2011 01 newsletter

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Volume 35 Issue 1 ~ January 2011

Newsletter F

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

Happy New Year

See P6 for report and a cunning plan!

See P10 for more about the new fleet, and how to get involved.

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FCC ‘THROWLINE ’ CLUB MAGAZINE

COPY DATE FOR THE NEXT ISSUE 27th January Please send items for next Newsletter by email to [email protected]

THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

President

Graham Warnecke

Vice Presidents

Richard and Jane Arney

Jim and Catharine Croft

Chairman

Andy Bell

Vice Chairman

Rich Carter

Treasurer

John Kent

Secretary

Pam Dixon

16 Blagdon Walk, Frome, BA11 2YH

Committee Members

Howard Charlesworth

Alun Jones

Gareth McGiveron

Julie Middleton

Alex Nicol

Martin Spurling

Sara Withall

CONTENTS

Page

Committee details/Contents 2

Calendar in brief 3

Calendar in detail - River Exe 4

Calendar in detail - Upper 4

Calendar in detail - Surfing 5

Calendar in detail - River Barle 5

Calendar in detail - River Usk 6

Pool sessions 7

Monthly sessions 8

Social 9

AGM 9

Slalom 10/11

Committee stuff - boat store 12

AGM Agenda 13

About the AGM 14/15

A problem to solve 16/17

Bits and Pieces 18/19

Cartoon Corner 20

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Calendar 2011

Date Event Standard Contact

January

7 NO POOL SESSION All Pam D

14 Pool sessions START again All Pam D

16 River Exe 1 Star + Rich

16 Upper Dart 3 Star ++

22 Club Social All Pam D

26 DVD Wednesday All Pam D

30 Sunday Morning Paddle All Rich C

30 Surfing trip Bomb-proof roll is essential

Tim C

February

9 Annual General Meeting All Pam D

13 River Barle 2 Star + Rich C


27 Sunday Morning Paddle All Rich C

27 River Usk 2 Star + John K

March

13 River Frome 1 Star Alun J

27 COME and TRY IT - Slalom Sunday Morning Paddle

All John K Rich C



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Calendar in detail - river trips

Upper Dart Sunday 16th January Meet at the Clubhouse, 8.am Cost £13 Sharks !…….About the only hazard you won’t find on the Upper Dart …………

If however, you fancy getting to grips with the Mad Mile, Euthanasia Falls, Pandora’s Box, Surprise Sur-prise, not to mention various steep rapids and ‘flumes’, multiple drops and boulder gardens, then the Upper Dart could be for you.

Classed as continuous Grade 3 to 5 depending on what guide book you are reading, it does depend on the recent rainfall, of course.

You need to have checked with Rich or Arthur before going on this trip - it’s a river not to be taken lightly.


Manoeuvre of the Month

Jack in our new surf kayak.

Well Jack, you can’t get any more Coppernose

clip points paddling here!

River Exe Sunday 16th January Meet at the Clubhouse, 8am Cost £10 Organiser - Rich Carter The river Exe is the one we paddled at the Tiverton weekend.

Generally a Grade 2 but the weirs make it more interesting. Bolham is the first and when water levels are right, it makes a good play spot. Then Salmon Ponds weir with hole below and onto the Town Weir where, if you are not careful the wall grabs you! Not far till the next town weir - good for surfing and then on for two or three miles to Broken Weir and finally Bickleigh Weir.

A beautiful river with its stunning wild life, but it can be freezing in January so bring plenty of food, thermals and warm drinks.

For those of you who do grade 4s in your sleep, there is an alternate pad-dle today: the Upper Dart.

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Calendar in detail - trips


Surfing Sunday 30th January Meet at the Clubhouse, 8.am Cost £13 Organiser - Howard Surfing in January - when the waves are the best! Well that’s the rumour that Howard is putting around.

This trip is not for the feint hearted or beginners. As Tim puts it “A bullet proof roll is essential.” People need to be able to look after themselves, so it’s not a trip for beginners.

The exact location will be decided on the day but we normally head to North Devon and the sandy beeches of Croyde or Saunton.

If, however, the surf report is not good for today, you can always re-group and join the Sunday morning paddle, which is tame in compari-son, but at least you get to paddle....

The River Barle 13th February Meet at the Clubhouse, 8am Cost £13 Organiser - Rich Carter

A beautiful river on Exmoor. We get in at the famous Tarr Steps and pad-dle the 7 miles to Dulverton, down-hill all the way!

Likened to an alpine river with its clear water and gorge section, it has rapids and play spots all the way down.

The weir near the end catches out the unsuspecting, but with good guidance from the leaders it is easy really!

A lovely paddle to be sure, but you will need to bring plenty of warm clothing and a good lunch. It is often cold when we do this river!

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Frozen winds from the arctic, shed-loads of snow and sub-zero

day time temperatures have taken their toll on our last two river trips Both the Tavy and the Dart trips were cancelled.

To be fair the Tavy was cancelled because of lack of water. We got this intelligence just before our scheduled trip, from Tim and Hazel who had escaped with little Megan for a few days on Dartmoor “There is no water in the river’ they said. ’It will be a bump and scrape!’

But it was the snow and ice that stopped the Dart trip.

We do have a cunning plan though, for re-instating the Dart trip, with it’s three levels of ability.

On 16th

January we already have an Upper trip in the calendar and on that day we also have an Exe trip. Well the plan is to change the Exe to the Dart and this way we can do the Lower, Loop and the Upper. Who’s game? So the all important question is:

WILL THE EXE BECOME THE DART on the 16

th January?

Calendar in detail - river trips

River Usk 27th February Meet at the Clubhouse, 8am Cost £13 Organiser - John Kent

The River Usk is in South Wales. The stretch we will most likely paddle this time is from Talybont to Gliffaes.

From Talybont after a flat start we en-counter two grade 3 rapids at Mill Fall and Spuhler's Folley, although in nor-mal water conditions there are clear routes down the left side of the river. In between are rapids above and below Llanginidr Bridge.

If the river is high we can do the stretch from Sennybridge to Aberbran which we did in low water back in Oc-tober, although as always, in high wa-ter you have to be more alert. The rapids are straight forward and are a reasonably continuous grade 2. The hardest sections are encountered early in the trip: with three successive rock ledges, the last being the highest but can be oortaged.

Both stretches are around 6 miles in length. Remember to wear warm clothes and to bring food and drink.

Ed: for those of you wanting a more gentle paddle, there is a Sunday morning session at the clubhouse today!


A cunning plan?

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Calendar in detail - weekly sessions

Pool Sessions - restart after the break on

Friday 14th January 8-9pm Frome Sports Centre

£2.50 youth £3 adults

Turn up at 7.45 to the foyer of Frome Sports Centre to choose your paddling slot.

There will be three sessions and you choose which session you would like to paddle in:

8 - 8.20pm Orange bands 8.20 - 8.40pm Blue bands 8.40 - 9pm Green bands

If you bring your kayak, make sure it is clean and slug free!

Remember: the instructor (in a green t shirt) is there for advice about how to improve your paddling skills. Just go up to him and say you are new/don’t know how to do a capsize (or anything) and he will help you. Or tell the super-visor (yellow t-shirt) that you want some help and he will arrange it with the instructor for you.


Remember - POOL SESSIONS ARE FOR KAYAKING So the repeated and deliberate sinking of boats

is not encouraged.

Apart from anything else, it puts people’s backs at risk when they empty the boats. Flooded boats are very heavy.

Please use the sessions for kayaking and be prepared to finish your session early if your boat is flooded, to give you time to empty it.

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Calendar in detail - monthly sessions

Monthly Morning Paddle On Sundays 30th January is the next one

At the Clubhouse, 10am-noon Cost £2

Once a month, on the last Sunday, we meet at the clubhouse for a morning paddle.

You can blast through the poles or take it easy! We don’t mind. Every-one is welcome.

Last session - Boxing day saw three open boats get on and no kayaks. Why? I hear you ask. Well take a look at the back page!

Monthly DVDs On Wednesdays 26th January is the next one At the Clubhouse 7pm.

Once a month, on the last Wednes-day, we will meet at the Clubhouse for a DVD night.

In January we will watch the newly released, Means Of Production 2. We saw the first one last year and liked it so much we sent for the second one.

It recounts the adventures of a group of paddlers in their exploration of the familiar creeks of Norway and Cor-sica, and the lesser known white wa-ter of Iceland and Thailand.

With its healthy dose of Brit irony, it invites you to sit back with a cup of tea, to a long awaited, low budget, cataclysm of kayaking and comedy!

Tea, coffee etc available from 7pm.


A Date For Your Diary 27th March

Come and Try It - Slalom

March’s Sunday session will be an opportunity for you to try out the new slalom boats that we have acquired. Help will be on tap so that you can get in the boat that best fits you and all your slalom questions can be answered too!

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Calendar in detail - Two annual events


The Annual Social and Prize giving

22nd January 2011, 7.00pm till 10.30pm Trinity Hall, Frome (BA11 3DE)

£5 adults, £3 youth members

This event is strictly social and informal. We invite members and their

families to join in our evening of fun and entertainment.

There is no paddling involved unless you count all the dvds we watch!

A complimentary drink on arrival and then the buffet is served at 7.30pm.

Later in the evening we have the prize giving ceremony where we give out

our annual awards in recognition of the significant achievements

our members have made during 2010 .

If you haven’t already let Pam know, please email her to say that

you would like to come.

Annual General Meeting - 9th February

YOUR CHANCE TO HAVE YOUR SAY! CHECK IT OUT: what has the committee been doing for YOU!

Talk to us about your aspirations for the club!

The AGM is your chance hear what the com-mittee has been doing for you in 2010. It is also your chance to have your say Tell us about the good and the bad. And of course, the new committee gets elected, so if you want to have some say in who is going to steer the club forward, then do come along.

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Reports - Slalom things


Just how many men does it take to change a .. sorry! fit a foot-rest?....

Testing, testing ... Yes! Perfect.

What about this? Killer kayak eats children?

Testing, testing ... Just a bit tight I’d say.

The arrival was only the beginning. Then the fun and games started!

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Reports - Slalom things


“Where have you all been?” asks slalom club coach Andrew Lyall.

Andrew trains every Sunday morning at Market Yard. He knows how easy it is to let fitness levels drop over the winter. “You need to keep at it” he says, and so every Sunday morning, come rain or snow, he is out there on the River Frome training.

Says Andrew “It’s only 9 weeks till the new slalom season starts. This is the time that you need to be on the wa-ter and getting fit. After all you don’t

If you’re not quite up to training in sub zero temperatures, but do

want to get involved in slalom, there are other things you can do.

want to be at your first slalom feeling exhausted at gate 7 do you?” And Andrew knows that feeling all too well, by all accounts!

Ed: Gate 7? Feeling exhausted? You’d be lucky! Some of us only get to Gate 4 before the muscles are screaming, the lungs are coming out and the brain says ‘What AM I doing here?’

If you would like to train on a Sunday morning with Andrew, phone 01373 302472 to let him know and to make arrangements.

COME and TRY IT Session

27th March. Come and try out slalom at a session on 27th March. And of course feel free to have a go in one of the new boats!

Beginners - this is good chance for you to have a go! You can paddle in your favourite boat and just have a go at paddling round the course. There will be plenty of people there to help you, and show you what it’s all about.

Old hands - Why not get in one of the new boats and see the differ-ence a ‘modern’ boat makes! Will

it shave off those extra seconds and give you a winning performance....?

Training Regular weekly training starts in

April when our Wednesday sessions start. More about that in next news-letter.

Sunday Sessions Remember: on the last Sunday

of every month we have a club ses-sion. Everyone is welcome. Come and get some extra slalom practice before the Wednesday club sessions start.

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Committee news


Plans get approval!

MDC approved the plans drawn up by Andy Bell to double our current storage space.

Andy’s ingenious plan is to move the existing container towards the river, then put a second, larger container between this existing one and the build-ing. In doing so, he will create a passageway between the containers and the building.

Both containers will be clad and roofed, and the roof and cladding will continue over the ‘passageway’ making another safe space for storage. By the time it is finished you will not know that it is just basically two metal containers and a passageway, until you open the doors!

Andy who has masterminded the whole thing, drawing up the plans and submitting the planning application said “The start date for the project has not been determined yet, but we are keen to get going as soon as possible.”

Small container gets moved to the left a bit.

New large container here.

Passageway here, gets blocked in.

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ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING, 2011 Wednesday 9h February 2011, 7.30pm

At the Clubhouse, Market Yard, Frome,

Refreshments from 7pm

AGENDA

1. Apologies

2. Minutes of the 2010 AGM

3. Matters arising from the minutes

4. Reports relating to the year 2010:

Chairman’s report

Treasurer’s report

Secretary’s report

5. President and Vice Presidents remain unchanged

6. Election of 2011 club officials:

Chairman

Vice-chairman

Secretary

Treasurer

7. Election of 2011 committee

8. Ratification of Head coach

9. Any other business

The AGM - agenda

Minutes for last year’s meeting can be downloaded from the web site.

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The Annual General Meeting


If you feel that you have something to offer the club and would like to share in forging the direction we go, consider standing for the committee. These pages give you an idea of what’s in store!

The committee consists of 12 people: Chairman, Vice Chairman, Treasurer, Secretary and 8 other members

To give you a flavour of what committee members do - here are a few ‘job de-scriptions’. (Current post-holders are in brackets)

Chairman (Andy Bell) Provides leadership to the club, giving a steer and direction. He or she chairs the meetings and has general oversight of the whole club, making sure that the organisation works effectively and that that we comply with BCU requirements.

Vice Chairman (Rich Carter) Works with the Chairman to give steer and direction. A complementary relationship between the vice chairman and chairman is important.

Treasurer (John Kent) Keeps the accounts and balances the books, reining in over-spend and generally advising the committee to be prudent!

Secretary (Pam Dixon) Does all the general admin – minutes and agendas, letters, courses, club sessions and so on.

The committee meets once a month and in the first meeting, various jobs get dished out:

Youth (Alex Nicol and Julie Middleton) Speaks up for Youth members. Represents their views when we are planning courses,

calendar, well everything really!

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The Annual General Meeting continued


Kit Officer (Hazel and Tim Cottle until Megan came along!) Keeps the inventory and has oversight of the kit from a

safety point of view. Checks we have the right things at critical times of the year Orders new kit, seeking the very best discounts.

Market Yard Site (Rich Carter) Keeps a watchful eye on the buildings. Brings to the attention of the committee any major

tasks that need doing.

Langham Farm Site (Andy Bell) Keeps a watchful eye on the site and liaises with Rich and

Jane Arney. Brings to the attention of the committee any major tasks

that need doing.

Volunteer Coordinator (Julie Middleton) Liaises with members and keeps tabs on all us volunteers. Welcomes newcomers to the club and checks they have all

the information they need.

Would you like to get involved? If yes, the next thing to do is . .

Speak to anyone on the committee between now and the AGM.

Ask for more details about what it involves.

Let us know that you are interested in becoming involved

Whether you want to get involved or not, please take some time to think

about who you would like to be on this year’s committee and come to

the meeting to vote for the people who you think will look after the club.

The nomination form included with this Newsletter can also be found on the website. We need either paper or electronic nominations for Chairman, Vice Chair, Treasurer and Secretary back to Pam by 26th January.

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A problem to solve


It’s a dark and dismal day in the Roy gorge and our illustrious Head

Coach and leader has a problem. His normal elite paddling team has

been on a bender the night before, Danny (Lager), Sam (Guinness),

Jack (Alcopops) and Alex (Pepsi), and are all too hung-over to move.

In sheer desperation Rich calls on his reserve team for the trip, Neil

(enthusiastic but habitual lunch stopper), Arthur

(over ambitious understudy trying to recapture

his lost hair youth), Tim (alleged paddler but

never seen on moving water out of a jacuzzi ) and

Andy V (old school paddler with serious inversion

problems).

Things are going quite well (albeit rather slowly with far too many

lunch stops) when a storm breaks and the team has an epic with pad-

dles, people and boats scattering all over the place. Rich leaps into

hero mode and manages to drag everybody out of the water and sal-

vage one open boat and two paddles.

Unfortunately they are on the wrong

side of the river to climb out of the

gorge and the dam at the top is due to

release very soon. This will fill the

gorge with a wild torrent that will

sweep them all into the shark infested

waters of the Atlantic Ocean and then

perhaps north to the Arctic Sea. So

they need to get out of the gorge as

soon as possible.

Rich has 2 problems, the first is that he is the only person able to

command such a vessel but is too tired after his rescue exertions to

actually paddle, the second is the boat is only able to take 3 passen-

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Problem solving


gers (one of whom must be Rich in command). Though the boat can be

paddled fairly easily by any one or two of the team with their quick-

est crossing times as follows:

Neil 1 minute (plus lunch break)

Arthur 2 minutes (including 1½ minutes to get ready)

Tim 5 minutes (if he can remember how)

Andy V 10 minutes (normally including 3 capsizes)

When two guys are paddling together they can only go as fast as the

slower paddler (and I use this term loosely). Eg if Neil and Andy are

together the crossing takes 10 (wet) minutes.

Rich’s plan is as follows:-

Andy V and Tim go first, taking 10 minutes

Tim returns with the boat taking 5 minutes (total 15 mins)

Next Neil and Arthur go across taking 2 minutes (total 17 mins)

And Arthur returns with the boat taking 2 minutes (total 19 mins)

Finally Arthur and Tim cross over in 5 minutes, (Final total 24 mins)

But with the dam about to release at any time 24 minutes is far

too long. Is Richard and the ‘B team’ condemned to a dunk in the

freezing, shark infested waters of the

Arctic Sea never to be seen again?

Only you can help!

Re worked from an early Newsletter - thanks Pip!

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Bits and Pieces


COPPER NOSE CLIP POINTS: NEW LIST STARTS JAN 1st 20111

1 point for a capsize and roll up 2 points for a technical rescue (ie you would have swum without help) 3 points for a SWIM

HOW DOES IT WORK? Well, we add up everyone’s points over the whole year. At the end of the year, the person with the most points is awarded that very prestigious Copper Nose Clip. January 1st sees the beginning of the list for 2011.

Boxing Day Frolics

FCC goes skating! Or

was it ice breaking? Six

intrepid paddlers get

on the water to break

the ice. And the rest of

us watched.

Sam had the obligatory

throw line - just in case.

It wasn’t needed. And

then they went for a

paddle. Or rather a

crash, bang, wallop as

far as the first slalom

pole!

See back page for proof

that Stu, Mandy,

Howard, Debbie, Karl

and Miles need their

heads examined!

Hey Rich, we didn’t need to wreck Gareth’s

ignition did we? George has a spare key for

these eventualities!

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Bits and Pieces

Thank you Rich, for collecting the new slalom fleet!

Rich drove all the way to north Wales to pick the boats up in a 9 hour round trip. He was expecting it to be longer but you know Rich - once he gets going nothing stops him! 60 mph trailer speed limits. What are they?

By Pip

HOW MANY DIFFERENCES CAN YOU SPOT? To enter: name the differences and send to [email protected] First correct answer pulled out of the hat on the DVD night In January wins a box of chocs!

T Shirts Have you designed a t-shirt for the Club yet?

Remember Draw by hand or by

computer Designs can be any

size Draw them an any

piece of paper In black and white at

this stage Then use the tem-

plates (from the web-site) to show position on the t-shirt

You must have ‘Frome Canoe Club’ somewhere in your design.

Closing date is January 22nd (the Social)

Give entries to Pam at any club session or email them.

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www.frome-canoe-club.org.uk

CONTACTS

Chairman: Andy Bell 07966 203309

Vice Chair: Rich Carter 01373 864623 [email protected]

Treasurer: John Kent 01225 765168 [email protected]

Secretary: Pam Dixon 01373 473836 [email protected]

Youth Reps: Julie Middleton 07793 251341 Alex Nicol alexjamesnicol@google mail.com

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

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

CARTOON CORNER

“I made this kayak for the FCC cardboard challenge. I tell you - this kayak came first in the ‘Best Design’ category.

Of course I’m allowed to cross the channel in it ......”

Who are these crazy people? See p 18 for details.

’Scuse me, Sir! Do you have

permission for that kayak?

2011 01 newsletter

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Transcript of 2011 01 newsletter