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