Introduction To Moving Water

With the sun shining and not much water in the Swale it has been ideal for a few beginners to get going on a bit of moving water.
Over a couple of Saturday mornings Kev coached our raw recruits to master the art of ferry gliding and breaking in and breaking out. All progressed quickly looking like the ROCK Stars they are.
Of course we all had to shoot the chute to round off each session. Always good fun especially when its your first time.

4 Star Training Weekend

It was a warmer weekend than of late when on the 14/15 March I attended one of Wilfs 4 Star Training weekends.
We were joined by several ROCK paddlers on the Saturday for a personal skills day. They were catching up after an an aborted frozen day earlier in the year. A wonderful trip from Whorlton to Winston saw us scrubbing up on our surfing and stopper riding technique, with excellent tuition from Wilf. We all learnt loads and improved no end. With some introduction to river leading techniques along the way we finished the trip just ahead of the massed ranks of open boaters doing the same trip. Talking of which, Paul went from nervous beginner to hot surfing OC1 dude in one short trip. Pretty good stuff.

The Sunday brought more sunshine and a trip from Cotherstone to Barny for river leading tuition. We were introduced to various techniques to lead groups safely down stretches of rapids. ROCK members once again joined us and bravely put their lives in our hands. (With Wilf keeping a close eye on us.) Thanks all, it wouldn't have worked without your help. A bit more surfing training and even taily practice filled the rest of the trip.

An excellent weekends training has left me keen to get out on club trips and try out some of my new leading skills. So watch out ROCK paddlers you may have me leading you up that creek hopefully with a paddle!

Tees Saturday 28th February 2009

What a perfect trip! Positively balmy weather (well compared to what we've been used to), almost perfect water, and a good laugh with friends. Can't ask for more really.

In the Pool Sat 21st Feb

Wow, what a great pool session :-)

Tees Sunday 15th Feb 09

Bit of a change plan at the eleventh hour this morning. The river looked quite high following the quick thaw in the previous 12 hours so Priesty, Jake and I took Wilf up on his offer of some pretty excellent static coaching for a couple of hours.

Dodging logs floating past us in the flood water, we practised eddying in and out, breaking in in various ways, (the only name I can remember is Spangle** - I'm going to have to get a book to learn all the terms) , ferry gliding and reverse ferry gliding - which actually isn't as hard as you think, surfing and a couple of nice bits of bumpy white water which were my favourite bit. Fantastic.

Jake was, well, actually, quite good. He's an absolute natural and surely got a bright paddling future ahead of him. What a star.

What did I learn today? Well, one bit of advice particularly stands out. Not to exit an eddy like a mad woman paddling for her life, when I'm trying to catch a surf wave. LOL! Firstly it's only a bit of cold water so not a lot to worry about, secondly that kind of speed accross an eddy line trying to catch a wave is going to cause me to fall in and not prevent it.

Then off to the Morritt Arms for a well earned shandy. On the way, we took a meandering look at Abbey rapids. Hmm pretty high, not for us today, maybe next time...

Thanks Wilf.

Before the Tees on Sunday 15th Feb 09

Well....... I'm sat in my kitchen on Friday night after a really busy week at work (which hasn't actually ended yet because I've got to work tomorrow!), with my Perception lying on the floor behind me , (yes, long story) , and to say I'm really looking forward to the paddle on Sunday is a bit of an understatement. I'm a concoction of trepidation and excitement, which is what weekends should all be about. I've searched the net to find any report going to try to establish if there are any gnarly bits, but thus far, all reports look good. Whatever the conditions, I believe I'm absolutely, DEFINITELY NOT!, going to swim, and I totally believe in positive thinking, ESPECIALLY IN THESE TEMPERATURES!

But it's not just about the paddling, as Steve Q touched on in his last (very eloquent) trip report, it's about the friends I've made. It wouldn't mean even a quarter as much without being able to share the experience with your mates, after battling with that white knuckle bit of white water, and afterwards paddling effortlessly (LOL!) into that eddy with a great big grin on your face.

The entire experience so far has been, and continues to be, awesome.

This is ROCK for me, truly a departure from everything else. I've been with the club for 5 months and I'm totally hooked.

ROCK ON!

Oh, and roll on Sunday, it can't come soon enough.........

New Domain

Hi all,
I have just secured the domain of www.rockpaddlers.co.uk (well spotted Wilf). For the now I have it pointing to the coacho2 site but will soon sort out some hosting, the aim is more than one person to be able to update the site.

Wilf,
When do you plan to hold the first web development coaching sessions!

lol

Rab

All New To Me

I've never blogged before.
Didn't think joining ROCK would result in an internet course too!

Welcome to the new ROCK blog

Since September 2008, Richmondshire (North Yorkshire) has had a new paddlesports club. We are very proud of how it is evolving. Since Ben Snook and Wilf got their heads together in the summer of that year, there have been several milestones in the clubs development.

Ben submitted an application through Richmond Leisure Trust to Awards for All, they kindly gave money to help set up this community club.

Since then the club has gone from strength to stregnth, with new members joining on almost a weekly basis.

Most recently we have appointed a group of people to oversee the administration of the club (we shall not refer to them as a committe!) and they have started to establish a set of guidelines and policies from which the club can continue to grow.


One of these decisions has been to introduce ROCK Stars, our own junior award scheme for the under 14's.