Steve T
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General moan, winge, rantAs you all know I'm a miserable ***** at the best of times, so last night I was a bit wound up at having to clear an assortment of debris scattered round the pool which needed tidying up after the first session  . This included spraydecks and paddles round the poolside, and three boats not returned to the rack - one of which was full of water and another was still floating upside down in the pool. Please return the gear to where you got it from.
And while I'm in rant mode, I've noticed a lot of people getting into boats a long way from the poolside and then shuffling along into the water. This is simply lazy. Ideally you should be putting the boat into the water first and then get in; this is what you will have to do on most real rivers and there's no point learning it for the first time in the mud next to a fast-flowing river. If you must get into it on the poolside then at least get it as close as possible, with the bow of the boat well over the side and just balancing as you get in. We have people learning to roll who can't get into their boats properly!
I think we are very lucky with the pool we use - many swimming pools have banned kayaks, and others insist on no seal launches to avoid damaging tiles. Some make clubs disinfect boats before using them, or even to have a complete set of boats for pool use which can't be used outside. The last thing we need is to break a tile and have the management reconsider our usage of the pool.
End of rant. I think I need more outdoor paddling.
Steve
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