After the club’s incredibly successful fundraiser, ‘Get F*****d for Fitz,’ earlier this academic year, 12 club members were able to attend a WWSR course in February; double the amount from previous years.
Strong WWSR skills are vital in the sport, particularly within university clubs, where many young people are trying out the sport for the first time and have little confidence on the water; seeing well-trained leaders gives them a lot of reassurance. As a more senior member of the club, I was eager to attend the course so that I could step up into a role as a club leader.
The weekend began with a late Friday drive up to 1st Llangollen Scouts Centre, who were providing us with their hall as residence over the weekend. After a good night’s sleep, UOBCC were up and raring to go, fuelled by bacon and slightly cold scrambled eggs (we might have to enrol in a cooking course next). After an introduction and brief talk with course coordinators Lowri and Ian, the group got on just above Horseshoe Falls, and we spent the day slowly making our way down the river, occasionally stopping and discussing whitewater skills such as scouting rapids and leading.
Just before Serpent’s Tail, the most difficult feature on the river, we portaged and talked about taking lines and setting safety. Despite the low water level, the feature is a G3, which is a good challenge for most of us on the course, so it was important to scout and make sure the feature was runnable and that we could confidently run it. Myself and another on the course ran the feature before setting up safety for the remaining group, allowing us to get our first practice using throwlines.
After the group had run the feature, my smugness at staying nice and warm was quickly dissipated as we then practised swimming in the feature to become more comfortable with aggressively swimming to catch eddies (bear in mind this was mid-February, with temperatures of about 3°C). Once we had all been sufficiently drenched, we continued on down the river to Mile End Mill, quickly having a surf before continuing on to the get-off just before Town Falls. Fortunately, the accommodation was a short walk from the get-off, so we all quickly got inside, warmed up, and finished off the evening with a classic kayaking meal – Spag Bol (penne, not spaghetti, though sadly).
The next morning, we spent some time in the accommodation with Lowri and Ian, practising using throw ropes, carabiners, and slings to devise ways to unpin boats, notably the Z-drag pulley system. Subsequently, we headed back to Mile End Mill for some more swimming, throwlining, and rescuing practice, with frequent breaks to head into the café and warm up as it was even colder than the previous day. We finished off by plunging down the weir and some even body-surfing the wave (I was too cold for that!), followed by a final chat before being awarded our certifications. A quick 4-hour drive back, with a stop off at McDonald’s (in true UOBCC fashion) before heading back to the club stores and then into my nice, warm bed!
I’d like to end this blog by thanking Lowri and Ian again for their delivery of the course, I learnt a lot of new and important skills and have definitely gained confidence to take canoebies on rivers in future. I will be taking on the committee role of Training & Development Officer in the coming academic year, and so organising the next set of paddlers to go on this course. Hopefully, we can continue to send another large group and get more experienced leaders qualified for the club!
Freddy
