South Landing to Hunmanby Gap

With an excellent forecast and an invite to do this classic long trip by some Scarborough friends I made the decision to invite some of our older youth paddlers to join us. A brilliant and wonderful day was had by all that attended - although I think there was some very shattered teenagers this afternoon..

Driffield Navigational Canal Spring Clean

Words fail me for what I witnessed today... A group of paddlers - Stand Up Paddle Boarders, canoeist and kayakers from many of our regions clubs and independant paddlers too...coming together for one purpose - to clean this special waterway of all litter and plastic. It was an intense day of very hard work, this stretch of the Driffield Navigation has always been a bit of a mess due to it close proximity to the town and the main road heading east. But as i brought up the rear on our return journey I have never ever seen it so spotless and devoid of bottles and litter. It was not until I landed back at the head did it really come apparent to just how much rubbish we had collected - over 25 black sacks of bottles and waste... Every person on the river today has given up their day to work so hard and to really make a difference to this unique and beautiful environment,,, Thank you all so very, very much...

Yorkshire Sea Paddlers - Trip 2

With a forecast that suggested stiffening winds from the WSW and the possibility of spring squalls we launched from South Bay, Scarborough and hand railed tight along the coastline heading down towards Cornelian, Cayton and finally to our lunch spot at the Wyke opposite Old Horse Rock. Winds picked up and hit us from surprising directions but with a group of strong paddlers we punched into it with ease back across Cayton Bay. A most excellent day with some very lovely people. Lets hope for a lot more days like this with the Yorkshire Sea Paddlers.. Big thanks to those that joined us today.

Esk Estuary, Whitby

Another Salty adventure for some budding sea yakkers. The sun was out and everyone had great fun, a pleasure to deliver simple skills on a lovely day.

Introduction to Sea Kayaking

An amazing and wonderful day of sea kayaking with a collaboration between Kingston Kayak Club and Scarborough Club. Even the Flamborough Lifeboat came to greet us a couple off times. A pleasure to lead and coach fundamental skills to an appreciative audience.

Yorkshire Sea Kayakers - Bempton

I took on the role of organising a few dates of sea paddling for the Yorkshire Sea kayakers Group. Today we had some hardy members join us on a trip under Bempton. The sea was only just settling down from two weeks of northerlies and Beasterly Easterlies but we managed a lovely trip under the cliffs. It soon came apparent I could relax my leadership role a little as these guys were well capable. Big thanks to local friends Dave and Steve for assistance. This year is shaping up to be busy but a whole lot of fun.. Bempton is an important bird reserve, we did our bit by giving the cliffs a wide berth and tactically manoeuvred ourselves out of the way of rafting birds, hey and we also broke up several fights between the razorbills - damn they fight hard.... We also took many photographs of the recent rock falls under Bempton and as requested by the Humber Coastguard forwarded the images to them...

River Hull - SUP

It took discipline to go out today, could have been very easy to stay at home. Glad we did though, fresh air and a bit of exercise. Accompanied by dear friend Leigh and of course the lovely Fiona..

Scarborough Club Sea Trip

A really enjoyable day on the sea with Scarborough Club. A pleasure to assist in coaching and guiding on such a lovely day. A calm sea, a little sunshine and even the seals came out to greet us.

Swale, Grinton to Richmond

This stretch of river had been on my 'to do' list for a while. Thanks to Lizzie a group of us journeyed down today in rain, sunshine and strong winds. A beautiful stretch of river albeit just a little low. Apologies if I didn't capture photos of everyone.

Surfing at Hunmanby Gap

A cracking couple of hours in the surf. Lots of nice sized waves with a few huge sets thrown in too. A little rusty in my skills but it soon comes back. Cheers Dave

Tees in the Snow

Low levels made getting these 16 foot boats down the river quite testing. Lots of hard playing on the more friendly features which inevitably lead to a few swims but its all in the name of fun. A few of Vinces images added to the album, yours truly isn't above the occasional swim when jack-assing around..

River Idle

A lovely day on the Idle, the perfect easy river for introducing Dave,Clare, James and Daniel to simple moving water canoeing techniques. It was cold but everyone had fun

River Tees

I was delighted to be invited to paddle with Joanne and Peter today. A fun journey with no particular aims other than for us to gain confidence, hone skills and generally work off the festive seasons excess. Levels where good and the sun came out for some of the day. An absolutely perfect day with genuinely wonderful company. Apologies for so many blurry images - low light and lots of movement doesn't make for great photography.. Oh and Joanne, I have your biscuits

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..