Junior beginners Canoe Polo Day Sunday, 14 October, 2018   11am – 5pm Liverpool Canoe Club, Coburg Wharf, Liverpool, L3 4EB Open to all junior club members, both boys and girls teams involved. Juniors aged 8-18 Ideal for any juniors who have never played or only played a little. We will have several teams playing against each other in Dukes Dock by the big wheel. Free parking next to the compound. The session is totally free for members. Bring a change of warm clothes, lunch. Parents can watch from next to the pitch. Sign up below if interested. Click here for more information and to put your name down…….  

Agenda AGM 17th October 2018 Please book a seat if wanting to attend – helps with number of chairs to provide. – Thanks 7:30 – 8:00pm – Arrival Liverpool Marina, Spinnaker Suite. Slide-show of club photographs and activities over the year. 8:00 – 8:20pm – AGM (Election of Club Officials, Paddler of the Year, Members Motions) Welcome from the chair & review of the year 1.         Apologies for Absence. 2.         Minutes of the previous AGM – Click here Signed as a true record by the Chair Matters arising. 3.         Treasurers report  Online Year End Accounts – Click here 4.         Brief reports from each discipline (2 minutes each) 5.         Members motions – None received to date.           6.         Chair to thank all the volunteers that have coordinated and guided the club over the past year.  Welfare Officer – John Fay        Kingsway pool on Monday – Robin Emery;  SUP – Paul Harwood 7.         Election of Officers – Proposed list of those willing to stand for 2018-19 Chair – Fiona Barry; Secretary – Carole Thomas, Treasurer & Grants – Craig Ford; Membership Secretary & Volunteers – Keith Steer; Welfare Officer – Karl Tattum, Publicity – Pete Thomas; Junior / Youth Coordinator – Ian Colwyn; Notice boards – Peter Massey; Kingsway pool on Monday Dominic Fahey; Stuart Conway; Nick Coughlin; Dave Reynolds & Keith Steer; “Discipline Representatives” to advise members / act as a point of contact: Coaching Coordinator – Dave Reynolds, Technical Coaching Advisor – Ian Bell; Polo – Josh Cook, Sea – Gareth Jones; White Water – John Allerton and Stuart Toulson; Freestyle – Graham Devaney; Open Boat – Mike Alter & Ruth Edwards; Kayak Safety Cover – Dave Rider assisted by Jim Duff; Slalom – Michal Giezgala; Racing – Colin Smith; Surf – Karl Tattum, SOT – Dermot Miller   SUP – Jayne Rigby Equipment […]

Club Expedition to Alaska “Day 4” 19th August (Sunday) – Olsen Island Storm Bound With a storm due in, we were given a day off! So, some of us had a bit of a lie in and a slow start to the day. Tarp (x3) city was erected in the trees in anticipation of the rain!! Over late breakfast in the city, the group discussed the merits of equipment that had been brought on the trip and the interesting food choices of the group. Main topics included the variety of electronic devices that people had with them, camp chairs, jars/tins and fresh veg! There was even a dual language gold leaf hardback book! Whilst most were passing the time of day with food sorting, reading, or snoozing, the rain began to fall about lunch time. Nikki became the Chief Acquisition Technician for Collection of H2O (C.A.T.C.H.) This job entailed sourcing the rain water that was falling by using the tarps and strategically placed pans!! Shortly before the rain had started half of the group (Keith S, Keith P, Roger, Ian, Mark & Andy) decided to stretch their legs and headed off for a ‘short’ walk. This walk turned into a circumnavigation of the island (more details in separate report!!). 5 hours later the intrepid team returned with tales of coasteering, cliffs of no return, crossing of ravines using vine tight ropes, battling through the jungle and triffids! Each time the epic journey was recounted it became more and more extreme, oh and also a lot longer! And by bedtime the journey time was 12 hours! The only casualty in this extreme epic (other than a lot of wet clothing!!) was the sad loss of the “bear bell” which will be missed by all (especially Keith P). And finally, the statistic […]

Canoe Polo at Halewood Pool. (All welcome) Starts Tuesday, 2 October, 2018   8pm – 9pm Halewood Leisure Centre, Baileys Lane, Halewood, Knowsley, Merseyside, L26 0TY Click here to book a place……..   Canoe Polo Session at Halewood Pool. The first 10 minutes will be skills training and warm up followed by 6 x 7 minute games. Open to all who are interested in playing polo. Ideal for skills or general fitness. We have a number of polo boats and all equipment at the pool or you can bring your own. We access the pool via the door onto the pool side to the right of the main building (Next to the green containers and mini roundabout.) The session runs from 8:00 pm to 9:00pm but you are advised to arrive for 7:45pm.  

Despite the weather forecast and warning Neil, Wayne and Martin were brave enough to turn up for this weekend it turns out the weather was not really that bad.   We had rain on Saturday but with the high level of the river, the flow was fast to see all of us paddling From Hereford to Hoarwithy a distance of 15 miles without much effort.  Sunday morning we had some continuous heavy rain but it was clear with some sunshine myself, Neil and Wayne decided to Paddle from Hoarwithy to Ross on Wye a distance of 11 miles and a very enjoyable afternoon we finish the Weekend with a visit to Symon Yat rapid. Thanks again Carl

Club Expedition to Alaska “Day 3” (Whittier to Perry Island, Meares Glacier and Unakwik Inlet and return via Esther Island) “A Temperate Rainforest?” 18th August (Saturday) – Perry Island to Olsen Island Despite the long length of the first full day, the team was up and ready to go by the normal 9am start. After ensuring that each team had restocked with water, it was time for team brief. Under grey skies the plan was outlined, a 7km crossing to the Dutch Group of Islands for lunch and then via some abandoned oil tanks to Axel Lind island (13km) where we would scout for a campsite. But we might head on a little further if appropriate. Everyone was ok with the plan, but there were a few requests for a repeat viewing of the whale – let’s see what we could do. Heading off as a tight group it was great to hear that everyone chatting that they had recovered from the day before. Just as we were settling into paddling rhythm there was an excited cry of “Whale!”. We eagerly looked in the direction pointed, and lo and behold there was the distinctive spout, and noise, of a whale. Alas it was too far away in the wrong direction to make paddling over worthwhile, but at least it was a request met and another tick in the wildlife box. With spirits high, and the weather conducive to paddling, we headed on towards the Dutch Group. Despite the solitude of the location, at all times we could hear these barks and howls travelling across the sea. The only answer could be sea lions, and it appeared as if the noise was coming from a group of skerries just off our planned route. In my opinion a sea lion colony outweighs […]

North West and Central Canoe Polo Division 2   Saturday 22nd  was the first tournament of North West and Central Division 2 for LCC Brunswick (youth team) having won Division 3 last season and joining fellow LCC team Coburg (old people). With both teams beating Manchester Wildcats B and Red Rose A and both losing against FOA D and Viking Y during the day , before lining up against each other in their final game, with the old people winning a tight game 3-2. A big well done to both teams for a great day. PS see you  on 23 February  in Cheadle  at 19;10 for the rematch ! Norman Cook Coburg team coach (after Richie was sent off for dissent).  

Club Expedition to Alaska “Getting there and Day 1” (Whittier to Perry Island, Meares Glacier and Unakwik Inlet and return via Esther Island) “A Temperate Rainforest?” This clubs` expedition to Prince William Sound is now well established with trips in 2008, 2010, 2013, 2016 and again in 2018. This time we headed out to Perry Island in search of whales and then to Unakwik Inlet to find Meares Glacier. This involved some fairly-long, open crossings; including several in the thick fog. We were stormbound for several days with strong gusty winds and heavy rain. Every day we encountered something interesting including; humpback whales, black bears, Orca, Steller Sea lions and common harbour seals, deer, sea otters, bald headed eagles and many other sea birds; they seemed to be everywhere. We also paddled up to enormous tide-water glaciers. Our friend Levi Hogan (below) shuttled us to and from Whittier along with supplying his fleet of high quality UK Sea kayaks. Keith Peek. Mark Pawley Ruth Edwards Ian Bell Mike Alter Andy Garland, Martin Aldridge Roger Morgan, Chris Preston Frankie Annan, Nikki Aldridge The flight out and getting to Whittier Levi Hogan from Turnagain Kayaks This year, not only did we find a new outfitter, Levi Hogan and Turnagain kayaks but we also found cheaper and more direct flights via Iceland. Consequently, we had a much larger group than normal with 13 of us making the journey out to Anchorage. The flights cost around £800 with short stop over (2hrs) in the new North Atlantic hub of Reykjavik. On the way-out we were all kicking ourselves as we should have booked a couple of days in Iceland instead of flying straight through. We had to endure numerous advertising videos and TV programmes teasing us with the best that Iceland had to offer. […]

Short video of Leven. (just trying new go- pro really )

Great day yesterday on the River Rothay I will do it again for sure. Level was 0.7m this was a bit low perhaps 1.0 would of been better the trip was suited for a small number as there were many low hanging trees. Some amazing scenery. The rivers winds narrowly through grasmere then through grasmere like on to Rothay again then across Rydal water. Then on to Windermere, one river however wasn’t enough we did a quick run of Leven perhaps not best idea as it was late and we were tired. Neil came a cropper on the racecourse section and incurred a paddle snap. Bit of a downer but a great day in total Thanks all John https://youtu.be/RoEKt6jTze4

Lovely little article about Paul and his C1 conversion kits. Well done Paul. http://www.unsponsored.co.uk/press/c1-kayak-conversions/

Coniston open water swim by James Duffy Over 600 hundred swimmers took to Coniston Water on Saturday 1st September to take part in the gruelling Chillswim Coniston open water swim supervised by 40 kayakers including a team from Liverpool Canoe Club. After a somewhat tropical summer, the water temperature in the lakes was back in the normal temperature range of 16.8 degrees for the early morning swim. The event was a 5.25 mile linear swim of Coniston, and full support was provided for the swimmers by the kayakers. However, each swimmer also had a mandatory float in tow which made the task of the safety kayakers much easier. The Chillswim Coniston is open to both wetsuit and non-wetsuit swimmers, and approximately 120 of the swimmers chose to swim without a wetsuit. The fastest swimmer of the day was 21-year-old Sean Wylie from Hexham, who blasted the course in 1 hour 45 minutes and 53 seconds; the fastest time in the event’s history. Wylie was followed by Tom Robinson of Ulverston, in 1:51:04, who turns 18 next week. The fastest woman was 17-year-old Abbie Holyoake of Yorkshire Pentathlon, who finished in 1 hour 59 minutes. In the non-wetsuit category, first man was 46-year-old Phillip Hewitt of Hartlepool in 2:07:36 and first woman was 27-year-old Rachel Wilkinson from Yorkshire in 2:16:54. Swimmers range from first time long distance open water swimmers to Channel swimmers and everything in between. John McGivern from Merseyside participated with his three children as his 70th birthday present to himself. “Having swum this event with Chillswim before I knew it was special, and I wanted to have a great family memory for my 70th birthday. What better way than bringing my kids to swim 5 miles with me?” Top of Form    

The Windermere One Way Swim by James Duffy The Windermere One Way Swim took place on Sunday 2nd September at the beautiful and sheltered Fell Foot Park at the southern end of Windermere and some 167 swimmers took part. Swimmers were each accompanied by a personal kayaker including eight from Liverpool Canoe Club. The epic 11.2 mile swim the length of Windermere ended near Ambleside at Brathay Hall. Every Windermere One Way swimmer also had a timing chip to accurately record their time. Wetsuits were recommended but a significant number of experienced swimmers competed the challenge without a wetsuit. Significant crowds cheered the swimmers at the major viewing points and at the feed station just north of the ferry landing on the west side. Congratulations to all the swimmers.  

Canoe Polo Success at the British Open On Friday  31st we travelled  to Nottingham for the British Open canoe polo tournament , staying just  2 miles down the road at Holme Pierrepont Country Park campsite . We had  entered Division 3 with 9 other teams , ten-minute halves and a shot clock {which was a first for several of our  players} . On the Saturday  The Division was split into two mini leagues with our team winning 3 out of the 4. The only loss being against St Albans youth  to finish ranked 2nd in the group. On the Sunday we went into the knockout stages winning the first game on a golden goal against Kayak Northumbria in the 2nd period of extra time. Next up was Southampton University in  the semi-finals  which was won 3-2 with  probably our best all round game of the weekend. We were able to comfortably pass the ball around well to run down the clock. Then it was into the final against St Albans youth who beat us for the second time of the weekend,   4-0  with some good skills  for such a  young team. A big well done to the Sam , Aaron , Callum , John and Luke. Eventual runners up Division 3 . Norman Cook (Team Coach).  

The Paddler issue 43 Late Summer 2018 edition The International magazine for recreational paddlers The Paddler can be read in three ways: but the best is: http://paddlerezine.comFree tablet and smart phone optimised edition: http://paddlerezine.com Free Joomag desktop page-flip digital issue: https://joom.ag/BTEY Perfect-bound 132-page printed: https://thepaddlermag.com/subs-print-paddler Best wishes Peter Tranter (editor)