Can you help out with the running of the Maidstone Marathon 19th May at the club
The theme of this month’s pool session is “bracing”, i.e. how to stay upright in your kayak. It’s therefore completely inappropriate to note that it will be exactly 38 years since the release of the original Top Gun movie and its iconic soundtrack featuring Berlin - Take My Breath Away. Having no breath is absolutely the last thing you want when your brace has failed and you’re upside down in a kayak.
This Thursday marks 22 years since the death of Thor Heyerdahl, Norwegian adventurer & ethnographer. His book “Voyage of the Kon-Tiki” was probably the first real-life adventure book I read, and his sheer lunacy and bloody-minded perseverance was an inspiration to an impressionable schoolboy. For those not familiar, he built himself a raft of balsa wood and sailed solo across the Pacific to prove his fringe academic theory - that ancient South Americans populated remote Pacific islands - was possible. Not content with that, he then sailed from Africa to Barbados in a boat made from papyrus.
In case anyone else is inspired by the magnificent Thor Heyerdahl, we’ll be running a special session on “rescues” at the pool session this Thursday. You’ll need it.
#ShePaddles Ambassador Charlotte Fife has been an avid paddler for six years now, but her love of white water started when she joined her university canoe club. She shares her journey into white water kayaking and tips for how you can give it a try.
https://paddleuk.org.uk/shepaddles-ambassador-charlotte-fifes-journey-into-white-water-kayaking/
One of our club members is doing the ‘DW’ tomorrow and will be completing a non stop 125 mile paddle from Devizes to Westminster!
He’s raising money for a brilliant cause while doing it too
Good luck Tom!
Here's the JustGiving link.
Fancy a short paddle followed by a Picnic and games?
Last weekend saw the successful completion of the 8 and 16-hour, outdoor-focused, First Aid courses! If you are a paddler, or generally outdoorsy, a first aid course is a great addition to your toolbelt. Keep an eye out on the calendar for any future courses.
A huge thank you to Mark for hosting the course, and to Scott from AdTrex for the excellent training. For more info on AdTrex, click here: https://www.adtrex.co.uk/