Canoeing trip

Not a media review, but I thought that this write-up of mine about a sporting activity might be of some interest:

The most important lesson I learnt yesterday whilst canoeing was: get fit beforehand because you’ll look like a twat if you can’t zip up your wetsuit and you really do notice your weight when you’re trying to clamber around inside a little boat that’s rocking about unsteadily on the waves.

Oh and your muscles will f***king hurt the next day, so stock up on ibuprofen!!!

I went for this water-based adventure with my girlfriend’s female doctor friend (who I’m also fairly good friends with) and two 17 year olds who this doctor friend is acquainted with, I think through one of their parents. The teens wanted to do the canoeing for their DoE award, whereas I was there mainly for fun and the experience of being there (and research for writing, I think I have a story with some canoeing in it). They were a nice pair of kids and not too “teenager-ish”; although the girl got a bit squeaky in the afternoon. We all got on though and seemed to bond under the physical duress of the whole day, which was good.

Oh and I found out that a canoe (the long thin ones you slide into and row about in using a Darth Maul style double-ended paddle) isn’t a canoe, it’s a kayak. I also found out that my claustrophobia doesn’t like kayaks so I had to bail out of mine before I even went out onto the water. Fortunately for me the other type of boat we were there to try out was a larger and more open Canadian canoe (which I’ve used briefly before many years ago) which you manoeuvre about in using just a single-ended paddle. These are apparently harder to use and was meant to constitute the latter part of the day, but the instructor was impressed at how much of an affinity I seemed to have with it and recommended I seriously consider taking it up in the future. Maybe it’s my Canadian heritage that enabled me to master the canoe better: it’s in my blood, baby!!

Stupidly I didn’t pack any snacks as I was so worried about everything else that I had to take it just didn’t seem like a priority. I was relieved, therefore, that Pringles were in abundance and I accepted a few generous potato-based donations from the rest of the group. So there’s another lesson: pack loads of junk food!!

The weather for the day was a mixed bag. I was warm enough with the clothing I’d taken but I had to borrow some gloves from the instructor as when the rain and hail came my hands started to freeze up and I just didn’t feel safe paddling until they’d warmed up. The wind came and went in random bursts which really affected the ease of paddling on the lake. The canoe I was in was more prone to being pushed about and dominated by gales than the smaller, more compact and sleeker kayaks and so at one point when we were far out on the other side of the lake the instructor had to guide me back to shore with his kayak as I just couldn’t navigate the canoe effectively under such extreme weather conditions. It was nice when the sun came out intermittently and warmed us all up; I think it’ll be a nicer experience later on in the year when the weather is more consistent.

I was right in the end about the timetable for the day being too long. I’d have enjoyed just a morning/afternoon session, but a 9-5 training course was a bit much. I gave up an hour early as my too-small-for-me wetsuit was digging into my shoulders and causing a lot of pain, plus my energy levels had dropped to the point where I just didn’t care anymore. This turned out to be a wise move as I missed the “getting out of the canoe/kayak in the middle of the lake and swimming it back to shore” exercise which created some very unhappy and wet students.

By the end of the day the instructor still gave me a certificate as, even though I refused to get into the kayak (it wasn’t a hissy fit, just a mini panic attack) and missed the dreaded sea-evacuation exercise, he felt I was competent enough to take the award. Yay!!

I’m now looking into local watersports centres which are quite in abundance in Yorkshire. There’s one at the Rother Valley lake (a place I’ve visited before for a walk) and it looks as though a 90 minute Canadian canoe rental is about £12, so maybe I can try and make a fortnightly/monthly excursion out to there.

Who knows…