Four Star

So after one day at home it's back up to North Wales to help Rob Yates and Jon Cox deliver a 4 star canoe assessment.

Rob on the bottom wave at Mile End Mill

Day One, and we are on the Dee, it on about 4 on the guage - so plenty of water for what we want to do. After the warm up paddle up the canal we are on the Dee just below the Horsehoe Weir, and paddling to the first little leadership challenge - Chainbridge Rapid. It took a bit of deliberation but we are soon looking down towards the Serpent's Tail, at this level it's a bit sporty for canoes, and outside remit for 4 star, so we are off with portaging and lining.

We just had time at the end of the day for a spot of surfing fun in the bottom hole, in glorious sunshine.Next morning it's off to Llyn Tegid - Bala Lake, and the glorious weather from yesterday was decidedly absent! the mist was so thick we couldn't see the water, Rob and myself simultaniously said - "Navigation then!" The candidates looked slightly worried, but not as worried as I was, I'd heard the stories of Teggy - the Llyn Tegid Monster!!!!

No-one seemed in much of a rush to launch into the unknown -

I made sure I kept 'line of sight' that was about 50 feet!

"Teggy, Where are you????"

Eventually we found our way into the Upper Dee and began poling and tracking our way up, After a spot of lunch on the banks of the Dee we paddled back into the lake and witnessed a minor miracle, the sun was now out and the weather so glorious it was as though we had paddled to different country!There wasn't much wind for sailing canoes! - so we played with trim! Some of the group were so happy with the lovely weather that they dipped their feet in the lake, convinced that Teggy wouldn't come up now it was sunny.If you fancy paddling with me, drop me an email - I always find fantastic weather!

Not a bad job!

Welsh Canoe Symposium

Each year there is an open canoe symposium, it rotates on a three yearly cycle between England, Scotland and Wales - this year it was the turn of the Welsh. It's quite an honour to be asked to work at these events so I was happy to get an invite to coach at this one again this year. The Welsh event is traditionally held at the Urdd Centre Glanllyn on the banks of Llyn Tegid (Bala Lake). It's a fantastic venue for a great event, waterside facilities, close to the Tryweryn and other North Wales rivers. Accomodation is excellent as is the food, with camping close by for the hardy types! There are workshops over both days for all abilities and tastes and very entertaining talks in the evenings.

Glanllyn - My first workshop on Saturday morning was improvised sailing, using the wind to blow you along, using whatever bits of kit you happen to have to hand - all open boaters have a brollie about their person - don't they? Then we played around with cags on paddles, tarps on poles, survival bags etc - Then we played around with some slightly less 'improvised' sailing - not much room on that little 15 footer with the Jolly Roger flapping around!My second sessios was Deep water strokes which really was an excuse to take my Northern Sound Birch Abenaki out for some paddle waggling! - I found Alex out there with another one of Rob's Northern Sound Birch canoesThe next day I went for a more sporty day on the Lower tryweryn, unfortunately the camera battery was flat so no photos of that!

Regional Go Paddlin' Day

Wow, this is up to date - this was today!

Dave Bateman - the Local Coaching Organiser for Birmingham organised a gentle paddle from Arley to Bewdley, and invited all the paddlers in the region. It was basically open to anyone, so I took the family along.

Rozie hadn't been in a kayak for ten years - like riding a bike apparantly!

Here's my boat complete with blonde kids as crew.

Leoni was very impressed with her day out, although she thought Dowles Brook was a bit scary, perhaps I shouldn't have told her about the crocodiles!

Sunshine and Sealions

OK, so this was a while ago now, but I left my camera there and only just got it back.

So in mid June, I had a few frantic emails asking if I could go do some training for sit on top guides in La Jolla, San Diego. We threw ideas around and suddenly on the Saturday, they said they wanted me there the following Monday! I managed to cover all the work I had on and reschedule some stuff and I was off!

First Job was a recce. Here's Jen showing me the Sealions - there are stacks of them around the caves, they look cute, but they are very noisy and smelly - and they get a bit stroppy sometimes. They have big teeth!

I like sealions - as you can tell from soppy grin -

So my task was to look at the way the guides take the tours around these caves, it can get a bit choppy in there - this is the Pacific Ocean after all! The caves are pretty spectacular, one fell in the week before I was there, makes the risk assessment a bit tricky!

I found a couple of problems with Sit On Tops in San Diego sunshine - first no-where cool to stash your refreshments - I know what your thinking that we shouldn't be drinking and paddling, but this is an American Light beer, which makes it OK apparently - when in Rome!

The second problem is it plays havoc with your tan lines!

CANI - Yes you can!

Last year I was invited to Northern Ireland to talk to CANI (Canoe Association of NI) about running L1s and L2s. I was there for a very short time - and unfortunately didn't see much of Belfast culture, I saw the CANI offices, a Mexican resturant and a Starbucks! I did however have a very productive meeting, and met some great people. One person who kept in touch was Hugo Dale, a L5 coach who is very keen to run more coaching courses in NI. This week he has been working with me running a Level 2 at Upton Warren and on the Severn for Birmingham, Walsall and Sutton Canoe Clubs. Here's a photo of Hugo and myself looking a little like Tweedle Dee and tweedle Dum! He liked my PEAK UK BA so much he went and bought one, and we had one of the guys on the course who works for CAT, so we got supplied with caps! More photos to follow soon!

Level 1 at Leamington

Just ran the first weekend of another Level 1 at Leamington at Leam Boat Centre

Sunshine all day Saturday and sunshine and showers the next day.

Here's young Pete, demoing the 'double pump'Flatwater freestyle, whatever next????Even on the Sunday the sun came out long enough for us to escape the hothouse for the great outdoor classroom!

L3 Refresher

There are a few people out there who still need to do a L3 assessment, I just came back from another glorious couple of days on the Dee, with two paddlers looking for a bit of a refresher before they go for assessment.

Bottom hole at Mile End Mill, Ken in the red boat, and some random paddler in the yellow one.This is Andy, just dropping down through the little rapid below the steam railway bridge - there's that guy again in the yellow kayak!Me, just above the top holeKen and Andy - two satisfied customers!!!