Blue Paddle

Up and coming courses being delivered by Blue Paddle leading into the spring

April 4th-6th       Raft Guide Training         Nottingham

April 25th-28th   UKCC Level 1 Coach Award   S. Wales

May 9th -10th     BCU 4 Star WW Training        S. Wales

May 11th -13th    BCU L1 Raft Guide Training   CIWW

May 23rd -25th   Rescue 3 WRT Course     South Wales

June 20th-21st    BCU 4 Star Canoe Assessment   South Wales

June 29th – July 4th   French Alps Raft Guide Development

Dates pending for

UKCC L2 , FSRT Providers Course, BCU WWSR and 4 Star Assessments

For other courses or different dates drop us a line

Happy Paddling

BCU Raft Guide Training Course 28th -30th October 2011. The course will be based around the great training rivers of South Wales. Cost £200 drop me a line if keen. Happy paddling Matt

Hi Guys well it seems its raining just about everywhere at the moment, this means river levels going into this week will be perfect for some further raft guide training and assessments.

For existing Level 1 Raft Guides, I am offering a chance to progress towards your level 2 award and develop your river skills with either a;
One day assessment on one of the rivers in the local area £60 min 3 persons.
Or additional training on rivers to progress trainees toward assessment, based in the local area £35 per person min 4 persons.

In addition to these we will also be looking for folk to come along and be paddlers for the guides being trained and assessed, this is free so if keen drop me a line.

Options in the area for guides nearer Cardiff we have the Rhyondda (grade 4) Middle Wye (grade 3) Usk (grade 3) there are a few other rivers that would open up with high water as well.
If you are closer to Swansea, Carmarthen and Llandysul then we have the Teifi (Grade 3+) Middle Towy (Grade 3) Sawdde (grade 3+)
and of course we have a stack of amazing rivers in North Wales to go and play on.

Drop me a line if you are keen and we will get a program together

all the best
Matt

Last week the Lee Valley White Water Center kicked off their Raft Guide training program. The team from London headed over and met up with the course providers Matt Blue and Talc the head guide of CIWW assisting us was also the Head Guide of Lee Valley and British Raft Team Captain Paskell Blackwell. Day one saw us honing our techniques on the lake at Llandysul before heading off down the mighty Teifi for some eddy hopping practice. Day two saw us heading over a few valleys into the beautiful Tywi Valley below Llyn Brianne reservoir, this stretch of river is a narrow grade 2 / 3 that twists and turns through some stunning scenery if the Tywi Gauge is over 0.60 this is a cracking run in all craft. A few stops along the way saw us introducing all the necessary rope work skills and even gave us time for some throw bag practice from the raft. On day three we decided to head East to ease the end of day drive for the Londoners, and found ourselves on the Usk from Talybont another lovely section that takes in a small drop at Mill Falls, then it was high fives all round as the guys headed back to London in preparation for the pumps to start churning. Over the next few months teams of trainees will be heading into Wales for their training as well as using the course in London if interested in become a guide to work at one of the many sites around the UK either contact us or Paskell at Lee Valley White Water Center.

A great few days has just been had training up some new folks from the Cardiff area and a few a bit further afield. Day one was spent out on the mighty Taff getting to grips with the boat handling, day two based at the White Water course looking at rope work and then taking on the rapids a fair bit of swimming and even a flip was managed by my team as the group got in to zone of stadium rafting. Day 3 saw the team heading over to the stunning Tywi valley and rafting 16km of twisting and technical river, this section is great for new guides lots of manuvering without too much risk.
Next is a break in the Lakes and then getting stuck into the training of the guides for Lee Valley White Water the London project.

We are going to run a BCU Level 1 Raft Guide Training Course straight after the Llandysul Raft Race event hosted by the British Raft Race Series the course will be based around the South Wales area and is £200. As something extra to add to the flavor of Blue Paddle’s raft guide courses we now have an oar frame which you will be able to have a go on. Look forward to seeing you all at the races.

We have had some great levels on all the rivers in South Wales over the last couple of weeks. Blue Paddle has been out and about running Raft Guide courses for CIWW, White Water Safety and Rescue Courses for some folks from London and an Old school Level 3 kayak assessment at the weekend. The best river level information is available at these two sources Fishing Wales and here at the EA site, its great seeing the levels but what does it all mean on the river. My plan over the winter is to collect as much information as possible and turn this into something usable for boaters. But for now the section of the Tywi above Llandovery works really well when it is over .60 on the gauge at Dolau Hirion and the River Teifi at Llandysul is in good condition at .05 at llandysul.

We have a variety of courses coming up both being delivered by Blue Paddle and through other centers so please get in contact if you are after a course.

I am very happy to say that we have secured a link with the London project at Lee Valley White Water Canoe Center and will start running raft guide training courses for them starting in November.

As ever kit is needed to battle the on coming cold, Guss formerly of Cheltenam Canoes has seen the light and moved to South Wales. He is now based at Swansea Canoes and is the man to contact should you require any advice or a great deal on equipment.