News

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....

Balmaha Trip 16/11/2014 Joe,Barry,Ross,Ian,Dave,Richard,Kevin,Iain,Andy,Ron and myself headed to Balmaha for 9:30am. With thick fog covering most of the Loch we set out heading along the fault-line using Inchcailoch as a guide till the fog lifted. Still lying quite heavily we passed the small Isle of Torrinch, then rounding Creinch in the hope by that time the fog would finally be gone! It lifted enough for us to head to the "Geggles" (narrow passage between Inchmoan and Inchcruin) The clearing fog brought a sunny pictorial Loch Lomond and a few jokes from new paddler Dave! (not repeating them anytime soon!). Having spun Jo around 360 degrees (Again) I thought enough fun/bullying lets have lunch. We opted for the southerly tip of Inchconnachan (Wallabieless Island) with the sun in our faces and bellies full headed through the Narrows known as the jewel of the Loch! It was so beautiful Barry and Benny decided to have a swim. Been in some rough waters with barry and...

Loch Awe Trip – Saturday 8th November By Geraldine O’Sullivan   This is my first time writing up one of these reports so... bear with me.   This trip was one of the options available during the Loch Awe weekend.  After a late start out (slow puncture in my old banger)  Vicky and I headed up to the Village Hall after stopping off at the chippy in Inverary.  The rain was bouncing off the road and didn’t bode well for the weekend ahead.  However, we arrived to a warm welcome and some amazing stinky cheeses courtesy of Janice.   We all bedded down and made a brave attempt at shut eye amid the cacophony of snores and grunts.  Well done Andrew for bringing along the ear plugs.   The morning started well, albeit waking up with a crick in the neck and bags under the eyes from lack of sleep (my fault – only had yoga mats to sleep on unlike Tony – with his four poster).  Thanks...

By: Andy L Coulport to Carrick Castle (and back): 12th October 2014 This was a hastily arranged day trip, simply because the weather forecast for the weekend looked promising (how often have we heard that?). Five paddlers in total: Anne Howard, Jo Grant, Geraldine O’Sullivan, Iain Love and myself. For the keen observers amongst us, you will note that the girls outnumbered the boys….not often this occurs on club trips….hope the trend continues. After loading the boats and gear, we set off from the container and began the short journey to the put-in (a layby just outside RNAD Coulport – OS grid ref. NS 213 867). The forecast was pretty accurate throughout the day; cool to start, with very low cloud… warming as the cloud thinned and little or no wind as the day progressed…..just perfect. I've done this trip several times in the past, so I wasn't surprised to find the military police taking a certain interest in our party; however, we didn't expect...

Myself, Anne and Alf  headed out with the intentions of rounding the Isle of May however after a mile we turned towards creel due to the blustery conditions which were making life a tad more interesting than predicted. We followed the Fife Coastal path which runs the length of East Neuk. Once we reached Creel the wind dropped and even though we were further away from out intended paddle we decide Isle of May it was! With a reasonable size swell and the sun at our backs we were looking up at the tall cliffs at Alterstanes  watching the waves crashing of the rocks with quite a force, we paddled in and around the caves and stacks which are spectacular for such a small island. The name of the island comes from old Norse meaning Island of seagulls to which there is plenty ( where a hat and don't look up!) Other species on the Island are 14 diferant kinds of...

I am planning to re-sit my UKCC level 3 Assessment in November. I have to work with a group of paddlers for six sessions before then and write that up to supplement my coaching portfolio. I am looking for some volunteers who would like to be coached and developed in white water kayaking and would be available on Sundays throughout September/October so that I can fit in the sessions. I plan to do a variety of rivers and should be able to fit in  3 star training and assessment in white water kayak as part of the sessions. If interested contact me on sandy.johnston@sky.com. Thanks........... Sandy...

Myself with Ron and Barry boarded the Shetland ferry with sleeping bags and big grins,after 14 and a half hours and sleeping between seats (which was more comfortable than the "sleeper seats" ) we had still not lost our grins :) Having collected our flares we were soon heading to Bridge End outdoor center,pitching our tents and meeting other eager kayaker's we soon settled in the Symposium and had out two days mapped out with what we wanted to do. A pre -symposium paddle to Westerwick took place on the Friday,rock hopping is kinda new to me so I nearly drowned when I got caught out in a washing machine of a narrow gap ! losing my Go-pro and pride :( The deep caves and Barry's humor soon cheered me up ! Back at our tents we realized camping under the biggest wind turbine might not have been the brightest idea!! (nightmare) Saturday was spent rolling and rescues,I went with Kim...

Hi, Rowan  put her rucksack down next to the canal towpath where all the paddlers got on. Its now missing, probably stolen and she lost her camera, ipod and mobile phone. If anybody saw anything please give her not so pleased Dad, Sandy a call on 07962 226280. Thanks...