2010 06 newsletter

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Newsletter F

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Volume 34 Issue 6 ~ June 2010

Frome Canoe Club is affiliated to the British Canoe Union and is a Registered Charity (Number 1104728)

Gareth jumps into a big stopper -

all in the name of safety training!

Find out what else happened on the White Water Safety

and Rescue course. See P 16 -18

Biblins 2010 - one of the best. More on P12

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FCC ‘THROWLINE ’ CLUB MAGAZINE

COPY DATE FOR THE NEXT ISSUE

28th June Please send items for next Newsletter by email to [email protected]

THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

President

Graham Warnecke

Vice Presidents

Richard and Jane Arney

Jim and Catharine Croft

Chairman

Andy Bell

Vice Chairman

Rich Carter

Treasurer

John Kent

Secretary

Pam Dixon

16 Blagdon Walk, Frome, BA11 2YH

Committee Members

Andy Avery

Howard Charlesworth

Hazel Cottle

Alun Jones

Gareth McGiveron

Julie Middleton

Alex Nicol

Martin Spurling

Sara Withall

CONTENTS

Page

Committee details/Contents 2

Calendar in brief 3

Langham Farm prep details 4

River Avon details 4

Langham Farm Slalom details 5

Surfing, a day trip details 6

Mini slalom details 7

Courses 8

Report - Bala Mill slalom 9

Report - Loddon slalom 10

Report - Biblins 12

Report - River Avon 14

Report - Winchester slalom 15

Report - White water course 16

Happy Faces 19

Guess What? 20

Spotlight on Members 21

Letter from Pip 22

Bits and Pieces 23

Coppernose Clip Points 24

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Calendar 2010


Date Event Standard Contact

June

9 Discover (course) starts Passport paddlers Pam D

11 Mini Slalom at Langham Farm All Andy A

13 Set up Langham Farm Slalom All Andy B

16 Passport (course 2) starts Participants Pam D

19/20 LANGHAM FARM SLALOM All John K

27 Local Trip All John K

30 ‘Intro to Slalom ’ (3)* starts Beginners Andy A

July

3/4 One Star Course Participants Pam D

3/4 Cardington Slalom Div 2/3 paddlers John K

9 Mini Slalom All Andy A

10/11 FSRT and Three Star weekend Participants Pam D

11 Surfing Passport/1 Star Tim Cottle

18 MARKET YARD SLALOM All Andy A

25 First Aid course All Pam D

28 Advanced Slalom course Div 2/3 paddlers Andy A

August

8 Bradford on Avon - fun trip All

14/15 Surfing weekend All Carl Gilder

21/22 One Star Weekend Participants Pam D

29 Barbeque All Pam D

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Calendar in detail

River Avon, Bath to Saltford 27th June Meet at Market Yard: 9am Cost £3

No mystery trip this time. It’s Bath to Saltford with its flat bits and its weir at the end.

Get changed in the clubhouse, sort out the kit you need to borrow and then off to the get on.

Remember to take a packed lunch with you.

This is a good trip for paddlers at Passport or One Star standard (and above). And if anyone needs a river trip as a pre-requisite to one of the courses, this would be a good one to choose.

Preparation for Langham Farm Slalom 13th June Langham Farm 9am till 4pm (or what ever time you can spare that day)

We need lots of help to set up the slalom today, as we convert a field into a fully functioning slalom site with PA system, timing devices, a five star catering establishment complete with tables and chairs all set on beautifully cut grass for us (with Jack’s Dad’s help).

We set up the actual slalom course under the direction of Andy Bell. The two big marquees are set up with Rich telling us how it all joins together. The kitchen goes in under the watchful eye of Pam and every-one helps with all this and all the other jobs like signs/bins/control tent etc etc. However we do keep you supplied with tea, juice and cake all day and what’s more, you can try out the slalom course at the end of the day, before anyone else, and get really good at it!

Langham Farm Slalom 19/20th June See next page for more details

Ed: do come and compete. It’s a competition open to everyone!

2010 Slalom Race Costs

Single

event

Double

event

Div 4 Adult £6.25 £10.00

Div 4 Junior £4.25 £7.00

Div 3 Adult £10.50 £16.25

Div 3 Junior £7.00 £11.25

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Calendar in detail - Langham Farm Slalom

CANOE SLALOM

Frome Canoe Club presents

LANGHAM FARM SLALOM 3/4 19/20

thJune Langham Farm, nr Frome

First Race on Saturday. Second Race on Sunday Refreshments: hot/cold drinks, cakes etc, plus the Langham Farm specialty - all day breakfasts. Parking £2 per car per day Camping: £3 per person per night.

For more information and race entries contact: Andy Bell, 129 the Butts, Frome, BA11. 01373 468030 Email: [email protected]

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Calendar in detail


Surfing - a day trip 11th July Meet at Market Yard: 8am Organiser: Tim Cottle Cost £13

When there’s no water in the rivers, you can always count on the sea! Certainly beats driving to the Try-weryn to paddle on a dam release river doesn’t it? But if there are no waves ....

Let’s just pray for waves on July 11th, shall we?

You need to bring a packed lunch, your canoeing things, or collect them from Market Yard on the morning.

Don’t forget to sign up on the sheet in the Clubhouse so we know you want to come and can plan the transport.

A mini slalom on Friday evening 11th June and July 9th At Langham Farm Cost £2

Have a go in a slalom competition in advance of the national ranking slalom that we organise on 19th/20th June.

It’s easy! Racing through gates, and trying not to touch them (but it won’t matter if you do). There will be 12 gates only, so a short course.

Practice takes place from 6pm. The racing starts at 7pm. Every one gets two runs down the course.

We will have Mens and Womens events and the results will be put on the whiteboard there, so no waiting around!

See also P7 for more details.

Ed - strikes me you get all the fun of a competition without all the stress! This has got to be good. Anyone wanting more information ask Andy Avery, the organiser.

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Mini slalom - details

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Paddler development: some courses for you!


Slalom Courses These courses are part of

Wednesdays club sessions and there is no extra charge for them!

Sign up for them on the sheets at the Clubhouse

Introduction A three week course,

designed to give you everything you need to know to enter your first sla-lom. Aimed at One Star/Passport paddlers. Wednesdays 7-8pm. Starting 30th June.

Advanced A six week course

deigned to shave off those fractions of a second from your time, whilst keeping it clean. Aimed at ranked paddlers. Wednesdays 7.30 - 8.30pm. Start date 28th July.

Star Awards

Best suited for over 14 year olds

One Star £35

3/4th July 21/22nd August

Two Star £50 A course over three days. 4/5th Sept and 12th Sept

Three Star White Water £60 A course over three days. 10/11th July and 24th October

Paddle Power These are ideal for 8-14 year olds

Passport: £30. Starting 16th June. An introductory 6 week course. Wednesdays 7-8pm.

Discover: £45. Starting 9th June. A 15 week course for paddlers who have their Passport and who want to take it further. This award is equivalent to the Two Star. Wednesdays 7-8pm.

Two Other Courses

Canoe Safety (FSRT) £30 Develops rescue skills. 10/11th July

Aquatic First Aid £25 An 8 hour course: 25th July

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Reports - Bala Mill Slalom

A Division 2/3 Slalom Bala Mill, on 1st May By Andrew Lyall

After adopting the more relaxed prep-aration format from Shepperton, I ar-rived at 9.30am expecting everyone to be madly practising. The water release was delayed and finally arrived at 10.30am, an hour late.

We all got one practice run and mine was fairly uneventful although, I did have to roll between gate 1 and 2 after slowing to let a lady competitor out of gate 2 and getting caught out by a strong flow from the weir stream.

This unusual occurrence caused Lor-raine to stop taking pictures and wonder what had happened!

The course was 18 gates and the win-ning time was 97 seconds. My time was 113 seconds which put me 20th out of 42 - not bad for an old timer.

The division 2 course had 2 gates at the bottom of the weir stream which provided a bit of extra difficulty with breakouts at gate 1 and 2. Gate 2 was also very close to the rock face.

The rest of the course was fair-ly straight forward with 2 sets of breakouts on the same lines and the rest of the gates downstreams with some tight staggers.

An enjoyable day with about 100 competitors in all. There was a wide age range of competitors and it was great to catch up with Richard Davies, Ian Robson and Les Saunders.

Richard Davies hopes to complete 50 years in slalom if he continues for 2 more years.

I have plenty of time for improve-ment before the next slalom on 3rd July at Cardington division 2/3.

Look forward to seeing you there.

Andrew.

Ed: The club is doing a lot for slalom this year. if you would like to get started, there’s lots for you to join in. Newcomers look out for the in-troductory courses and mini slaloms Andy A is running. If you’re more experienced, then why not join in the advanced course or train in the second session on Wednesdays.

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Reports - Loddon Slalom


Loddon Slalom 2nd/3rd May By Andy Avery

Saturday morning saw an early start. Down the M4, rain hitting the windscreen like bullets. Was that a demented bagpiper playing dirges on the roof? Or just the wind howling in and out of the C2 cockpits? Hard to tell.

Following a short tour of the sur-rounding area to check out all the avi-ation named roads, we turned up at Loddon slalom site, to find fellow club members "camped" in varying states of comfort: from the comfy, right through to the positively palatial. But no time to marvel at the wonders of modern technology, there was a sla-lom to enter, and glory to be won.

The next hour or so saw most intrepid members of Frome Club out on the water practising, and trying to work out how to go through a diagonal up-stream gate. Crawling off exhausted, the start was delayed, and as if on queue, the heavens opened. We took whatever shelter we could find. Cars, palaces . . . Whatever.

Fortunately the weather seemed to have done its worst, and hence the first runs were over in a blur. Rowan was third place in Div 4, while Jack did a great time in Div 3 Men, but it was Terry who was in first with a very fast

time. Much back slapping ensued. The second runs went in a similar way, with Jack shaving a few sec-onds off his time. Whilst in C2 Andy and Rowan were not at all embar-rassed to be beaten by another father and son crew, even though Hamish (not in our club), in the front of the rival boat was just 5 years old.

Looking forward to a bumper haul, Frome set off in high spirits for the prize giving. Unfortunately a few timing errors meant, what we thought was Terry's excellent run was changed, and then the results recalculated . . . a few times. We all felt really sorry for Terry.

Eventually the sun came out, and prize giving happened. The final version of the results for Saturday saw Rowan third in Div 4 K1M and gaining a promotion to Div 3, Jack third in Div 3 K1M, Lia fourth in Div 3 K1W, and Andy promoted to Div 3 C1M.

On Sunday the Frome ranks were swollen by refuges from the Cardiff white water course. Alex and Fred turned up with tall tales of drinking Cardiff Bay waters and magical flying boats.

The story of Sunday was the syn-chronised nature of the Hobbs fami-ly. Fred and Jack were tied on time

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Reports - Loddon continued


RESULTS

Sunday 2nd May Division 4 K1 M Rowan Avery 3rd (Promoted) K1 M Ailbhe O'Neill 11th C1 M Andy Avery 1st C2 Avery/Avery 3rd

Division 3 K1 M Jack Hobbs 3rd K1 M Ben Nicol 10th K1 M Terry O'Neill 14th K1 W Lia Hobbs 4th K1 W Katie Hobbs 7th K1 W Rosie Vallis 8th

Monday 3rd May Division 4 K1 M Ailbhe O'Neill 5th C2 Avery/Avery 3rd

Division 3 K1 M Fred Hobbs 5th K1 M Jack Hobbs 6th K1 M Ben Nicol 11th K1 M Alex Nicol 18th K1 M Rowan Avery 20th K1 M Terry O'Neill 25th K1 W Katie Hobbs 8th K1 W Lia Hobbs 9th C1 M Andy Avery 1st C2 Nicol/Nicol 7th

in the Div 3 men, while Katie and Lia were tied in Div 3 Wom-en. Ben's practice for the previous day meant he beat a tired big brother Alex. Ailbhe put in good runs to get near promotion to Div 3. But young Hamish wreaked revenge on Andy and Rowan in the C2, and he in turn was beaten by another father and son-crew. This time the crew captain young Mas-ter Mew was 3 years old, and is probably the youngest paddler to ever be promoted to Div 2/3 in the history of slalom. Well done to him (and Dad!)

Returning towards the setting sun, back down the M4 at the end of an excellent weekend, somehow the bagpiper on the roof seems to be playing sweeter tunes ... Paddlers

Girls: Katie, Lia and Rosie. Boys: Ailbhe, Alex, Ben, Jack, Fred and Rowan. Men: Andy and Terry.

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Reports - Biblins

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Reports - Biblins

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Reports - River Avon


River Avon 9th May By John Kent

Now that we've got over winter, the intention was to have a local flat wa-ter trip once a month. After the successful trip on the Frome last month I was think-ing in terms of pad-dling the Avon from Bath to Saltford this time.

However, six of us grouped at Market Yard and it was decided, well I decided, that we should try a different route.

So we got in at Avoncliffe aqueduct, paddled down the Avon, over the weir at Limpley Stoke, under the road bridge and down as far as Dundas aqueduct. There we portaged up

the steps and paddled back along the canal to Limpley Stoke, a total distance of 4 miles.

Along the way the open boat-ers learnt strokes from Stuart, the kayakers shot Limpley Stoke weir for the first time (for them anyway) and we were all chased by an angry swan below the road bridge.

Next month we'll definitely do Bath to Saltford.

Paddlers Hazel, Vicky and Stuart in open boats. In kayaks were Ben, James and John.

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Reports - Winchester Slalom


Ailbhe in his stunning first run

Why not view the photos on the gallery section of the Club web-site

Next on the calendar is Langham Farm slalom. Looking forward to the food already!

RESULTS

Div 4 K1M Aihlbe O'Neill 2nd (Promoted)

Peter Bloodworth 3rd (Promoted) Mark Hemmens 7th Open K1M John Kent 1st Andrew Lyall 2nd Terry O'Neill 4th

22nd May

By Andrew Lyall

What fantastic weather we enjoyed for the North Walls Division 4/Open slalom event on Saturday 22nd May. It was 25°C all day!

We had a fewer club members than nor-mal: John Kent, Andrew Lyall, Pete Bloodworth, Mark Hemmens, Terry and Ailbhe O'Neill.

The event is always very relaxing and we had plenty of time for practice before the racing started at midday.

Unlike had been anticipated, the older members showed the way with an ex-emplary performance from John Kent to win the open event closely followed (2 seconds behind) by Andrew Lyall.

Ailbhe O'Neill had a stunning first run, coming second to get promoted from Division 4. He had clearly benefited from the slalom training provided by Andy Avery on Wednesday evenings.

Pete Bloodworth put in a strong perfor-mance to also get promoted by coming third in the division 4 event - a great achievement in his first ever slalom.

After another great day, we had the cus-tomary prize giving and all went home happy.

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Reports - White water, safety and rescue course


Fred here, ‘swimming across the river safely, on a line. Beats being carried across on a boat in white water.

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Reports - WWSR continued


Pam has just rescued Fred by a method called ‘Live baiting’. Pam is more relieved than Fred that she managed it OK!

‘Swimming in stoppers isn’t that bad’.

Who said that?

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Reports - WWSR


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Happy Faces!


Ed: - Thank you Andy for your report and for the photos too. It was a very good weekend.

Here are some happy faces from that wet weekend. Did they really enjoy swimming that much?

Above: Sam being rescued by ‘live bait’ Darren. Right: Darren emerging from below the ’strainer’.

Top right : Andy B in Chapel Falls.

Below: Mark B on the ‘strainer’.

Right : Andy A having a rest!

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Guess What?


This is the third time I’ve written this article and after complaints the last one was too easy, I’ve stepped it up this month. Parts of the logos have been removed from the pictures and the aim is to guess what they are.

Alex SO ... What logos are these?

1. 2. 3.

The judges comments were “We particularly liked the humour in your photo as well as the way you worded the caption. Best wishes’. Cheque is on its way. Mendip Community Support Group.

Pam was asked if FCC would like to

enter a photo competition. The con-

text was ‘Volunteering’ and the cap-

tion was limited to 30 words. So she

chose this picture of Howie and wrote

this caption:

Waiting and watching! Here a

volunteer is checking that our

young paddlers are all right, just

before a big rapid! Canoeing is

all about adrenaline but safety is

paramount too.

Howie wins First Prize in a photo competition and the club gets £50.

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The new section: Spotlight on Members!


Jack - seen every Wednesday,

taking the Passport group. Jack is an intrepid white water pad-dler and one of our new UKCC Level 1 Coaches. Here he is on the Etive in Scotland this year.

What do you like about Frome Ca-noe Club? Everyone is friendly. I wouldn’t change anything. I like it the way it is.

Which river would you describe as your most favourite? River Etive. It’s a brilliant river in Scotland and I paddled it twice at Easter.

What is the happiest moment you have had on the water? The very first time I paddled white-water.

What is your most embarrassing moment on the water? Can’t think of one!

Tell us about the boats you have owned. Two boats, Pyranha Attack and Dagger Agent. The Attack makes good entertainment for anyone watching me go down white water.

Your favourite piece of kit? My Attack. No matter what happens, my boat won’t let me down.

Tell us some of the highlights in your paddling career. Going round and round in circles on Pinball on the Allt a Chaoruinn and paddling the Allt

Mheuran.

My sporting hero is Lewis Moody.

Have you got a top tip you can offer to fellow paddlers? Never give up, work hard, but have fun.

Ed: Wise words from a young person. Take note of Jack’s last comment everyone!

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A letter from Pip


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Bits and Pieces


Guess What? answers

2.

Attention everyone!

We’ve got OVER 2400 now

Well done everyone !

We have enough to get a megaphone

but what else? . . . Keep collecting!

WH

ERE

HA

VE

ALL

OU

R C

AN

OE

STR

AP

S G

ON

E?

3.

1.

Two Star passes Congratulations to these people who suffered a very

cold first weekend training, and a very hot second

Sunday training again and assessment.

Youth: Rowan Avery, Ellie Howell and Rich Norman.

Adults: Nicky Coates, Jonathan Howell, Kate Johnson,

Matt Norman, and Jane Thomas.

A Level One Course

Wiltshire Youth Canoe Club is running a Level 1 Coach course in Melksham on 26/27/28/29th July. If you are interested please contact Martin Croucher 07767 850210

This is NOT a joke About 30 straps have been removed from the clubhouse and we did not find this very funny when our trip to Biblins nearly came unstuck on Saturday because we didn’t have enough straps to tie boats on. If it wasn’t for the drivers of other cars who loaned them to us, we would have been stranded. At £10 a pair to replace, we will be spending money we

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www.frome-canoe-club.org.uk

CONTACTS Chairman: Andy Bell 01373 468030 Vice Chair: Rich Carter 01373 864623 Treasurer: John Kent 01225 765168 [email protected] Secretary: Pam Dixon 01373 473836 [email protected] Youth Reps: Julie Middleton 07793 251341 Alex Nicol alexjamesnicol@google mail.com

Jack Smiles 26 Jonny Bevan 19 Alex Nicol 18 Amanda Reeves 15 Jonathan Howell 15 Gareth McGiveron 15

Fred Hobbs 13

Tim Cottle 12 Hazel Cottle 12 Bill Fryer 12 Rich Carter 11 James Hannan 11 Dave Bloodworth 10 Stuart Miles 9 Sam Charlesworth 9 Kate Johnson 9 Pam Dixon 9 George McGiveron 7 Arthur Belbin 7 Andy Bell 7 Ellie Howell 6 Joe Gregory 6 Lily Charlesworth 5

Michael Topp 5 James Spurling 5 Isi Miles 3 Louise Bastable 3 Richard Norman 3 Karl Waldeck 3 Vicky Bennett 3 Ben Nicol 3 Jack Hobbs 3 Steve Scammell 3 Peter Nicol 3 Julie Middleton 3 Emma Spurling 3 Andy Lyall 3 Howard Charlesworth 2

James Munn 2 Darren Oram 2 Mark Baines 1 Alun Jones 1

COPPERNOSE CLIP POINTS

Canoeing and kayaking are “Assumed risk” – “Water contact sports” that may carry attendant risks. Participants should be aware of and accept these risks, and be responsible for their own action and involvement.

Get all your canoeing

things from the Family

Adventure Store at

Hilperton. BA14 7PJ

Check out the photos of club events or put a comment on the message board!

Thank you Terry

Terry has been busy fixing some plumbing problems for us. He has done a nifty bit of adjustment on the copper

pipes in the clubhouse to save us money with the hot showers. He has also sorted out the leaks at Langham Farm. Good timing, Terry, with the Slalom just upon us.

2010 06 newsletter

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