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Newsletter115
Spring 2007 / 01
Web: www.marlowcanoeclub.org.uk Email: j.k.norris@btinternet.com
Marlow Canoe Club NewsletterPage 1Spring 2007 / 01
EDITORS PIECE
Those who were at the AGM will haveheard that me ol' man decided to cashin his chips that same day. My thanksto all those who have expressed theircondolences over these past fewweeks, which have been a bit hectic tosay the least. So the newsletter is alittle later than originally planned. At the AGM it appears we acquired afew new committee members, more onthese people later as well as a shortreport detailing the awards etc.This Winter has been high and fastwater all through and I can only think of one upstream trip to Temple.Naturally, I was there first - I justneeded twice as long as everybody elseto recover. All other trips have beendownstream either from 'Flowerpots' orto Maidenhead. Needless to say thesecurrent assisted trips have allowedfaster speeds than usual and on oneoccasion I got the Inazone to just over10mph.Inside we can enjoy a report on thecanoeing part of a Trek America trip byChris Porteous, and a trip around theGreek Islands from Jane. There's acouple of nasty incidents that so easilycould have been much worse and moreto boot.
WHAT’S IN THIS ISSUE
Editor’s Piece 1 An Incident on the Thames2The Christmas Party3Swimmerollathon!4Canadian Rockies5 Another Incident7Sea kayak - Milos 20068Newsletter Submissions10Sea Kayaking10New Equipment Officer11Sunglasses11Fancy being an Olympian12 AGM report & annual awards13Last years' recruits13Competition14Whose boat is it anyway?14Marsport open day14Events / Diary.19Contacts etc.20
"Even at the very bottom of the river, I didn't think to myself,`is this a hearty joke or the merest accident'.I just thought, `it's wet'."
Eeyore 
 
Marlow Canoe Club NewsletterPage 2Spring 2007 / 05
Perhaps most importantly I received acomplaint from one of our contributorsconcerning the article he posted to me,and how it appeared in the newsletter.I hope my explanations weresatisfactory, but please see my littlepiece on editing items so that nocontributor is left wondering just how Iapproach my editorial duties.The next issue should be out aroundmid - late June and I can accept piecesas of now.
 AN INCIDENT ON THETHAMES.
Word had gone out by way of the YAHOO group that AC was the D.O. for14
th
Jan., and as we had done a coupleof trips from points upstream of theclub a change was called for.Maidenhead was the chosen destinationand shuttling of cars etc. wascompleted by 10:30.I felt the need to remind members of the ‘no seal launching in club boats’ rule, but with the water near lappingthe river door my attempt at humourwas lost on those in club boats.We gingerly made our way on to thewater, the level being sufficiently highthat there was no respite from thecurrent close to the bank.During the 1* courses we take time topoint out a few hazards on the riverand include the benign looking willowtree just yards downstream from theclub. We point out the hazards etc.,and why they are known as ‘strainers’ but on a balmy summers day the realityof winter is a long way away.We had not gone very far whendisaster struck and the tree had its firstvictim for quite a while. One of our no.had found herself in the tree and hadheld on to a branch, releasing herpaddle in the process. The currentturned the boat and tried to push itaway and the situation turned from a joke to a serious incident. Our normallyebullient member was genuinelyscared.Help was at hand, but not from thesource I was expecting. Our L3C heldstation just a little way from the treeand I paddled back up and around toshelter inside of the tree on thesubmerged steps of the adjacentproperty. I was prepared to use thethrowline, but maybe this was not agood idea in the confines of a willow.Meanwhile Kelvin manoeuvred his opento just alongside our stricken member.Kelvin, braced against some sturdybranches, encouraged our endangeredpaddler to hold onto his boat and let goof the tree. This resulted in the kayak returning to an upright position. Robpaddled up with the lost paddle andhanded it over. Carefully reversing outof the strainer our stricken memberfollowed him to a safe location.Problem over. Or so you would havethought. As soon as the kayak wasfree there was nothing supporting thedownstream side of Kelvin’s boat andhe soon found himself in a similarsituation.Now Kelvin is a small bloke and anyopen looks large on him. With thedexterity of a circus acrobat Kelvinmanoeuvred himself in and around hisboat to affect a release from the tree.Our L3C had held his stationthroughout the incident but ultimatelywas not called upon this time. Fromstart to finish had been no more thanperhaps 4mins. but it served to amplify Andy Maxteds’ warnings the previousweekend concerning the availability of L3C’s on non peer group paddles.We portaged the lock and Adrian took the opportunity to talk to the group andreinforce a few safety points (lookingahead, being aware etc.) and maybe afew techniques helpful in avoiding such
 
Marlow Canoe Club NewsletterPage 3Spring 2007 / 05
situations in the future should we comeclose to a tree. A reverse ferry glide was considered tobe the most appropriate action as thiscould give you time to think about thesituation as well as allowing you toextricate yourself from the impendingproblem. Draw strokes, it wasexplained, were unlikely to pull youclear of the tree, especially one of thissize. A paddle down around the end of the island provided a safe opportunityto practice the reverse ferry stroke inrelative safety.The lesson was to paddle toward the ‘danger’ sign and then use the reverseferry to manoeuvre away from the sign.I’ve got a feel for this stroke and couldeasily get to within a metre or two of the post and pull away to either sidequite safely, but although we had donea conventional ferry glide practice a fewweeks before with varying degrees of success the reverse concept threwmany into confusion. Clearly somethingto work on during the next summerWye trip, JP explains this very well.We continued downstream, the currentgiving us a fast pace and we arrived at ‘The Ferry’ (Cookham) for coffee. Anunscheduled stop meant many hadbought insufficient funds but Guy cameto the rescue of the pecuniaryembarrassed.Whilst enjoying our coffee some DWer’sset off for a practice. For wobbly boatsthis is a bit of a nightmare. From theFerry, the route is straight ahead to thelock cut. But the prevailing currentcomes in from the left as it exitsCookham Weir and leaves river right onits way to the next weir. In theseconditions the flow was very noticeable.The DWers nearly lost it but a superbtandem support stroke caught it just intime and they continued on their way,though possibly a little lighter.Coffee over we too headed for the lock and portaged it. Cookham lock is a biglock but even so, the downstream sidewas flooded. This gave the opportunityto seal launch down the grass bank forsome, the water being deep enough toavoid grounding on the walkway.Others just got wet. We continued toMaidenhead, enjoying a very faststretch where the weir stream rejoinsthe river just below the lock. Theweather had been fine throughout andan enjoyable paddle came to an endaround 1:40, a shame, as dinner wason the table for 1:30.John Norris15/01/07
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The Committee retains a Social Secretary with a view to organising a few 'off the water' activities when conditions are such that many of the newer members might feel left out. Amongst those to hold this post in the past are Gary Board, myself, and Debs Hardy. Slowly the post has evolved bit by bit, but something has changed this year. Maybe it's Melinda's gregarious nature, or maybe the club's changed direction a little. Whatever it is, the Social Secretary role has changed for the better. Here's a piece on her latest success.
THE CHRISTMAS PARTY 
The Christmas party, normally a fairlynotorious event in any organisationscalendar, full of embarrassing momentsand stories that circulate for years. Ihave a bit of a habit of jumping intothings without thinking it through, soafter volunteering to write this article, Idid begin to wonder what I would beletting myself in for!Thankfully it turned out to be a verywell organised and civilised affair.
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