Weel to Wilfholme

So decisions...flood water coming down the river but a strong SW wind heading upstream. A group of awesome paddlers wanting to paddle, yup choose in favour of the wind... There was a little moment just around the Esk nature reserve where I wondering if we had made the right decision but once around the 'elbow' and wind again on our backs we made fantastic progress. Everyone did amazing and it wasn't always 'plain sailing' but we made good progress towards Wilfholme Landing. Well proud of all involved and what a brilliant way to finish the year..

Kingston Kayak Club - Frosty Fingers

An important and lovely date on the KKC calendar and this years was no exception. Well attended, the rain, sleet and half frozen canal did not put anyone off and the mulled wine tasted better than ever. Merry Christmas all..

River Ure - Mickley to Slenningford

A club trip on the River Ure. The short boaters set off first and by all accounts they had a brilliant day, Anthony was buzzing having paddled the Burn down to and including the Slenningford rapids ( I'm just a little proud of him and our coaches right now)

The rest of us made our way in open canoes. Our friends Mick and Tricia have only paddled the open a handful of times on flat water and today was to be their first time on white water - (Mick does have much experience in K1 and this shined through), Tricia also did fantastic, we spent much time looking at river skills and she was game for it all.

Big thanks to good friend Roger for taking the lead on this trip and leading well. This freed me to do a little coaching, take photos and generally arse around.

River Ure - Part Two

River Derwent

A simple journey between Bubwith and Barmby Barrage. A little bit of warmth in the sunshine and lovely company

An Introduction to Canoeing

Today we had the pleasure of introducing two lovely couples to the joys of open boating. I introduced a session embracing the fundamentals of canoeing before then going on to explore efficient journeying - trim, forward paddle, turning etc.. We had all the elements thrown at us but with good planning the wind and rain was always on our backs.. :-) Our paddling friends did amazing and it was a true baptism to winter paddling but it was smiles all around

City of Culture - Volunteers Days

A few snaps of todays fun on Princess Quay assisting with City of Culture Volunteers fun day

Anglesey - Penryn Mawr

A challenging but wonderful day being lead by 5 Star candidates on assessment. Really nice to get back out in this environment and catch up with some old friends..

Anglesey - Point Lynas

Feeling broken.. Moelfre to Point Lynas with a visit to The island of Ynys Dulas - this was just the warm up for our trip tomorrow where we will be lead by several 5 Star paddlers

Yorkshire Derwent

Really nice to be back in a canoe and doing what we do best. A simple journey from Howsham to Kirkham and back..

Dacre Lake with Ant

We where tasked with erecting a polo pitch but always time to have a mess about on the boards..

SUP Calvi, Corsica

Our last day on this wonderful Mediterranean play ground and it would have been very easy to sit on our back sides and be lazy prepping for our flight out tomorrow, the weather was a little dull with a very strong breeze from the south-west. But nope, adventuring to the end, we headed north away from the west coast and found a little shelter from the elements on a fascinating headland called Punta Bianca which shelters Calvi from the predominant westerly weather. Time to pump the SUPs up...

The Remote Village of Girolata, Corsica by SUP

Girolata is a remote and isolated village on the west coast of Corsica. There is no road to the village, just a mule track suitable for only quads and the odd dirt bike - all provisions are brought in by sea. It was my ambition before even getting to Corsica to SUP to this village, today we did just that... The huge swells had died down but there was still good gusts and a sea state of F5.

I think if this had been in the UK we wouldn't have taken the trip on but the warm air temperatures, sunshine, and lovely sea temps allowed us to push a little harder. Stand Up Paddle Boarding? No this was definitely a kneel down job - but who cares, the boards allowed us to pursue our love of paddle sport in a foreign location and fulfil our spirit of adventure..

Launching from the closest accessible point which was a half hour trundle down a dirt track and then a hike through woods we still had to cross the Gulf De Girolata.. Strong winds and following seas soon had us making good progress... Getting back took an extra 60 horse powers and just a little bit of diesel - thank goodness for the local water taxi

L'lle Rousse Corsica SUP

Images from a couple of SUP trips straight out from our Hotel. Today we paddled right around the L'ile Rousse headland which joins the mainland by a causeway. Straight onto the water after breakfast we made our way to a couple of lovely white beaches.. Coming back we took the shortcut through the arch... Off the water by 2pm before the strong sea breezes kick in..

Corsica Stand Up Paddle Boarding

Our first paddle trip on Corsica and it didn't disappoint.. St Florent to Loto beach, one of the most highly acclaimed beaches on the island and only accessible by foot or by boat. Today's distance was about 15km in total, a push into a sea breeze but then a pleasant and quick downwind run on the way back, and yes we had a close encounter with dolphins

Flamborough Head on the Stand Up Paddle Boards

A classic trip which we never get tired of. A little lumpy early on but we soon got our sea legs..

Weel to Frodingham in the Fast Boat

A blast up the river in the Taran. 18km in just over two hours..

Canoe Lessons at Dacre for Dave

It was a pleasure to deliver a canoe session with Dave today. Who says you cannot teach an old dog new tricks :)

River Hull Wilfholme - Hempholme

A wonderful day with family and friends. To me paddling doesn't get much better than than this, old friends, family, new friends, accomplished paddlers, new paddlers.... all enjoying a day on the river. A simple run up the river allowing new paddlers to learn skills and gain confidence. The return required a little tactical logistics due to the strong head winds, a bit of a slog back but everyone did brilliantly.

Sandsend to Scarborough in the Sea Kayaks

A Lovely journey with Dave. Wind, tide and swell all in our favour. A little lumpy but it kept

us on our toes. 33km in roughly 5 hours

KKC Triathlon Safety Support

Today it was a privilege to be part of the KKC safety team for the Hull Triathlon - swim section

KKC at Dacre Lake

I'd organised a simple day for club members to get out and experience a little fun and skills training at this local venue. Many of our junior members only receive training in a pool environment which I believe, although good, does not allow them to attain their best potential. Add to this the environmental factors and I think is an all round better learning environment.

We had much weather but everybody had fun and maybe even learnt a thing or two, definitely a productive day.

Friends & Family Paddle

A lovely forecast, what better than to spend the day on a chilled paddle with friends and family on a paddle and picnic day.

KKC Howsham Slalom

A big event on the KKC calendar and a lot of effort had been made to make sure this weekend was as good as previous years.

Unable to make the Saturday I made up for it on Sunday by providing safety cover at the bottom of the weir. Several rescues later and I had the chance to compete with Scott in the club C2 - the less said the better....albeit we didn't swim...

The kids did much better..

Moderate Water Leader Assessment

On the last couple of days of June I headed north to Grandtully on the River Tay. I had prepared for the two day assessment and I felt confident, lets just hope everything went to plan.

The assessment was very relaxed, it was really nice to paddle both the River Tay and Loch Tay over the two days with other aspirant canoe leaders and canoeists .

Glad to say I passed the the assessment and a big 'thank-you' to Ken Hughes for giving me the skills and confidence to be where I am now....

Howsham Weir

The last chance of a bit of running water before my assessment so we headed to Howsham. Plenty of fun breaking in and out of the flow and a little bit of poling to..