Y Paddle – The Original Underground Canoe Club

Marking the end of our summer beginners’ course, Roger, Jon and Martin took the six out onto the Thames at Shepperton.

Following a lead from Roger, Alice and I pursued the chance of a free day on the river paddling big open boats. The catch? We were to be students on a Level 3 OC (Open Canadian) coaching assessment. One of the examinees was world famous Mr Kayakojacko himself, who had been hunting for willing guinea [...]

Roger writes: Saturday was rather miserable and damp and Shepperton was as flat as a mill pond. So they ran an open Div 4 event too – for the 20 or so Islington Boat Club kids who were there.

… and then there were two. Roger and I both arrived at Shepperton Lock just before nine on Saturday morning, and a quick look at the weir confirmed our expectations, the water was flat. Not the conditions I needed to get my promotion to division 3.

Dawn writes: On Sunday Mirkka, Jon and I went to the River Loddon slalom for the day. Happily we picked the sunniest and warmest day of another washed out bank holiday weekend and we all came back with pink noses!

Dawn, somewhere over the Atlantic (not permanently), writes: Well, I had intended to keep a Yat diary over the course of the Easter weekend. My head torch was primed and ready for long evenings, under the canvas, spanking the muse. Sadly there was no time for spanking the muse, nor anything/one else for that matter. [...]