Trip Leader Meeting March 2016

By graham Comment Closed
12 of the clubs trip leaders and coaches met to go over some of the recent changes and improvements to how the club runs trips, and to answer any burning questions. Graham hosted with pizza, coffee and cake a plenty. Some of the main things covered were:- - the club has adopted a pragmatic approach to who can be trip leaders, formal qualifications aren't needed but a base of training, experience and willingness are the key. - Where junior members are involved a qualified coach and an up to date first aider are needed. - the club has had to consider these things and to address them a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) pulls everything together. The SOP is supported by things such as top tip sheets, club trip forms etc. All the club document are available on the club website - http://dckc.co.uk/members-pages/club-documents/ (there is a generic club password for members to access the club pages - ask a committee member or coach to...
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2015 The Year in Photos

By graham Comment Closed
Club photos are displayed on the awesome Smugmug site at dckc.smugmug.com See what we got up to or if you have images to add or a whole trip that has been missed then email graham at grahammswanson@gmail.com and he will get you an upload link. We now have the ability to "insert" images into posts and trip reports directly from smugmug... so if anyone fancies doing a trip report let me know as you can easily add images. Here are 3 from November's adventures....
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Club AGM Wednesday 7th October

By graham Comment Closed
Just a reminder that the club AGM is on Wednesday 7th October at Pinkston Watersports Centre. More info is at http://dckc.co.uk/event/club-2015-agm/?instance_id=1506 Please come along, add your voice and ideas in the meeting, consider joining the committee, and meet up on dry land....
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Try Watersports Open Days – July 2015

By graham Comment Closed
The club, along with Loch Lomond Rowing Club, Lomond triatlon Club and Loch Lomond waterski Club ran 2 very successful "try watersports" days on the 11th and 19th July. With over 100 participants each day and 15 club members along to help each day with coaching, rescue boating, putting up tents, getting people into wetsuits, collating consent forms and moving kit about it was a massive effort and everyone's help was really appreciated. We even remembered to have a donations jar on the second day and have £40 for club funds. A big thank you to Garry o'Donnel and David MacDonald who helped out massively with the preparations needed to make it happen. we were helped with the costs by the Cashback for Communities Fund - thank you to the police and fiscals for catching some bad guys - keep up the good work....
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Skills Session Loch Lomond 2nd March 2015

By graham Comment Closed
The weather forecast had everything, sun, wind, rain, snow, cold to start and warming a little,but being a Graham trip and to our regular haunt at Balloch it wasn't cancelled! So we met up, 5 sea kayakers with a wide range of skills and experience under the enthusiastic instruction of Graham. Jo as the (relative) novice Canadian solo canoeist had the benefit of instruction from Glen and Garry, as well as a helping breeze which is a challenge for any solo open canoe paddler. In the sea kayak group we spent most of the day practicing with one theme which Graham repeated a few times in his chats.... "SEA KAYAKS ARE DESIGNED TO GO STRAIGHT". With the day being about turning sea kayaks the main message was to edge the kayak so it actually wants to turn and then use the paddle to make the turns more effective as no matter how strong and skillful the paddler is, it is...
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Club Development Meeting- November 2014

By graham Comment Closed
An early 10am start at Graham's house let Bernie, Colin, Tony, Lori and Moira do some "development planning". After coffee and kitkats of course. A day of chatting though what the club could look like in 3 to 5 years time: a second clubhouse in Hawaii, a fleet of carbon kevlar sea kayaks, Lithium Ion electrically heated seats in all boats were discussed until we settled for a more sensible group of ambitions: Development Plan Themes 1. More and Better Trips 2. More Social Club 3. Robust Training and Development Activities 4. Encourage and Develop more Volunteers 5. Have the Right Equipment 6. Run the Club from the Right Venues 7. Improve Membership Retention and Alumni Links 8. Good Admin and Infrastructure Graham has the exciting job of writing everything up and we will share it soon....
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Ross’s Trip report – Pinkston 8th Oct 2014

By graham Comment Closed
Another evening session at Pinkston and the first night with a chill in the air. Fortunately there was a good proportion of dry suits or dry cags and again Graham turned up with only one wet suit sock and wetsuit shorts - leading to one quite chilly foot. The "how many pumps" decision was made - three, slightly more powerful than two pumps but deeper water. We had 2 guest paddlers, with the SCA playboating session having been published with the wrong date and time. It did mean we got to see what a short (11") open canoe looks like on Pinkston - pretty impressive in the right hands!   Being Ross McKillop's first paddling visit he was taken under the wing/paddle of Graham (he had seen the course in use before- quite a good idea for any prospective Pinkston paddlers). First run: after a briefing and watching some others he navigation the exit from the top pool and down the first two drops then followed...
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