Sunday 9 August 2015

Coaching future Olympians

This weekend, I spent some time 'coaching' a possible future Olympic paddler in Shadow. 



 

I now know that, Shadow can be paddled, sitting in the bottom of the boat, on your knees and by sitting backwards in the boat and paddling it backwards! And he is stable enough for you to stand up in. 

I'm glad the stability of the boat has been proven to me, now what excuse can I use the next time I throw myself out the boat?!

Adding weight?!

So Shadow has been loaned a spraydeck and a wooden kayak seat. I've been going with the theory that by changing anything on the boat will add weight and adding weight is never a good thing. But, I may be proven wrong, the seat ensures that I am sitting in the center of the boat, but is slippy. The spreaydeck is a beast to put on, but keeps my feet dry. Time will tell, how these new additions fair.

Times

10 mile time trial times so far:

Worcester: 1hr 55 (I still don't think that this is the correct time)
Reading: 2 hr 03
Wokingham: 1hr 57
Richmond: 2hr 01

There is a sense of achievement upon meeting up with kayakers who have struggled with 7km hasler races after we have just completed 10 miles.

Displaying Photo0111.jpg

Sunday 31 May 2015

Worcester 10 mile tt

First national canoe 10 mile time trial

Well done Shadow, you did well. I was the only female paddler and set the benchmark time of 1 hour 55. It was tough and I hurt, but it was done. Those last 2 miles always seem to be the toughest :\

Photo to be added at some future point.

Wednesday 15 April 2015

Update time

So Shadow and me have been busy trying to be busy over winter.

Shadow has helpede coach juniors and continues to be a nightmare to turn round. Yes, many, many times I have wondered why it doesn't have a rudder and/or if anyone would know if I fitted a rudder.

Tonight Shadow did its first 4km time trail of the spring. 34 minutes and 10 seconds, not too bad.

Oh, and I've got a waterproof case for my phone, balancing mid river in Shadow is proving a tricky skill to master, but master it we wil :)

Saturday 31 January 2015

New stuff


New paddle to go with my new boat. 

Went out for a quick paddle today with the juniors, I could tell I had taken a few weeks off due to the river being on red. 

Sunday 4 January 2015

10k time trial


So I braved the mist and freezing conditions to do the 10k time trial. Somehow I managed the 2 laps, but boy Shadow does not like flow! Used a wooden paddle today whilst waiting for my light weight paddle to arrive, the result of this is 1 blister. 

On the return home to the boat house, I decided to throw myself of the boat into the river roughly 10m from the boat house. Very frustrated with myself and lost my hat. Thank you to the fisherman who helped me though whilst his mates looked on.

Next time... Put hat in dry bag and remember spare trousers!

Friday 2 January 2015

1st paddle of the year


First paddle of the new year was a canoe paddle to the Victoria Arms pub. Shadow and me enjoyed the journey even with some flow on the river.