Saturday morning beginners/confidence booster session TNR Outdoors by Chris Marsden

We arrived at TNR for our session around 9.30. The weather was dry but a bit overcast but quite warm.

I was joined by Eamon and Dave. It was Eamon’s second or third go on moving water and although he seemed quite nervous, I knew he was looking forward to gaining more experience and knowledge of paddling on moving water. Dave had done quite a few river trips but was keen to get on the river and brush up on the fine detail of paddling.

We got on and practised breaking into the flow, ferry gliding and catching eddies. TNR is the perfect environment for developing skills. There’s everything you need there and it’s a really safe environment. Around 12.30 we stopped for some lunch and a brew.

Afterwards, we got back on and practised some eddy hoping and it went great. We dropped down to the bottom wave where the flow is a bit faster and with a bit of encouragement, Dave and Eamon ended up surfing in the wave. Both paddlers showed a massive improvement during the day and I had a great time paddling with them.