Ten Swims in 110 metres – Pinkston Club Night – Wednesday 4th June

Just back from a Wednesday evening club session at Pinkston in Glasgow. An eventful "trip" for completing just 110 metres of white water. Between the seven paddlers there we had.... ten swims. The water was fairly powerful with two pumps on (6 tons of water a second), and even more powerful (but deeper when upside down) with three pumps on (9 tons of water a second).   We were lucky to have an enthusiastic crowd of supporters ready to point at laugh or offer encouragement at every piece of excitement. We even managed to lose a paddle (for a few minutes during Richard's final swim of the night). All in all a great trip with everyone wearing huge smiles by the end. The Wednesday at Pinkston will be a regular club event through the summer - please watch the calendar for dates and details. We hope to include both the white water session and possibly a "tide race simulator" or canoe...
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River Ayr in Open Canoes, April 2014

Last Sunday with just two of the open canoe coaching course guinea pigs fit, there was a change of plan. Rather than a day on Loch Lomond practicing canoe sailing as intended, we headed to deepest darkest Ayrshire to canoe the River Ayr. With Graham Roy, Scott Anderson and myself never having paddled the river we only had the guide book to rely on. The mandatory faff to find the best get in, do the shuttle and for one of us to buy lunch meant we headed off just before midday. Being a chance for Graham S to practice his coaching styles this meant every question asked was greeted with......"that's a good question - off you go and find out" - in the olden days the coach may have even answered a question or two... not any more! After lunch we played with CLAP... for those in the know this is what paddlers should I think about if they are...
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Make, Mend & Paint weekend

Make, Mend & Paint weekend Day one 29th March: – under the guidance off Misha & Iain Mc:-Roddy, Elizabeth & Andy Jill & Mark and Jo tackled the renovation of the outdoor container. Grinding off rust; welding holes in the roof and sides; rust prevention treatment; painting repaired areas; reworking canoe, sea kayak, river kayak and paddle, raking. By the end of the day we all looked like Victorian children sent up chimneys! Misha Somerville wrote:- Excellent effort by all today at the container! We have Mark, Gillian, Bill, Andy, Elizabeth, Roddy, Iain, Jo and Julia (moral support) to thank for the improvements. As well as the sea cadets for keeping their place open all day so we could get power for the tasks in hand. Some more tmrw from 10am- any extra hands welcome. Topic Link: http://dckc.co.uk/forums/topic/making-mending-and-painting/...
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Skye Sea Trip

Skye Sea Trip 7 club sea kayakers braved the waters of the Isle of Skye 21-23 March (going out like Lion!). Unable to paddle the planned locations we still managed 2 great if slightly challenging paddles. We abandoned camping and enjoyed the facilities of the Carbost Bunkhouse and Inn! Many thanks to Colin for organizing the trip and ensuring we all survived!...
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Safety Cover for Open Water Swimming Events

Very early notice, however one of the clubs we are working  with for the  Community Watersports hub project (to build a multisport clubhouse and store on Loch Lomond) have a couple of big swimming events are keen to find some willing volunteers to provide kayak safety cover. The events are: ·         Loch Lomond Highland Games Triathlon 19th July 10am start – swim location is from the jetty in Balloch park out and back along beach line numbers approx 200 although we should also be running a junior event this year ·         Scottish championship Aquathlon 6th September 10am start location and swim as above If this is of interest please get in touch with Graham grahammswanson  AT gmail.com...
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Female Sea Kayak Festival

I'm one of the organisers of the Women's Scottish Sea Kayak Festival, Boost your summer paddling plans and book your place at the Women's Scottish Sea Kayaking Festival. This is a 3-day sea kayaking event on 23-25 August on the Isle of Bute, now in its third year. All details at the http://womensseakayakfestival.co.uk/wsskf/ Festival website Dear all, we received the following info: Female Sea Kayakers Festival I'm one of the organisers of the Women's Scottish Sea Kayak Festival, Boost your summer paddling plans and book your place at the Women's Scottish Sea Kayaking Festival. This is a 3-day sea kayaking event on 23-25 August on the Isle of Bute, now in its third year. All details at the http://womensseakayakfestival.co.uk/wsskf/ Festival website Open to female sea kayakers of all levels, this is a great way to meet other paddlers, develop skills and build confidence in a sea kayak, learn from the all female coaches, and enjoy the friendly and supportive atmosphere at the festival, The island location gives the coaches great options for paddles and...
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Make, Mend & Paint wkend

I have just added an event to the calendar for the last  weekend in March.  A kind of late addition as it's taken us a while to formulate a plan a check logistics like electricity supply and tools etc Here's the info again: Repair and maintenance  to equipment and containers Ian, Mark, Andy and myself will be pottering about at the outdoor container over the weekend of the 29-30th March to do some repair and maintenance work to the containers, storage and equipment.  Any helping hands would be greatly appreciated. Rough aims for the weekend are: 1/ repair and paint outdoor container (and welding if weather allows) 2/ re-arrange kayak/canoes so they all fit into the rack! 3/ make new paddle rack 4/ general tidy and re-shuffle 5/ eating bacon rolls and drinking coffee! There are obviously day trips planned over the weekend.  That's not a problem at all, as rather than people turning up for the whole weekend, we're ideally looking for folk to come along for a morning...
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Current Newsletters Now Available

The feb and march 2013 newsletters are now available at http://dckc.co.uk/posts/newsletters/. A big thank you to Sandy for pulling them together. We normally email them directly to club members, if you didn't receive yours please let us know and we can check your email and membership info is correct....
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KariTec Sea Kayaking Symposium

We received the following email: "We are holding our 4th Mid West Symposium at Tayvallich (near Oban) on Saturday 3rd May to 5th May and would like to invite club members to join us for a fun packed weekend. Our previous symposiums have been very popular and well received. For 3 days coaching including a ceilidh and a fantastic quiz night, we have managed to keep our price at £160 per person. We have excellent coaches and with one coach to six participants, you can be assured of friendly and helpful advice. We have sessions on forward paddling, close quarter manoeuvring, edging & turning – and of course trips to explore the beautiful scenery and wild life in the area. Places on the symposium are filling fast with only a few places remaining, so if any club members would like to book a place for this enjoyable weekend, why not give us a call or email us to avoid any disappointment. Please visit our website:...
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A (and B) trip sub-committee meeting

Hi I’m looking to organise some new trips. If you are able to help run or can offer suggestions on possible sea, river and canoe trips……………………single or multi day and free this Thurs  I  am hold a meeting at my house on Thurs. 13th Feb at 7:30 to discuss and schedule some paddles . All are very welcome. If you can’t make it but are happy to suggest , plan or help with a trip please mail me the detail. Hope to see you on the 13th. 51 Holehouse Drive , Knightswood. G13 3AW. Bernie...
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Shetland Symposim Trip

Myself (Tony) with Barry and Ron are heading to Shetland for 9 days from the 9th to the 18th to join up with the Shetland Canoe Club who are hosting a symposium, it’s an event for sea kayakers and the next one is over the weekend of 11th to 14th July 2014 and held at Bridge End Outdoor Centre, Burra. Over Saturday and Sunday there are training sessions to support personal skills development from basic to advanced levels, plus guided trips to some of the best paddling venues around the isle. Accommodation is available on site for those that wish it (dormitory, camping and caravaning), there are sit down meals Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings, and to make it just a little easier if you’re coming up on the ferry or flying up, Shetland Canoe Club is offering temporary membership to give you access to club kayaks, paddles, buoyancy aids and spraydecks. Pick up from the ferry can be arranged....
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Your Clubs Facebook Page.

Facebook page can be used to upload all your trip photo's and anything you want to say about your trip day. So feel free to like our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/DCKayakclub?hc_location=timeline and leave your comments. You will find trip details and lots of whats happening within our club keeping up to date and involved with whats happening,If you need help with anything about this page please feel free to contact me on 07833596456 and I will be only to happy to help.   Tony Clarke...
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‘A’ Sea Kayak Trip this Saturday 11th – Loch Eck

This is the amended trip which was scheduled in calendar for the 18th. After some discussion we are now planning to go to Loch Eck, which has been proposed on previous trips but never happened due to bad weather. This is an ‘A’ trip so all experience levels welcome. Meet at container on Miller St at 9.00am. Anyone needing kit can you go 10min earlier please? Please phone Colin on 07748966873 on Friday any time after 7.30pm to confirm trip is still on. Alt contacts:- Bill Davis-07831789215; Bernie Tollan-07753924457...
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Anyone Feeling Adventurous

Any sea kayakers feeling adventurous and got £60... we were sent this....   Loch Shiel Viking Challenge 2014 In Aid of Macmillan Cancer Support Dear Kayaker Our committee of volunteers is organising two days of kayak races on Loch Shiel, Glenfinnan near Fort William, to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support who provides such an invaluable service for communities around the U.K. There will be two main races on the Saturday of 10 to 20 kms for touring and racing kayaks to suit experienced sea paddlers, the shorter course for those who are less experienced but want to be competitive. If there is sufficient demand there may also be a Surf Ski category which will be announced on the website. The courses will start and finish at Glenfinnan monument and race down Loch Shiel and back. Competitors will wear chipped wristbands and swipe marked waypoint posts on both sides of the loch along the way, which will test navigation as well as paddling skills. To add a fun element while...
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