Paddle boarding is a leisurely activity enjoyed by many during the warm summer months, sometimes even in the winter if you can brave the chilly conditions, but did you know that there’s more to it than just having a paddle on the water? In this post we’ll be exploring a handful of paddling games that you can play on the water. 1. Paddle Board Paddle Ball For this game you’ll need two paddles, a ball and something to stand on. What you do here is place the ball between the two paddles at either end of and then simply get […]
Coaching
Canoe & Kayak Coaching Tips – Dry Land Boating
As we move through the boating seasons the environment provides some varied challenges for us, as coaches, and for our students. During the colder months, we are often limited by short, dark days, and sometimes, the unbearable cold! As coaches, we often need to alter our day out on the water depending on the weather and the bitter cold it can sometimes bring. Our ability to have something up our sleeves that we can coach when it gets cold, or when our group want to cut their losses and head to a warm steamy café. We need to have some […]
Canoe & Kayak Coaching Tips – Are We Over-Thinking?
As canoe & kayak paddlers I think we can be quite thoughtful creatures. Every time we go paddling we have to weigh up the options. Risk, ability, the challenge and fulfilment we will gain. We go through all the ifs, the buts and the maybes. The pros and the cons. We play it over in our head so many times it almost becomes a bigger deal than it was originally. So I ask you, as paddlers do we sometimes over think? To coin a phrase from a well-known trainer company ‘Just Do It.” Our routine of over reflection can sometimes […]
10 Great Reasons to Book on a Canoeing or Kayaking Course
One of the great things about paddling is that there’s just so much to learn and experience they can never get boring. The more you paddle the more your skills will develop but a great way of quickly improving and gaining great experience and knowledge, to help you get more out of your time on the water is to book on a course with a professional coach. Booking on to a course is a great way to fast track your personal skills and increase your knowledge. It’s also a brilliant way to meet like-minded people and to swap ideas, knowledge […]
10 Reasons to Go on a Canoeing or Kayaking Course
Booking on to a course is a great way to add new tools to your skills box, or to refresh and sharpen up those that you already have and to have a whole pile of fun into the bargain. It’s also a brilliant way to meet like-minded people and to swap ideas, knowledge and experiences. Here are ten of our favourite courses to wet your learning whistles and to help convince you that one fast track route to more fun on the water is to GO book on a course… Getting a Taste A gateway into the wonderful world of […]
How to Kayak Down Big Waterfalls
Running big drops in a kayak on white water rivers carries a risk and a mistake in judgment or technique can carry heavy consequences, so it’s important to have a good idea of what you’re about to do. ‘Huck it & Hope’ is not a wise course of action. When he’s not out winning freestyle competitions or flying on big waves our man Ed Smith loves to challenge himself on steep whitewater and gnarly drops, so he seemed the ideal candidate to run through the correct techniques for getting the best outcomes from running the big ones. With big, gnarly […]
Whitewater Tandem Canoe Skills
Gearing Up Before venturing out onto the rapids of the world in your Canadian canoe some basic prerequisites are required. A suitable amount of practice on flat water to ensure a solid basic skill level, forwards, backwards, turning and support strokes should all be quick, easy and reliable. A basic knowledge of what to do when your canoe, or a friend’s canoe, capsizes is also recommended and advantageous to a having a successful and enjoyable day on the river. The whitewater open boat paddler also requires more personal equipment; a correctly fitting buoyancy aid is essential, as is a correctly […]
Why All Canoeists & Kayakers Should Learn First Aid
Canoeing & kayaking are adventure sports and as paddlers, we spend lots of time in dynamic outdoor environments, often in remote locations so basic knowledge of first aid is a must-have skill for all of us. Taking a first aid course makes perfect sense. But why not crank it up a few notches and take a more in-depth course. It’s a good feeling knowing that in an emergency you’ve got that little bit more knowledge to help out your canoeing & kayaking buddies in a time of need. What Sort, of Course, Do I Need? A Rescue Emergency Care (REC) […]