2012 05 newsletter

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COURSES 2012

Lists are open now. Book your place by emailing Pam or signing up at club sessions.

Volume 32 Issue 5 May 2012

Newsletter F

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Frome Canoe Club is affiliated to the British Canoe Union and is a Registered Charity (Number 1104728)

Did you know that all the activities of the club are run by volunteers.... For more information, turn to P19

DON’T MISS OUR GRAND TEAM EVENT 20th May 2012

A fun event which in which everyone can take part.

Race round the slalom poles, in teams (three boats) and have a bit of fun!

See P4 for details

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Send articles for the next issue to [email protected] by 27th May

THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

President

Graham Warnecke

Vice Presidents

Richard and Jane Arney

Jim and Catharine Croft

Chairman

Debbie Ashdown

Vice Chairman

Alun Jones

Treasurer

John Kent

Secretary

Pam Dixon

16 Blagdon Walk, Frome, BA11 2YH

Committee Members

Andy Bell

Rich Carter

Howard Charlesworth

Jonathan Howell

Gareth McGiveron

Alex Nicol

Sally Smiles

Karl Waldeck

Kit Officers

Tim and Sally Smiles

In this issue

3 Calendar in brief

4 The GRAND TEAM event

6 Wednesday Club Sessions

7 Jungle trip for young people

9 Mini slalom: dates

16 Friday sessions

4 Slalom training

5 After slalom training, what next?

8 Report: North Walls Slalom

10 Scotland trip

12 Frome Trip

13 Go Canoeing

14 A load of circular objects

16 Bits and Pieces

CALENDAR: details

REPORTS

SLALOM MATTERS

SPECIALS

FCC ‘THROWLINE ’ CLUB MAGAZINE

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Calendar 2012

Date Event Standard Contact

May

2 Passport course starts Under 16s Pam D

6 SLALOM TRAINING All John L

9 Discover Course starts Passport Pam D

9 Jungle Trip Passport Alex N

13 SLALOM TRAINING All John K

12/13 One Star Course Participants Pam D

12/13 Three Star Course Participants Pam D

20 GRAND TEAM EVENT All John K

26 Canoe Safety Course Participants Pam D

27 Aquatic First Aid Participants Pam D

June

3 Set Up Langham Farm slalom All Andy B

9/10 Langham Farm Slalom All Andy B

13 Jungle Trip Passport Alex N

16/17 WW Safety + Rescue Course Participants Pam D

22 Mini Slalom at Market Yard All John K

24 River Avon All Pam D

30 Biblins weekend Youth members Pam D


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Slalom - what’s happening?


SUNDAY SLALOM TRAINING - 6 and 13 May At the Clubhouse, 10am till noon. Cost £2

For experienced slalom paddlers

Come on Sunday mornings, 10am till noon and train with Andrew. Tuesday evening slalom has started already, again with Andrew.

FRIDAY MINI SLALOMS– 22 June, 27 July, 17 August

At the Clubhouse, 7pm till 9pm. Cost £2 Our Summer mini series of fun events . Good for youth members. Good for first timers.

WEDNESDAY CLUBNIGHTS - weekly training At the Clubhouse, 7pm till 8pm. Cost £2 Get in training with the weekly sessions led by Andrew and John

teamwork

Three in a team for the Grand Slalom Team event 20th May 2012, 10am at the Clubhouse. £2pp

Three boats make a team. Any boats. Race through the slalom poles as fast as you can. Try hard not to hit any poles Most gates are downstream (green poles), some are upstream (red). Keep close together so that you all go through the team gate within 15

seconds The race ends when the last paddler goes over the finish line.

GOOD FUN AND GOOD FOR YOUTH MEMBERS TOO

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More about Slalom from John


After Slalom Training What Next? After regular training on Sunday mornings and then maybe Tuesday or Wednesday evenings, what next?

Firstly there's the "Big Team Event" on 20th May hopefully giving many paddlers a light-hearted start to slalom racing.

For those in the "rankings" there is Llandyssul on 26th and 27th May which is a division 2/3 event.

Then there is our own Langham Farm slalom on 9th/10th June which is division 3/4 event. This is ideal for beginners. Note: You can en-ter on the day but much easier if you enter before - see John or Pam on the Wednesday before or during the set up day, on the 3rd June.

After Langham Farm there are a number of events we will go to if there is sufficient interest. Let John or Pam know if you would like to take part, including

16/17 June Ogmore (S Wales) or Shepperton (London) both div 3/4 23/24 June Cardington (Bedford) div 2/3/4 7/8 July Ironbridge div 2/3

And then we're back to Frome on 15th July for the FROME MARKET YARD SLALOM which is a division 4 and Open.

Oh, and don't forget the minislalom series at Market Yard on Friday evenings once a month throughout the Summer.

What about divisions? If you've never raced before, you start in division 4. If you do well you get promoted to division 3. There are also divisions 2, 1 and Premier. The higher up the divisions the harder the water. For more information on canoe slalom go to www.canoeslalom.co.uk

http://www.canoeslalom.co.uk

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Calendar in detail


The sessions provide opportunities for training and for having fun!

We will have the evening divided up :

8pm-9pm: for EXPERIENCED

choose from Adults only group Canoe Polo (starts at 7.45)

7.30-8.30pm

choose from Fun and games Tasters - for people new to

the club Open boating

7pm-8pm: For YOUNG PEOPLE

choose from Slalom training Fun and games Passport - a beginners course Discover - an improvers course

Bring a change of clothes for paddling: fleecy tops and tracksuit bottoms are good and help you to keep warm. Or you can borrow a wetsuit. You must wear shoes while paddling, so bring a pair of old trainers. We provide all the canoeing kit that you need. Arrive about 15 minutes before your session starts so you can be ready to start on time. After your session, have a shower in the clubhouse, so also bring a towel to dry yourself.

If you borrow a club wetsuit, please rinse it in the shower and hang it up to dry so that it is clean for the next person to use it. Please look after the kit you borrow from the club. Return it to the place it belongs. Hang up wet stuff so it can dry.

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Youth members


Courses for YOUNG PEOPLE

Passport £30 An introductory 7 week course for the under 14s. Wednesdays, 7-8pm. Start date - 2nd May

Discover £45 This follows on from the Passport course and develops the skills you learned in Passport. It is a 12 week course, designed for under-14s. The journey for this course is to be 24th June. Wednesdays 7– 8.30pm. Start date - 9th May

Explore You can do this award if you have com-pleted Passport or Discover. It focuses on gaining more experience by participation in events and journeys both competitively and non competitively.

Excel This is about putting it all together and follows on from Discover

Ask about Explore and Excel if you want to find out more.

A Monthly Adventure

Once a month on Wednesdays Alex is organising an adventure for you!

A JUNGLE TRIP On the Upper Frome

IN OPEN BOATS You need to SIGN UP for this trip because the spaces are limited. The sign-up sheet is on the notice board in the clubhouse.

On the evening, be at the clubhouse EARLY, about 6.30pm to be ready to leave before 7pm.

STURDY FOOTWEAR is essential as there will be walking as well as paddling.

These trips are open to youth members who have PASSPORT and above.

Trips dates are

9th May 15th June

25th July 22nd August

For more information email: [email protected]

THE GRAND TEAM EVENT 20th May

Have you got your team sorted? 3 boats make a team.

Paddle in any boat you like.

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Report - Winchester Slalom

Div 4 North Walls Slalom Saturday 7th April 2012 By Andrew Lyall

Mark Hemmens and I arrived at John Kent's house at 8.15am and collected Jack Hobbs who unusually was ready and we departed, 4 up with 3 canoes in John's van for Winchester. If you have never been to Winchester slalom it is worth visiting - only 60 miles away and after Market Yard and Langham Farm it is the closest event to home.

It had been raining on the way to Win-chester but it was dry on arrival and then became sunny. The 12 gate course is next to the canoe club and the water is so clear that you can see the bottom of the river. As it was Easter weekend the attendance was

slightly lower than normal about 25 in all. John and I had decided to try C2 for a change and had practised twice at FCC prior to the event. Unusually there were 5 other C2 crews so we had some competition.

Our practice run went well and we were hopeful that we might have a chance. The key to success in C2 is paddling together as you are kneeling and the boat is much longer than a kayak. After our first run we had a time of 95 seconds and 6 penalty points. We had got too close and touched 3 of the red upstream gates but were in 2nd place. Jack Hobbs and Grant Underwood who were also using our C2 were 4th on their first run.

On our second run we tried harder and

Jack Hobbs in the front with Grant (from another club) in the back.

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Winchester Slalom continued

Class Name Position Run 1 Time

Run 1 Penalties

Run 2 Time

Run 2 Penalties

Best Total

*P

K1 Men Open

Jack Hobbs

2nd 79 2 75 2 77

K1 Men Div 4

Mark Hemmens

3rd 108 0 105 0 105

C2 Div 4

Andrew Lyall/ John Kent

2nd 95 6 91 2 93 *P

C2 Div 4

Jack Hobbs/ G. Underwood

4th 122 6 109 4 113 *P

*P Paddlers were promoted to Div 3

saved 4 seconds and only got 2 penalty points. Our score of 93 meant we were equal 1st. We came 2nd overall as our first run was slower but we were promoted to Division 3. Jack and Grant improved on their second C2 run and were also promoted to Div 3.

Jack came second in the K1 open with a time of 73 seconds plus 2 penalty points. A great effort as he has not been in a kayak all winter. Mark came 3rd in the Division 4 K1 mens event by being 3 seconds quicker on his second run. He did not incur any penalties.

It was encouraging to see that there were a number of younger competitors having fun at their first slalom. Winchester District CC re-ceived a Sports England grant and like Frome CC has a large number of new slalom boats.

With the prize giving all finished by 2.30pm, we headed home.

Winchester had organised another well run slalom, so our thanks go to them for providing an enjoyable day.

June 22nd is the First in our SUMMER SERIES of mini slaloms Market Yard , Friday 22nd June, 7pm, cost £2

JUST A BIT OF FUN! NO PRESSURE!

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Scotland


What do you do when there is no water? Well there is the low water run of the Spean. That one always goes. And the Etive usually goes. There is lots of look-ing at rivers and wishing...

But there is also jumping and tightrope walking.

A Ben Nevis ascent is also a good ‘low water’ activity. Tim, Carl and Nick did that on Wednesday.

Snow fell on Monday and with the melt the Etive was a goer on Tuesday with the

nearby tributary, the Allt a’ Chaoruinn. Its drops are crazy: Speed, Ecstasy, Pin-ball and Chasm always make a good spectator sport. It is manic!

On Thursday there was a dam release on the Garry. Exciting but short so it was back to the top and do it again, and again.

On Friday levels were up after good rainfall. It was the Etive again and a differ-ent tributary, another rock slide called the Allt Mheuran. So what did the paddlers do? Well slipping and sliding, sitting in the flow and jumping from the rocks above Big Mans Falls of course!

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Scotland continued


Nick in Pinball. He thought he would try it backwards for a change!

Rich here on the Allt a’ Chaoruinn. He has dropped over the entrance drop of Pinball and is just about to hit the flipper rock which gives Pinball its name.

Essential information - the points! Alex 2, Alun 1, Carl 8, Jack 4, Jonny 6, Kurt, 1, Meg 3, Nick 1, Rich 8, Tim 3.

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Frome Trip 1st April


Frome Trip By John Kent

We paddled from Langham Farm to Iford a distance of 4 miles. Not hav-ing rained for a while the river was low. Very low.

Still, it was warm and sunny. We portaged the first weir at Tellisford, getting back in almost at the bridge to avoid the shallows. Next feature was the Zoom Flume.

A small wave at the bottom of the slope today and with rocks showing downstream. We all ran this and in fact Ailbhe and Tierney in their Dyna-mos, went back for another go.

Next weir was Snarlton. Little water going over the crest and it looked shallow below. Not having a tame teenager to send over as blind probe, we used a paddle to test the depth. Eventually we shot this one in the middle, into a couple of feet of water.

Next was Farleigh Hungerford. The crest was totally dry as were the steps down the face. However, this one always has sufficient depth in one place so over we all went.

At this stage I was thinking this trip was going to be bereft of points but

Laura came up trumps. Supported on her right hand side but the buoyancy of the submerged boat tossed her to the left where she wasn't ready. 3 points.

The last weir was Iford. Work has recently been completed here to fit a small scale hydro system. This work included raising the crest of the weir and creating a canoe pass, or is that a fish pass, by directing the water through a channel just wide enough for and open boat, if you keep straight on. A bit bumpy today but it avoided the need to run the rocky drop.

All in all a good trip, with 16 of us it made for a lovely day on the river!

Paddlers were: Ben and Jasmine, Stuart and Nicky in open boats. Ian, Richard, Terry, Tierney, Ailbhe, Sol, Gary, Laura, Isi, Paul, Graham and John in kayaks.

DIARY CHECK

Have you got 9/10th June

in your diary?

LANGHAM FARM

SLALOM

An easy slalom for you to take part in

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Go Canoeing 15th April


Andy and Summer at Beckington weir

15th April

‘Awesome!’, ‘Amazing!’, ‘Can we come here everyday?’ were just three of the comments we noticed on the feedback forms before we sent them off to Canoe England.

The Go Canoeing Day was indeed a great success and none of us could have predicted the response we would get. We thought we were well prepared: banners hanging on high, bunting fluttering in the wind, stun-ning pop-ups advertising the BCU, free magazines to give away, kit laid out, and of course the more essential aspect of getting volunteers on the day.

Possibly the notices in local papers and the announcements on the local radio helped to advertise the day, but the number of people trying out ca-noeing was stunning. Not surprising then that we ran out of consent forms and feedback forms, which the BCU had sent us. What a shame! We did not however run out of kit! Nor did we run out of Volunteers. Thank you everyone who came.

The day started with a slow trickle of people arriving and looking a bit anx-ious, sheepish even. And then they kept on coming. All through the day.

37 of them in all.

We had volunteers on hand to kit up participants and coaches to take small groups on the water. It was cold but the sun shone all day and the wind had eased. The clubhouse buzzed with activity, with tea and cake on hand (thank you Linz). The river accommodated all the pad-dlers and only claimed two swim-mers over the session. It was great listening to the chatter as people came off the river: “Loads of fun”, “... an interesting new sport to try”, “... really sporty and amazing” and an honest “It was fun, wet and now I am really cold!”

As we packed away, there was one brave volunteer who said what a number of us were possibly thinking ‘If they all come back, will we cope?’ But the very last words were “What a brilliant day. Shall we do it again?”

Ed: We got some newspaper cover-age after this event including a nice picture of Jonathan W taking three punters in an open boat. Jonathan looked cool and confident, the others looked a bit nervous! And there was another picture. Vicky floating, looking serene and ....

Thank you to everyone who helped. We did have loads of help!

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A Load of Circular Objects

Be warned, this article bears as similar a relationship to kayaking as Lady Gaga does to Beethoven, but if you are read-ing this, then it confirms my suspicion that the editor is so desperate for copy that he’ll accept anything as long as it’s not about knitting or Morris dancing.

Last weekend I built a Coracle. You may well ask why, to which I can only reply that it was for the same reason that I planted a Medlar tree. I was curious to know what it was like and this seemed like the only way to find out.

Five other like minded lunatics gathered at the Weald and Downland Museum in Sus-sex on Saturday morning. The Weald and Downland does some wonderful courses, from making stone tools to ploughing with horses, though this is the only one of an aquatic nature of which I am aware.

For those who don’t know, the Coracle is essentially a shallow circular basket about 3’ diameter with the handle re-moved and turned into a seat and an allegedly waterproof covering applied to the outside. As far as I can ascertain

coracles occur in various parts of the world and are used, either for fish-ing, crossing rivers or getting rid of unwanted babies. The boat would make an ideal craft for an adrena-line junky with a grade 2 river at the bottom of his garden as I think it will raise the challenge of any water by at least two grades. A friend and I

once fantasised about starting the sport of cora-cle surfing, but I suspect that like going over Niag-ara in a barrel, it might not catch on.

C o n s t r u c t i o n began with the seat which is a

plank of the same length as the ‘boat’ is wide, to which are attached three lengths of 2”x2” about 9” long which will serve to keep the seat and the bottom separated when somebody sits down. The rest is made up of laths of ash which bends easily (willow is sometimes used) about 2” wide and about 3/16ths thick. (I expect there is an EU rule that I must provide metric measure-ments but I will rely on the editor to keep me out of gaol) and the water-proof covering which was originally

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Circular Objects continued


probably the outside of a cow but is now calico (looks like a cheap bed sheet) coated with some ghastly black gloop from B&Q, more usually used to keep the rain out of your garage.

4 laths were nailed to the ends of the 2X2, one in the same plane as the seat and the other three at right angles to it. Then the boat was turned the right way up and two more were bent in a circle to make the gunwale. More laths were then woven in and out of the three laths and the whole lot were then bent up to join the gunwale and held there with bent over nails to make the framework for the bottom. Another lath was then bent round the gunwale for luck and to make sure that the ones we’d just bent did not escape

We took a break at this point and had a go in the millpond in a coracle that had already been completed. Forward progress is by means of a sculling draw stroke which can be performed at the front or to one side if you prefer. Top speed is a bit limited, but while it is easy to change the direction that you are facing it is not exactly agile. Wind waves and current, would I suspect add enormously to the excitement.

We returned to cover our baskets. This involved spreading the calico over the bench, sitting the coracle in the middle

of it and then pulling it up and sta-pling it to the inside of the gunwale. Surplus material was drawn into pleats which then had to be oversewn. All that now remains is to paint on several layers of the afore-mentioned gloop, add another layer of gunwale inside and out and look for a suitable bit of water.

Should there be any aspiring Cora-clers in the club, I would be happy to bring mine along one day so they can have a try. Suggestions as to what I do with the damn thing in the long run would be welcome!

Martin Spurling

Ed: And here is Martin with said coracle! Thank you for sending this in for us. Let us know when you do your first grade 2!

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Bits and Pieces


Biblins 30th June / 1st July: This is a camping and paddling weekend for youth members. Leave Mums and Dads at home and enjoy a weekend with the canoe club.

YOUTH MEMBERS

LOOK HERE

Langham Farm Fridays 7pm-9pm, Cost £2 Ability - One Star and above

These sessions are for members only and adults. Paddlers really need to be self sufficient be-cause not much kit is stored there. Parents can bring their children but then must take responsibility for them during the session.

From Graham

I have had a clear out in the shed/garage and have found two roof racks and a wet-suit looking for a home. The wet-suit is a full one 6mm body, 4mm legs/arms, it says ‘Large’ on the la-bel but I don’t believe it.

One roof-rack is for the old fashion type car with guttering, There are still a few left around, mainly driven by students and the like. It’s also a Thula, thus a goodun.

The other rack is for the Peguaot, Peaogot, Peagot, Oh bother, you know the one I mean (Peugeot perhaps?) It’s the screw into the roof type with locking

clamps.

I am not asking anything for them, but I will take a donation for the charity I am climbing Snowdon for, and if Richard says Snowdon is easy, tell him he is getting old too.

Cheers for now, Graham.

The perils of paddling with fewer than 3! 25th April saw the club session cancelled. All the rain had turned the river into a raging, chocolaty torrent. Andrew and Arthur decided however to walk up to Asda, with boats, and paddle back! Well Arthur came a cropper early on and got caught up in some trees while attempting to roll. Or so he says. A swim followed. A long, long swim. That’s 3 points Arthur!

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Bits and Pieces


Andrew test drives one of the new ‘adult’ boats

Andrew who is used to paddling one of the largest slalom boats in our fleet went for a spin in one of the new Karnalis.

Something became apparent even before Andrew left the jetty . It was the space! A nice large cockpit, an oh-so comfortable seat and seriously spacious leg room. What more could you ask for?

And so to water, with the inevitable spin round the poles. What a sur-prise Andrew got!

“The boat was quite different from what I was expecting. It was surpris-ingly quick on the turn and accepta-bly fast in a straight line. I can only suspect that it to do with the vol-ume of the boat”

He went on to do several runs of the slalom course. “I nearly hit three of the upstream poles be-cause of the sharp turning ability of the boat. What great fun! And one last point: the seat and backrest are brilliant” Pause for breath.

“What a bargain! “

Courses for Over 16s

One Star £35 An introductory course in a weekend. 12th/13th May 7th/8th July

Two Star £50 A course to progress from One Star. Choose either the 6 week evening course OR the course over two weekends. 12th June - 17th July (Tuesday evenings) Journey on 8th July 1st/2nd Sept and 15th/16th Sept

Three Star: 12th/13th May £60 Flat water component of this award will be covered this weekend. The white water sections will be run later in the year (date TBA).

Canoe Safety (FSRT): 26th May £30 A one day training on Saturday at Langham Farm. Certificate s: £5 BCU members /£10 non BCU members

Aquatic First Aid: 27th May £25 An 8 hour course focusing on water based incidents, it includes loads of CPR. Certificates: £6 BCU members /£9 non BCU members.

WWSR: 16th/17th June £60 A weekend course run at Tryweryn, covering all the aspects of safety and rescue on white water. Accommodation,

food and transport are all extra and need to be arranged by the participants. Certificates: £10

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Bit and Pieces

Apologies to Jack from the Editor

The emergency light which was installed in the clubhouse was

down mostly to Jack, not Stu as reported in last month’s edition. Apparently Stu just stood around while Jack did all the work. Thank you Jack! A picture from the archives, of Jack up to something a bit different!


Get all your canoeing things

from the Family Adventure

Store at Hilperton. BA14 7PJ

Membership prices

Youth £17.00 Adult £27.50 Family £43.50

Adults— 4 NEW BOATS FOR YOU.

We took delivery of them on the Go Canoeing Day. Thank you Andy V for delivering them to us!

Copper nose-clip points

omission

There have been two serious omissions. John had a little swim at the Tryweryn. And Jonathan had two little swims there. Thank you to the people who kindly spotted the omis-sions. We are sure that both John and Jon are really grateful!

Copper noseclip points in next month’s issue

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Bits and Pieces


ALL THE PEOPLE WHO HELP YOU AT

THE CLUB ARE VOLUNTEERS. So treat them well! They give up their time for you.

And these two (below) are non paddlers, but come along every week to help you have a good paddling session.

YOUTH MEMBERS Your rep on the committee is Gareth. Talk to him about the things in the club that you like OR the things in the club that aren’t so good for you. Find him on a Wednesday Club night.

POOL SESSIONS. Thank you to the people who helped

out over the winter season at the pool: Alex, Alun, Andy B,

Andy V, Arthur, Debbie, Gareth, George, Howard, Jack, John,

Jonathan, Karl, Linz, Megan, Rich, Sam, Stuart, Veronica and

Vicky. Between them, these people organised us and

coached us at the pool.

Sally is on the desk on a Wednesday evening. She is also on the committee, is Kit Officer and Volunteer rep.

Tracey works every Wednesday session in the kit room. Not an easy job at all!

If you want to help out at

Club sessions, talk to Sally or

Jonathan. They are our new

Volunteer Reps.

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www.frome-canoe-club.org.uk

CONTACTS

Chairman Debbie Ashdown 07955 243624

Vice Chair: Alun Jones 01373 823513

Treasurer: John Kent 01225 765168 [email protected]

Secretary: Pam Dixon 07740 472982 [email protected]

Head Coach: Rich Carter 01373 864623 Volunteer Co-ordinators Jonathan Howell and Sally Smiles

Youth Co-ordinator Gareth McGiveron

Canoeing and kayaking are “Assumed risk” – “Water contact sports” that may carry attendant risks. Participants should be aware of and accept these risks, and be responsible for their own action and involvement.

Check out the photos of club events or put a comment on the message board!

Copper Nose Clip Points

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SCOTLAND 2012 (more pictures on P10)

Kurt at the top of Chasm, a 5m near vertical drop in a very narrow gorge. It has a step halfway down that shoots you out flat into a pool below, a bit like a tube ride in a pool! Below, Carl is tackling Pinball in an unconventional way! But at least he is not upside down ... yet! (3 points followed this manoeuvre.)

2012 05 newsletter

Documents

slalom training

slalom poles

slalom whats

evening slalom

grand slalom team event

passport pam d

langham farm slalom

star course participants