We were off at 5.30am in 3 taxis racing through Kathmandu to the Paddle Nepal bus. Slightly over shooting our driver doubled back straight into the on coming traffic with a honk of the horn…pretty standard driving for Kathmandu! The bus was quickly loaded and then we were off on the first bouncy ride of the holiday, climbing out of Kathmandu past the Buddha on the hill. After about 3hrs we made a breakfast stop. Sugary coffee/spicy tea, boiled egg and a spicy chickpea mix self assembled in a wrap. Finished off with a sugary donut – yum! On we went through little villages to the get in, which required some off roading by the bus down a rather steep makeshift slope. The kit was unloaded and the rafts assembled with the bus’ roof racks suddenly turning into the centre pieces to take the oars. While we changed the driver took the opportunity to wash the bus in the river, where he parked to keep the tyres cool. We paddled off and were soon through a couple of wave trains, which at this point in the holiday felt quite big. After an hour we stopped for lunch and had our lesson in the rigorous hand and dish washing procedure. Biscuits went round while the loaves were sliced, coleslaw was freshly prepared and beans were served with bananas and the choice of orange or lemon squash to follow. We had a few more hours paddling through tiny villages and bouncy wave trains where we saw monkeys on the bank and vultures in the air, before arriving at camp – nicely positioned at the top of what looked like quite an intimidating rapid known as Meat Grinder. We were shown how to put up our tents while dinner was prepared. A spicy […]

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.

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# 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).

20 + paddlers made the trip today including Gareth’s Improvers group.   A good turn out after the poor weather recently luckily the weather was better than most of us expected today. Light to moderate breeze, dry ,sunny intervals.  All coped well. No Tide race or overfalls to play in this time and only one seal bothered to greet us on the end of Hilbre Island. Unfortunately, due to an injury Mark Pawley had to sit out the paddle.   Fortunately for the rest of us, Mark kindly made Lots of tea and coffee in his paddle bus for anyone who wanted it on our return. Thanks Mark and all for a good paddle.

Just the 3 of us on the Severn today. a well deserve brew.  Meeting at the Montford bridge cafe Opposite Wingfield Arms, On the A5, Montford Bridge, Shrewsbury SY4 1EB between 0900hrs – 0930 hrs.   Shuttle cars to Frankwell car park where we will get off and hopefully be on the water by 1030hrs The weather forecast will be cloudy, (I have ordered some sunshine).  Yyou need appropriate items of clothing  Hot, cold drink and snack        

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Following the satnav past Blue Sping state park we arrived at a strip of beach in the middle of nowhere. This is where we met Geoff a marine biologist sea kayaker from Maine and Greg the owner of Adventures in Florida with a load of kayaks. Ciaran smiled while the rest of the clan were ready to drown me. Once everyone got over the shock and received a brief from Goeff the boats were sorted into a mixture of sized Prijon and Perceptions. Goeff managed to calm us all down and convince my family that I was not going to drown them all, as we were going to paddle the St Johns river the Slowest moving river in the US. We all Set off up stream in search of Manatees, even Paula and Rebecca were paddling a sit on top Due Peception. As we passed the Blue Spring, the water was 21 degrees and rising up all year round (a bit warmer than the dock). The Manatees had overwintered before spreading through the 800miles of streams and rivers before heading out to sea in the summer. Despite not finding any Manatees we spotted so much wildlife, numerous fish including a Mullet that jumped over the front of my boat and birds including Vulchers, Herons and a Bald Eagle swooping down catching a fish just in front of us carrying it away in its tallons. A Yellow Chested Turtle and yellow tree snake passed, as Ciaran and myself lagged at the back near the bank he screamed “something is under my boat” as he paddled back he faced off an 8ft Alligator. After it all we returned to the beech having not been eaten with no swims Adventures in Florida | Orlando Kayaking Tours Guided kayak tours near Orlando. Famous for their Bioluminescence, Wekiva River, […]

Make sure you’re locking you’re boats up! Our straps we’re cut last night in West Darby! Lucky we had a heavy duty wire around the seats and bars!!         Post from Aaron Kendall‎ to our facebook page