THCCwiki - User contributions [en]

Lee Valley White Water Centre - Olympic Course assessment - 11 June 2011

2011-06-11T22:36:09Z

Paulkettle:

Hmm, possibly a play boat was not the best choice for my first run of the Olympic course whilst being assessed..

Anyway I survived and even passed, but not with the style I was hoping for.

Here's what the assessment consisted of (you can chose if you want to do the Olympic part of the assessment if you pass the legacy part):
* Flat water - paddle in a circle through 3 gates
* Flat water roll
* Blast down the legacy course
* Catch 5 eddies on the legacy course as marked out by gates. (I found the gates were not placed in the best positions for catching the eddies. After the test the instructor pointed out that gates were not in the ideal positions and just making the eddies was good enough.)
* Run the legacy course again and catch eddies.
* Carry boats to halfway down Olympic course just before big drop. (Getting in was quite interesting due to the rafts.)
* Run the bottom half of the Olympic course (Make two eddies before the drop and two after the drop.)
* Run the whole Olympic course eddie hopping.

The assessment should have lasted 1 hour however we started the briefing at 10:50am and finished at 12:30pm, there were five of us and we didn’t really hang around although it may be unusual for the whole group to do the Olympic course part of the assessment.

The group was made up of me (a novice play boater), another play boater (nicely seasoned in the alps), two guys in Pyranha Burns and a slalom boater

We were the first official assessment and there were only another couple of kayakers on the course so after we all passed we asked if we could stay on for another hour, which for £10 a head they said yes.

We had a quick play on the legacy course that felt so flat and dull after the Olympic course and then headed back to the Olympic course.

Running the Olympic course again felt so much better than my first run, features were beginning to feel familiar and pushy eddies felt quite calm, in fact I was even able to take a phone call halfway down the course.

The Olympic course is not for the faint hearted, watching a burn catch two ends ahead of me when first running the course was a little off putting.

We ran the Olympic course about 6 times in total both blasting down and eddie hopping/ surfing waves. It was all great fun. When blasting down, the drops seem bigger and the stoppers are huge. When playing on the features they seem to diminish in size and there are plenty of eddies. The rafts made paddling interesting, but generally gave us an opportunity to rest up in an eddie whilst they passed. At 1pm it was raft change over so no rafts at all. Only one of our group swam (he was held in a stopper and couldn’t roll up), he was quickly fished out by raft safety and we guided the boat down to the bottom to be emptied ready for another run. (The swim was after our assessment, however we were told a swim is not necessarily a fail.)

All in all a great experience and I’ll be back there soon now I’ve passed. The course is open for the following 1 hour slots:
Thursday and Friday evenings 5pm to 7pm
Saturday and Sunday 11am to 3pm

Lee Valley White Water Centre - Olympic Course assessment - 11 June 2011

2011-06-11T22:35:14Z

Paulkettle: Created page with 'Hmm, possibly a play boat was not the best choice for my first run of the Olympic course whilst being assessed.. Anyway I survived and even passed, but not with the style I was ...'

Hmm, possibly a play boat was not the best choice for my first run of the Olympic course whilst being assessed..

Anyway I survived and even passed, but not with the style I was hoping for.

Here's what the assessment consisted of (you can chose if you want to do the Olympic part of the assessment if you pass the legacy part):
• Flat water - paddle in a circle through 3 gates
• Flat water roll
• Blast down the legacy course
• Catch 5 eddies on the legacy course as marked out by gates. (I found the gates were not placed in the best positions for catching the eddies. After the test the instructor pointed out that gates were not in the ideal positions and just making the eddies was good enough.)
• Run the legacy course again and catch eddies.
• Carry boats to halfway down Olympic course just before big drop. (Getting in was quite interesting due to the rafts.)
• Run the bottom half of the Olympic course (Make two eddies before the drop and two after the drop.)
• Run the whole Olympic course eddie hopping.

The assessment should have lasted 1 hour however we started the briefing at 10:50am and finished at 12:30pm, there were five of us and we didn’t really hang around although it may be unusual for the whole group to do the Olympic course part of the assessment.

The group was made up of me (a novice play boater), another play boater (nicely seasoned in the alps), two guys in Pyranha Burns and a slalom boater

We were the first official assessment and there were only another couple of kayakers on the course so after we all passed we asked if we could stay on for another hour, which for £10 a head they said yes.

We had a quick play on the legacy course that felt so flat and dull after the Olympic course and then headed back to the Olympic course.

Running the Olympic course again felt so much better than my first run, features were beginning to feel familiar and pushy eddies felt quite calm, in fact I was even able to take a phone call halfway down the course.

The Olympic course is not for the faint hearted, watching a burn catch two ends ahead of me when first running the course was a little off putting.

We ran the Olympic course about 6 times in total both blasting down and eddie hopping/ surfing waves. It was all great fun. When blasting down, the drops seem bigger and the stoppers are huge. When playing on the features they seem to diminish in size and there are plenty of eddies. The rafts made paddling interesting, but generally gave us an opportunity to rest up in an eddie whilst they passed. At 1pm it was raft change over so no rafts at all. Only one of our group swam (he was held in a stopper and couldn’t roll up), he was quickly fished out by raft safety and we guided the boat down to the bottom to be emptied ready for another run. (The swim was after our assessment, however we were told a swim is not necessarily a fail.)

All in all a great experience and I’ll be back there soon now I’ve passed. The course is open for the following 1 hour slots:
Thursday and Friday evenings 5pm to 7pm
Saturday and Sunday 11am to 3pm

Home

2011-06-11T22:34:35Z

Paulkettle:

The '''Tower Hamlets Canoe Club''' is a canoe and kayaking club located in central London.

{{MOTD}}{{Multicolumn}}

'''The Club'''

* [[THCC|About the club]]
* [[Location|Where we are]]
* [[What We Do]]
* [[Joining|Joining the club]]
* [[FAQ|Common questions]]

'''New to paddling?'''

* [[Course for beginners|Monthly course for beginners]]

'''New to this web site?'''

* [[Help:Wiki|About the wiki]]
* [[Help:Forums|About the forum]]
* [[Help:Site|Requesting a forum account]]

'''Resources'''

* [[Books]]
* [[Safety resources|Safety]]
* [[DVDs]]
* [[Internet resources|Internet]]

{{Nextcolumn}}


'''[[Club trips]] and events'''

More being planned...

'''Recent Trips'''

* [[Olympic Course assessment - Lee Valley White Water Centre - 11th June 2011]]
* {{forum|35|659|Scilly Isles Sea Kayak trip - 28 May to 5 June 2011}}
* {{forum|35|787|Lee Valley take 2 - 2 June 2011}}
* {{forum|35|758|Lee Valley - 19 May 2011}}
* [[River Waveney 2 star training / touring weekend - 14-15 May 2011]]
* [[DW 2011|Devizes to Westminster International Canoe Race - Easter 2011]]
* {{forum|35|658|London Kayakathon - 17 April 2011}}
* [[St Patricks Stream and Thames backwaters 2 star training / touring paddle - 16 April 2011]]
* [[Two star training paddle, river Lee - 20 March 2011]]
* {{forum|35|601|Sea Kayak trip to Jersey - 12 & 13 March 2011}}
* [[THCC Sunday Afternoon Thames Paddle - 6th March 2011]]
* {{forum|35|612|Near 3 star and intromediate white water trip 19+20 February 2011}}
* [[Club Christmas paddle - 21st December 2010]]
* {{forum|35|578|Day and night Thames trip 4 December 2010}}
* [[Blackwater estuary paddle - 27 November 2010]]
* {{forum|25|422|Intro to White Water - 5th to 7th November 2010}}
* More ... [[Trips in 2010|2010]] ... [[Trips in 2009|2009]]

{{EndMulticolumn}}
----
{{#rawhtml:Flickr_pool}}

Home

2011-06-11T22:34:10Z

Paulkettle:

The '''Tower Hamlets Canoe Club''' is a canoe and kayaking club located in central London.

{{MOTD}}{{Multicolumn}}

'''The Club'''

* [[THCC|About the club]]
* [[Location|Where we are]]
* [[What We Do]]
* [[Joining|Joining the club]]
* [[FAQ|Common questions]]

'''New to paddling?'''

* [[Course for beginners|Monthly course for beginners]]

'''New to this web site?'''

* [[Help:Wiki|About the wiki]]
* [[Help:Forums|About the forum]]
* [[Help:Site|Requesting a forum account]]

'''Resources'''

* [[Books]]
* [[Safety resources|Safety]]
* [[DVDs]]
* [[Internet resources|Internet]]

{{Nextcolumn}}


'''[[Club trips]] and events'''

More being planned...

'''Recent Trips'''

* [[Olympic Course assessment - Lee Valley White Water Centre - 11th May 2011]]
* {{forum|35|659|Scilly Isles Sea Kayak trip - 28 May to 5 June 2011}}
* {{forum|35|787|Lee Valley take 2 - 2 June 2011}}
* {{forum|35|758|Lee Valley - 19 May 2011}}
* [[River Waveney 2 star training / touring weekend - 14-15 May 2011]]
* [[DW 2011|Devizes to Westminster International Canoe Race - Easter 2011]]
* {{forum|35|658|London Kayakathon - 17 April 2011}}
* [[St Patricks Stream and Thames backwaters 2 star training / touring paddle - 16 April 2011]]
* [[Two star training paddle, river Lee - 20 March 2011]]
* {{forum|35|601|Sea Kayak trip to Jersey - 12 & 13 March 2011}}
* [[THCC Sunday Afternoon Thames Paddle - 6th March 2011]]
* {{forum|35|612|Near 3 star and intromediate white water trip 19+20 February 2011}}
* [[Club Christmas paddle - 21st December 2010]]
* {{forum|35|578|Day and night Thames trip 4 December 2010}}
* [[Blackwater estuary paddle - 27 November 2010]]
* {{forum|25|422|Intro to White Water - 5th to 7th November 2010}}
* More ... [[Trips in 2010|2010]] ... [[Trips in 2009|2009]]

{{EndMulticolumn}}
----
{{#rawhtml:Flickr_pool}}

The river Wye, Symonds Yat, 23rd-27th August 2009

2009-09-27T23:16:11Z

Paulkettle: /* Day 3 - Symond Yat West to Monmounth – 6.5 miles */

== The river Wye, Symonds Yat, August 2009 White Water for all the family ==

You may ask why we decided to paddle the river Wye, well I have a young family and wanted to introduce them to white water gradually. The trip consisted of me, my wife Ros (she’d paddled a kayak at least twice), my eldest son James (7 years old and not far off rolling) and my second son Robin (5 years old, he shot his first weir at the age of 4!). With grandparents living near by my youngest William, 2 years old, was packed off with them each day, they also provided a very useful shuttle.

Armed with the “Canoeists’ guide to the River Wye” and river play boats (try and make grade II fun.) we set out to explore the English Welsh border.

==== Day 1 – Ross on Wye to Lower Lydbrook – 8.5 miles ====
Following the guide book we inadvertently ended up at the Ross on Wye Rowing club, after asking “Where’s the best place to launch a canoe?” and being told “On a river” they kindly let us launch from their steps. The river was slow and meandering with lovely scenery including ruined castles, obviously to a five year old this is boring so after two minutes on the river Robin threw his paddle away and declared he wanted to go back to the car. Pointing out the car was now parked over 8 miles down stream did not really help, what did help was the promised of copious amounts of chocolate and coca cola I had stock piled in my boat for supplies. He then bounced from one sugar high to another for 8 miles. There were other distractions that made him happy: splashing his brother (although that generally ended in tears) and white water! There were a few patches on stretch where the river shallowed and the waves grew, one notable place was just after Kerne Bridge on a sweeping left hand bend. A group of open boaters had just over taken us, we watched as a couple were pushed into the brambles on the outside of the bend by the fast water. The kids then overtook them and demonstrate how the river should be run with near on perfect river placement and direction of power!

The exit at Lower Lydbrook was quite obvious, the only shock was to walk up the bank to find a different car park to the one I parked in! Luckily the other car park was only a short walk away.

==== Day 2 – Symond Yat West to Monmounth – 6.5 miles ====
It seemed appropriate to take my wife down her first set of rapids on our thirteenth wedding anniversary. The newly rebuilt rapids at Symonds Yat were far better than I expected, with a couple of small drops and standing waves it was a little bit of excitement for all. We ran the rapids one at a time, with me breaking into an eddie halfway down on safety. The run went exactly to plan, everyone lent forward and paddled down the tongue of the rapids without incident. The kids were eager to do it again, but knowing we had another 6 miles of paddling we pushed on.

A little further we came across a smaller section of rapids. Time for a quick bit of teaching: breaking out of eddies (near the top), stern squeeze and then breaking into another eddie on the other side. After a couple of demonstrations James went first. He broke into the flow very well, sped across the river to the opposite eddie and then just stopped and then flipped over (possibly I should have told him about eddie fences, oops, that’ll be self discovery learning). We quickly got him back in his boat totally un-phased, explained to him about eddie fences. Then went back to Ros and Robin and repeated the advice. Robin, with the knowledge of what happens if you stop paddling, attacked the river and finished by paddling hard across the eddie line, I think mainly just to show his older brother how it should be done.

The river continued to meander with the very occasional bit of fast moving water, but nothing to write home about. Despite the beautiful scenery the kids quickly got bored and even with impromptu water fights and chocolate we still had tantrums and Robin announced “I hate kayaking, I only like rapids!” For the rest of the journey the children swung between happy joyful kids having water fights, and grumpy children that just wanted to be towed. Possibly the sugar highs and lows of coke and chocolate are more pronounced in children. We eventually got to the steps at Monmouth and loaded up.

==== Day 3 - Symond Yat West to Monmounth – 6.5 miles ====
We had a couple of days rest and reflection on our previous journeys and decided to introduce our children to a full English Breakfast before the paddle and cereal bars and water during it with regular towing sessions to give them a rest without slowing us down too much. It worked we had happy children for the whole journey.

The day started at Symonds Yat. We decided to spend a lot of time on skills at the main rapids, everyone could run the rapids, but could they break into eddies halfway down? James followed me aiming to break into the first eddie on the left after the drop. He paddled into the eddie finishing with a stern rudder, but instead of continuing forward as he expected into the eddie he went backwards over the next drop and flipped. I chased him down then carried his boat back to the eddie we should have been in. Robin was next, he broke into an eddie on the other side quite confidently. Ros was next, she was finding the riot glide a bit of a tippy boat so decided to find an eddie halfway down and became the trip photographer. We then spent about an hour playing eddie hopping, I was very pleased with the kids: James attempted some difficult sections (went over once more, but came out happy trying to surf his boat upside down for the rest of the rapids). Robin seems to have boundless energy, on one occasion I thought he had missed the eddie but he just paddled and paddled against the current till he was in it.

Near the end of the session, at the bottom of the rapids, Ros pointed out that she had overheard Robin say to James “I’m better than you, you’ve capsized three times, and I’ve not capsized.” I decided Robin needed some experience of defensive swimming in rapids. So walked him up to the top and threw him in, during the walk up a few onlookers kept looking at my wife as if to say “You’re not going let him throw that small child into the rapids”. I accompanied Robin down the rapids, you can see the journey on [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxK761rpFO0 youtube].

After that we reclaimed our boats and paddled to Monmouth, again the scenery was pretty, but this time we had happy children not bouncing between sugar rushes. The only incident we had was when I saw some fast moving water near a bank we all paddled for it, went fast for a while but then it became very shallow and we all got grounded. In the end I had to get out of my boat, holding onto it with a sling, and then drag everyone to deeper water.

That was our last day paddling the Wye, we lost one day of planned paddling due to high winds, but I think the kids benefitted from an extra rest day and we finished the last day on a high.

This was not a high adrenalin charged white water trip but it was an excellent opportunity to introduce the children to white water and practice my leadership skills, CLAP, in a safe environment.

== The trip in pictures ==

==== Day 1 ====

[[File:PKDay1a.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay1b.JPG]]

==== Day 2 ====

[[File:PKDay2a.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay2b.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay2c.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay2d.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay2e.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay2f.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay2g.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay2h.JPG]]

==== Day 3 ====

[[File:PKDay3a.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay3b.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay3c.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay3d.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay3e.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay3f.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay3g.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay3h.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay3i.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay3j.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay3k.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay3l.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay3m.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay3n.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay3o.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay3p.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay3q.JPG]]

The river Wye, Symonds Yat, 23rd-27th August 2009

2009-09-27T23:12:32Z

Paulkettle: /* Day 2 – Symond Yat West to Monmounth – 6.5 miles */

== The river Wye, Symonds Yat, August 2009 White Water for all the family ==

You may ask why we decided to paddle the river Wye, well I have a young family and wanted to introduce them to white water gradually. The trip consisted of me, my wife Ros (she’d paddled a kayak at least twice), my eldest son James (7 years old and not far off rolling) and my second son Robin (5 years old, he shot his first weir at the age of 4!). With grandparents living near by my youngest William, 2 years old, was packed off with them each day, they also provided a very useful shuttle.

Armed with the “Canoeists’ guide to the River Wye” and river play boats (try and make grade II fun.) we set out to explore the English Welsh border.

==== Day 1 – Ross on Wye to Lower Lydbrook – 8.5 miles ====
Following the guide book we inadvertently ended up at the Ross on Wye Rowing club, after asking “Where’s the best place to launch a canoe?” and being told “On a river” they kindly let us launch from their steps. The river was slow and meandering with lovely scenery including ruined castles, obviously to a five year old this is boring so after two minutes on the river Robin threw his paddle away and declared he wanted to go back to the car. Pointing out the car was now parked over 8 miles down stream did not really help, what did help was the promised of copious amounts of chocolate and coca cola I had stock piled in my boat for supplies. He then bounced from one sugar high to another for 8 miles. There were other distractions that made him happy: splashing his brother (although that generally ended in tears) and white water! There were a few patches on stretch where the river shallowed and the waves grew, one notable place was just after Kerne Bridge on a sweeping left hand bend. A group of open boaters had just over taken us, we watched as a couple were pushed into the brambles on the outside of the bend by the fast water. The kids then overtook them and demonstrate how the river should be run with near on perfect river placement and direction of power!

The exit at Lower Lydbrook was quite obvious, the only shock was to walk up the bank to find a different car park to the one I parked in! Luckily the other car park was only a short walk away.

==== Day 2 – Symond Yat West to Monmounth – 6.5 miles ====
It seemed appropriate to take my wife down her first set of rapids on our thirteenth wedding anniversary. The newly rebuilt rapids at Symonds Yat were far better than I expected, with a couple of small drops and standing waves it was a little bit of excitement for all. We ran the rapids one at a time, with me breaking into an eddie halfway down on safety. The run went exactly to plan, everyone lent forward and paddled down the tongue of the rapids without incident. The kids were eager to do it again, but knowing we had another 6 miles of paddling we pushed on.

A little further we came across a smaller section of rapids. Time for a quick bit of teaching: breaking out of eddies (near the top), stern squeeze and then breaking into another eddie on the other side. After a couple of demonstrations James went first. He broke into the flow very well, sped across the river to the opposite eddie and then just stopped and then flipped over (possibly I should have told him about eddie fences, oops, that’ll be self discovery learning). We quickly got him back in his boat totally un-phased, explained to him about eddie fences. Then went back to Ros and Robin and repeated the advice. Robin, with the knowledge of what happens if you stop paddling, attacked the river and finished by paddling hard across the eddie line, I think mainly just to show his older brother how it should be done.

The river continued to meander with the very occasional bit of fast moving water, but nothing to write home about. Despite the beautiful scenery the kids quickly got bored and even with impromptu water fights and chocolate we still had tantrums and Robin announced “I hate kayaking, I only like rapids!” For the rest of the journey the children swung between happy joyful kids having water fights, and grumpy children that just wanted to be towed. Possibly the sugar highs and lows of coke and chocolate are more pronounced in children. We eventually got to the steps at Monmouth and loaded up.

==== Day 3 - Symond Yat West to Monmounth – 6.5 miles ====
We had a couple of days rest and reflection on our previous journeys and decided to introduce our children to a full English Breakfast before the paddle and cereal bars and water during it with regular towing sessions to give them a rest without slowing us down too much. It worked we had happy children for the whole journey.

The day started at Symonds Yat. We decided to spend a lot of time on skills at the main rapids, everyone could run the rapids, but could they break into eddies halfway down? James followed me aiming to break into the first eddie on the left after the drop. He paddled into the eddie finishing with a stern rudder, but instead of continuing forward as he expected into the eddie he went backwards over the next drop and flipped. I chased him down then carried his boat back to the eddie we should have been in. Robin was next, he broke into an eddie on the other side quite confidently. Ros was next, she was finding the riot glide a bit of a tippy boat so decided to find an eddie halfway down and became the trip photographer. We then spent about an hour playing eddie hopping, I was very pleased with the kids: James attempted some difficult sections (went over once more but came out happy try to surf his boat upside down for the rest of the rapids). Robin seems to have boundless energy, on one occasion I though he had missed the eddie but he just paddled and paddled against the current till he was in it.

Near the end of the session, at the bottom of the rapids, Ros pointed out that she had overheard Robin say to James “I’m better than you, you’ve capsized three times, and I’ve not capsized.” I decided Robin needed some experience of defensive swimming in rapids. So walked him up to the top and threw him in, during the walk up a few onlookers kept looking at my wife as if to say “You’re not going let him throw that small child into the rapids”. I accompanied Robin down the rapids, you can see the journey on [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxK761rpFO0 youtube].

After that we reclaimed our boats and paddled to Monmouth, again the scenery was pretty, but this time we had happy children not bouncing between sugar rushes. The only incident we had was when I saw some fast moving water near a bank we all paddled for it, went fast for a while but then it became very shallow and we all got grounded. In the end I had to get out of my boat, holding onto it with a sling, and then drag everyone to deeper water.

That was our last day paddling the Wye, we lost one day of planned paddling due to high winds, but I think the kids benefitted from an extra rest day and we finished the last day on a high.

This was not a high adrenalin charged white water trip but it was an excellent opportunity to introduce the children to white water and practice my leadership skills, CLAP, in a safe environment.

== The trip in pictures ==

==== Day 1 ====

[[File:PKDay1a.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay1b.JPG]]

==== Day 2 ====

[[File:PKDay2a.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay2b.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay2c.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay2d.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay2e.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay2f.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay2g.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay2h.JPG]]

==== Day 3 ====

[[File:PKDay3a.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay3b.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay3c.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay3d.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay3e.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay3f.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay3g.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay3h.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay3i.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay3j.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay3k.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay3l.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay3m.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay3n.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay3o.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay3p.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay3q.JPG]]

The river Wye, Symonds Yat, 23rd-27th August 2009

2009-09-27T22:57:07Z

Paulkettle:

== The river Wye, Symonds Yat, August 2009 White Water for all the family ==

You may ask why we decided to paddle the river Wye, well I have a young family and wanted to introduce them to white water gradually. The trip consisted of me, my wife Ros (she’d paddled a kayak at least twice), my eldest son James (7 years old and not far off rolling) and my second son Robin (5 years old, he shot his first weir at the age of 4!). With grandparents living near by my youngest William, 2 years old, was packed off with them each day, they also provided a very useful shuttle.

Armed with the “Canoeists’ guide to the River Wye” and river play boats (try and make grade II fun.) we set out to explore the English Welsh border.

==== Day 1 – Ross on Wye to Lower Lydbrook – 8.5 miles ====
Following the guide book we inadvertently ended up at the Ross on Wye Rowing club, after asking “Where’s the best place to launch a canoe?” and being told “On a river” they kindly let us launch from their steps. The river was slow and meandering with lovely scenery including ruined castles, obviously to a five year old this is boring so after two minutes on the river Robin threw his paddle away and declared he wanted to go back to the car. Pointing out the car was now parked over 8 miles down stream did not really help, what did help was the promised of copious amounts of chocolate and coca cola I had stock piled in my boat for supplies. He then bounced from one sugar high to another for 8 miles. There were other distractions that made him happy: splashing his brother (although that generally ended in tears) and white water! There were a few patches on stretch where the river shallowed and the waves grew, one notable place was just after Kerne Bridge on a sweeping left hand bend. A group of open boaters had just over taken us, we watched as a couple were pushed into the brambles on the outside of the bend by the fast water. The kids then overtook them and demonstrate how the river should be run with near on perfect river placement and direction of power!

The exit at Lower Lydbrook was quite obvious, the only shock was to walk up the bank to find a different car park to the one I parked in! Luckily the other car park was only a short walk away.

==== Day 2 – Symond Yat West to Monmounth – 6.5 miles ====
It seemed appropriate to take my wife down her first set of rapids on our thirteenth wedding anniversary. The newly rebuilt rapids at Symonds Yat were far better than I expected, with a couple of small drops and standing waves it was a little bit of excitement for all. We ran the rapids one at a time, with me breaking into an eddie halfway down on safety. The run went exactly to plan, everyone lent forward and paddled down the tongue of the rapids without incident. The kids were eager to do it again, but knowing we had another 6 miles of paddling we pushed on.

A little further we came across a smaller section of rapids. Time for a quick bit of teaching: breaking out of eddies (near the top), stern squeeze and then breaking into another eddie on the other side. After a couple of demonstrations James went first. He broke into the flow very well, sped across the river to the opposite eddie and then just stopped and then flipped over (possibly I should have told him about eddie fences, oops, that’ll be self discovery learning). We quickly got him back in his boat totally un-phased, explained to him about eddie fences. Then went back to Ros and Robin and repeated the advice. Robin, with the knowledge of what happens if you stop paddling, attacked the river and finished by paddling hard across the eddie line, I think mainly just to show his older brother how it should be done.

The river continued to meander with the very occasional bit of fast moving water, but nothing to write home about. Despite the beautiful scenery the kids quickly got bored and even with impromptu water fights and chocolate we still had tantrums and Robin announced “I hate kayaking, I only like rapids!” The journey again turned into happy joyful kids having water fights to grumpy children that just wanted to be towed. Possibly the sugar high and lows of coke and chocolate are more pronounced in children. We eventually got to the steps at Monmouth and loaded up.

==== Day 3 - Symond Yat West to Monmounth – 6.5 miles ====
We had a couple of days rest and reflection on our previous journeys and decided to introduce our children to a full English Breakfast before the paddle and cereal bars and water during it with regular towing sessions to give them a rest without slowing us down too much. It worked we had happy children for the whole journey.

The day started at Symonds Yat. We decided to spend a lot of time on skills at the main rapids, everyone could run the rapids, but could they break into eddies halfway down? James followed me aiming to break into the first eddie on the left after the drop. He paddled into the eddie finishing with a stern rudder, but instead of continuing forward as he expected into the eddie he went backwards over the next drop and flipped. I chased him down then carried his boat back to the eddie we should have been in. Robin was next, he broke into an eddie on the other side quite confidently. Ros was next, she was finding the riot glide a bit of a tippy boat so decided to find an eddie halfway down and became the trip photographer. We then spent about an hour playing eddie hopping, I was very pleased with the kids: James attempted some difficult sections (went over once more but came out happy try to surf his boat upside down for the rest of the rapids). Robin seems to have boundless energy, on one occasion I though he had missed the eddie but he just paddled and paddled against the current till he was in it.

Near the end of the session, at the bottom of the rapids, Ros pointed out that she had overheard Robin say to James “I’m better than you, you’ve capsized three times, and I’ve not capsized.” I decided Robin needed some experience of defensive swimming in rapids. So walked him up to the top and threw him in, during the walk up a few onlookers kept looking at my wife as if to say “You’re not going let him throw that small child into the rapids”. I accompanied Robin down the rapids, you can see the journey on [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxK761rpFO0 youtube].

After that we reclaimed our boats and paddled to Monmouth, again the scenery was pretty, but this time we had happy children not bouncing between sugar rushes. The only incident we had was when I saw some fast moving water near a bank we all paddled for it, went fast for a while but then it became very shallow and we all got grounded. In the end I had to get out of my boat, holding onto it with a sling, and then drag everyone to deeper water.

That was our last day paddling the Wye, we lost one day of planned paddling due to high winds, but I think the kids benefitted from an extra rest day and we finished the last day on a high.

This was not a high adrenalin charged white water trip but it was an excellent opportunity to introduce the children to white water and practice my leadership skills, CLAP, in a safe environment.

== The trip in pictures ==

==== Day 1 ====

[[File:PKDay1a.JPG]]

[[File:PKDay1b.JPG]]

==== Day 2 ====

[[File:PKDay2a.JPG]]

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==== Day 3 ====

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Paulkettle:

The river Wye, Symonds Yat, 23rd-27th August 2009

2009-09-27T22:32:29Z

Paulkettle: Created page with '== The river Wye, Symonds Yat, August 2009 White Water for all the family == You may ask why we decided to paddle the river Wye, well I have a young family and wanted to introdu...'

== The river Wye, Symonds Yat, August 2009 White Water for all the family ==

You may ask why we decided to paddle the river Wye, well I have a young family and wanted to introduce them to white water gradually. The trip consisted of me, my wife Ros (she’d paddled a kayak at least twice), my eldest son James (7 years old and not far off rolling) and my second son Robin (5 years old, he shot his first weir at the age of 4!). With grandparents living near by my youngest William, 2 years old, was packed off with them each day, they also provided a very useful shuttle.
Armed with the “Canoeists’ guide to the River Wye” and river play boats (try and make grade II fun.) we set out to explore the English Welsh border.

==== Day 1 – Ross on Wye to Lower Lydbrook – 8.5 miles ====
Following the guide book we inadvertently ended up at the Ross on Wye Rowing club, after asking “Where’s the best place to launch a canoe?” and being told “On a river” they kindly let us launch from their steps. The river was slow and meandering with lovely scenery including ruined castles, obviously to a five year old this is boring so after two minutes on the river Robin threw his paddle away and declared he wanted to go back to the car. Pointing out the car was now parked over 8 miles down stream did not really help, what did help was the promised of copious amounts of chocolate and coca cola I had stock piled in my boat for supplies. He then bounced from one sugar high to another for 8 miles. There were other distractions that made him happy: splashing his brother (although that generally ended in tears) and white water! There were a few patches on stretch where the river shallowed and the waves grew, one notable place was just after Kerne Bridge on a sweeping left hand bend. A group of open boaters had just over taken us, we watched as a couple were pushed into the brambles on the outside of the bend by the fast water. The kids then overtook them and demonstrate how the river should be run with near on perfect river placement and direction of power!
The exit at Lower Lydbrook was quite obvious, the only shock was to walk up the bank to find a different car park to the one I parked in! Luckily the other car park was only a short walk away.

==== Day 2 – Symond Yat West to Monmounth – 6.5 miles ====
It seemed appropriate to take my wife down her first set of rapids on our thirteenth wedding anniversary. The newly rebuilt rapids at Symonds Yat were far better than I expected, with a couple of small drops and standing waves it was a little bit of excitement for all. We ran the rapids one at a time, with me breaking into an eddie halfway down on safety. The run went exactly to plan, everyone lent forward and paddled down the tongue of the rapids without incident. The kids were eager to do it again, but knowing we had another 6 miles of paddling we pushed on.
A little further we came across a smaller section of rapids. Time for a quick bit of teaching: breaking out of eddies (near the top), stern squeeze and then breaking into another eddie on the other side. After a couple of demonstrations James went first. He broke into the flow very well, sped across the river to the opposite eddie and then just stopped and then flipped over (possibly I should have told him about eddie fences, oops, that’ll be self discovery learning). We quickly got him back in his boat totally un-phased, explained to him about eddie fences. Then went back to Ros and Robin and repeated the advice. Robin, with the knowledge of what happens if you stop paddling, attacked the river and finished by paddling hard across the eddie line, I think mainly just to show his older brother how it should be done.
The river continued to meander with the very occasional bit of fast moving water, but nothing to write home about. Despite the beautiful scenery the kids quickly got bored and even with impromptu water fights and chocolate we still had tantrums and Robin announced “I hate kayaking, I only like rapids!” The journey again turned into happy joyful kids having water fights to grumpy children that just wanted to be towed. Possibly the sugar high and lows of coke and chocolate are more pronounced in children. We eventually got to the steps at Monmouth and loaded up.

==== Day 3 - Symond Yat West to Monmounth – 6.5 miles ====
We had a couple of days rest and reflection on our previous journeys and decided to introduce our children to a full English Breakfast before the paddle and cereal bars and water during it with regular towing sessions to give them a rest without slowing us down too much. It worked we had happy children for the whole journey.
The day started at Symonds Yat. We decided to spend a lot of time on skills at the main rapids, everyone could run the rapids, but could they break into eddies halfway down? James followed me aiming to break into the first eddie on the left after the drop. He paddled into the eddie finishing with a stern rudder, but instead of continuing forward as he expected into the eddie he went backwards over the next drop and flipped. I chased him down then carried his boat back to the eddie we should have been in. Robin was next, he broke into an eddie on the other side quite confidently. Ros was next, she was finding the riot glide a bit of a tippy boat so decided to find an eddie halfway down and became the trip photographer. We then spent about an hour playing eddie hopping, I was very pleased with the kids: James attempted some difficult sections (went over once more but came out happy try to surf his boat upside down for the rest of the rapids). Robin seems to have boundless energy, on one occasion I though he had missed the eddie but he just paddled and paddled against the current till he was in it.
Near the end of the session, at the bottom of the rapids, Ros pointed out that she had overheard Robin say to James “I’m better than you, you’ve capsized three times, and I’ve not capsized.” I decided Robin needed some experience of defensive swimming in rapids. So walked him up to the top and threw him in, during the walk up a few onlookers kept looking at my wife as if to say “You’re not going let him throw that small child into the rapids”. I accompanied Robin down the rapids, you can see the journey on youtube.
After that we reclaimed our boats and paddled to Monmouth, again the scenery was pretty, but this time we had happy children not bouncing between sugar rushes. The only incident we had was when I saw some fast moving water near a bank we all paddled for it, went fast for a while but then it became very shallow and we all got grounded. In the end I had to get out of my boat, holding onto it with a sling, and then drag everyone to deeper water.
That was our last day paddling the Wye, we lost one day of planned paddling due to high winds, but I think the kids benefitted from an extra rest day and we finished the last day on a high.
This was not a high adrenalin charged white water trip but it was an excellent opportunity to introduce the children to white water and practice my leadership skills, CLAP, in a safe environment.

Home

2009-09-27T22:11:29Z

Paulkettle:

The '''Tower Hamlets Canoe Club''' is a canoe and kayaking club located in central London.

{{Multicolumn}}

'''The Club'''

* [[THCC|About the club]]
* [[Contact|Where we are]]
* [[What We Do]]
* [[Joining|Joining the club]]
* [[FAQ|Common questions]]

'''New to paddling?'''

* We run a [[course for beginners]] each month

'''New to this web site?'''

* [[Help:Site|Requesting a web site account]].

'''Resources'''

* [[Books]]
* [[Safety resources|Safety]]

{{Nextcolumn}}


'''Future Trips'''

* [[River Thames, 21/22 November 2009]]
* [[Sheppy, 10 October 2009]] (TBC)

'''Recent Trips'''

* [[Kew, River Thames, 26 September 2009]]
* [[Scotland Whitewater trip, 19+20 Sept 2009]]
* [[The river Wye, Symonds Yat, 23rd-27th August 2009]]
* [[Oban sea trip, 15,16 August 2009]]
* [[River Arun (Sussex) touring trip, 1-2 August 2009]]
* [[A week in Slovenia, 19-26 July 2009]]
* [[2 star canoes on the River Lee navigation, 12th July 2009]]
* [[Whitewater open boating trip, 11+12 July 2009]]
* [[Whitewater open boating trip, 4+5 July 2009]]
* [[A weekend paddling in Austria, 3rd-6th July 2009]]
* [[2 star or so trip: River Stour, 20+21 June 2009]]
* [[2 star trip: Thames Backwaters, 6 June 2009]]
* [[River Waveney trip: May 2009]]
* [[Whitewater, Spain, April 2009]]
* [[Morocco whitewater, March 2009]]

{{EndMulticolumn}}
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{{#rawhtml:Flickr_pool}}

Home

2009-09-27T22:09:49Z

Paulkettle:

The '''Tower Hamlets Canoe Club''' is a canoe and kayaking club located in central London.

{{Multicolumn}}

'''The Club'''

* [[THCC|About the club]]
* [[Contact|Where we are]]
* [[What We Do]]
* [[Joining|Joining the club]]
* [[FAQ|Common questions]]

'''New to paddling?'''

* We run a [[course for beginners]] each month

'''New to this web site?'''

* [[Help:Site|Requesting a web site account]].

'''Resources'''

* [[Books]]
* [[Safety resources|Safety]]

{{Nextcolumn}}


'''Future Trips'''

* [[River Thames, 21/22 November 2009]]
* [[Sheppy, 10 October 2009]] (TBC)

'''Recent Trips'''

* [[Kew, River Thames, 26 September 2009]]
* [[Scotland Whitewater trip, 19+20 Sept 2009]]
* [[The river Wye, Symonds Yat, August]]
* [[Oban sea trip, 15,16 August 2009]]
* [[River Arun (Sussex) touring trip, 1-2 August 2009]]
* [[A week in Slovenia, 19-26 July 2009]]
* [[2 star canoes on the River Lee navigation, 12th July 2009]]
* [[Whitewater open boating trip, 11+12 July 2009]]
* [[Whitewater open boating trip, 4+5 July 2009]]
* [[A weekend paddling in Austria, 3rd-6th July 2009]]
* [[2 star or so trip: River Stour, 20+21 June 2009]]
* [[2 star trip: Thames Backwaters, 6 June 2009]]
* [[River Waveney trip: May 2009]]
* [[Whitewater, Spain, April 2009]]
* [[Morocco whitewater, March 2009]]

{{EndMulticolumn}}
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{{#rawhtml:Flickr_pool}}