Competition round-up

We've been to three competitions since September. Ben did well at the Mighty Nene Competition in September. Ben got through to the final of Boater X where he beat local boater Ben Stone in a very closely fought race. On Sunday Ben had a really good day, finally finishing 3rd behind James Reeves and another local paddler Chris Chapman.

















Next up was the Alpkit Challenge at HPP in October. Ben didn't quite make it to the final of the Boater X this time, but came 7th in the British Champs freestyle and 3rd in the Squirt.















Finally came the Hurley Classic in December. Ben didn't do as well as he had hoped, but his new boat looked the part!

Trent Lock surf-fest

Junior stayed with me in Nottingham last week. HPP was flooded, but we caught Trent Lock at 3.1m and 3.3m. Not quite high enough for playboats, but steep and green and ideal for surf boats. We met up with Danny from Desperate Measures, his brother and some of their mates, who kindly let Ben have a go in a couple of surf boats. Everyone had great fun, as you can see from the picture and video.

Back from the Alps ....

.... and knackered. Left Briancon yesterday mid-afternoon after a spot of lunch and some gift-shopping with Andy B and Andy F. After an interesting drive up over Col du Galibier (scene of some famous Tour de France stages) we hit the autoroute and pounded northwards through France towards Calais and home. We arrived back at Chez West to find the Fenster's car looking all pink and girlie! Needless to say he drove home with boats on top and ribbons still in place; never one to shy away from the limelight.

Anyway, a trip report will follow soon, but all in all we had a great time. Thanks to Dave for sorting out the accommodation, and to everyone for their company on and off the water.

1* and 2* training

Andy Fenney is running 1* and 2* training sessions on 15th, 22nd and 29th May 18:30-20:00 at Southwater Lake. Cost is £20 for 1* and £25 for 2*, to include assessment.
There will be further sessions in June and July if needed.

If you're interested, please reply to this Blog, reply to the thread on our bulletin board, or email fatblokesonrocks@forestcanoeclub.org.uk

Beulieu River trip - 19th May

Martin and I are going to paddle the Beulieu river on 19 May from Beulieu
dept about 11am - to the coast and back again - about 12 miles.

Martin is the contact: (01243 574269). HT is 15-20 at Lymington.

Tim Smith

FCC trip to Hurley - Saturday 7th April

Great turn out for first FCC trip to Hurley. Regulars Andy "The Probe" Brothers and Steve "Westy" West were joined by Chris, Rob, Simon, Adam, Andy F, Glyn and Alice for whitewater fun and adventure. The sun shone, the wave train was playful, and Hurley blessed us with three gates. Perfect. A good time was had by all.

Dart Trip

A quick post to say the Dart trip was a great success and pictures and maybe a video will be posted soon.

Hello from Westy Sr

This is my first post to the new FCC Blog. This is a great way for selected members of the club to post up news and trip reports, ensuring that news and important messages, as well as tales of FCC escapades, are available to all easily and quickly.

I know Ben has got more plans for the website, but a BIG THANK-YOU to him for updating it over the last few months and creating this Blog for us to use. Good work, fella!

Pool Session 11th March

The next pool session on the 11th of March will be cancelled.
Will post soon about more dates.

Chertsey

Chertsey Trip
30th September 2006
On Saturday 30th September saw our club trip to Chertsey, arriving at 1pm for a 1-30pm launch we were really looking forward to our first trip with the club and our first river trip.
Launch under way, me (Andy, Stacey my daughter and Keith my friend) were on the river Thames paddling up stream with Steve West, Dave Campbell and about 7-8 other people, Ben and a few others had gone straight to Chertsey weir where we would all meet up later.
We started to paddle upstream for about half an hour. When we were paddling back me, Stacey, Keith and Steve played the numbers game, the person at the front had to shout out 1, 2, 3 or 4. One meant you had to paddle forwards, two meant you had to paddle backwards, three meant you had to paddle sideways using the skull and draw, and four meant the person at the back had to switch to the front and shout out the different numbers.
When we had been up and down the river we came back down to the weir, where we had to go down a slope to get to the open water where the pour over was.
We started to do some edging across the water, and practised our strokes so we could get used to doing them in moving water, this was a great confidence builder.
I decided I would like to have a play in the pour over in my kayak a few words of guidance from Ben and in I went, have a look at the video clip for the result, this was my highlight of Chertsey.
Nearly everybody had a go in the pour over. Me, Dave Campbell and Keith slid down the pour over which took us into the fast moving water that took us under and resurfaced 10-15ft away from where we went in, what an experience!


All in all it was a great day at Chertsey and all three of us can’t wait to go there again.
A very big thank you to Steve West, Dave Campbell and Ben West for looking after us, and a big thank you to all the other paddlers in the group you made us feel very welcome.



Report by Andy Brothers, Stacey Brothers and Keith Paddock

New Blog

Hi everyone this is the new fcc blogspot. This should make it easier news and reports to be posted on the internet. Will post more soon.