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Volume 33 Issue 8 ~ August 2009

Frome Canoe Club is affiliated to the British Canoe Union Registered Charity number: 1104728

How Tim (Jack’s Dad) saved the

club £140 This brilliant day’s paddling on the River Avon at Bradford on Avon was followed by two unexpected and disappointing little bits of paper on car windscreens. No one could believe it when they returned from the good paddle to see these two little tick-ets on the windscreens of Tim’s and How-ie’s cars. The offending objects were two trailers in car spaces where they shouldn’t

have been. Potential total damage of £140

We all thought “Oh well. An expensive river trip. It’s a mistake we won’t make again”. But no one reckoned on Tim’s letter writing skills. Undeterred and not willing to accept the fines, he wrote to Wilts Car Parks. He mentioned our charity status and so on, but Tim reckons the thing that clinched it was the reference to all the youth members we have and how they would be deprived if we had to pay the fine ...blah, blah.

His clever letter worked a trick. Tim has managed to get the whole fine quashed! Thank you, Tim.

Bradford on Avon - 26th July

44 boats on the water today and we were lucky because we did not have any competition from rowers and the rain held off, mostly. Some shot the first weir; the trickiest part of this manoeuvre was the climbing back up the steps. After lunch we headed up-stream to the other weir, and most shot this one, some getting wetter than others! It was a good day and it was great to see Brian and Graham

“My favorite part

was the weir be-

cause it was like a

big fall. I also liked

the ‘taxi ride’ but

the service was

bad. I was exhaust-

ed by lunch.” Neil

Edgar

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Date Event Standard Contact

August

22/23 2 Star Course - 1st weekend 1 Star/Passport Pam D

29 Nene Slalom Div 2/3/4 All John K

30 Barbeque & Try-a-Boat Day All Pam D

September

5/6 2 Star Course - 2nd weekend 1 Star/Passport Pam D

5/6 Cardington Slalom Div 2/3/4 1 Star Passport John K

6 Wild-water race, Chippenham All John K

12 Wild-water race, Bathampton All John K

12/13 Level One Coach Course, 1st w/e Aspirant coaches Pam D

16 Last Wednesday Session with formal training groups

All Pam D

19/20

1 Star Course Beginners Pam D

Level One Coach Course, 2nd w/e Aspirant coaches Pam D

20 Passport Paddlers - river trip Course participants Sara W

26 Winchester Slalom Div 4/O All John K

27 Wild-water race, Langham Fm All John K

October

3/4 Tiverton: moving water training 1 Star/Passport* Pam D

11 Sunday morning session All Rich C

17/18 Three Star White Water Course 2 Star + Paddlers Pam D

25 River Frome 1 Star/Passport Rich C

November

7/8 Dart weekend 1 Star + Pam D

15 Sunday morning session All Pam D

Calendar

Passport* means that you must be Passport standard and over 10 years old 1 Star + means that you must be at least One star and have moving water experience

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Barbeque and Try-a-Boat Day 30th August Langham Farm Cost £3 youth, £5 adults (includes food)

Meet at Market Yard at 11am or go direct to Langham Farm.

We cook lunch on the barbeques and paddle when we want to.

Please be reassured that this event can be totally dry for those of you who just want to come along and relax in good company, in pleasant surroundings, with some good food. Having said that, it is also a good opportunity for mums and dads to try out this whacky sport that your children do!

Don’t forget to bring along any different boats you have and are willing to share. It is usually a lovely day and if it is rain-ing we have a marquee to shelter in!

Pam needs numbers for catering so sign up on the sheet in the clubhouse please. Or phone, or email.

groups start with under 10's) and you can use any boat. Here is your chance to race on your own down the river.

For further details contact John Kent.

Tiverton Training weekend 3rd/4th October Meet 8.30 am at the Clubhouse Cost £34

This weekend prepares you for paddling on moving water. We put you into small groups and provide training to develop the skills for moving water – breaking in and out of the flow, surfing, stopper work, rapid running, eddy-hopping and so on.

Overnight we stay in the Youth Centre in Tiverton. You need to bring sleeping bags and mat because we sleep on the floor. You can pick up the paddling gear that you want to borrow from the club on the Saturday morning. All the food is provided.

(Minimum age limit for this activity is 10 years.)

Booking a place is essential.

Calendar in detail

Wessex Autumn Series of Wild-Water Races 6th September - Chippenham 12th September - Bathampton 27th September - Langham Farm

These are a series of local races on short stretches of moving water.

They kick off at Chippenham on 6th Sep-tember, followed by Bathampton on 12th September and Langham Farm on 27th September. They are low level races suitable for young people (the age

Wednesday Sessions What happens as the evenings draw in? Well, we keep paddling as long as we can, but the formal sessions with Polo, Slalom and Paddlepower cease on 16th September.

When the evenings are really too dark to paddle, we still meet on Wednesdays in the clubhouse to stay in touch with each other and to sign on to trip lists! See over for the info about ’DVD Wednesdays’.

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Calendar in detail .. continued

Sunday Morning sessions at Market Yard, 10 – noon. 11 October, 15 November etc. Cost £2

From the end of September, we meet once a month on Sunday mornings to stay in touch with each other and of course to paddle the River Frome. Last year John left the slalom poles in position through the winter months and if he does the same this year, we can all hone those slalom skills and keep our fitness levels up for the early slaloms next year! Only joking!

Seriously though, the sessions are less structured than the Wednesday evening meetings but we can provide training if requested. The plan is to hold these Sun-day morning sessions throughout the winter season and we are aiming for the second Sunday in the month. Having said that November’s meet is to be 15th to avoid a clash with the Dart Weekend.

Meet at the Clubhouse between 10 and noon. Now … you can stay perfectly dry if the weather looks a bit inclement. You can just chat to other like-minded souls in the meeting room, with a cup of tea in hand, so don’t be put off if it is rainy or you are feeling a bit under the weather – come to catch up on the gossip!

Winchester Slalom 26th September

Calling all you members who entered our non ranking slalom event on July 19th! This slalom is just right for you. It is an easy slalom, a Division 4/Open event, and only a short distance away. It will give you an opportunity to put into practice all those skills you have learned during this season of paddling, and will let you try your hand in a ranking com-petition, before you wind down over the winter months. Cost to enter this slalom is £4.25 for juniors, £6 for seniors. Cost of transport will vary depending on how many peo-ple go, but we will sort that out nearer the time. Please put your name on the list in the clubhouse, to let us make plans.

Wednesday DVDs 30th Sept and 28th Oct and so on At the Clubhouse 7pm.

Once a month we gather to watch a canoeing DVD, preferably those with scary white water paddling, although we have also enjoyed the DVDs of major expeditions, with all the details of the planning and preparations.

The plan is to schedule the last Wednes-day every month for this event so peo-ple can plan for it! The first session will therefore be Wednesday 30th Septem-ber at 7pm. Tea, coffee, cakes and soft drinks will be available. Do come – the sessions were great fun last year.

A new bunkhouse—Ffynnon Wen for those who prefer a bit of luxury. 5 minutes from the Tryweryn and Conwy, and 20 minutes from the Dee and Lugwy. Costs are £20 for Bed and Breakfast, Dis-counts are available for over 6 people. Phone or email Kate 01490 420349

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Market Yard Slalom 19th July Old hands we are now. Slalom poles were sorted in a jiffy, marquee was up in 5 minutes, chairs were out along the course and bunting was blowing gently in the breeze. Everyone was up for our second ever Market Yard Slalom. The recent rain had swollen the river but there had been time for river levels to drop and there was the distinct ad-vantage that the litter and smells had dispersed!

We had competition from just two oth-er clubs, Wilts Youth, and Yeovil. And from our club there were 25 who gave it a go.

Same as last year, we sent up batches of paddlers between runs, but this year we used co-ordinated stop watches for the timing compared to last year when we had one person running alongside with a single stop watch, gasping for breath while keeping up with the paddler.

Thank you to everyone who gave up their time to help us: the set up, judg-ing, runners, marshals, start and finish, safety, food, support for the team, and so much more. It was a very good event. Jack even changed a habit of a lifetime and competed. Unfortunately for him he won his class which meant that he had to go up for a prize – possi-bly more of a trial for him that the act ual race!

A big thank you to the refreshment stall. Which made a grand total of £58.71. What kit would you like to put a bid in for, now that you are regular money earners for the club?

K1 Men Div 4 Jack Smiles Mark Hemmens James Bennett Rowan Avery Max Thompson K1 Men Open Andrew Lyall Andrew Bell Michael Topp Fred Hobbs Ben Nicol Jack Hobbs Ben Miles Terry O’Neill C1 Pam Dixon

K1 Ladies Div 4 Olivia Ball Lia Hobbs Izzy Miles GinE M-B-Lane Molly Taylor

K1 Ladies Open Vicky Bennett Katie Hobbs Rosie Vallis C2 Div 4

Michael T + Vicky B

Andy Bell + Rosie V

C2 Open

Alex and Ben Nicol

Reports Our competitors were :

Here are Alex and Ben giving it some wellie in the C2. There are more pictures of this event on our website.

For everyone’s information, this is a rare shot of Alex, in the back, because he, (along with Hazel), are the photographers who take the shots at all our events and so don’t get themselves into the frame. And what’s more they upload the best shots to the website immediately after each club event. Thank you Alex and Hazel.

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Society as medics to a group of about 40 teenagers. Although 2000 miles from the mouth, the river here is still about half a mile wide. We hired a dugout to look round Belem, the poor area of Iquitos which like almost all of the region floods in the wet season (houses either float or are on stilts and the owners just move upstairs). I asked the owner if I could have a go. While it feels distinctly odd, paddling a canoe from the bow, it was actually surprisingly easy and one saw more boats being paddled from the bow than the stern.

We travelled some 200 miles upstream to the Pacaya Samiria National Park where we spent a month. During that time there were

frequent opportunities to borrow dugouts and queues of eager youngsters to take ‘lessons’. We would occasionally take a boat and paddle up or down river. Once out of sight of the ranger station we were in virgin wilderness. Raucous parrots would fly over, a pink dolphin might rise for air (they always reminded me of old grannies skinny dipping) and if it was evening strange gusts

of sound like a gale would come out of the jungle as the howler monkeys tuned up. While easier than the first dugout I tried, you cannot call them user friendly. They are distinctly wobbly (you are, we decided ex-pected to load them down to about 1” of freeboard), your bum gets sore and the heavy paddle chews holes in your hands but at least we can tell our grandchildren ‘we paddled a dugout on the Amazon’. Thank you Martin for this lovely article. Your next challenge is a short trip in the new yellow OCOEE!

Dugouts—by Martin Spurling The first canoe that I ever sat in was a dugout. I was nineteen, fresh out of school and in Sierre Leone for a year on VSO working in the Government fisheries studying the fishing industry. I had entered a small village and sought out the chief. He was in a combative mood, being a little the worse for wear on palm wine. ‘You no tink ah be da big fishaman’. In response to my non commital answer, he leaped into his boat and paddled it round the bay. ‘Now you paddle e sah’. I re-member that my hips pushed the sides of the

boat apart (I was a lot thinner then).As I cau-tiously got in the two large Africans holding the boat leered encouragingly. Somebody handed me a single bladed paddle about three feet long.

When I surfaced the whole of the village were rolling around on the beach clutching their sides. This sort of dugout was used to fish with lines for the really big fish. God knows how they did it.

It was over 40 years before another oppor-tunity arose. Sue and I were in Iquitos on the Amazon with the British Schools Exploring

Articles from Members

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Conspiracy Theory

It is said that we have a super hero in our midst. Under our eyes there maybe a mem-ber of our club who hides a secret life, a master of disguise, he runs a double life as a saviour of humanity and the planet. Some say he is merely a character from a comic strip others claim that all characters of a per-ceived fiction are based on fact; I believe this to be the case as there are too many coincidences for them to be mere coincidence.

Here are the facts: He tends to lean towards the colour Yellow; this is evident predominantly in his modes of transport, Kayaks and Road Vehicle. He rarely gets on the water on Wednesday, is this because he is on call? He lives in Acacia Avenue It is rumoured that his pyjamas are blue with yellow pants boo-ties and gloves, At weekends he wears a yellow cape. Did anybody notice anybody eating bananas for lunch at Bradford on Avon?

I cannot disclose the true identity of this person as that would be wrong and further complicate his life with potential planet threatening consequences, however keep your eyes peeled. From - Anon

FCC is featured in Canoe and Kayak Magazine

Frome Canoe Club is featured in this month’s magazine, in the section ‘Club Scene’. There is a four page article which speaks very highly of our club in general and the Wednesday sessions in particular. There is a whole page interview with Andy Bell, and the entire article is littered with lovely photographs.

We have Sara to thank for organising this with Ross Montan-don of Canoe & Kayak magazine. They visited us on July 8th and were not put off by the chaos. Instead, they liked what they saw and the article reflects this in an extremely good commen-tary which promotes the club very favourably.

Kit Amnesty - As you know, members are all allowed to borrow kit as part of the

membership deal. Each piece of kit is coded to help us keep track of it all and we are aware that many items have been borrowed and not returned. We know how this hap-pens – it easy to do. Borrowed kit gets put away after use and then forgotten. However we would really like all these items to be returned. So we are offering a Kit Amnesty. No questions will be asked, no comments will be made, just bring it back to us!

Hazel and Tim have now got a ‘borrowing’ list on the club notice board so we can keep a track on where our kit is. Please get a committee member to sign it out when you borrow any kit from now on. Thank you.

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www.frome-canoe-club.org.uk

CONTACTS Chairman Andy Bell 01373 468030 Vice Chair Rich Carter 01373 864523 Treasurer John Kent 01225765168 jfkent@blueyonder.co.uk Secretary Pam Dixon 01373 473836 pam@dixon.co.uk

Rich Carter 14 Sara Withall 12 Simon Taylor 12 Jon Bevan 10 Arthur Bellbin 8 Andy Bell 6 Nicky Coates 6 Richard |Heal 6 Molly Taylor 6 Jack Smiles 6 Katie Hobbs 5 Gareth McGiveron 3 Olivia Ball 3 Jack Hobbs 3 Alex Nicol 3 George McGiveron 3 Josh Martin 3

Ailbhe O’Neill 3 Alex Nicol 3 Sally Smiles 3 Tim Smiles 3 Nick Bartlett 3 Neil Dixon 3 Matt Norman 3 James Bennett 3 Toby Bonnell 3 Michael Topp 1 Mark Baines 1 Stuart Miles 1 Tim Cottle 1 Chris Paton 1 James Spurling 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

Passport Congratulations to the

following:

Rosie Bonnell

Dexter Buxton

Lily Charlesworth

Max Charlesworth

Kieran Edgar

Samuel Francis

Sebastian Hartley

Tim Lee

GinE M-B-Lane

Che Pengkerego

Molly Taylor

Bee Thomas

Philippa Thomas

India Thomas

Clemmie Thompson

Max Thompson

Rosie Vallis

Izzy Vallis

One Star Our second One Star

course of the year saw

passes for these members:

Dave Ashford

Ed Ashford

Natalie Ashford

Dave Bloodworth

Dennis Bloodworth

Peter Bloodworth

Troodie Bloodworth

Jonathan Howell

Matt Norman

Jane Thomas

Gilly Vallis

Thank you to Sara Withall,

Megan Jones Alex Nicol,

Pam Dixon and Rich

Carter, who instructed or

assisted these courses.

Members’ successes on the recent courses

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