until we got to Trevor Bridge, where a tricky section resulted in the loss of one of the much-treasured LCC paddles! It was a great day for improvers and experienced paddlers alike and, hopefully, newcomers will be encouraged to get involved in more trips like this. A big thank you needs to go out to the leaders and assistants and I would like to say ‘thanks guys’ to my group leaders, David Rider and Mark Garrod for informative and safe leadership. Click for more photos……  

Club Expedition to Alaska “Day 13” 28th August (Tuesday) – Decision Point Storm Bound The weather forecast has promised wind, and in the middle of night it definitely arrived. Getting up to check that the kit left hanging hopefully to dry hadn’t blown away I realised it wasn’t raining! And the kit was dry. Waking closer to morning and crawling out of the tent for a stroll down the beach, not only was it not raining but the sky was blue with hardly a cloud in sight. It was still pretty windy though. So now we knew that partly sunny = cloudy and horrible all day (Monday’s forecast) and partly cloudy meant sunny all-day Tuesdays forecast! The realisation that the sun was shining filtered through the campsite and suddenly everyone was scrambling to hang out all the wet kit to dry. Martin was over excited by the prospect of going home with a bag of dry stuff which is much pleasanter  (and lighter) than a bag of wet manky clothes. Never have I seen so many items of underclothing spread out on a beach! The ‘Keith`s’ had beaten us to it and were on the beach enjoying breakfast in the sunshine. An impressive bit of delegation followed as Keith S remained in place, and his cap, sleeping bag and other items arrived at his side along with cups of coffee.  Elsewhere on the beach swimmers were to be seen, this time Ian and Mike followed Nikki into the water – apparently further away from the ice the water is colder?!? The forecast confirmed what we knew, the wind was too strong to go anywhere, certainly some of the gusts felt like they’d carry you away, but they also guaranteed dry kit. A sunny stormbound day felt like a rare treat – well […]