Archive for category: News

Dave Hill reflects on a recent White Water Safety and Rescue course

When the WWSR course was mentioned to me it conjured up images of the days when I’ll be using ropes and pulleys to pull a pinned boat off a rock on a class 5 rapid someplace exotic. In reality, that may never happen but they are great skills to have in the bank just in case. Let’s face it, I’m a weekend warriors and I mostly paddle grade 3/3+…and that’s only if the rivers are running.

The takeaway points for me are the basic principles, the foundations and best practices for safe paddling… the acronym CLAP

Communication – Before you ‘put in’, get the group together and remind each other of river signals. Establish the experience and ability of each group member and establish the River Leader and support paddlers. It might be useful to discuss the characteristics of the river and make sure the ‘take out’ is known. Remember the order of importance if it goes wrong: self, team, swimmer then equipment.

Line of sight – Make sure you can see the river ahead and be sure the group doesn’t get too spread out. If you do spread out, make sure you can see the paddlers ahead and behind you. Don’t go beyond the point of no return when approaching a big feature and have at least two attainable eddies in hand. Remember the order of importance if it goes wrong: self, team, swimmer then equipment.

Avoidance – It’s better than a cure. Don’t push too hard as a group if individuals don’t want to; there’s nothing wrong with walking around a rapid. When eddy-hopping, pick eddies that everyone will be able to get or at least have some other options. Use an eddy-hopping system that allows everyone to pick their own lines if they wish. Consider buddying up a strong support paddler with a weaker paddler to take a more systematic approach to running rapids. Remember the order of importance if it goes wrong: self, team, swimmer then equipment.

Position of best use – When considering where to set a safety position, cover the highest risk by considering the problems that are most likely to occur, rather than the most dangerous hazard. If there’s a big stopper in the lead-in rapid to a waterfall drop, it may be better to set up in the eddy below the stopper as opposed to an eddy below the waterfall drop. Remember the order of importance if it goes wrong: self, team, swimmer then equipment.

Subsidies are available to eligible club members for many training courses – for more information see www.regentscanoeclub.co.uk/training/

Hannis Whittam describes two sunny, wet, windy, warm and cold weekends in North Wales where he attended a Level 1 Coaching Course with Ty Nant Outdoors.

The Course was led by Andy Turton and he was assisted by Trys Burke. The course covered a variety of things, some of which were new to me, some of which were not. What I found particularly helpful was the time spent discussing different coaching and learning styles.

Ian White and I did the sessions at Snowdonia Watersports Centre just outside Llanberis. It was a good venue with a warm classroom just next to the lake. We had loads of different paddle craft to try out, including the duo that there’s a video of me messing about in with one of the other students here. (That’s pretty much the sum total of all the paddling we actually did in it!)

I enjoyed the course, although I was surprised to discover I was absolutely exhausted at the end of the final day! Generally I thought the course was pretty well run, Trys and Andy contributed different things and it was great to have a balance.

For anyone thinking of doing their Level 1: there’s a reasonable amount of homework required between the days! It’s worth bearing in mind if you’ve got lots planned. There’s a workbook to complete and lessons to plan. Also, make sure you get your CR form sorted out early – it’s a real pain if you don’t!

The remit of Level 1 is relatively small, but it’s an essential stepping stone on the coaching ladder and a useful first step. I think the course helps you learn about how to teach, and how to structure sessions. Speaking of stepping stones it’s probably worth mentioning that the Level 2 coach award is due for a shake-up soon. The changes will be formally announced in July and come into play next year. I won’t attempt to outline the changes here for fear of making a mistake, but it’s certainly something to look out for!

From chatting to the coaches about this I think the logical next step for me is likely to be Paddlesports Leader before looking to do a whitewater kayak specific Level 2 (when the new system appears).

Steffi went for her Moderate Water Endorsement training and encountered giraffes, gorillas and mice.

Who would have thought that coaching white water skills can be a matter of story telling and visual/mental pictures. The level 2 coaching seemed to have been a burden of paperwork, sprucing up on technical knowledge and passing on that knowledge to keen learners. Whilst we started off in the Getafix HQ ‘classroom’ – a cosy living room area with bean bags and a log fire. Our group of four ‘wanna be coaches’ didn’t spend hours going through the BC handbook, completing notes and preparing session plans, we soon packed our bags to get ready to go on the river.

Bear in mind… On average, people remember 3 points +/- 2 points. Bring in nerves and adrenaline, the reality is that most people can only manage 1 point. So….some of the key points I took away from the training was:

• Get planning before hitting the water – have a think about the river and its features and think about how these river features could be used to facilitate learning
• Create themes
• Reduce talking about theory and find ways to get students to learn by feeling

To put this into context, on my journey to learning how to coach students on moving water, I encountered the mental picture of Easy Jet to introduce edging/breaking in and out of eddies. Visualise this:

Easy Jet being a cheap airline, they always take off facing the ‘wrong’ (upstream) way. So, the plane accelerates (over the eddie line) and takes off. The first thing the plane then does is turn around to face the right direction = breaking into/turning into or out of the flow/eddie. Let’s practice:

1. Arms out to the side and pretend to be that turning airplane (= introduce edging)
2. Start paddling (accelerate) and use that image of turning the airplane to turn the boat (= introduce edging on the move)
3. On the next go, get students to point at their parked car (inside turn hand) = introduces holding the edge
4. On the next go, get students to point at their parked car with the opposite hand = encourages further body rotation
5. On the next go, get students to point at the distance (the eddie) = introduces positioning and angling the boat
6. On the next go show students a number indicating how many strokes they are ‘allowed’ to get into the eddie

And here is where I met giraffes, gorillas and mice.
4 strokes = paddling like a gorilla (power strokes)
6 strokes = paddle like a giraffe (effective, smooth strokes)
10 strokes = paddle like a mouse (accelerate)

On the second day of training, we continued this theme of gorilla, giraffe and mouse on the different rapids of the Dee. It might sound insane, but try this! We ran the bottom rapid at Mile End Mill. We checked and planned our lines and went for it. Feedback was given using this theme and the second run – top bit, more mouse; second bit, more giraffe; third bit more mouse. Job done. Smooth!! Somehow I knew exactly what was expected and how much power to apply. No worries about where to look, what to do, which way to edge etc etc… A simple way to break down and feel your way down the river with a visual image that is easy to transfer to the river features.

On Sunday 9th April I took part in a ‘Coaching Matters’ course at the Sea Cadets base in the Royal Albert docks in East London, opposite City Airport on the North side of the dock. It was organised by Sam Saunders, Regional Coaching Representative. To see about the course and to see what RCRs do see www.britishcanoeing.org.uk

Russell Smith gave an up-beat talk in a classroom on recent developments in British Canoeing (BC) that are designed to help paddlers at all levels. He is newly appointed to the BC post of Area Development Officer – South East and has loads of experience of organising and delivering paddle coaching, which he is keen to share. This includes many years managing the Teeside International White Water Centre.

Russell will be contacting clubs to ask how he can help them, especially ones that include and develop young people of all abilities; and clubs are welcome to contact him for help on [email protected] and you can read Russell’s presentation on Coaching Matters here. It mentions ‘CR’ forms. These refer to Central Registration for courses. Russell mentioned many BC initiatives e.g. the ‘How to’ videos on YouTube and on the BC web site e.g. search for ‘British canoeing YouTube how to video 2 star.’ Another improvement is that the open hours of the BC office have been extended. Some weekend cover may also be provided at some future date.

For the morning session I chose a wet session – Stand Up Paddling as I’ve never tried this before. See the photo. I’m the one with the light-coloured cap. For the afternoon session I joined the wet group practising rescue techniques in a variety of different boats. The other afternoon group was mainly shore-based. I am told they “looked at observation and analysis of paddlers, using flags and markers to deduce faults in performance, and looked at holistic, deductive and analytical levels of observation!”

It was a glorious, hot sunny day, perfect for having fun getting wet, but instead I concentrated on not falling in. What a daft thing to do. I would have got much more practical skills out of the course if I’d been more adventurous. That’s my aim for the next time.  Carpe diem

The coaching staff were so helpful before, during and after the course and I was able to hire centre boats/boards and kit for a nominal £5. This freed me up to travel by fast public transport from my home In West London to Docklands.

Thomas Beaumont