Burrs, 24 January 2009

Steve T · Burrs, 24 January 2009

Yesterday there was an excellent turn-out to the session at Burrs. Apologies if I've missed anyone, but I think we had thirteen: Martin, Amanda, Phil, Lisa, Bob, Graham, Bruce, Jon, Mel, Carl, Allen, Chris, and me. We started with half an hour on the training pool before paddling up the canal and getting onto the river.

That was a good split between old hands, paddlers who've been with the club for a year or so and the newcomers, who therefore were well looked after on the river. It wasn't too high, but was fast enough to be unforgiving of any mistakes and there were some wobbles as we practised the usual introductory moving water stuff of breaking in/out, starting to work on ferry glides, and edging. Only four of us shot the big weir, 2½ down the slope and 1½ of us down the steps. Some of us ran the broken weir twice, first through a little rocky chute on the left and then again on the right where there was a good flow and a fairly decent stopper.

I was testing my helmet cam and now have 2 hours of fairly boring stuff so bear with me while I edit it down to something faintly interesting. Since it was its first outing I also had to test its waterproofness so I will also be making an entry in the confessions forum ............

All the beginners did really well, and should be proud of themselves. So why not reply here and let us all know whether you enjoyed the day? If you feel like writing a brief report for the website, even better.

Steve

(edited to add Bob to the list - sorry Bob!)

CarlS

This was by far the best turnout we have had in a long time and hopefully this will continue. I guess I am the 1/2 mentioned by Steve. I thought about going for the 'hole' to see if Steve could rescue me. However, I misjudged the line and ended up sort of going down the just at the edge of the steps.
Carl

Steve T

Actually it was Bruce who came down the exact line between the steps and the slope, half on each - I think it's on my video when I've sorted it. I don't think I've ever seen anyone do that before but it was difficult to tell exactly where you were at the top with a decent flow over it.

Steve T

Bob has sent me some photos which he took on Saturday. Since I won't get them onto the gallery anytime soon, I've posted them here:

Steve

Steve T

And some of mine:

Steve

LALA

Id just like to thank everyone who helped me through the river run on saturday. It was the best time i have had in 2009 and i hope to do many more rivers with you guys. Mel and Steve thank you for your help in the training pool, i was rather stressed with my cag on.

I also would like to add that Westhoughton Canoe Club is a very friendly club and i will never regret joining the club.

Phil would also like to add "thanks to you all, especially Steve for avin a swim for him" LOL.

We will look forward to the next river run.

Steve T

Lisa

Glad you enjoyed it - you and everyone else did really well and should be proud of yourselves. Now you've been on moving water you can hopefully see the reasons for some of the nonsense I have been wittering on about over the last few weeks.

You will probably be sick* of Burrs before the summer's out but in a few months you'll be able to tackle something more challenging so keep it up. Maybe next time we'll all be able to shoot the big weir - it was a bit high but now you have some moving water experience you'll be able to react better at the bottom.

The club is a friendly club and I enjoy the informal atmosphere. Glad you agree.

Steve

* I spent all last night awake with stomach cramps. I'm not sure if this was the Irwell or a very dodgy burger from the Harvester in Horwich on Sunday. If anyone else has any problems and they don't clear up, make sure you see a doctor and tell him where you've been. I've never had any problem at Burrs before but in open water you can catch anything so better safe than sorry.

Martin Archer

I would also like to thank everyone for getting me down the Burrs without a swim. I really enjoyed the paddle and hope to do some more soon.
It was good to get out on open water and learn new skills and put into practice some of the stuff we have tried in the pool. Moving water is nothing like the pool and I would like to thank Carl and Allen for passing on tips on how to enter the current and encouraging me all the way down.

Steve T

I've finally cut two hours of not-very-much down to seven minutes of action from my helmet camera. As we were working in small groups, nearly all of this is of Phil & Lisa, although the rest might just see themselves in the background. It was my first go with the helmet camera, so it's even more wobbly and jerky than the Mersey video.

It's on YouTube but they have disabled the audio again, this version is on the Vimeo site:

Westhoughton Canoe Club at Burrs, 24 January 2009 from Westhoughton Canoe Club on Vimeo.

Steve