Marlow Canoe Club

Newsletter 142 Winter 2014

www.marlowcc.org.uk

INSIDE YOUR WINTER 2014 ISSUE

3 The Usk white water adventure
Never listen to the general public if they are Welsh and wearing a flat cap. This and more wise counsel on international relations from future foreign secretary Karen Moyse. I know, who would have thought it? Well nobody actually, but it shows what mankind can achieve when armed with nothing more than a paper 2014 diary. This really does look far too energetic to me. But I think the young people like it and if keeps them off the roads then that must be a good thing. Here is a top tip of my own : if Tim Twitchen directs you to an easy put-in then do not trust him. And if Adrian Cooper concurs with Tim then I recommend going back to the car and getting your tow rope because you are going to need it for rock climbing practice at some point. The committee is all standing down and being replaced by Google bots. By the time you read this everything will have changed. Oh well. All quiet on the water front.

EDITORIAL

5 Shock DW triumph for Marlow

Submit an article to win a paddling prize

Any club member can submit articles for the newsletter. You do not need the literary talent of Shakespeare or the photographic skills of Annie Leibovitz. Just send us your raw words and/or photographs and the editor will apply the necessary polish. And there is no maximum or minimum size to articles. A single page with a photo would typically be only 350 words or so. But our sport is very visual and often it is good to have lots of photos with just a few lines of text in support. Equally if you do have plenty of text but no photos then that is OK as photos are often either not essential or the club can supply something suitable. Every member, young and old, experienced and newbie, is encouraged to share your paddling experience with others via the newsletter. And remember that every year a decent prize is awarded at the club AGM for the best newsletter article. But you have got to be in it to win it so email your words and/or photos to the editor at rbcasbierd@yahoo.co.uk

6 British freestyle championships

8 Mountain climbing on the Arun

10 Annual General Meeting 2014

11 Committee members & Retailers

12 Calendar

12 Caution : high water levels Adrian says, "don't be such an idiot Tony". I think that about sums it up.

COVER PHOTO
The cover photograph for this newsletter was supplied by Rodney Casbierd and iis entitled "Is it Tim of Cliff?".

A little legal stuff....

This newsletter is a free publication for the Marlow Canoe Club. Whilst every care is taken, the newsletter and the Marlow Canoe Club do not accept responsibility for the opinions expressed or the goods and services mentioned in this publication. 2014.

WHITEWATER

The Usk white water adventure

by Karen Moyse

We set off for the River Usk, Brecon with some trepidation. We were heading into a storm billed as the worst for decades with winds predicted at 80pm and pelting rain. But Marlow paddlers on the Introduction to White Water course were not deterred. We were here to learn and learn we would. We discovered that the first rule of white water paddling is Get in the Carbs. We met in the Morrisons supermarket car park, downed a full English breakfast, bacon butties and muffins. Then with a quick briefing we were off. A new team was born. We had Matt the motivator, his son Dan Simpson aged 12, Dunkin Duncan Hughes, Noisy Moisy, Karen Moyse and Smooth Jack Waterman led by our hardy coach Alex Shiel supported by expert Rob Norris. Some of us had no experience of white water and others had a little but everyone was up for a good day. We got lucky. Some sections of the Usk were almost bursting their banks, no eddies and running at full pelt. Not a place for us starters. But in the Sennybridge to Brecon section the river was good grade 2 white water - lots of it, vigorous but friendly wave trains, with no huge technical demands or obstacles and lots of easy entry eddies. Being optimists we decided to do that whole river section and shuttled the cars ready for the return journey at the end. Then after riverside aerobics and briefings on signals and river etiquette we were ready to roll. We peered over the get in through beating wind and rain. It was pretty quick water but an excellent place to learn ferry glides, eddy break ins and break outs. The eddy lines were really clear so you either got your angle and edging right or you fell in. We fell in lots. Dunkin Duncan demonstrating how to use the perfect Eskimo rescue roll and his supernatural underwater lung capacity. Alex was already earning his two pasties dragging boats in, out and along the shore. So we learned its a good idea to practice the fundamentals in Marlow weir before you come on the course. Now we were ready for some good eddy hopping. Rob showed us how the experts do it and kept the group laughing and together while Alex sussed out each water section ahead. Things were improving. We were falling out less and getting rather cocky with our newfound skills. Dan was our standard bearer and led the way with his happy, chilled approach. Karen was losing both her marbles and her inner wuss, convinced that she could go down one of the first drops. That was until we got out and started to analyse the features boils, slots, undertow and a narrow margin for error. Maybe not today we decided. Lets eat lunch instead.

WHITEWATER
We learned never to listen to the general public on the bank particularly wearing a flat cap. This chap told us all three waterfalls were looking ourselves. Alex knew it was all nonsense and kept going with the recces. particular was for experts only and even experts wouldnt be able to get gates of hell boils.

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if they are Welsh and good and wed enjoy The third waterfall in out from some of the

So, we were grateful to be portaging round even with the stiles and hillocks. This white water malarkey needs strong legs, good boat lifting technique, the ability to slide on your backside in the mud and great teamwork. We were excellent. Now the adventure started in earnest. We needed to crack on and we were doing pretty well. The wave trains were fantastic. Good bumpy rides, lots of water and clear of major obstacles. Alex gave the signal and we were off all together like ducks in a row with Matt the motivator and Dan laughing and whooping, Karen making gorilla noises plus whooping to deal with the nerves, Jack just cruising with a huge smile and Duncan looking like a pro. The play boats shot through the middle of the waves. The Burns and Wave Sports ploughed over the top of the waves like Volvos on crack. All the while Alex and Rob leading and motivating the group and encouraging us all. And a miracle occurred. We were all still upright in our boats. Whod have thought it? By this time the light was fading as the clocks had just gone back. The upside was we couldnt really see the wave train by now so you just relaxed and went with the flow. Good for upper and lower body separation. The downside was we needed to find a get out fast before it was pitch black. At this point, Moyse started to wonder if shed ever see her kids again but Matt the motivator kept her laughing. We spotted a house, a field and a road and we landed. We were way off our planned get out. But Alex, ever efficient, with headlamp on used his GPS app to work out exactly where we were and phoned a taxi so our drivers could get back to the cars which were miles away. The sherper team of Karen, Rob, Dan and Jack were tasked with getting all the boats to the roadside. Thank goodness Rob had his headlamp. We dragged the boats down the footpaths, over the stiles and across the fields for half an hour. All was going well until we realised we were lost in grounds of a huge mansion and couldnt see how to get out to the road. As Marlow paddlers were used to the sight of mansions but were just a little worried about potential guard dogs. So helmets off so we didnt look like burglars, a quick rap on the door of the mansion, and permission was granted to cross the land by a lovely American family who invited us to store all our boats in their drive while we walked up to the main road to wait for our cars. But where were we? Had we lost our team mates forever? Dan looked keenly at the bus stop timetable as we sheltered from the rain. But lo and behold out of the gloom emerged our team mates to the rescue. What an adventure. A great course. Great teamwork and a very big thank you to our wonderful coach Alex and fantastic support and expertise from Rob. Wed heartily recommend anyone interested in white water literally takes the plunge and comes on the next trip.

THE FUTURE

Shock DW triumph for Marlow

by Rodney Casbierd

The world of canoeing once again has reason to pay homage to the achievements of Marlow Canoe Club, after two of our most distinguished members emerged triumphant to cross the finishing line first in the gruelling 2014 Devizes to Westminster race. After crossing the finishing line, lead paddler Andy Maxted was in floods of tears. I just cannot believe what has just happened, never in my wildest nightmares did I think I would end up trapped in a boat with Tony Flannery for two days solid. Does he ever shut up? By comparison, Andys fellow K2 paddler was his usual composed self and playing down his recent accomplishment. Changing out of his wetsuit and into his tweeds, cowboy boots and deer-stalker, Tony commented, Well, of course it is rather pleasing to have won the DW but lets be honest it hardly compares to climbing Everest does it? I still have to tick that one off the list, along with watching every last episode of Hollyoaks. So much to do, but so little time methinks. The dream team of Andy and Tony had been practising in secret for most of the year, using the cover of two neverseen fictional female paddlers to disguise their activity. Andy admitted, It has been an unusual experience paddling a pink racing K2 most of the year, but throughout our inspiration was our fellow club paddler Rodney Casbierd. Rodney has shown us for a couple of years now how it is possible to regularly paddle a pink boat in colourful clothing whilst remaining an uber-macho babe magnet. In all fairness we must dedicate our victory to Rodney. Andy and Tony completed the 125 mile course in just over 42 hours. Whilst some way short of the course record of 15 hours, it was enough to bring them home first in an admittedly limited field. Other entrants had been thrown by all the confusion caused by a solar flare, which corrupted the nuclear clock in Paris that controls the UTC (co-ordinated universal time) of the internet. This resulted in the date of the race being spuriously advertised as a week later than the actual date. Fortunately Tonys technology phobia gave him the edge over the competition, with his paper diary giving him the correct DW race date. Although initially unconvinced by Tonys insistence, Andy finally agreed under the belief that it was just yet another iOS7 bug on his mobile device. But even with their only competition being Agnes and Ethel Peasbody from the Sunnyview rest home, it was not a completely straightforward victory for our heroes. It was touch and go at times but fortunately Tony swam quite a lot of the way and that gave me, err sorry I mean us, the edge despite indigestion from Tonys dodgy campsite cooking, said Andy. But the solar flare has not been all good news for Tony and his long-suffering family. Fearful of such flares, Tony has now dropped out from training for the one-way mission to Mars.

FREESTYLE

2013 British Freestyle Championships & Club Championships

by Claire O'Hara
All the action kicked off on a beautiful sunny Saturday morning at the National Water Sports Centre in Nottingham with the Club Championship event. Paddlers from kayak clubs across the UK came to Holme Pierre Point to take part in a weekend of freestyle based fun. Starting with coaching sessions lead by GB Freestyle Team Paddlers and World Champions Claire O'Hara and Alan Ward the day then moved on to an array of competitions and events including cartwheel and big air comps, an extreme slalom and boater cross event and even an 'Iron Boater' triathlon style event. Then on Sunday in 28 degrees of heat with clear blue skies and bright sunshine the British Championships took place. Starting with Jam style heats on the twin waves, the top five were then selected to take part in a Super Final on Inlet gate. Whilst the heats took place the Club Championship Freestyle event took place on the Inlet gate, followed by the Squirt Boating British Championships event at the Pyramid pool. Then mid afternoon all the action moved back to the top of the course and with a big crowd watching and cheering the Super Final took place. The standard across the whole day was very high with athletes in most classes setting personal bests and new British records. By the end of the afternoon the seven 2013 British Champions had been crowned. Rob Crowe (K1M), Claire O'Hara (K1W), Brandon Hepburn (JM), Kim Aldred (JW), Josh Wedgewood (C1), Ben Aldred (SqM) and Claire O'Hara (SqW). Full scores and results from the event can be found on the GB Freestyle Kayaking facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/GBFreestyleKayaking The event finished with a big prize giving with awards for novice, open, club championship and British Championship events. In the end it was Sudbury Canoe Club won the overall Club Championships event, for their 3rd consecutive year, taking home a brand new Wavesport kayak. Special thank to Peak UK, Squarerock and Wavesport for sponsoring the official event and to Head Judge Paul Sheppard and everyone else involved in organising and running the event.

FREESTYLE

Photographs by Dale Mears and Eric Walters

Mountain climbing on the Arun

By Rodney Casbierd
A river-trip with views of castles, chalk cliffs and lush pasture. have asked for from another one of Andy Maxteds inland tours?

TOURING

What more would we

We all met at the Black Rabbit pub on the river Arun. I had elected to stay in Seaford with friends, making my drive to the starting point relatively short. However even those travelling from the Marlow area reported a relatively relaxed sub two-hour drive that Sunday morning. There were eleven of us in total, with seven from Marlow Canoe Club including Adrian Cooper (our tour leader), Tim Twitchen, Michael Day, Emma and David Akerman, spread across four open canoes and five kayaks. Two of the open canoes contained couples from the Open Canoe Association who had been invited to join us for the day. But what to wear? Despite this being August the weather was having fun playing cat and mouse with us. Warm and sunny one minute and raining the next. Most went for lightweight clothing, Michael Day donned his cag and I initially joined him before being seduced to strip off for the fleeting sun. It was gonna be one of those days where you just had to go with the flow. Initial thoughts of launching from the river steps of the pub were put aside due to the large number of very steep steps involved. Instead Tim Twitchen identified an alternative put-in in the muddy bank. But this was still very steep and hazardous as your correspondent found for himself as he slipped and fell over in the mud whilst trying to manoeuvre a kayak into the water. But once we were all in the water we were treated to splendid views of Arundel castle in the distance and encouraged to paddle upstream by a strong flow from the incoming tide. The river itself was very brown and murky but from the evidence of the reeds it was appeared perfectly healthy. Nonetheless none of us fancied a swim today. As we paddled upstream we reached a fork and broke left to paddle up the wide channel. The weather remained overcast with odd breaks in the cloud rewarding us with sunshine but thankfully no

TOURING
more rain. There was very little river traffic and only one motor boat passed us during the entire day. It was mostly just us and the odd person going past on a stand-uppaddleboard or an inflatable canoe. The scenery ranged from plain meadows to rolling hills and dramatic chalk cliff faces. At one point we broke for a tea break on the shore but even here getting out and putting in was not especially easy and during the process a few members of the group got stung by nettles.

We continued upstream underneath a rather lovely bridge to reach our lunch stop. We found it difficult to find a suitable water route to the pub and so instead we all disembarked at the Riverside tea shop. However even here it was pretty tricky getting out and a few of us came close to taking a dip. Once out the party split into two groups. Those of us from Marlow decided that the tea-shop was itself rather agreeable and opted to stay put and enjoy a riverside view from their outdoor tables. The OCA paddlers opted for a short walk across the road to the Bridge Inn. During lunch the sun came out and shone strongly. Unfortunately this seemed to encourage the wasps that swarmed around our food and drink. A competition ensued to see who could trap the most wasps in spent beer glasses. I think Emma won. With lunch over we returned to our boats to find that the tide had started going out and the water level had already fallen at least a foot making an already difficult task of getting back into our boots even more open to the risk of a mud-bath. But we did it, just about, and off we went for a nice glide back downstream. We went back down the narrow channel, surrounded by truly impressive banks of reeds. In places the channel became incredibly shallow with the tide going out but, whilst a few people got briefly stuck here and there, we probably just about made it through the channel in time before it became un-navigable.

TOURING

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Once back to our start point at the Black Rabbit pub it became clear that the pub steps were a definite no go for extracting the boats. With the water level dropped even further, they were now covered in green slime. So we reluctantly returned to our original put-in.

With the low tide the task of extracting the boats and people required a group effort. Boats had to be hauled up the muddy slope with ropes and paddlers had to clamber up using footholds created by Michael. All in all it was pretty hard work but eventually everyone and everything was extracted to solid ground for a final drink at Black Rabbit. All in all this paddle was very pleasant whilst we were on the water and a return to the Arun in 2014 would be met positively by most of us that went on this trip. But getting and out of the boats was always a chore and I can now see why a paddling friend of mine in Scotland says that, in his experience, most paddlers are also rock climbers!

Annual General Meeting 2014

The Club AGM has been scheduled for Monday the 3rd of February commencing at 8pm. It is at the usual venue, the Kings Head public house, Church Road, Little Marlow, Buckinghamshire, SL7 3RZ. The AGM will take place in the room out the back. As well as all the business of running the club over the past year and into the next there will be some fun as well. See who gets the prizes for paddling skill / improvement, best newsletter article, and of course, the old favourite, swimmer of the year. Your club committee looks forward to seeing you at the AGM.

COMMITTEE
President
Tim Ward 01494 482959 wards@btinternet.com

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Chairman
Adrian Cooper 01844 344580 adrianccooper@gmail.com

Secretary

Penny Newton 07765 226790 secretary@marlowcc.org.uk

Treasurer

Kelvin Abbott 01753 654923 kelvin.abbott@btinternet.com

Membership

Rod Edmonds 01753 671389 r.edmonds@etoncollege.org.uk

Coaching

Alex Shiell shiellalex@yahoo.co.uk

Equipment

Tom Bailey blast1102@ymail.com

1* Course Co-ordinator
Simon Knowles 07786 836012 simonknowles16@googlemail.com Vacant

Women's Representative
Catherine Harris harrc014@rbwm.org

Youth Representative

Social Secretary

Melinda Livett melinda.livett@yahoo.com

Whitewater

James Hughes 01628 485049 jimbige@hotmail.com

Touring

Andy Maxted andymcoaching@gmail.com

Sea

"Salty" Sharron Bartlett sb@thebartletts.eu

Newsletter Editor
Rodney Casbierd 07960 900980 rbcasbierd@yahoo.co.uk

Website Editor

Chris Porteous chrisps@marlowcc.org.uk

Feel free to contact us to discuss a relevant issue or share your views

LOCAL RETAILERS
Marsport, Reading
01189 665912 http://www.marsport.co.uk

Riverside, Oxford

01865 248673 http://www.riversideoxford.co.uk

Paddlesport, Warwick
01926 640573 http://www.paddlesport.co.uk

WWC, Shepperton
01932 247978
http://www.whitewaterthecanoecentre.co.uk

CALENDAR
Saturday 1 February
Pool session 7.00 pm 8.00 pm

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Monday 3 February

Annual General Meeting 8.00 pm, King's Head PH Full details of the meeting may be found on page 10.

CLUB SESSIONS
Every Sunday
Doors open at 9.30 am. On the water for 10 am.

Saturday 1 March
Pool session 7.00 pm 8.00 pm

Monday 3 March Saturday 5 April

Pool session 7.00 pm 8.00 pm

Committee meeting 7.30 pm 9.30 pm, Marlow Donkey PH

POOL SESSION
Once per month
Saturday 7.00 - 8.00 pm, see calendar for dates
Chalfont Leisure Centre, Nicol Road, Chalfont St Peter, SL9 9LR. 5 adults, 3 juniors

MEMBERSHIP RATES
Adult 42 Family 65 Junior 23 Senior 23 Storage 19 per boat

Caution : high water levels

In view of the current high water levels on the Thames and other local rivers, I thought it would be worthwhile reminding members to be careful during club sessions. Clearly any other paddling is done at your own risk. The current conditions (spate/bank full/in flood with water up to or over the sill at the clubhouse) present challenges for most paddlers and therefore do not be surprised if the duty officer turns you away. The speed of the water can catch less experienced paddlers unawares as they can be swept into obstacles; trees, moored boats, etc. Weirs may not be as friendly as they might be in the summer. The general club policy is as follows: You must be judged by the DO to be competent for the river conditions. A suitably experienced and able river leader must be present if the river is on red boards. Under 18s need to have a 'buddy' for club sessions, and in high levels should have a white-water coach or similarly experienced member to look after them. If one of the above conditions is not met then you will not be able to join the club session. Please bear in mind that the use of marathon and other equally unstable boats should be considered carefully before paddling them in these conditions. Please remember that our aim is for everyone to enjoy their paddling. These measures are only to ensure we all stay safe out there. Adrian Cooper, Chairman of Marlow Canoe Club