Dusk/Dark Paddle Report
Seventeen paddlers had a very enjoyable paddle on Sunday night, led by coaches Martin, Graham and Sue.
Conditions were perfect with no wind, clear skies and a comfortable 20+ degrees C as we set off northwards at 9:40pm to paddle beyond Broughton Bridge and back, at least six miles. We were donned with a mixture of forward facing white lights and rear facing red lights, but the only river traffic we met was a swan! At the turn we stopped briefly for snacks and drinks on the water.
We had four canoes and nine kayaks with a mixture of young and older, experienced paddlers and not so experienced parents! Graham paired with Claudia in what was I think her first trip in a tandem canoe. Sue paired with Rachel, Martin with Caroline, and Phil with Francis.
The kayakers were ably marshalled by Mike and Hazel in their touring kayaks, and the rest were youngsters bar Donna and Daniel. Special mention must go to Matilda and Declan. Matilda paddled the whole distance in a Dynamo club boat, a far cry form the racing boat she races in. All those training miles have paid off as she coped easily with the distance. And Declan covered at least five of the miles solo, also in a Dynamo, before jumping in the canoe with Martin and Caroline for the last mile from Castlethorpe Bridge. Very well done considering it was 11:00pm and we’d been paddling for an hour and a half! The parents did really well in the canoes too, considering they hardly paddle! The rest of the kayakers were Connor, Charles and Louie who probably covered even more miles than the rest by constantly going ahead and returning to us.
We made it back to the Jetty at about 11:50pm, so just over a two hour journey, and everyone was in good spirit, though very tired!
This is our second night paddle, the first this year. These events have to be arranged at very short notice as they are weather dependant, so our apologies if you missed this one. Keep your eyes on all our media outlets for news anymore “last minute” trips.
Martin
It’s 9:30 pm and we are ready to launch! Left to right are: Matilda, Connor, Louie, Declan, Charles, Graham, Claudia, Hazel, Sue, Rachel, Donna, Caroline, Francis, Phil, Daniel and Mike. missing is Martin, taking the photo!
