Water Quality in River Medway

Details

By Geoffb Licence

Are you concerned about the water quality in our local River? Anglers, Rowers, SUPs, Canoes and Kayaks use our river like never before.   As a club we have a record number of members. Given the poularity of Water Sports you may be surprised to learn that it is legal for Southern Water and Boat Owners to dump raw sewage iinto the Medway. The Environment Bill was passed by the Commons recently with an amendment to urge water companies to stop polluting our beaches sea and rivers. The House of Lords amendment was changed by the commons to still keep it legal to dump seage into our waterways and sea when the Victorian sewage system cannot cope. This happens in periods of heavy rainfall and where pumping stations are out of action.  The Bill is now in Committee Stage. Perhaps more alarming is the fact that unlike the Thames it is legal for boat owners to dump their sewage into the river. There are pumping out stations provded by the Environment Agency but there is no legal requrement to use them. This poses a serious public health problem for river users. If you feel strongly about this, support the Briish Canoeing Clear Access Clear Waters campaign by writing (e-mail is OK) to your MP. Ask him or her to table an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons so that it can be debated. it should be noted that if your MP is a minister they cannot table an EDM. All MPs can however draw this problem to the relevent Government Minister. Send a copy of your reply to British Canoeing and the club. Together we can help to clean up our lovely River Medway, making it a safer place for all users.

Possibly maybe

Details

By Mark Corti

Perhaps you've been out paddling.  Maybe some coaching.  An Intro to WW course.  A trip to the estuary, or further afield.  Perhaps you saw some interesting wildlife, or somebody comically fell in.  Concievably, you even took a photograph.  

Or possibly you're planning something for the future.  A talk, a big trip.  A progress report on an ongoing project.

We'll never know.

Unless ... you write an article for the newsletter!  Deadline is November 20th - there are currently a lot of blank pages looking very empty ...

Where's Wally?

Details

By Catherine Dacey

The date has Changed to MONDAY 22 November

More specifically, how can we spot the fabulous wildlife around our coastlines?  Where can we go to see the whales, dolphins and sharks in UK waters?  They're closer than you think!  Club member James Copeland is the local rep for Seawatch Foundation, and will be telling you all this and more at the Club on Monday 22nd November - see you there!

Down

Details

By Mark Corti

Apologies for the recent downtime on the website. Our server had hardware problems and our hosting company was working through the night to get all their clients back up and running. 

Where's Wally?

Details

By Mark Corti

More specifically, how can we spot the fabulous wildlife around our coastlines?  Where can we go to see the whales, dolphins and sharks in UK waters?  They're closer than you think!  Club member James Copeland is the local rep for Seawatch Foundation, and will be telling you all this and more at the Club on Saturday 20th November - see you there!

Paddlesport Instructor course - spaces

Details

By Mark Corti

Seapoint in Folkestone are running a Paddlesport Instructor course and have spaces left which they’ve invited MCC to fill.  Cost is £120 (MCC will reimburse this once you’ve run 2x beginner courses).  Please contact Helen to sign up - if you're not sure what this course entails, drop me a line and we can have a chat - there's lots of support for new coaches available at MCC!

Christmas Party and Breakfast paddle

Details

By Catherine Dacey

The Christmas party is on Saturday 18th December and the Breakfast paddle is Sunday 19th December.

The dates on the news update were incorrect, well done Norman for spotting this.

Both events are on the calendar for sign up.

Medway flow

Details

By Mark Corti

With the onset of wetter weather, river levels and speed have become more variable - as those who were paddling on Sunday discovered!  It's worth a timely reminder that our usually-innocuous river can be surprisingly powerful when it is moving.  Good practice includes:

• staying away from the orange booms above sluices.  They're there for a reason, and a capsize at this point on the river would be disastrous - they're not handy mooring points!  (This applies throughout the year, but particularly now)
• keeping clear of weirs and automatic gates.  They can open and close without warning and quickly change from a fun chute to a swimmer-retaining stopper.
• stay away from trees!  
• make sure your group stays together.  This applies to peer paddles as much as to "led" trips - make sure you know who is paddling with you, and where they are.
• faster water implies moving earlier.  Moored boats, trees and other obstacles will come up quicker than you expect - plan ahead and move early
• consider tagging on to a more-experienced group or paddler if the river is faster than expected.  If it's much faster or higher than you've paddled before, consider delaying your trip for another day.

Stay safe!