River Nith

By admin Comment Closed
What a great Sunday on the river for most , in the river for some! After a scenic drive through the Leadhills we arrived at the Glen Airlie Picnic Site put in, set up the shuttle to Drumlanrig Bridge and got on the river . First prize to bailoutboater - now you know where the forum / blog post name comes from. A good level of water meant that the rapids came in quick succession breaking us in (or eddy out) for the approaching gorge section. Here we had to have a wee look first before running safely. In the gorge section we came across two chaps panning for gold, if ah had known there was gold in them their river, I would have looked closer when upside down. Some skilful paddling at the pour over and a very technical tricky chicken run at the same spot. The day ended with a demonstration of spectacular seal launching. The paddlers in no...
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4 New Club Coaches!

By dckc kayak club Comment Closed
Congratulations to Andrew Minshall, Bernie Tolland, David Gow and Ross McKillop who all completed their Level 1 Canoeing Coach trianing and assessment last weekend. They are now qualified to coach club members in both Kayak and Canoe and are a very welcome addition to pool sessions as well as on loch, sea and river. You will see them at many club sessions, feel free to chat to them about their experience on the course. We are also preparing to get them a glamorous red T-shirt each! Well done!...
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Pool Sessions are back

By graham Comment Closed
Just to say what a great turn out at the first couple of pool sessions. Looks like everyone is having fun! We are hoping to buy some new spraydecks to make sure we have enough large ones available. The neoprene spray decks are now exclusively for outdoor use and this also helps with pool safety. If you can bring the right change and help make the guys taking the money's life easier that would also be great. If you have not yet joined then please print out and fill in a membership form and bring it along with your payment. Membership forms can be downloaded at Club Documents and prices are at prices Last admin is: if coming for the first session please can you go to the container for 7.30pm to bring round the boats. If you are at the second session please help take the boats back round after the session....
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Club Calendar New Format

By dckc kayak club Comment Closed
If you visit the calendar page on the site you will see it has changed (and we hope improved). To have it automatically update to your google or other calendar use the subscribe button as the old google calendar is being discontinued. Events can be added by authorised users - so if you need authorised please contact Graham (if you can already post to the site you can also add events). This will let you post your event from our software with the same password that lets you use the new forums and access member only pages and documents. The software is easy to use, even for the older members! A wee overview is at http://support.time.ly/Creating-an-Event/ or why not watch the video For the more web savvy why not visit time.ly and see what else it can do. I plan to add the facebook event link when I get the facebook info to set it up!...
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River Paddling

By Sandy Johnston Comment Closed
River Paddling There has not been a lot of active river paddling in the club over the last year. We want to turn this around as while there are enough club members with the appropriate skills to have an active river paddling programme, they just don’t seem to be aware of each other. In order to improve things the club is planning to establish two paddling groups. These will be the: 1. White Water Group, and 2. Beginners River Group. The White Water Group will be aimed at river paddlers who are competent to paddle on Grade 3 – 4 water. Rivers falling into this category include the Tay at Grandtully, Nith, Allan, Tummel, Orchy etc. The white water group is open to both kayak and canoe paddlers. The purpose of this group is to find a focus for those paddlers who want to paddle more advanced rivers and the plan is to improve the paddling abilities of members, provide the opportunity to work towards...
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Coaching levels, and what they mean – BCU Level 1

By Sandy Johnston Comment Closed
The BCU Level 1 Coach For many coaches the BCU UKCC Level 1 Certificate in Coaching Paddlesport is the first step on the coaching pathway. The qualification introduces the fundamentals of safe, ethical and effective coaching. Candidates are trained to coach basic skills to paddlers in any type of paddlesport craft in a flat-water environment. A range of coaching tips, tricks games and activities are built into the course, along with time spent developing technical and tactical understanding of these skills. The Level 1 Coach can plan, deliver, and review short coaching sessions; normally with the support of a more qualified coach. They can work with paddlers at any stage of development; receiving specific training to coach paddlers in their first year of activity and to run taster sessions. To complete the level 1 Coach you must: Decide if you wish to achieve the award as Bank Based or Boat Based Coach - Candidates who do not hold the required personal performance award...
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Equipment Amnesty – Please Return Any Club Kit

By graham Comment Closed
During our annual inventory we discovered we are missing a few items - wetsuits especially but also a few other bits n' pieces. If you know you have a few things then please can you arrange to get them back to the store - hand them to someone you know who is coming along, contact a committee member to drop them off or even post them to "Graham Swanson, Woodland Herbs, 100 Woodlands Road, Glasgow, G3 6HB". We are happy just to get them back - no late fees, no blacklisting, just a thank you!   On a related note: if you have some spare kit: wetsuit, cag, spraydeck, etc that you had though about donating to the club then please feel free. If we can use it we will, or we may use it to help increase club funds for more kit, events etc....
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Paddle Festival

By graham Comment Closed
Just a reminder the club paddle festival is at Loch Lomond (Balloch Park) this Sunday. Contact Shona (shonaoff70 AT hotmail.com) to find out you can help or you could simply come along and see what is going on or come for a paddle between 11am and 3pm. For more info we are Item 44 in the program...
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Website Improvements

By dckc kayak club Comment Closed
The website has been going through some changes and to get the most from them you will need to be able to login. We aim to get usernames and passwords out to people when they do the membership 2013/14 and once you have it you will be able to:- - use the new improved club forums. - comment on articles and posts and some pages. - access some "club member only" information. Meanwhile the new "posts" page could be your best "home page" - New Posts Page as it has the recent posts which will become used more often, the middle section of the page now includes the calendar and any recent posts, replies and comments so you can keep up to date on chat. Also for "Posts" like this one we now have the option to include pictures (automatically reduced in size) - like this one of Bill last Saturday at the West Dumartonshire Club Sports Show. and even some slideshows like this one...
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Club Clothing 2013

By Sandy Johnston Comment Closed
Sandy will take orders for club clothing emblazoned with the above logo up until the end September 2013. Rather than putting an order form round as we have in the past please shop and order as follows: 1. Look up the online catalogue at http://www.superlogo.co.uk 2. choose the items of clothing and take a note of item/size/colour/cost 3. email Sandy on sandy.johnston@sky.com with these details before 30/09/13. 4. Sandy will collate the order together and arrange for the embroidery. 5. pay for the items when delivered to the club in late October/ early November Remember the costs quoted are a guide as they don't include VAT, delivery costs, plus the £1 donation to the club. Also the club logo is blue and green so the logo doesn't stand out on blue and green clothing, best colours are black, grey or lighter colours like white/yellow/stone/red, etc There is a wide range of clothing available for embroidery including outdoor clothing. Have a look at the catalogue and see............ Sandy...
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