Bradford on Avon Canoe Club July 2015.

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1 Bradford on Avon Canoe Club July The 6th June The eagerly awaited surf ski race from Studland, out to old Harry rock before taking a direct open sea line to Henglesbury head and the finish some 20 km later at the Christchurch lifesaving club. The BOA team included, Mark, Tim, James M, Stan, Steve Askew and Andy Phillips. The race saw some 50 plus competitors including the current surf ski world champion Shean Rice from South Africa. The conditions were capable of making this a classic with a strong and building SW wind directly in our backs and although it was calm at the start, the locals were reporting large waves in the second half of the course. As normal there were two starts, the slow and the fast, and all the BOA paddlers chose the first start, the second being some 20 minutes later. Timing is taken on both starts and so there is no advantage gained or lost but this system allows everyone to finish closer together, useful with a BBQ laid on at the finish. Tim got off to a good lead, closely followed by Mark and Stan; James having been ill all week was taking things slowly' and in a group with all boats jostling for positions as we headed from old Harry into open sea. Andrew was on his slower ski going for security rather than speed, which seemed sensible based upon the expected sea state. Steve was on his V10 which might prove a handful if the conditions were as bad as reported. For most of the race we were 6km off shore and on a route passing costal ships, leisure 'sunseekers' and trawlers. Things started to get interesting from early on with waves building to 3 to 4 feet giving some great runs to play with. Gradually things got more serious with some substantial waves building with the wind probably now at force 5 plus. White horses could be seen in front of us and the fluorescent vestss of the leading paddlers of the 'slow' group were disappearing as their skis ' fell' down the front of rolling waves approaching 6 plus feet with regularity, some topped with white horses easily being 8 to 10 feet! Things were getting very exciting, bordering on frightening as Tim powered on in the front followed some way back by Mark, with Stan close behind him. Shean Rice caught us at this stage having started 20 minutes behind us! Paddling past me he shouted that he was enjoying this and with 3 or 4 powerful strokes timed to perfection he was suddenly 50 Meters in front...disappearing into another huge trough between waves...that's why he is world champion! Andrew had been taken out by a big wave but was back on his ski and pressing on. The water state became worse again as we approached the headland. It was all too easy to broach sideways on some of the big waves as you tried to surf along a wave and save the feeling that you were otherwise having to head directly down the wave, standing on your footplate, as your ski became more and more vertical! Very few of the fast start had passed us and with Tim blasting on out in the front the end was in sight - althoughh not apparently for Stan who paddled right past it 1000mtrs out to

2 sea until a patrol boat directed him back to the finish! A hugely exciting race filled with much adrenaline has anyone ever seen Mark smiling so much! We were all finally back safe...or so we thought! Where was Steve? There were no more orange vests to be seen in the mayhem of waves in the bay...the safety boats were all heading in...the VHF radios were crackling and messages coming in and being interpreted...stan was being looked for as a rescue was needed for BOA paddler...steve was safe now but needing a vehicle evacuation from the Life Guard station at Southbourne beach around 4 miles away! Not exactly sure where this was Stan set off looking for our lost paddler. Finally he is found with another guy to assisted with his rescue, both looking cold having been there for over an hour after a local taxi sent for refused to let two wet tired and bedraggled paddlers in his car and left!! There was a hint of confusion as to what exactly had happened but needless to say the conditions has played a large part in the hasty detour from the course and evacuation from the water. A great day and a fabulous paddle in some of the best conditions we have been in for some time. Stan. Nottingham Regatta 6th-7th June. Well we arrived at Nottingham quite late in the evening on an unplanned camping adventure to be met by Freddie, Millie and Jodie from WYCC who helped to put our tent up (making the unplanned adventure rather more bearable!). The conditions were perfect upon our arrival but (surprise surprise) became rather windy half way through the night. The rather gusty weather continued for the majority of Saturday making the racing, yet again, hard going. Ed made Final A of Boys C 1000m and came in 8th after battling through the waves and (having forgotten to don his sunglasses) pretty much paddling with his eyes shut most of

3 the way due to the spray coming up from the water. He and Freddie decided to boycott the 1000m K2 race in protest of the revolting conditions, which gave them quite a nice break for a few hours. Conditions improved somewhat towards the afternoon for the 200m racing. Ed (rather surprisingly and rather to his horror) made the B Final, coming in 7 th. Conditions on Sunday were a good deal nicer (just in time for the shorter races typical!) and pretty much as still as we have seen them at the National Water Sports Centre. Ed made the B Final of the 500m K1 coming in 4 th, just after his trusty K2 partner Freddie (WYCC). Racing together for the only time over the weekend n a straight K2 200m final, Ed and Freddie came in 3 rd and they were very happy about this! Once again, Ed raced in the RLS K4 1000m Boys C/D and again they had a convincing win. So next up to Nottingham for the National Sprint Championships on the first weekend in July. This time Ed will be racing with Tim Dowden (RLS) in U14s and Connor will be attending his 2 nd sprint regatta, racing in U16s. Good luck to both boys! 14 th June Burton Hasler. Simon and John were the only two club paddlers racing in the Burton Hasler, both in div 4 K1, with the Trent following really quickly this was going to be a tough race, especially going upstream. Simon got off to a good start and gave me a nice wash to break away from the rest of the div. Simon went on to win comfortably and I eventually came 3 rd. We were both promoted back to div st June Oxford Midsummer Marathon. The conditions were Ideal for this lovely venue and a good BOA team turned out for this very well organised race with a large turnout in most divisions. In div 2 K1 James W and James E enjoyed a good race to and finished 3 rd and 6 th. In div 3 K1 Simon came 3 rd and John 8 th, while in div 4 K1 Luke came in 1 st with Harry 18 th and Bo 19 th. In div 5 K1 Joe had a very good race to finish 5 th with Alan 6 th and Connor 22 nd. In division 7 K1 George finished 15 th in a field of 32 paddlers. Ed paired up with Tim Dowden of RLS for div 3 K2 and also had a good race to finish 4 th. European Games. Ed McKeever won bronze in the 200m sprint event. Club Tracksuit Tops/Hoodie. We are purchasing some club tops, they will have the club logo embroidered on the chest and BOACC on the back. If you would like one please let me have your size and a 10 deposit by the 4 th July, total cost 24. John.

4 Bath to Bradford Race Weekend.!!!!!!!!!! What a wonderful weekend of racing and many thanks to all who were involved in the organisation and running of both events. On Saturday we had the Bath to Bradford Classic Race. 12 miles or 8 miles starting at Bathampton Mill. The weather was absolutely fantastic and there was a good turnout with 59 paddlers participating (10 Senior K1, 17 Senior / Vet / Mixed K2, 1 Junior K1 and 7 Junior K2s). The course was a challenging one including upstream paddling and climbing weirs and avoiding the summertime rowers rowers and swimmers! Unfortunately it also included some injuries as stones were thrown at paddlers at Batheaston. If anyone has any information about this please do contact Stan or Mike Smith. Nevertheless, a good good paddle was had by the majority with some greatt results for BOA. In the Senior K2 12 mile race there was a fight to the finish line between James E/ James W and Stan / Tim with James and James taking the win a whisker! Luke and Bo came in 5th. Spotter and Louis Allen from Fowey in 6th and Alex and Harry arry (in his first Bath to Bradford) th coming in 8. In the Senior K1 12 mile race the well-seasoned well seasoned BTB paddler Simon D came in 2nd and Steve A came in 8th. In the junior racing we had the only K1 entry of the junior race from Joe S well done Joe (he came in 3rd Junior overall in his first Bath to Bradford. Also in his first Bath to Bradford in the Junior K2 race, Ed came in 2nd with partner Jodie Ball from Wiltshire Youth after the other Ball sister (Flossie) racing with Freddie Brown both of Wiltshire Youth. This had been a much-hyped much hyped contest and Brown and Ball were more than happy at the result! Well done don everyone a fantastic race. Thanks to our sweepers John and John in their brand-new new K2. They seemed to have a great time following up the racerace and nd lovely weather for it!

5 On Sunday we had the BOA circuit Hasler race with the largest turnout in many years which took us rather by surprise! There were 142 paddlers from 23 clubs both in and out of region. The large number of paddlers made check-in quite long-winded (as most had not pre-registered) but very well done to Mark for keeping a calm head in amongst the long queue! The racing started off seeing the youngest paddlers race up to the town weir and back to the club. It was so lovely to see the next generation of canoe racing kicking off events. We had two entries into the lightning race Joe, who only started paddling 4 weeks ago on the Go Paddling course (and has not even been to any of our club sessions yet!). John asked if he would like to take part as he was so keen on running his own races on Thursday at the session of the June course. Joe had a bit of a swim but came in 4 th in the U12 boys race. Well done Joe! We look forward to seeing you out racing with the team over the coming years! We also had Andy s son, Henry racing in U12 boys lightning an on the spur of the moment decision that earned him 5 th place just after Joe. Well done Henry hopefully we ll see you paddling at the club soon too! Once the lightning races were finished we moved on to the serious end of the racing with Div 2-3 starting first for their 12 mile race with portaging up and back down the town weir. In Div 2 K1 BOA took 1 st, 2 nd and 4 th places by James W (1 st ), Spotter (2 nd ) and Alex (4 th ) In Div 2 K2 again, James and Tim took first place out of the four boats racing. In Div 3 K1 Andy Phillips came in 4 th after putting in a good effort. Simon D partnered RLS junior, Adam Niblett, as the only entry into the Div 3_4 K2 race. Div 4 was dominated by BOA paddlers with 5 of the 7 coming from the club. Ed and Luke got off to a very quick start but a rather dramatic 2 nd portage saw a change of position in the top 3 to Luke followed by Bo (who decided sliding down the weir would be the way to defeat Ed who had filled up his boat (aka fallen in) at the bottom of the weir). Mike also had a little bit of a dip but all paddlers finished well with Luke in 1 st, Bo in 2 nd, Ed 3 rd, Mike in 6 th and Harry 7 th. In Div 5 Alan finally managed to fulfil his season target and was promoted to Div 4 after coming in 2 nd. Joe narrowly missed out on promotion by a matter of seconds, coming in 4 th. Connor also had a great race, coming in 10 th in a busy class of 19 boats. Well done boys and Alan :o). In Div 6 we saw Malcolm coming in 9 th after spending some time dabbling in a canoe he was still racing in his kayak (for now!). In Div 6 C1 the course got the better of Richard who decided that it might be more fun to soak up the atmosphere instead next time Richard! There were 3 paddlers out of the 14 entries in Div 7 K1 John K came in 2 nd and was promoted to Div 6, well done John. Ben (in his first ever race) and George had great races and came in 6 th and 7 th. Andrew L and Alison N took part in the Div 8 race. After a few weeks of illness, Alison made the decision to paddle but was rather regretting it after 2 miles. Nevertheless Andrew came in 5 th and Alison in 9 th out of 15. Div 8 K2 was a very closely fought race for the full 4 miles with Karen (in her 2 nd ever race) and Sarah coming in 3 rd. Well done ladies! Last, but certainly not least, we had a couple of brand new paddlers to the club participating in their first race in Div 9 K1 in a field of 17 racers. Ben came in 11 th and Nick in 13 th place. A special mention should go out to Ben who stopped to help Nick after he took a bit of a swim (don t worry Nick it happens to the best of us!). Well done boys very brave to take part after only a handful of Saturday sessions. Early indications (provisional results) indicate that BOA won the club competition and will earn the 10 regional club points. Phew! Very well done to everyone. Very well done and a special thanks to Stan and Mike for organising, Mark on check-in and results (both proving to be rather stressful!), to Pip, Jill and Cheryl with some help from Rex for doing the very tricky job of line judging. Finally, a big thanks to Alison D, George and Caroline

6 for organising the fantastic refreshments stall (and to all who helped on there) what a wonderful selection of cakes to suit all tastes! Yum Yum!! UPCOMING EVENTS DATE EVENT 1 st July. CLUB SESSION: TIME TRIAL 4 th /5 th July Nottingham Sprint regatta. 11 th July. Royal sprint Regatta. 12 th July. Dart/Totnes SW Hasler or Thames valley. 19 th July. Southampton Hasler. 26 th July. Fal Hasler. 2 nd August. Richmond Hasler. 9 th August. Camel Hasler or London sprint Regatta. 15 th August Deadline for entries for September Nottingham Sprint Regatta entries to Derek no later than this date please. 22 nd /23 rd August. National Marathon Champs Norwich. 29 th August. Wye Descent. 30 th August. Longridge Hasler. 5 th /6 th Sept. Nottingham Sprint Regatta. 13 th Sept. Pangbourne Hasler or Poole Harbour. 20 th Sept. Hasler Finals Oxford. 200 CLUB The June 200 club draw will be made at the committee meeting on 6 th July results to follow. If you would like to join the 200 club support the club and give yourself a chance of winning please do pick up a form from the notice board in the club house or Alison Nightingale alinightingale@gmail.com or a.nightingale@bath.ac.uk. CLUB LOCKERS Please remember to remove any padlocks you have left on the club lockers so that all members have the opportunity to use lockers whilst they are on the water. Thanks.