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Sunday 18th April 2010
A cracking paddle on Sunday 18th April. Taking advantage of the Centre Manager’s generous offer to use Cremorne when there are no youth groups in, we assembled at 11:30. There had been some mention of towing a boat and throwing unexpected factors into the mix, but as the Club had signed up for a leisurely paddle rather than a training course, these ideas were overruled. As Phil put it “it’s not boot camp”.
But a leisurely paddle it wasn’t either. Not really. Harry sent us on our way downriver with the last of the ebb tide, promising to catch us up and take us further down. By the time we reached Westminster, taking a leisurely pace, enjoying the sun and the lack of planes, and waiting to be joined by Harry, the flood was on. We hung about for a while, meeting a lone paddler from Putney Bridge CC, and a group from Westminster Boating Base, and went as far as the V dock at the London Eye, then with no sign of our guide we turned for home with the tide behind us. We were only just through Westminster Bridge when the man himself appeared. A quick conference – were we up for more? – “YES”, “SURE”, “er okay then” and we were back in safer and more experienced hands.
Town! Busy busy busy on a fine Sunday, ferries going both ways every few minutes, tourists on all the bridges and the banks and a decent flood tide against us. Kate P on her first trip with the Club, Olwen concerned about being later than planned, Tim on his first trip downstream, most of us on our first foray past the London Eye. Sure what could go wrong?
Well, nothing, as it turned out. Harry pushed us hard, scornfully dismissing the easier routes in the slower flow closest to the banks and pushing us to get out into the flow, working us hard through the bridges, handling the waves from the ferries, and even waiting for the roughest water to go through the arches. Everyone did admirably, especially those with little experience in sea kayaks. We pushed on until the bow of HMS Belfast, enjoying its towering bulk, the view of Tower Bridge, the glistening new glass buildings cheek by jowl with old warehouses and medieval houses. When not instructing or leading us, Harry seemed to be surfing every wave on the river – a real master of his craft and a pleasure to watch.
We turned at HMS Belfast and came back with the strong flood tide, pausing only to safely navigate the very congested waters between Westminster and Waterloo bridges – “don’t try and sneak up the sides” was the command, “establish yourself in a tight group as part of the traffic then paddle your line”. Interesting, and effective.
After Westminster, Harry left us on our own, the pace slowed and we all came home in a relaxed formation.
London at its finest – and how nice to be on the water in the midst of it all.
Andy McM
Sunday 11th April 2010
I was part of a small group that headed over to Shepperton Lock today for a paddle of the single bladed variety. Not to be confused with kayaking (its closed deck relative), canoeing (or open boating as it is often called) is a rapidly developing discipline of paddlesport in the UK.
Being first and foremost a kayaker, it’s not often I get the opportunity to go open boating – but each time I do, I like it more and more and today was no different. Not least because under the expert coaching of Owen Burson some of the intermediate strokes that have eluded me for so long have started to come together as well as nailing some new touring strokes – I particularly like the Knifed J Stroke. The investment in a kneeling mat probably also had a lot to do with it too  . Clearly I’m no Bill Mason (an absolute legend in the canoeing community) but I feel I’ve made great progress and keen to do more.
In the afternoon with the sun shining we put our new found strokes into practice around Desborough Island (3.3km in total). It is easy to see why open boating is considered to be such an elegant way of exploring the water and enjoying the wildlife and scenery (parrots in our case…). The only mistake we made was allowing Bunny to set the pace…
The open canoe was invented for journeying and given CKC’s touring remit (and the successes of the day) I’ve now started to turn my mind to organising an open boating trip / expedition in the near future. After what has felt like a very cold and drawn out winter it seems the timing of setting up the club could not have been better! Here’s to a summer of trips and expeditions, be it of the double or single bladed variety!
Phil
Thursday 1st April 2010
This morning the ‘club clown’ sent out a rather plausible April Fool’s email to everyone letting us all know that “for circumstances out of our control” we’d no longer be able to paddle in sea kayaks with the Club as planned – and that for the privilege we wouldn’t even get our membership fees back.
In fairness – most people fell for this obvious rouse, hook, line and sinker – without noting the time and date of the email – especially as it came just days after we received our rubber stamp seal of approval.
Our Chair has since sent a message to all, to quash any fears and point out that the reason it hit home for so many of us was that we really, really care about Chelsea Kayak Club, the opportunities it offers us and the sense of camaraderie and drive we share.
So onwards and outwards as we head into an Easter weekend full of paddling on the Thames tideway…
John M
Wednesday 31st March 2010
I’m very pleased to say that all the wait has been worth it. Our agreement with the Royal Borough was signed last night and we gave over our access fee. This will give us access to the centre until this time next year: Thursday nights and weekends and other times by arrangement, as long as there are not youth groups using the Centre.
Harry Whelan (the Centre Manager) is very supportive and has already suggested that we might like to join his adult group for a paddle on Good Friday (time to be confirmed) if there are spaces. He also suggests that as the Centre is closed over the weekend we might like to go paddling on Easter Sunday.
I think that provided we paddle in safe, controlled, properly led groups we will have a very fruitful relationship with the Royal Borough. So apologies in advance that our sessions will not be a free-for-all, but they won’t be much different from how Battersea run their Thames sessions. Tight, safe, with a nominated leader for each group – that’s how it needs to be.
Tomorrow night (Thursday) is going ahead as a sort of supervised club-led session, with 8 spaces available. Phil has been in touch about how to sign up for it through the website. Harry will come out with us for one final time, give us two sets of keys for the centre, and after that we are pretty much free to paddle the river from Cremorne down to Westminster, or upriver as far as we like. Once we get more experience we’ll be able to go further into the City – where the boats are faster, the traffic more congested and the hazards generally higher.
Special thanks to Phil and Harry who have been instrumental in getting us to this stage.
Looking forward to seeing you on Thursday, or Friday, or Sunday!
Andy (Chair)
Tuesday 23rd March 2010
Some of us from CKC attended a get together of local clubs on Tuesday night to test and compare a number of lights/ torches that paddlers are using for after dark Tideway paddling. Representatives from the Port of London Authority (PLA) and BCU were there too. The PLA are keen that paddlers operate as safely as possible and common sense and good practice prevails.
The trials were held at Shadwell Basin – so a very busy stretch of the river – and arranged by our very own Centre Manager (Harry Whelan). Some earlier trials were held in February so this was the second round and was attended by more paddlers from several clubs around London.
Several of the Tower Hamlets lot volunteered to go out in their boats and help trial lots of different types of lights and combinations in different points of the river, i.e. dark/light/facing forwards/backwards/side on/close and faraway. These were observed and assessed from the shore for the most effective and visible arrangement to other river traffic. The performance of reflective materials on equipment was another aspect of the exercise.
No firm conclusions were drawn however it was decided that one light only was not enough and head torches are not ideal as they disappear when people turn their heads (head torches could instead be attached to BAs).
The best light of the night came from our very own Richard B’s ‘Blue Peter special’ the now named “diffuser” light.
So as a keen and eager Kit Officer following the meeting I wanted to earn my very own Blue Peter badge and have made some of these ‘diffuser’ lights for CKC. These are relatively inexpensive and comprise an LED diving torch (44mm OD) with a 250ml Narrow Neck HDPE Bottle with the top cut off and inserted onto the torch to ‘diffuse’ the light and make it visible from the sides (max £10ea).
 
White flashing lights were also considered very effective – however care needs to be taken that these are not so bright that they blind other paddlers. I will also endeavour to make some smaller flashing diffuser lights for shoulders – ideas on a postcard please!
I believe that there will be a formal email going around about the light session and guidance on the PLA website updated shortly thereafter.
Here’s to safer paddling on the Tideway and to me earning my BP badge )!
Jac
Thursday 11th March 2010
Tonight was the night – the maiden voyage, so to speak, of Chelsea Kayak Club on what will become our ‘home turf’ – padding on a flood tide, it’s from Chelsea Wharf outbound along the Thames to Westminster and the foot of the London Eye. It was also an opportunity for some of the founding members to take a look at the facilities we’ll be sharing, get to grips with the Club’s enhanced safety protocols and sit in a sea kayak for the first time in ages.
This was the first of a number of introductory sessions, where the CKC river leaders (those who either hold or are in training for a 4-star qualification) are taken out by one of the experienced pros from the centre and given first-hand insights into the skill of navigating London’s busy River Thames.
We had a great night for this first outing – hardly any wind, reasonably warm and no rain – eight of us managed to get on the water a little after 6.30pm, truly the only thing missing was the bottle of Champagne smashed at the side of a boat to christen the trip. Anyway, armed with a couple of water proof cameras, head torches and the eagerness of toddlers on Christmas Eve, we set off on what would be around a seven mile round trip.
Once finding our sea kayaking legs again and adapting to the stability of the boats, the first of the sights was the beautifully lit Albert Bridge reflecting off the calm waters of the river beneath. After this we headed on down to the Peace Pagoda in Battersea Park, then up past the four great chimneys of Battersea Power Station, we then sloped by the MI6 building at Vauxhall and approached the Houses of Parliament as Big Ben chimed 8pm. We continued on, under Westminster Bridge and stopped to catch our breath in the lights casting down from the pods of the London Eye before turning around and heading back with the tide.
 
This wasn’t just some sightseeing tour of London’s greatest tourist attractions in a sea kayak – throughout the 2 hour or so paddle we were constantly being shown the rules of the river; the eddies to head for, the ferries to watch for, the bridge lights to observe, the things needed to keep the group together and safe.
Back on terra firma a little after 9pm we stowed away the kayaks and hit the changing rooms and showers – keen to see what the other local Chelsea sites had to offer… it wasn’t long before we found the one we were looking for; the Lots Road Pub and Dining Room to celebrate CKC’s inaugural trip and recap everything we’d learnt from the session over a pint and a portion of chips.
John M
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