2015 06 newsletter

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

Newsletter

Volume 39 Issue 6: June 2015

Langham Farm Slalom 6/7th June This is an easy slalom in which you can compete. OR come to help us run it! More on p6

There once was a lass in Llandysull Who constantly blew on her whistle She went down the stream, to follow her dream And flew through Gate Two like a missile.

A promotion to Division 3 at

Aimee then went on to successfully compete at Llandylsul slalom the following weekend where gate 2 and a whistle blow-ing session inspired the ditty below!

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In this issue

3 Calendar in brief

4 River Avon trip

5 River Frome trip

5 Mini slalom

6 Langham Farm Slalom

7 Biblins

8/9 Exeter Loop by Sara Withall

10 Treasure Hunt

11 Winchester slalom by Andrew Lyall

12 Grand Team Event by Kath Norton

12 Copper noseclip points

13 More canoeing and the PaddlePass

14 Your views are important to us

14/15 Bits and Pieces

15 Help Needed

16 The Alternative Grand Team report

CALENDAR: details

REPORTS

OTHER THINGS

FCC ‘THROWLINE ’ CLUB MAGAZINE

Send articles for the next issue to [email protected] by 26th June

THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

President

Graham Warnecke

Vice Presidents

Richard and Jane Arney

Jim and Catharine Croft

Chairman

Andy Vowell

Vice Chairman

Gareth McGiveron

Treasurer

John Kent

Secretary

Pam Dixon

16 Blagdon Walk, Frome, BA11 2YH

Committee Members

Rich Carter

Richard Heal

Jonathan Howell

Tracey Lemon

Stuart Miles

Jack Smiles

Kit Officer

Jack Smiles

SmokefreeSports Please help us to promote a smokefree club by

refraining from smoking publically at all our events.

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Calendar 2015


Date Event Who for Contact

June

6/7 Langham Farm Slalom Div 3/4 All John K

13/14 Ogmore Slalom Div 3/4 All John K

16 Passport 2 course starts Participants Pam D

20 Shepperton Slalom Div 3/4 All John K

20/21 Foundation Safety and Rescue 2 Star + Rich C

21 River Avon Circle trip All John K

27/28 BIBLINS weekend All Pam D

July

3 Minislalom All John K

4 Go Canoeing - Taster Day Non-members Pam D

5 Half day paddle - River Frome All Rich C

12 Market Yard slalom All Ben N

26 Avon Fun trip All Pam D

August

8 Aquatic First Aid course All Pam D

8/9 Llandysul slalom 2/3/4 All John K

9 CLUB BARBEQUE All Pam D

15/16 Two Star and One Star w/e Participants Pam D

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Calendar in detail


RIVER AVON TRIP

21st June Meet Market Yard: 9am Cost £3 Organiser: John Kent

A section of the Avon which takes in Limpley Stoke Weir.

So we start at Avoncliffe viaduct, paddle downstream on the river, portage to the canal and come back on the canal. No shuttle today!

This trip is good for young people and less experienced adults. The water is easy and the two weirs we do are fun!

You need to bring a packed lunch and a change of clothes for paddling. You can borrow any club kit on the morning.

LANGHAM FARM SLALOM

6/7th JUNE

Come to compete Or come to help

This slalom is perfect for begin-ners and we will help you to sort out the entry process, the kit you

need, the times you are racing and so on!

IF YOU ARE NOT PADDLING, WHY NOT COME AND HELP US?

BIBLINS - 27/28-June

A CAMPING AND PADDLING WEEK-END IN THE FOREST OF DEAN

See p7 for full details.

HELP NEEDED

4th July Market Yard: 9am till 2pm

TASTERS! For members of the public to have a go canoeing. We need help to run this event!

Parents wishing to help their opposite sex child get changed at the clubhouse, please use the accessible

changing room.

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Calendar in detail

Carl, Kurt and Neil on the Allta Chourinn, a steep rockslide in Glen Etive.


RIVER FROME

5th July Meet Market Yard: 10am Cost £3 Organiser Rich Carter

We’re going to do the River Frome, getting on at Woolverton and ending at Langham Farm. It is a trip of about 2 miles long so ideal for all Passport paddlers and all the other young people who have started this year. There will be plenty of time for playing about when we get to Langham Farm if that’s what people want. BRING - a change of clothes, a towel and a packed lunch.

MINISLALOM

3rd July Market Yard 6 - 8.30pm

THE LAST IN OUR 2015 SERIES OF MINISLALOMS

This is a friendly competition.

Come at 6pm for a practice and the race starts around 7pm

We need help to run this event - to do the timing. If you can spare the evening, please come along and help!

OPEN BOATS

Would you like to paddle an open boat (canoe) on club nights?

We have 5 open boats at the club-house and they are available for you to use.

All you need to do is ask for one to be lowered!

THE CLUBHOUSE IS OPEN

FOR PADDLING

Mondays: slalom training Tuesdays 6.30– 8.30pm Wednesdays: club session Remember you can come to paddle on all three nights if you want to! £2.50 per night or use your Paddle-Pass. (P13 for more details)

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Welcome to Langham Farm slalom

The site is reached from the A36 Bath to Warminster road by turning off at Woolverton, or from the A361 from Trowbridge at Rode. At Rode turn into Langham Place which takes you to the farm. Turn sharp left in front of the farmhouse onto the slalom site. The site is next to the River Frome where two islands are bound-ed by the river and a mill stream. There is car parking on the first island and camping is across the bridge on the second island.

Charges are: camping £4 pppn and parking £3 per car. (Campers do not pay the carpark fee.) Caravan parking is elsewhere - please contact John in advance if you will be bringing a cara-van.

Map 183 Ref ST808550 Sat Nav BA11 6PL

There is drinking water and flush lavatories on site. Hot and cold food is available all day. Breakfast is available Saturday and Sunday.

General points The weekend is a Double event with first race Saturday and second race Sunday. There are races for Division 3 and Division 4 and the course is suitable for those starting out in slalom. Any boat can be used. The first part of the course follows the route of the mill stream and walls have been built out from the banks to create eddies. The course then flows sharp left under a bridge into a pool below. After your run please stay in your boat below the Finish for the next two competitors in case you are called upon to act as rescue boat. If a judge blows a whistle during your run it means that you have been caught up by the next paddler. Please give way and then continue when they have passed.

You return to the Start by paddling upstream to the weir. Please do not leave your boats on the weir between runs.

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This camping weekend is for youth members. We go to the wonderful Forest of Dean and paddle on the River Wye on two days. Ideal for open boats and kayaks.

You need to bring A tent (or share one with a friend,

single sex tents only) Sleeping bag plus mat Overnight things Waterproofs and wellie boots Canoeing things, which you can

pick up from the club on the morning.

We pitch the big club marquee so that we can all eat together and if it is raining we have shelter.

Pam sorts out all the food and everyone pitches in to get the meals and then do the clearing up afterwards.

We have a campfire on Saturday night and toast marshmallows while we tell ghost stories in the spooky gloom of the forest.

We canoe on Saturday afternoon, a fairly long river trip and end up jumping from the Yat rock into the water. On Sunday we play on the rapids in the morning.

The cost includes the transport, the food for the weekend, campsite fees and paddling on two days. To book a place talk to one of us on the desk on Wednesdays or email Pam ([email protected]). A deposit of £10 secures your place.

YOUTH members:

This trip is for you!

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River Exe and Exeter Ship Canal

River Exe and Exeter Ship Canal by Sara Withall

Finally, after many years of planning, the Exeter trip final-ly happened. Since planning the trip however, I have moved to a club nearer to my home. Stuart kindly Invited me along to join Frome Club and it was lovely to see Frome club members again.

The Canoe trail is made up of four loops which can be paddled from different access points and in different combinations between Exeter Quay-side and the Exe Estuary. You can just quite simply head down the river and back up the canal or just do one or more of the loops which is what we did.

The whole trip from Exeter Quay to Turf Locks and back is 17km, which can take a full day but if there is bad weather it can be quiet a challenge. Perhaps we could try that later in the year – what do you think?

We did an exploratory trip on this occasion; putting in at the quay and doing Loops 1 and 2, as shown on the map, paddling down to exit point 10 which is marked by a wooden stake

with a picture of a canoe engraved on it.

We crossed over to the canal and paddled up to the Double Lock pub for lunch and then wandered back to the quay, crossing back onto the river and paddling back to where we parked the cars. It was a lovely easy paddle to do.

Do you know what the canal was there for though? Well years ago Exeter was once an important centre for the wool trade. Sailing ships came up the River Exe to load/unload goods at the Quay. But a bit of an argument between two

Exeter Loop 26th April

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Exeter Loop continued

firms resulted in one of them building a a weir to stop ships getting up to the quay. The Exeter canal was built to provide another route. So there you go!

Exeter Loop Paddlers and Points Girls Summer V Women Jane T, Kate J, Kath N , Pam D, Men Andy V, Brian W (2), Graham

W (2), Jim R, Jonathan H, Mark B, Mike B, Rich C and Stuart M.

Plus Sara from Sutton Bingham CC.

Ed: Thank you Sara for this article. It was a lovely trip - very different! There were two weirs on the section we did and they were exciting in canoes. Water levels were high enough to allow us to shoot them both. But what you need to know is that our esteemed President (and Brian) came a cropper on the second one! Well and truly wedged they were. Hence the two points each, because they needed help to become unstuck! Never mind Graham! At least you can rely on us to look after you as your paddling years roll on!

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Treasure Hunt - 3rd May


What an amazing turn out we had for this event! The clues (playing cards) were hidden in banks of the river Frome and each team had the task of collecting a full set. It was a race against time too. Most teams operated from two canoes and for some it was the first time in one of these boats! But everyone managed. The winners were Diamonds. Second was Spades and the other two teams tied third.

Sam, Liam, Aimee, Stu + one Chloe, Summer, Kane, Otto, Jack K, Tom

Toby, Jasmine, Alfie, Chris Harry, Henry, Oliver, Gene-

vieve, Rich

Ed: it was a brilliant event and great to see so many young people out in canoes.

Another good event for our young members is the Avon Fun trip on 26th July. You can kayak or canoe, which ever you like. So all you young people keep that day free if you can!

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Winchester slalom - by Andrew Lyall


Winchester slalom on 16th May is the start of the slalom season and only 1½ hours from Frome. We had lovely weather with 190C and dry. Winchester has 12 gates on flat water and it looks easy but at the end of the course the last five gates were close together and were causing problems.

There were 15 members of FCC who attended including three C2 crews which was something different and very encouraging.

Pam and Rich were sharing the club C2 with Kath and Chloe. Each crew was provided with an entry number to stick on the boat. If sharing a boat a piece of black tape should be used to cover the other number. This way the judge can identify the competitor.

When Pam and Rich did their first run they were awarded a 50 second penalty for missing a gate. John had photographic proof of them both doing the gate, but sadly the judges are not allowed to accept photographs. Luckily the gate judge, when questioned, remembered which of the two C2 runs got the 50 second penalty. ‘It was the two girls’ she said! So Rich and Pam lost the 50 penalty and Kath and Chloe picked it up. The confusion had arisen due to the shared boat. It was quite amusing at the time but as always Rich was very relaxed about the whole matter.

The day finished with promotion for Aimee Collins in K1 from division 4 to division 3 - a great achievement.

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Grand Team Event and Points

Top Totty! A poem by Kath

[email protected]

Ian Jones 12

Bex Tanti 9

Jim Read 7

Ben Nicol 7

Toby Wilde 6

Henry Faithfull 4

Paula Bates 4

Jed Ellender 3

Jed Norris 3

Jos Maxey 3

Rich Heal 3

Cameron Fewell 3

Terry O'Neill 3

Kath Norton 3

Chris Wilde 3

Keiran Clark 3

Mark Baines 3

Kate Johnson 3

Anne Marie Rowson 2

Mike Bullen 2

Graham Warnecke 2

Brian Woolven 2

Alun Jones 1

Points are awarded when things don’t quite go according to plan! 3 points for an unintentional swim 2 points when needing a rescue 1 point for a roll

mailto:[email protected]

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Exeter canoe loop by A


AQUATIC FIRST AID COURSE

8th August 9am-5pm Cost £30

Just a few spaces left on this course. Contact Pam if you want more info.

We want to give members even more opportunities to paddle and so we are opening the club up on more evenings for everyone to use. To help people reduce costs we are introducing the PaddlePass scheme. From now onwards you can buy a season ticket of paddling for summer months. Choose a month-by-month pass or Indeed, multiples-of-months-pass. Once you have a PaddlePass you can paddle whenever the clubhouse is open during the summer (subject to conditions below) and you save money if you paddle more than once a week. The clubhouse is to be open on Mondays: 6.30pm-8.30pm from now till 14th September Tuesdays: while courses are running, 5th

May till 14th July, 6.30 to 8.30pm Wednesdays: normal club session from now till 16th September

PaddlePass costs £10 per month. Purchase one or more months at a time. The PaddlePass gives more flexibility to paying. You can of course continue to pay session by session (£2.50) or you can buy up to 6 sessions on the Up-front Card system. So there should be a way which suits every-one!

Here are the conditions for paddling Under 16s must join a coached

group (ie Monday slalom, Tues-day courses and Wednesdays)

16+ can paddle in any of the three evenings provided they go in a group of 3 and they are at Two Star competency. (Check with Rich if you are unsure.)

Water conditions may affect who gets on.

The Duty Coach has the final say.

More Paddling For Members and the PaddlePass

Bits and Pieces

Wetsuit shoes (all sizes) £5. Ask at reception.

Base layers for kids Top and bottom £16

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Bits and Pieces

Thank You Chris

YOUR VIEWS ARE IMPORTANT TO US Help us improve the club - tell us what you think!

Tell us if there are things you would like us to do differently, or if you have any suggestions.

You can do this by email to a committee member or if you prefer some anonymity, by putting a comment in the comment box, which is always on the table during club-nights. We will do our best to respond.

Thank you for the vouchers you gave us - a

grand total of 1976 for us to spend now!

Safety cover for trialthlons

Stu, Jack, Jonathan, Mike, Kate and Adam all did the safety cover for a weekend Triathlon at Stourhead. The Sunday morning race had a shockingly early start and the Saturday evening one must have interfered with the partying. So a real big thank you to the paddlers. (See right for three of them talking a sneaky podium picture.!)

And a big thank you to Ben L, Jane T, Big Jim, Andy V and Rich C for covering the Vobster Quay swim. Another very early start for these five paddlers! Why do swims start so early I wonder?


MAKE-OVER FOR RIVER BANKS! 50 rolls of good quality turf have found their way to the river bank near our jetty. What a surprise! And what a difference! The area is transformed.

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Bits and Pieces

Not only did we remove the offend-ing shed, we tidied up underneath the trailer, repaired the fence round the boat rack, repainted the new shed and removed the big tree in the centre of the field. And of course strimming and more strimming! It was an amazing work day, with so much achieved. Thank you especially to Summer, Juliet and Lesley who battled in the sunshine to put three coats onto the new shed; to Jack and Stuart on electrics; Rich H on strim-mer and chainsaw duty, assisted by John; and to Andy and Rich C for supervising.

Jack’s van carries the small shed away to the shed-heaven in the sky! We just hope that Graham will forgive us!

Help needed! 4th July is our next starter session day, for members of the public to

have a go. We need coaches and volunteers to help us from 9am till

2pm.

Can you help us by donating a

cake for us to sell at the slalom at

the weekend, 6/7th June? We

make about £500 in the cook tent,

and this money goes into club

funds for kit etc.

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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.

www.frome-canoe-club.org.uk

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CONTACTS

Chairman Andy Vowell 07584 069432 Vice Chair: Gareth McGiveron Treasurer: John Kent 01225 765168 [email protected] Secretary: Pam Dixon 07740 472982 [email protected] Head Coach: Rich Carter 01373 864623 Youth Reps: Jack Smiles and Gareth McGiveron Volunteer Rep: Jonathan Howell Kit: Jack Smiles [email protected]

Here it is. It has arrived again. The Grand Team Event, and it must be all of 12 months since the last one! Now Kath had a cunning plan to put the old codgers in one team, which should get rid of them and with a bit of luck they would forget where they were, and paddle off in to the sun-set. There was one flaw in Kath’s plan however! Oh dear!

Let me introduce our 3 heroes: Andy of Vowell, the young gun of the three of us, but his powder is starting to get a bit damp now; then the middle one - Rich who’s starting to go grey on top, but not over the hill yet; and finally there is Graham of Nelly, the first paddler to have his own solar panel on his head.

Were we out to lose? No way! We had a plan: Andy first, followed by Rich, with Graham in the rear. We got two clear runs and times weren’t bad. In fact Andy and Rich were so fast they were able to stop for a natter half way down, leaving Graham behind. Well the gist of the story is the three old codgers came first, beating all the young ones. Mind you, tying a bucket to the ends of all the other boats did help!

So thanks to all who came, for making us feel good once again! Roll on next year. Will there be another plan next year Kath.....?

Ed: see Kath’s version on p12., Yes I think it’s the same event! Here are everyone’s results.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5HiGU9GTgeAWFJKYkNFM1l2dXc&authuser=0

2015 06 newsletter

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