Hello everyone, I thought you might like to know that one of the LCC polo teams has had some excellent success today… Welsh Warriors have officially won the NW&C Div 2 league. Given the league has been going all year, after we drew one and won three games today, we found ourselves competing with FOA C for the title with one game to go. The closely fought league came down to the “winner takes all” final game of the day. We convincingly won 3-0 and collected our gold medals this afternoon!  

Job title: Full Time Sales Assistant Location: Manchester Canoes (Warrington, 2 minutes off M6 Junction 21) Job description This is a hands on face to face job for a pleasant and practical person interested in and participating in paddlesport.

Great day out yesterday and some vast improvement well done all and Garry and Caz for Serpents Tail. Leveel 0.45m for the record Serpent tail good not sticky at end. Looking at Saturday 17th – same location. – Contact John for details if interested…….. Thanks John Allerton  

After a sudden 3pm change of venue from Whitesands Bay to Newgale on Friday afternoon we arrived to enjoy the evening sun. Saturday morning the sea kayakers launched from the campsite over the gravel barrier and paddled off to Porth Clais, stopping for lunch in Solva. The little boats also popped over the barrier to spend a few hours in the surf. Sarah didn’t quite catch a tube, but she pulled off a very cool pirouette, while Brian was ripping it up out back. As the tide fell the waves turned to a windy mess, so it was back to camp for lunch. A few hours later half the sea kayakers appeared by car – a strong headwind on the return journey had made for some challenging paddling. The others appeared soon after landing a little further down the beach than camp. With everyone back and the sun coming out the decision was made to have a BBQ that night. Sunday morning the sea kayakers set off to do a trip through Ramsey Sound, playing on the Bitches and seal spotting as they went. The little boats spent the morning in the glassy surf and sun; kicking off the session by seal launching over the gravel barrier as the waves began to build and the tide started to drop back from the barrier. As the waves dropped at mid tide it was time for an ice cream in St David’s, where the sea kayakers were spotted driving through heading for camp. Monday morning people drifted off home at their own pace. Some stayed to see if there would be a little wave at noon, while others slowly went north stopping at places to walk or in the little villages to sample ice cream on the way home. This year we […]

Everyday the Isle of Man Steam Packet Catamaran leaves Liverpool travelling at around 45 mph. It produces a huge wake, and when the weather conditions are right it can create waves of up to 7 feet in height.

https://view.joomag.com/mag/0951203001494275201/p1

The story starts in the year 2009, when two friends from diving days, (who had now taken up kayaking) decided to paddle The Great Glen. Their trip was done in two halves due to one of them  suffering a wrist  injury. The first section, from Banavie, ended at Fort Augustus. It was restarted in October that year at Loch Ness, with Sue and I then providing mobile B&B in a “Cruiser”.  At this point neither Sue nor I had any interest in kayaks, but the trip inspired me to get involved and three years later in October 2012 I bought a kayak for me and somehow convinced Sue that it was something she wanted to get involved with, NOT!!  Another kayak was duly purchased and the rest is history. Irene’s paddling partner sold his kayak and now it became Sue, Irene and Bob that looked for places to get on the water. We are very familiar with Orkney, having dived the waters for many years and it seemed a logical thing to paddle them. A couple of dual activity holidays followed in June 2013 and August 2015 with diving in the morning and paddling in the afternoon. The Isle of Skye also saw us paddling there for two holidays in September 2013 and June 2014.  Around the end of 2013 we felt that it would be good to join with others and sought a club.  Our first club outing was the Christmas paddle and again, the rest is history. Our little group convinced some Liverpool Canoe Club members that a joint venture to the Arisaig area would be a good idea.  A week was duly arranged in 2016 and proved to be a major success. From that Irene convinced the group, but not me, that it would be a good […]

Recent open boat course (3 dock sessions and a trip) went really well. A mix of new and more experienced paddlers met for the first session in conditions that can only be described as diabolical. It was lashing down with rain and blowing an absoloute hoollie (opens dont like wind unless we have the sail up), but everyone got stuck in and just did it. Session two was glorious sunshine as the group worked on trimming the boat, tandem and solo paddling, hunting, and balance. Everyone did great. Session three focused on the ability to rescue these very large craft in a safe way, ie how to empty a boat whilst not using any muscle power, and how to get back in without using any effort. This was followed by some poling, and prying and generally progressing to such an extent that everyone is safe to join a session / trip. Session four was the trip, Farndon to Chester (12 miles), glorious sunshine, but headwind (ouch). Everyone did really well. WELL done to all! Unfortunatley there are not too many photos, but for some great 1970’s instructional videos then I strongly recomment the link below to the Path of the Paddle series. Excuse the 1970’s music, fashion and non uk health and safety, but the skills are just as valid now as then. Top tip for tandem boaters, listen out for how much communication there is!!!!!!!! Enjoy – but remember a felt hat is not as good as a crash hat in protecting your head from rocks, and PFD’s should not be quite so faded. https://www.nfb.ca/search/#?queryString=paddle&index=0&language=en

On bank holiday Monday, a sea trip was planned from Abersoch out to the St Tudwals islands on the Llŷn Peninsula at the western end of Tremadog Bay, west Wales. Most of us met at Queensferry so we could car share across to Abersoch and after a scenic drive we unloaded the boats at Abersoch beach. Andy Garland briefed us on the planned route, the expected weather and tides and the 9 of us launched about midday. Weather was cloudy with a slight breeze, a nd the water quite still as we paddled out to the St Tudwals Islands. We paddled first to the east island, and around the far edge where we met a couple of seals perched on a rock. We then paddled across to the east island around which I completed my first circumnavigation! This island is owned by Bear Grylls as a holiday home and we could see where he had complied to take down the slide he had built before Gwynedd Council spotted it. As the Islands are privately owned we couldn’t land on them so, as we were all getting peckish, we headed to a beach a little south to where we had launched. The surf was a too strong to get all 9 of us on and off safely, especially with a few of us who had never tried a surf landing, but Pete Thomas beautifully demonstrated before we started back around the headland. We were now paddling against the tide, working up an appetite, and the swell was great fun; there was even a bit of surfing. We stopped at a little beach for lunch and sat and watched the clouds clear as the afternoon sun came out. A family, also on the beach, said they had seen dolphins at a similar time […]

Click here for more Open Day and Come and Try it photos…….

Friday 14th April – River Orchy On the first day of our Scottish Easter break we were to paddle the river Orchy, a 9km stretch from the Bridge of Orchy to the Falls of Orchy. A small group had an early start to paddle the Upper Etive first at 6am, and the rest of us set off at 9am, to meet with the Etive crew at the get in. As a new white water paddler, this was my third river trip and I was a little nervous, but very excited to be paddling (described by the UK rivers guidebook) ‘one of the best trips at this grade [3-5] in the UK!’ Our get-in was by the Bridge of Orchy hotel, about a half hour drive from the hostel. We changed whilst the drivers ran the shuttle and then divided up into groups of 5 or 6, each with a combination of abilities and an instructor. We played in the waves under the bridge until everyone was ready to set off. The trip began gently, getting used to being back on the water and being in a new boat (I had borrowed a small burn, a perfect fit), until we reached the first rapid. There are a great variety of rapids on this river, nicely spread out, with the opportunity to portage any of them on paths river left. I’m glad that at the time that I didn’t know their names, as I might have been rather more apprehensive! The first rapid, ‘Big Rock’, was what is says on the tin with lines either side, a great start to the paddle and a rapid that I think everyone did. The next, ‘Chicken Chute’, a fair few of us portaged, but it was great to watch our fellow paddlers. Next came ‘Sheep […]

Monday 17th April Day 4 – Sea Kayaks at the Falls Of Lora On BH Monday the predicted state of the Falls was green, i.e “suitable for an introductory moving water training or fun in sea kayaks and canoes”.  Roger and I were on the water well before the official start time and found the conditions to be idea for breaking in/out and ferry-gliding across the estuary. On the Northern side, there was a significant back-eddy downstream of the bridge which we soon found ourselves sharing with a solitary sea otter.  Although we remained perfectly still, our boats were slowly drifting up towards the bridge thus constraining his freedom.  After a couple of minutes, he disappeared for the final time but not before giving us a great demonstration of his swimming and diving abilities.  First his head would disappear, then his back arched, and with a deft flick of the tail he was gone.  A delightful spectacle. As the ebb tide increased, I attempted to regain the sweet spot just upstream of the bridge but the speed of the water was now too great to make headway against.  After a short excursion downstream, we returned to take lunch on a sunny bench overlooking the Falls.  By this time, it was mid-flow but there weren’t any standing waves of the type that can be seen in Youtube videos.  I would love to return to this place with a guide when conditions are more challenging.

Saturday 15th April – Sea Kayaks at Shuna Island. With a strong North-Westerly forecast, our chosen destination was Shuna Island, around 10 miles South of Oban.  Shuna is a couple of miles offshore and is sheltered by the larger island of Luing.  From the previous day’s contingent of ten, two decided to do rivers and a further four decided not to proceed having inspected the site conditions on the day. The four remaining paddlers headed off towards a small low island en route to Shuna.  With the wind and swell coming from our 2-o’clock position, progress was far from easy.  Tony soon found it difficult to control his boat and decided to return to base.  Having seen him safely ashore, Roger, Nigel and I continued towards the mid-way island which had a small gap through which we were able to pass.  Then it was a similar haul to reach the northern corner of Shuna. As we approached, the wind died down and we had our lunch on a sandy beach in glorious sun with not a breath of wind.  We were amused to note that only the three plastic boats had made it.  All too soon, the next squall rolled in and we hurriedly resumed our attempt to circle the island anti-clockwise.  It soon became clear that further progress would be unwise in these conditions and we decided to head for home.   At that stage, our cars were due East of us but the wind was coming from the North-West.  Given the strengh of the wind, we decided to head directly downwind and found ourselves surfing along in fine style.  We soon reached our handy mid-way island and passed through the gap again.  By this stage, it was obvious that we would miss our preferred landing spot, but no […]