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CarlS · Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 9:45 pm Post subject: Chester Weir 28th May

Steve, Mel, Teresa and myself set off from Sandy Lane carpark at local high water. We paddled down to the weir to find it at a nice and frendly looking level, we then made our way down the fish steps and did some moving water practise at the bottom. We did a second run by which time the water level had dropped a fair bit providing better playtime. They do say that the best conditions are 2-hours after high water, but whilst our experienced members would really enjoy getting vertical, it may have proved too much of a challenge for our beginners. We arrived back at the car-park around 9pm and did some rolling practise.

Carl

Steve T · Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 7:25 am Post subject:

Yes, another good midweek trip, somewhere different for a change.

It was busier than usual with other paddlers, but there was still plenty of chance to play on the pourovers at each step, getting some little popouts (and one big one - I think the expletive might have given away the fact that I wasn't quite expecting that!).

The little chute at the bottom was great for practising river skills - breaking in, out & ferry gliding. After playing for an hour, while the tide was dropping, it was noticeable how the last drop changed from a surfable wave to a pourover, and the bottom chute became faster.

I think we could claim last night as our first multi-venue midweek meet, since some confusion led to a couple of members turning up at Burrs, hopefully they also had a good time.

Steve
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GrahamS · Joined: 13 Dec 2007 Posts: 182 Location: Warrington

This post my be better placed in the confessions box but here goes:

The confusion that Steve mentioned earlier came in a big Graham shaped tin - I take full responsibility for me & Chris turning up at Burrs! I knew that we had a week at Burrs between Croby & Chester, but forgot that I didn't turn up last week! After realising my error we decided against a last minute dash to Chester.

We were joined by Andy (apparently he headn't been for a year, but it didn't look like it!). We managed to do a full run, playing on the drops on the way down, thankfully due to the previous days 'miserable' weather. It was also the first session where my kayak remained the right way up all night!

There were a few parts of the river where the water levels were low - Shkruskitoxkicz is not the greatest sound to hear whilst paddling.

I'll try to keep an eye on the calendar, but unfortunately I can't guarantee the same won't happen again. Still, an enjoyable evening none the less. We'll see you next week (Chester is it?)

CarlS · Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 12:25 pm Post subject:

It is good to hear that Andy joined Graham and Chris on Wednesday and if you are reading this Andy, do get in touch about the trip to Wales, a week on Saturday, Steve and I are trying to encourage members to join us on the Dee a bit further upstream than Chester (Serpent's Tail and JJs) and if memory serves me right this trip will be ideal for you. I will update the Summer programme soon and post details on the web, next week we are at the Burrs.

Steve T · Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 1:41 pm Post subject:

I've sent Andy a PM letting him know about next weekend. Would be good if he joined us for either day.
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Steve Thomas
Secretary & Website Editor

www.westhoughtoncanoeclub.org.uk
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CarlS · Posted: Sat May 31, 2008 9:19 pm Post subject:

The latest 'carlcam' production is now available on YouTube, follow this link to have a look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdbvKYc2dZU

As usual if you don't want to be featured let me know, it is very easy to edit!

Carl

Steve T · Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 12:30 pm Post subject:

Nice bit of video, Carl.

For those who haven’t been to Chester (or have only seen it in its scary form), Carl’s video gives a good overview of what there is to play on at Chester. There are four small steps, all with nice little pourovers except for the last which was a nice surf wave when we got there – with a higher flow this gets reasonably meaty (and tipped me in last year). As the tide went out the level below the weir dropped so this also became a pourover.

The bit I’m playing on in the video is the first or second drop, there’s a bit of concrete on this one which stops the bow going down – you can see it stopping suddenly as it hits. The next drop down is deeper and you can get popouts on that one. AT THIS LEVEL, all the stoppers are small but go deep, so you can stick yourself in them if you have plenty of edge, but there’s no towback to speak of. Obviously with more flow they get stickier, and the main weir gets lethal in big flows. Last week this was not an issue, so we walked up the weir after descending the steps. When you can't do that you can walk back up on river-left.

At the bottom is a nice little chute, where we were practising/demonstrating breaking in & out, hence that’s me exaggerating a big, old-school low-brace break in.

In the summer, the slow moving water in the river actually gets quite warm. Overall, Chester is a great little spot, and from the Westhoughton side of Bolton doesn’t take that much longer to get to than Burrs. The paddle to/from Sandy Lane can be avoided by parking on the waterfront where the pleasure boats are moored, giving a bit more play time, but I imagine that’s quite busy and you night not be able to guarantee finding a space.

I suggest another trip there later in the summer, if there is interest.

Steve
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Steve Thomas
Secretary & Website Editor

www.westhoughtoncanoeclub.org.uk
website@westhoughtoncanoeclub.org.uk

CarlS · Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 1:41 pm Post subject:

You may want to check out the comments from a member of Chester Canoe Club about my YouTube Video (and my reply), the comments were made by someone called Chris Lloyd and a friend and I don't think they represent offical club views.
Carl

Steve T · Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 5:12 pm Post subject:

Yes, the half-wits posted similar comments on my video of Chester also (at 2:15 last night, so I'm guessing alcohol was involved, if they're old enough). I don't know if it's possible to disable the comments feature, I'll try to investigate that.

Meanwhile, since they claim to be from Chester Kayak Club, it might be worth an email from me enlightening their secretary as to how their club's name is being publicised.

Steve
_________________
Steve Thomas
Secretary & Website Editor

www.westhoughtoncanoeclub.org.uk
website@westhoughtoncanoeclub.org.uk

CarlS · Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 7:09 pm Post subject:

I'm not sure that Chester Kayak Club is an offical BCU club and looking at their web site I think it is just a group of youngsters. They seem to think that the gear someone is wearing or what someone is paddling is very important and the term 'all the gear and no idea springs to mind!' as a way to describe them.

They did leave an apology after the response I posted and yes, I think alcohol was involved. I don't know any paddler who would find their comments funny (and wouldn't want too), they are just a pair of sad semi-literates who were on Youtube last night.

I think the one called Chris (Kayak God!) would be really easy to wind up in further responses but we are above that aren't we!

Happy Christmas
Carl

Steve T · Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 10:09 pm Post subject:

Well I started drafting a well-crafted (though I say so myself) reply to their mis-spelt drivel, only to discover that YouTube only allows 500 characters per comment (something to to do with attention span, I suppose).

As I'm sure you all know by now, once I'm typing I can't stop until I have a couple of chapters' worth. Unable to do it justice, I therefore gave up and removed all the comments.

I think that these videos are a great way of showing what the club does, and it would be difficult to encourage people to try anything new if they thought that some moron was going to rip the pi$$ out of them on the internet for all the world to see.

Steve
_________________
Steve Thomas
Secretary & Website Editor

www.westhoughtoncanoeclub.org.uk
website@westhoughtoncanoeclub.org.uk

CarlS · Posted: Fri Dec 26, 2008 1:44 pm Post subject:

Have blocked these two clowns but can't decide whether to put a post on UK riversguide forum so others can see them for what they are or just delete their comments. We were not the only ones to have comments made like this. Alcohol may have been involved but this doesn't change my opinion about 'River God' and his friends.