Author: Sandy Johnston

I have my own sports coaching business at www.sandyjohnstoncoaching.com I am a Sea Kayak Leader and Sea Coach, White Water Performance Coach, Advanced Canoe leader and Canoe Coach, Open Water Paddlesboard Coach and I am a provider for numerous British Canoeing personal performance, leadership, coaching and safety awards.

Autumn Rivers

07/10/2016 By Sandy Johnston Comment Closed

You may have seen on the calendar that we have a number of river trips running between now and December. These are for anyone who wants to attend who has basic boat handing skills. There will also be the chance to train for and sit the three star assessment in white water kayak. The remainder of the dates are Saturday 8 October 2016 Saturday 5 November 2016 Sunday 6 November 2016 Saturday 12 November 2016 Saturday 10 December 2016 with an assessment date on Sunday 11 December 2016 The plan is also to make these trips open to other paddlers who are not necessarily interested in obtaining their 3 star. This will provide the opportunity to get out on the river in not just kayaks but also canoes, whether tandem or solo. we will be paddling a range of rivers and I hope to include the Teith, the Awe, the Tay, the Nith, the Clyde and maybe some others if we can fit them in. If you are interested,...

Across Scotland by Open Canoe (almost)

11/09/2016 By Sandy Johnston Comment Closed

In the olden days the rivers and lochs formed the main communication routes through the wild landscape. As idyllic as this sound, I now celebrate the modern age! Day 1 A drive up toward Glencoe seen us disembark at Rannoch Moore, where the river Ba flows into Loch Ba. At this point Graham armed us all with saws and instructed us (me) in it’s use…….after being left to pack my boat, I cut myself on the saw! Having filled the canoes full of all the kit we’d need for the next 5 days we launched the heavy boats into the loch. Sandy paddled up the River Ba for his first of many photo opportunities and then with little appreciation of what we were going to face, we were off. With naive enthusiasm we paddled the across Loch Ba with a head wind. When the wind changed to a cross-wind we took the opportunity to raft up in pairs and fire up the sail. It took...

Tay Descent 22.10.2016

29/07/2016 By Sandy Johnston Comment Closed

Is anyone interested in the Tay Descent? Leigh Murray is looking for like-minded souls who would like to take part in this event. The early-bird registration finishes on 31/07/16 so if you are interested get in touch with Leigh now! The details can be found on the SCA website at http://canoescotland.org/events/highlighted-events/tay-descent-2016 ...

Open Boat Tour 15 – 19 August 2016

15/07/2016 By Sandy Johnston Comment Closed

I am planning to go open boating during the week of Monday 15 to Friday 19 August 2016. I realise that its maybe not the best time for most club members as holiday periods will have passed, kids are back at school, everyone's skint, etc however I'm going boating that week! If there are any like-minded individuals in the club please feel free to get in touch. I am considering various options. These are: various single day trips on rivers and lochs a multi-day expedition of an easy nature like paddling the great Glen a multi-day expedition of a slightly harder nature such as a classic river descent, if water levels allow a multi-day expedition across Scotland Obviously nothing is set in stone and I am still at an early stage in planning. To keep cost down I will be wild camping using a bivy or hammock. If you are interested in any of the above options either speak to me at...

River Awe 30.04.16

30/04/2016 By Sandy Johnston Comment Closed

Saturday 30 April saw two club members journeying north to paddle the River Awe. The dam was releasing on one gate so water levels were medium/low but there was enough water to make the trip entertaining. After the shuttle we spent some time on ferry gliding on the rapid just below the dam and this then developed onto making use of water features to aid crossing the flow and this then developed onto wave surfing. Leigh caught her first wave closely followed by her first capsize and swim of the day and then, after some more practice at breaking in and out, we continued downstream to the graveyard section. This section has a number of large boulders which can be negotiated fairly easily as was shown by another group on the river who were paddling white water racers. We also paddled through the graveyard without mishap and the Leigh then took the lead for the next section down to Bridge of Awe. This was...

SCA Coaching and Volunteer Conference

25/04/2016 By Sandy Johnston Comment Closed

SCA Coaching and Volunteer Conference 2016 This was attended by Louisa Oram and myself last weekend, 23 to 24 April 2016. We both took advantage of having the Friday off work to start the weekend off with an afternoon’s skiing on Cairngorm. I hadn’t been on planks for a year, but the conditions at the top of the mountain were ideal and best of all, it seemed as if nobody knew about it, as there was hardly anyone there. Skiing without queues! Superb. Anyway, after a day on the hill we booked in to Glenmore Lodge where we were met by some of the SCA staff, Andy Murray and Mikaela Meik, who confirmed the various workshops that we were attending and ran through the housekeeping. Then to our rooms to drop stuff off before retiring to the bar for a beer and a bar meal before the evening session. My session over the evening was the SCA Event Safety and I am sure...

Foundation Safety and Rescue Training

19/04/201619/04/2016 By Sandy Johnston Comment Closed

Sandy is running this course oh Saturday 14 May 2016 at Loch Lomond. Participants should be of 2 star standard, they don't necessarily have to have the 2 star award. There are only six places available at a discounted rate for club members,this is a valuable day's training at a cost of 30 per head. The course is described as follows: Course aims - This training course aims to provide paddlers with the key safety and rescue skills required to operate safely and to be able to deal with common emergencies. These skills form the foundations for safety and rescue throughout British Canoeing qualifications. The award has two purposes: To provide the paddler with the necessary skills which will enable them to ensure the safety of themselves and others To provide the paddler with the appropriate rescue skills which can be used to help themselves and/or others in difficulty Course philosophy ?- Fundamentally this course is designed for all paddlers irrespective of their chosen...

3 Star River Trips

18/04/2016 By Sandy Johnston Comment Closed

Fancy learning to kayak on rivers, clean water, fantastic scenery, and sunshine? Okay we cant guarantee the sunshine, it is Scotland after all, but we have had two outings so far in this series of trips which have provided all the above although it has been cold! The temperature will increase as we approach the summer and the water levels will drop but there will still be sufficient rivers for us to paddle and to work on river running skills. The idea for these sessions is to provide club members with the opportunity to develop in this area of kayaking. Participants can be any age and should be of 2 star standard to get the most out of the experience. That doesnt mean that you have to have your 2 star award but you should have 2 star skills such as efficient forward paddling, being able to steer and manoeuvre the boat and being able to prevent a capsize. Being able to...

OC Trip – River Spey 01-03.04.16

04/04/201604/04/2016 By Sandy Johnston Comment Closed

07.00 hrs on Friday 1 April 2016 saw Sandy, Leigh, Bernie, Derek and Graham Roy meeting at the Clubs Outdoor Store in Clydebank. Was this some elaborate April fool prank? No, we were meeting to start our three day open canoe descent of the River Spey. 3 hrs took us to our starting point at Kincraig on the north end of loch Insh where we unloaded the boats and then a further 3 hrs were needed to shuttle a car to Spey Bay and return to the start point. Eventually we were off! It was a fairly windy and wet day but we were thankful that the wind was coming from the south west so it was at our backs as we paddled north. 10 km of paddling took us to Aviemore, but no stops for us and a further 11 km took us to Boat of Garten. We then paddled on to our first campsite on an island which was...

Open Canoe Weekend 1 to 3 April 2016

09/03/2016 By Sandy Johnston Comment Closed

Hi, the 1 to 3 April has been set aside for our normal Easter-ish Open Canoe trip. Various ideas have been floated (if you pardon the pun) for this event. These are: Glasgow to Edinburgh canal trip Great Glen Canoe Paddle (slightly more strenuous) Another attempt on the River Tweed Another attempt at the River Dee The River Spey The River Tay No decision has been made as yet so I suggest that anyone interested come along to a meeting at the Pool session on Tuesday 15 March at 21.00 hrs (start of adult session). This trip will be open to beginners as we would seek to pair people up (experienced with beginner) to paddle tandem. Sandy...

River Trips – Spring/Summer 2016

06/03/2016 By Sandy Johnston Comment Closed

I have published the dates for a number of river trips which I will be running between April and July 2016 with two aims in mind: I want to provide a varied programme of river trips to allow club members to develop their experience and their river paddling expertise whilst in the company of an experienced Coach and River Leader I want to provide coaching and training that will allow club members to gain and practise the skills required to pass the BCU 3 Star Award in White Water Kayak. I plan to have a progression over the year and to frequently re-visit skills in each trip so that it isn't necessary to attend all the trips to be prepared for the assessment. However the more you attend, the more prepared you shall be! The rivers I am looking to include are the Teith, the Doon, the Clyde, the Tay, the Nith, the Avon, the Awe and the Ayr. Any comments, questions or concerns, give me...

Arran Excursion – Saturday 05 March 2016

06/03/2016 By Sandy Johnston Comment Closed

Rab, Barry, Sue, Tony and Sandy took the first ferry across to Arran on Saturday 5 March. Lovely weather, cold with sunny skies and a force 4 wind looked like it would make for an excellent days paddling. Once off the ferry we found that the usual put-in was being developed and as a result was fenced off. However a short walk took us to a beach next to the ferry terminal where we could launch. We get changed and sorted out the boats while taking in the amazing view of Goat Fell with a snowy covering surrounded by cloudless blue skies. The wind was blowing from the north so the first 3 kms to Corrygills Point meant we were paddling with a side wind, disconcerting at first but fine when you relaxed into it and applied a little skeg to make life a little easier. After Corrygills point we turned south and with a following sea we made a fair...

Foundation Safety and Rescue Course – Sunday 13 September 2015

27/08/201527/08/2015 By Sandy Johnston Comment Closed

There are still spaces available for this course. This course is designed for all paddlers irrespective of craft. The objective is to teach simple and safe skills that can be applied appropriately across a variety of paddlesport craft including kayaks and canoes. These skills will then form the basis of all safety and rescue training throughout the BCU Scheme. The course aims to provide the student with the key safety and rescue skills required to operate safely in a sheltered water environment and to be able to deal with common emergencies. - See more at: http://canoescotland.org/courses-training/bcu-safety-training#sthash.o2tELjiB.dpuf Contact Sandy for further details 07962226280 ...

River Awe 26/07/15

27/07/201527/08/2015 By Sandy Johnston Comment Closed

For one reason or another only the two club kayakers, Sandy Johnston and Richard Lord, met up with Graham Swanson in his open boat to take part in this classic river descent. There was a scheduled dam release on the River Awe and when we got there we found that all three gates were open on the dam releasing so much water that the top wave, normally found just below the dam, was completely washed out. There were plenty of other boaters about with parties from Glasgow Kayak Club, Stirling and Falkirk Canoe Club and Kyle Kayak Club all making the most of the excellent conditions on the river. A quick shuttle got one car and our dry clothes to the Taynuilt pier and then we set off on what proved to be an excellent trip in big volume warm(ish) water. The graveyard section provided the first test however it was nowhere near as technical as it is when there is less...