Aniol and Gerd Serrasolses have been kayaking together for almost their entire lives. Follow them on their adventure through the highs and lows of a life on the river.

The premiere began with a journey to the Ecuadorian Amazon, it raced down the Grand Canyon, adventured across Greenland, SUP surfed in Tofino, descended a gorge in Northern Pakistan, island hopped across a deadly strait to Tasmania and then played below the surface on the Cheat River Narrows before embarking on a canoe journey of reconciliation. MacGregor believes the festival’s ongoing success is based on three things: “The World Tour bring communities of people together; it inspires audiences to go and explore; and most often the screenings are used as fundraisers to support local non-profits doing good things.” Last night’s host, The Complete Paddler raised $2500 for Project Canoe, a non-profit focused on improving the lives of youth through outdoor adventure. Since Rapid Media launched the festival back in 2006, the World Tour has screened 959 times to more than 282,864 audience members. Rapid Media has awarded $71,000 to paddling filmmakers and helped raise tens of thousands of dollars for charitable causes. The Paddling Film Festival World Tour has grown to become one of the largest paddling events in the world.

I recently decided to build a paddle ergometer after having priced out new ones. You can see video of it at diypaddleergometers.wixsite.com/instructions, where you will also have the option to purchase detailed plans for $9 CAN. It is a great way to own a very functional and affordable piece of equipment.

It was a fantastic paddle with eight of us enjoying a marvellous day with an exceptionally well behaved Mersey. This estuary needs to be paddled more :-). It was a long (47.5 km) trip but thanks to good tides we were still able to lift a pint in The Ferry Pub afterwards :-). Thanks for joining, guys!  Kristiaan D’Août

Just wanted to let you know that our loyalty cards are now up and ready for you and your members to collect. The loyalty cards offer you 10% cashback on all items which can be used with your card for future purchases. We will need the members who would like one to simply go to the office and have their picture taken to be printed on the back between the hours of 9-5 Monday – Thursday

  RYA VHF Marine Radio (SRC) Short Range Certificate Course – ideal for all sea kayakers.  Sunday, 11 Mar 2018 9am – 6pm 6 Person maximum on this course only. Book online now with a £10 deposit. Cost as before £75 per person for the course and £60 for the RYA SRC exam per person, the exam fee is made payable to the RYA. Click for more information and to book…….

Karl’s REAL surf session.

Thanks for those who showed on Saturday obviously we chose the wrong day weather wise. However the level was good, Neil well done you learned a load in 3 hrs.

This is an easy flat water stretch of the River Dee ideal for Gp kayak, open boat, sea kayak Distance 12 ~ 13 miles We met up at Fardon Bridge Ll13 9JH between 09.00hrs and 09.30hrs to shuttle some cars to Sandy Lane. Nice Sunny day with good paddling buddies.

You might be interested to know that you can sign up (free) with the Channel Coastal Observatory to have email alerts when the waves exceed certain conditions. There are a number of buoys on the network with one at  Gwynt y Mor in Liverpool Bay. Go to the link below and click on the “Alerts system – receive custom alerts from the observatory” option. You can then set a wave height and/or wave period to trigger an email when the sea state reaches that level. http://www.channelcoast.org/data_management/real_time_data/charts/ he system is real-time so only alerts you to the current conditions rather than a forecast.

Finally got 13 year old Harvey to edit the last surf’s of the year. Please have a look, like and subscribe. There’s loads of kayak and canoe vids on there.

After warming up on the Leven we headed over to the River Kent, after leaving a car we missed the turn to Scroggs weir and had to take short detour. We were soon on the river which was at a medium – high level.  Soon it wound its way down to the start of the gorge section at Hawes Lane.  The first drop was plesant enough.  At S bends we stopped in the rapid above and shot it one by one.   There was an enormous hole on outside of the bend which claimed a few casulties including Leannes paddle which disappeared in a stopper lower down.  We fished for it for a good while with a weighted throw line but the current was far too strong.   (Leanne was reunited with her paddle a week later after a post on UK Rivers Guide) Lower down the gorege opens up and a nasty small scour weir has to be shot with extreme caution on river right (Scrape the wall – there is a very large but inconspicuous recirculation). We later egressed above the L shaped weir and infamous Force Falls. Leanne, Sara, Hannah, Ian, Nick and Keith More Photos……..

It was a bit grim first thing but fortunately the ‘monsoon’ rain stopped and eventually the sun came out.  We had 22 paddlers in 13 kayaks and 2 canoes.  Not a bad turn out for such a miserable beginning. Music was provided by Craig Ford, a selection of Xmas songs, and we started off to Bing Crosby’s “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas”.  We were the only traffic on the water apart from one solo rower and we certainly brightened up the docks with our multi coloured outfits and wonderful assortment of Santa hats. After a paddle around the Albert Dock we stopped at the Bandstand slipway in Salthouse Dock for about half an hour where everyone enjoyed a good munch, chat and much laughter.  Food appeared from nowhere – mince pies, cakes, seasonal biscuits etc.  Cameras were clicking from all angles particular from the visitors who were very interested in our little band of Santas. There was quite a festive mood, particularly from 3 young ladies!!! – Nadja, Sue and Irene – who were decidedly ‘merry’ after the mulled wine!!! and would insist on showing off their dancing skills. Then it was time to leave so our little convoy set off again to more music and a “ca ts chorus”  from some very vocal enthusiastic singing paddlers! We arrived back at the slipway, all safe and sound, about 12.50 pm.  After putting all the boats away everyone agreed that the morning had been great fun and very jolly.  Following “Seasons Greetings” being heard across the slipway eventually everyone left having thoroughly enjoyed our annual festive Christmas Paddle. Kayakers:  Martin, Carol, Nikki, Christopher, Emily.  John & Chris Fay & Penny, Keira & Courtney.  Sarah, Dom, Ian.  Craig, Nadja & Aleksander Ford.  John & Matthew Ennis.  Bob, Sue, Irene &  Julie.  […]

Everything was high so a call was sent out for anyone interested in paddling grade 3/4 on the weekend.  6 of us finally met up at Starbucks at junction 3 of the M57 (This is an ideal meeting place for anyone heading north to paddle).   Boats thrown on / in a couple of cars and we were off. We scouted Backbarrow bridge on the way –  it looked very high and decided on a shorter run getting out at the woodmill.   Brick shoot weir was quite big and boily but gave some of us a little bit of fun as we tried to get on the first wave.   The next drop was a very large hole rather than a drop but we all popped out on the other side. We surfed and played our way down the remaining rapids.  There was no stopping on the graveyard section giving a bouncy run down to the bottom. Leanne, Sara, Hannah, Ian, Nick and Keith More Photos……..

LCC SEA KAYAK PADDLE TO Hilbre Island West Kirby Sun 7th Jan 2018 Meet at West Kirby Sailing club slipway at 1300hrs prompt. Winds 10mph E HT 1450hrs 9.0m Hilbre paddle today. Good show of over 20 boats and perfect conditions. Roll on the next one Karl. Peter Massey 23 paddlers took to the water for a visit to Hilbre Island West Kirby Sun 7th Jan.     Thanks to everyone involved for working as a team and the great support to achieve such a hassle free day. Karl Tattum More Photos……….