I had a fun day, leading into a night when I got caught on the M2 and M25 during the snow kaos. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, having just completed a very successful centre approval inspection at a centre on the Medway I started driving home; I then spent the next 15 hours driving 7 miles. It was challenging to say the least, with lorries blocking the roads and at times sliding back down the hills towards the lined up cars.
I love open canoeing!!! I have just run another 4* training, this time for the guys at way 2 go adventure. We had a fantastic time on the South Wales rivers, not much water, but enough.
There was a huge amount of enthusiasm considering the cold, with some brave lines being taken down some of the bigger drops!
The cold brought with it some superb scenes that photo’s rarely seem to capture.
I had a great weekend up in North Wales with Poole Harbour Canoe Club delivering a 4* canoe training course ~ we spent a day on Bala Lake and the upper Dee and the second day trying to find a river somewhere that wasn’t ‘going off’ We ended up making the short trek down to Newtown in Mid Wales to use the upper Severn.
Yet another fun course with the Navy ~ working with the Navy is always good fun and I never fail to learn from them.
At IWSK we run more 4* training courses than anywhere else in the UK; over the last three months we’ve had an assessment and 4 training courses.
When ever possible I always try to fit in a little time coasteering during a 4* training! It is a very valuable thing for a trainee to do, getting happy in rough water around the rocks feeling what it is doing and how to work with it rather than against it.
A team of successful 4* paddlers with Howard Jeffs.
It was a busy time with quite a few L1 courses going on. This one was down in Surrey at Aquasports; the candidates were all very keen and competent windsurfers and sailors so Roger and I took it as our mission to turn them into paddlers! I think we succeded as most are looking at 3* and L2!
At IWSK we regularly conduct assessments for the BCU 3* and I had a great day doing one in fairly testing conditions, doing lots of rock hops, surfing and playing in the wind blown waves.
I did two of the new L2 assessments in a row, one down at brenscome outdoor centre and one based in Southampton. Everyone going through the proccess of L2 assessment is finding the course and the process extremily valuable ~ once we sort out the nonsence of the amount of paperwork needed for the L2 it will be a superb course.
I always like to keep assessments as lighthearted as possible, and when one of the candidates asked me if they could deliver one of their sessions on a stand up paddle board I was dubious at first, but when he justified it with talk of linking strokes, balance, core stability and single blade transferability I was keen to give it a go!
How much fun was that!!!! I’m a convert.
We had another great course with the Navy over on HMS Excellent ~ we had a very keen and motivated group who relished everything we could through at them. It was certainly windy, but that didn’t affect anyones enthusiasm, and we allways managed to find somewhere to work. We spent time looking at coaching delivery, observation and analysis and skill development.
The water over the summer was exceptionally warm. It meant our coasteering adventures were given added value ~ jumps, caves and big swells in warm water was just ace.
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