For those that like surfing or want to know the sea state for sea kayaking this might be of interest. CEFAS have a map of UK wave buoy data (WaveNet), which also provides forecast information at some locations. See http://wavenet.cefas.co.uk/Map If you select the basic map and click on the arrow in Liverpool Bay, then select the graph tab you’ll get the local 24hr wave forecast for wave height and period.

Congratulations to everyone who took part in the ‘Stand Up To Cancer Canoe Paddle.’ A number of celebrities have been picking up their paddles to join an heroic team powering their way through waterways of the North West arriving in the Albert Dock on Friday 29th September to a rapturous crowd. They were followed by a team of twelve kayakers from Liverpool Canoe Club, coordinated by Julie Brookes, who followed them through the iconic docks of Liverpool to the finish arch at the Albert Dock where they were met by hundreds of friends and specators as well as TV cameras from Channel 4. Showing grit and determination, the ‘Paddlers’; Carla Bradbury, Jag Chather, David Sing and Helen Weller, who have all been affected by cancer, have been rowing five marathons in five days. The team set off from Chester on Monday 25th September and finished the challenge in the heart of Liverpool, at the Albert Docks, today. ‘Swim Safety’ provided the safety cover throughout the 120 trip in three inflatable ribs. Some of the celebrities taking part include Hollyoaks actress Anna Passey (Sienna Blake), Made In Chelsea’s Sam Thompson, Liberty X singer Michelle Heaton, Judge Rinder star Robert Rinder, TV presenter Anthea Turner, The Only Way Is Essex star Chris Clark, Love Island’s Jess Shears and Dom Lever along with a host of other celebrities. Each of the marathon paddlers were partnered with a celebrity each day to help them reach the finish line. To date some £15,700,222 has been raised to fund further research into cancer!. Channel 4 will be producing a documentary later in the year featuring the research and the ‘Stand up to Cancer’ campaign. Congratulations to everyone concerned!

Do you enjoy paddling white water? Have you taken part in The largest white water event in Europe? The Tyne Tour is based in Hexham Northumberland over the weekend of the 3rd-5th of November.  The rivers are dam released from Keilder reservoir giving miles of river fun, come and paddle through the Northumbrian countryside.  In what I think is the most stunning time of year.  Including the infamous Wardens gorge!!! The  ticket booking for the weekend will be  individually via the main website   tynetour.co.uk  There are many options for booking available, depending on the number of days you wish to paddle etc.   Once you have booked a place on the weekend register you attendance on the LCC booking page and Stuart will  Personally I plan to arrive on the Saturday morning, meet anyone who wishes to join me on a peer group paddle from Barrisford to the Hexham Tyne green. This a grade 3 paddle and anyone who joins us should be capable of paddling at this level.  This section is non portagable, that means if you decide to run it you can not get off the river until the get out. The Saturday evening I will pitch my tent  on the Tyne green then head into Hexham to eat, drink and watch the fireworks On Sunday I plan to head south and paddle a section of the Tees depending on levels.  Many options for rivers are also available,  the organisers are running some grade 1/2 trips bookable via the web site.  With well over 1500 paddlers attending the area is busy, with this in mind, could you please inform us of your attendance via  the club  calendar booking page after you have ordered your tickets. This will ensure I can contact everyone and we can all meet up.  Thanks,  Stuart Toulson

Canoe Focus Magazine – September

If you’re interested in having access to tidal predictions between UK tide gauge locations the National Oceanography Centre have released a tidal predictions app anyTide. This provides tidal elevation and current information at 1.8 km intervals around the UK coastline, http://noc.ac.uk/business/marine-data-products/anytide For those of you who use the UK Hydrographic Office EasyTide predictions, these are based on software developed by the National Oceanography Centre. So the data at tide gauge locations should be the same.

I appreciate that not everyone has encountered trouble on the rivers – but unfortunately it does happen. NOW is the time to advise the Welsh Assembly of why access to rivers should be formalised. PLEASE can all paddlers take the time to provide a response to the Welsh Assembly as per the email below. It may also help if you forward the message to any friends and family who like to go for a swim in the river, or take the kids to paddle their toes. Thanks in advance Mike It is vital that the Welsh Government receives as many individual responses as possible, so we have prepared a template for you to use to support our own response, at: https://form.jotformeu.com/72414105693352. Follow the on-screen instructions to submit a response direct to the Welsh Government by midnight 30 Sep (or if you’d prefer an editable Word version, contact me for a copy). The more responses they receive, the better – so please do it now! And encourage all your paddling friends to do the same! For those of you who want to see all the detail, the draft of our full response (to which we expect to add a bit more detail between now and the 30 Sep deadline) is attached. Thanks again, Steve Rayner OBE Waterways & Environment Officer DRAFT v2_0 Canoe Wales & British Canoeing response to Welsh Government Consultation

Club weekends and major events for the Club 2017 to 2018 – for more detail check the online Club Calendar….. 22 – 24th September 2017 Anglesey Weekend #4 Click for more and to book a place – based at Outdoor Alternative Rhoscolyn  – coordinator Peter Massey. 11th October 2017 Club AGM and paddler of the year Awards (Talk and DVD from the Alps trip) 27 – 29th October 2017 Dave Blake 5 “O” weekend at Anglesey Outdoors 8th November 2017 Real Paddling Film Festival (World Tour of films) More information…….. 29th March to 2nd April 2018 Easter Bank Holiday Scotland Trip based at Blackwater Hostel – Click for more and to book a place…. 29th March – 10th April 2018 Nepal Sun Khosi River Trip (Kayaking and Rafting) – coordinator Keith Steer. 29th April 2018 Club Open Day at the Compound at the Docks.  Try different  disciplines, junior session, come and try it session for non-members, Sunday tour of the docks. Bring and buy sale for any canoe or kayaking gear. 4th – 6th May 2018 Anglesey Weekend #1  Click for more and to book a place – based at Tyn Rhos Trearddur Bay  – coordinator Peter Massey. 25 – 28th May 2018 Pembroke Bank Holiday Weekend Click for more and to book a place – based at Whitesands Camping  – coordinator Jenny Brown. 15 – 17th June 2018 Anglesey Junior Club Weekend #2 Click for more and to book a place – based at Anglesey Outdoors LL65 2LP – coordinator Keith Steer. 29th June – 1 July 2018 Anglesey Weekend #3 Click for more and to book a place – based at Bodfan Farm, Rhosneigr  – coordinator Jenny Brown. 15th July 2018 Hilbre Island Race – Club event for all  More information…….. 20th July to 5th August 2018 Alpine Holiday Alpine Rivers Holiday – Briancon France  Coordinator Keith Steer 16th to 30th August 2018 Sea Kayak Alaska – Coordinator Keith Steer 27th to 30th September 2018 Anglesey Weekend #4 Click for more and to book a place – based at Outdoor Alternative […]

  Nominations for our 2017 Awards are now requested – If you would like to nominate a fellow paddler please send an email to: website@liverpoolcanoeclub.co.uk with a brief (no more than 60 words) summary of why they are being nominated and ideally a photo of them.  (please include any video or other material you may have. See this year’s nominations by clicking here………. Winners of our four Club “Paddler of the year” Awards will be presented at our AGM on Wednesday 11th October 2017 During August/ September we will be taking nominations from club members for: 2017 Nominations for Paddler of the year (club member who has either made the most progress or achievement in paddlesport) 2017 Nominations for Young Paddler of the year (Under 18 club member who has made either the most progress or achievement in paddlesport) 2017 Nominations for Volunteer of the year (Club member who has given their services to help the club) 2017 Nominations for Swimmer of the year (Club member who has had the best out of boat experience)

Tide & Time is an exhibition at the National Oceanography Centre Liverpool. It’s free to visit and you’ll find out about how tides are and were predicted around the UK,  http://www.tide-and-time.uk/               Come discover the role Tidal Science had in turning Liverpool into a major port and the city it is today. Tide Predicting Machines are analogue computers designed to simulate the rise and fall of the ocean tide. The two Tide Predicting Machines in this exhibition – the Doodson-Légé machine and the Roberts-Légé machine – can be viewed by the public once a month. Both machines spent their working lives at predecessors of the National Oceanography Centre: the Liverpool Tidal Institute and at Bidston Observatory. The Roberts-Légé was one of two Tide Predicting Machines used during planning of the Normandy invasion in WWII.

A last minute arrangement to paddle took us to Dove Point on the Wirral with a plan to kayak to New Brighton and back. High tide was 12:20 so we met at 10am and waited for the channel to fill up. A small fishing boat and a sail boat were waiting also. After a brief chat with the RNLI coastguard crew watching the goings on along that stretch of coast we were off. The fishing boat chugged along in front of us and soon the sailing boat went past with a friendly wave from her captain. We had two hours each way if we wanted to arrive back at the slipway before it became void of water so we maintained a steady pace soon passing the 110ft Leasowe lighthouse first constructed in 1763. It was operational up until July 1908 with the only known female lighthouse keeper in those days, a Mrs Williams. The weather was warm attracting lots of visitors along the shoreline. Approaching Moreton beach we again met a RNLI crew member but this time lying on his surfboard just ahead of us. Another brief chat ended with some advice to stay out a little to avoid the water covered groins that stretched out from the shore into the sea. One of those groins could easily rip the hull of a kayak if hit. Two hours soon pass when your engaged in conversation and it became clear that we were not going to reach the lighthouse today. It was high tide which gave us another two hours to get back or we would be punished with a walk through the wet sand dragging our kayaks behind. Probably much to the amusement of the residents watching out of their windows along the promenade. Unfortunately due to too much chatting […]

Hi all, The good news is that flight prices have just dropped a little – currently £520. This means that to full trip will cost approximately £1150 Most would like to make use of Easter Bank holiday dates so I propose: Fly out at 21:30 from Birmingham on Thursday 29th March – arrive Kathmandu on Friday 30th – hotel in Thamel distict.  Picked up on Saturday for 3 hr bus trip to top of the Sun Khosi, 8 nights on the river, 15hr  bus journey back to Kathmandu and night in hotel.  Those that want to fly out the next day Monday 9th April arriving back at 18:00 later that day – some may like to stay 1 or more days to sight see and tour around.  I will probably choose to fly back on the Tuesday 10th April giving an extra day to explore Kathmandu. This minimises the days off work – only 5 needed !!!! The good news is that people can Raft or kayak so non-paddling partners can join in. I have negotiated about $115 off the normal price. £ 516.28  $ 650.00 Rafting  $650 £ 615.57  $ 775.00 Kayaking  $775  (still need to bring on paddle & kit) £ 516.28  $ 650.00 Kayak with own boat  $650 If you would like more information or are interested in going contact website@liverpoolcanoeclub.co.uk

  Over the VHF, I have often heard marine traffic talking about Q1 and Q2, these being the outermost buoys of the Liverpool Approach.  But where exactly are these places, and what are they like? Given the huge amount of water that enters and leaves the Mersey Estuary,  it makes sense for any return trip into Liverpool Bay to be based around low tide.  Some degree of tidal assistance could then be expected in each direction.   In these parts, low water only occurs around the middle of the day at neap tides.  A calm summer’s day with a neap tide and a gentle onshore wind would seem ideal for such a trip.     On Thursday 17/8/17, these conditions came together nicely.  A gentle Westerly wind was forecast to pick up during the afternoon and swing around to the Southwest.  Paddling to Q1 from the Wirral would require being a long way from land for most of the time.  An alternative option starting from Crosby looked to be more feasible.  This trip would take in most of the port (red) buoys of the Crosby Channel, then lead around the corner into the Queens Channel and eventually to Q2.   With this option, I would always be upwind of the coast which would never be too far away.  Continuing northwards towards Ainsdale was my preference for the return trip. I launched from Crosby shortly after 10am and paused at the first port buoy (C14) to inform Mersey VTS of my intentions.  Aided by the ebbing tide, I then enjoyed a rapid tour of the buoys out towards Formby Point.  Formby Buoy is a red & white affair in the centre of the channel, mid-way between the outer lines of port and starboard markers. Close to C6 is some prominent wreckage.  It’s hard to imagine a […]

Ian Bell put out a suggestion for ‘sea Sunday’ for Sunday 13 August 2017, asking if any sea kayakers would like to find a sea trip. This was much welcomed by me and I was delighted to meet up with a group of eight paddlers on West Shore. We got on the water by 11am, the tide was coming in and we had a short sandy carry to find water. Off we went in a buoyant mood happy to be out in the sun and sea. The shore along the Orme from West Shore is rocky with houses along the cliff, but once we got round the first headland it’s a different landscape completely. The cliffs here are Clwyd limestone, which runs from the east coast of Anglesey to Llangollen. Plenty of seals and birdlife here for us to observe as we gently made our way round the cliffs. Arriving at East Shore, the pier visible now, we decide not to land on East Shore itself, but a small beach just before the pier, where we have our lunch. Strange to be sat here with our sea kayaks, as the sea comes in, and hearing the noise of the pier and hundreds of day trippers having a completely different sort of Llandudno day experience. After lunch we head back the way we came, peacefully retracing our route, enjoying the sea, clouds, occasional sun, seals and birdlife, and gentle conversation. Returning back to West Shore, just as we approach high tide. And thanks to Ian for planning our return, with perfect timing, as we only have a short carry back to the cars, and ice cream or tea and coffee is readily available. A lovely, gently day, thanks to my fellow kayakers – Ian, Nigel, Anthony, Dave, Fi, Di and Pete.