General
It’s that time of year when the Central YMCA pool is closed for its annual repair and refurbishment.
This means there won’t be pool sessions on the 10th, 17th and 24th of March.
We’ll resume on the 31st of March - and will use the opportunity to have our AGM on the 17th (official notice to follow […]
Here’s a quick link to our good friend (and occasional paddler) Dawn, who with three others will be taking part in the Trailwalker challenge this July.
Find out more, and sponsor the team, here: http://nosleeptilbrighton.wordpress.com
A chance for kayakers to learn and improve their rolling techniques in the comfort of the YMCA pool.
Please note, the course is now full. In between courses, the pool remains a great place to work on your rolling technique. Please contact us if you’d like to find out more.
Paddlers will receive close guidance to […]
Learn to kayak with Y Paddle in the comfort of our Central London pool.
The six week course leads to BCU Star qualifications, and starts Monday 24th September.
To sign up contact the Y on 020 7343 1700 or http://www.ymcaclub.co.uk
Y Paddle’s Annual General Meeting will be held at 7pm on Wednesday 11th April.
We will meet in the Y’s poolside cafe.
This is your chance to get involved with the club and make a difference. All members, old and new, are welcome.
After our successful trip to the whitewater centre at Northampton in March, we’re planning a second trip on Sunday 22nd April.
Please get in touch if you’re interested.
Update
The course is now full, and we’ll be returning to normal pool session in July.
Summer’s on its way, what better way to cool off than getting on the water in a canoe?
And what better way to learn to kayak, than with Y Paddle in the comfort of our Central London pool?
The six week course leads […]
A four week course to learn, or refine, kayak rolling and rescue skills in the warmth of the pool. There is an optional outdoor session at end of the course.
This winter we’re running a four week rolling and rescue course starting February 5.
It’s a great opportunity to learn or refine kayak rolling and rescue […]
Another good turnout for the traditional end of course social paddle
Learn to kayak with Y Paddle in the comfort of our Central London pool.
The six week course leads to BCU 1 and 2 Star qualifications, and starts Monday 25th September.
To sign up contact the Y on 020 7343 1700 or http://www.ymcaclub.co.uk
We’re planning a trip to the 2/3/4 slalom competition at Cardington on Saturday the 2nd of September.
It will be a day trip leaving London around 7am and returning early evening.
This is an entertaining little artificial course with moving water that is safe enough for beginners and a technical challenge enough for intermediates.
For more information contact […]
Top-notch coaches and all-round good eggs Kayakojacko are visiting Y Paddle in the pool on the first Monday in September.
They reckon they can teach you everything you need to know about paddling: turning, rolling, playboating, open boating, whitewater, surf…
Okay, maybe not all in a single session.
… and maybe not in the pool.
Space is limited, make […]
Marking the end of our summer beginners’ course, Roger, Jon and Martin took the six out onto the Thames at Shepperton.
To mark the end of a highly successful Summer Course, we are taking to the river Nene at Peterborough for our traditional social paddle.
This combines rather nicely with the Orton Mere slalom, a great event for beginners and intermediates.
More details will be posted before the event.
Good news or perhaps bad news, our beginners’ course (starting Monday 15th May)Â is now full.
It runs for the next six weeks, and will (hopefully) lead to our students earning their BCU One and Two Star awards.
Normal pool sessions will resume in July.
The Central YCMA pool is closed for the next two weeks, re-opening on the 18th April (Tues)
Therefore, our next pool session will be on the 24th.
We will be taking the opportunity to hold our AGM on the 10th April at 7.30pm in the poolside cafe.
This year’s spring social paddle will be held on the 26th March.
Our traditional end of beginners’ course paddle is a chance for new and old members to get out of town and onto the water.
More details to be posted soon.
Our new beginners’ course begins on Monday (6th Feb) - it leads to the BCU 1 and 2 star awards.
If you’re looking for an activity that will give you exercise, get you out and about, and out of London, this is a great time to start paddling.
To sign up contact the Y on 020 7343 […]
There won’t be the usual pool session on Monday 19th December. Instead, we’ll be convening for our traditional Christmas Curry.
Venue, etc. to be confirmed.
The year’s drawing to a close, and we’re already looking at our final sessions of 2005, and the first of 2006.
I’ll post more details here as I get them, but for now:
Monday 19th Dec, Christmas Curry
Monday 26th Dec, Monday 2nd January: No pool session
Monday 30th Jan: Likely start date of BCU 1*/2* course
September 26th sees the start of our 5-week beginners course.
It leads to BCU 1-star and 2-star qualifications.
To book, please contact the Central YMCA on 020 7343 1700
News reaches us from Sweden that John and Louisa have finished their marathon effort.
We did it !!! On the evening of Sunday 31st July, we pulled into Haparanda on the Swedish-Finnish border to complete our journey around the coast of Sweden. After 56 days of paddling, nearly 1.5 million paddle strokes and dozens of mosquito […]
John writes: Just completed 1300km so only(!) 1000km to go.
Congratulations to Jemima, who starred for Y Paddle at the Shepperton slalom this weekend, she earned promotion to D3 on her very first attempt. Well done to Richie and Patrick, and thanks to Roger for his help.
I’ve just posted a handful of photos from the 2005 Ironbridge Slalom. You’ll see Roger and Olaf doing quite […]
Our 5-week beginners course starts on Monday May 9th, we still have a couple of spaces left.
It leads to BCU 1-star and 2-star qualifications.
To book, please contact the Central YMCA on 020 7343 1700
2220 Expedition Site
It is with some sadness, some envy, and a boatload of best wishes that Y Paddle says goodbye to John and Louisa. They’re now leaving these shores to make final preparations for their epic 2220km, 60 day paddle of the entire Swedish coastline.
We’ll post more news here as we get it. Find out […]
The pool is closing for its annual spring clean, which means a different look to Monday nights over the next month:
March 7: Pool session as normal
March 14: Video evening, 7pm YMCA Boardroom
March 21: Club AGM and Curry
March 28: Easter Monday
April 4: Pool session as normal
January sees the start of our 5-week beginners course.
It leads to BCU 1-star and 2-star qualifications.
To book, please contact the Central YMCA on 020 7343 1700
Ah, another year is fast drawing to a close, and suddenly we’re faced with our final paddling sessions of the year.
Here’s a quick summary of the ones I know about, feel free to add any others into the comments:
Y Paddle
13 Dec 04: Paddling in the pool as normal
20 Dec 04: No paddling, Christmas Curry instead
27 […]
A short report and a handful of photos from the September Shepperton Slalom:
Read more
Inspired by the Olympics? We won’t have you powering your way down raging whitewater by the end of this 5-week course, but you will have learned all the basics to get you started on the road to Beijing in 2008 (possibly).
The course leads to BCU 1-star and 2-star qualifications.
To book, please contact the Central YMCA […]
John’s posted somewhere approaching half a million photos from the London and South-East Region’s whitewater training weekend at Holmpierrepont.
Find them at http://www.hydropia.com/hpp04.htm
We all had a good day out at the Peterborough slalom on Saturday.
Congratulations to Duncan, an experienced paddler taking part in his first slalom, whose winning time of 128 seconds would have earned him second place in the D3 competition.
Results: www.canoeslalom.co.uk/results04/240704ortonmere.htm
Once again, I (Simon) managed to avoid promotion by one place. Undoubtedly strengthening my position […]
John’s posted dozens of his Ironbridge photos on his website: www.hydropia.com
and they’re excellent. Meanwhile, I’m suffering from bad case of zoom lens envy!
I know it’s a bit of a cliche on the web, but “welcome” to the Y Paddle website!
Please feel free to look around and let me know, via the comments below, if any page doesn’t appear to be working properly.
Y Paddle members, if you would like to help contribute to the site, let me know via […]