Paddlesports (Kayaking, Canoe, Stand-Up Paddle boards)

Man of Honour
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My new board (JP Australia Allwater GT) is 27.5 wide by 14ft. Takes a bit more concentration than my isup! Haven't gone in yet on it but it's on the cards.
 
Soldato
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7 Nov 2009
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Glasgow
Ideal thread!

I'm looking to get into kayaking, did it a lot when I did some Asian holidays and really enjoy it. There's a watersports centre (https://pinkston.co.uk/) which has it's own white water course 15 minutes walk from me so going to do their introduction lesson in a weeks time and see how I get on. I've got a grand idea of a long weekend from Glasgow to Edinburgh, camping en route and going up the Falkirk Wheel. Would love to do some kayaking on the lochs next year and camping.

Going to do the lesson, then they offer a 4 week course that get's you ready for open water canoeing so seems like a good idea and then perhaps hope to do my cross country trip in late August...

https://www.scottishcanals.co.uk/activities/paddling/glasgow-edinburgh-canoe-trail/
 
Associate
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Ideal thread!

I'm looking to get into kayaking, did it a lot when I did some Asian holidays and really enjoy it. There's a watersports centre (https://pinkston.co.uk/) which has it's own white water course 15 minutes walk from me so going to do their introduction lesson in a weeks time and see how I get on. I've got a grand idea of a long weekend from Glasgow to Edinburgh, camping en route and going up the Falkirk Wheel. Would love to do some kayaking on the lochs next year and camping.

Going to do the lesson, then they offer a 4 week course that get's you ready for open water canoeing so seems like a good idea and then perhaps hope to do my cross country trip in late August...

https://www.scottishcanals.co.uk/activities/paddling/glasgow-edinburgh-canoe-trail/

They're really good guys and will look after you.

I used to kayak a lot more than I do now, grade 4 kind of stuff when I was living in Glasgow. Nowadays not so much, hard to establish a new crew and clubs down here seem to be a bit different to what I'm used to.
 
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I'm out again this evening for a volunteers and coaches session to keep up the skills I'll need for assessment as a leader/coach.
 
Man of Honour
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Next weekend I'm attempting a 50 mile SUP tour over 2 days (with 4 others in kayaks). Looking forward to it but a bit of trepidation re the distance.
 
Soldato
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7 Nov 2009
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Location
Glasgow
They're really good guys and will look after you.

I used to kayak a lot more than I do now, grade 4 kind of stuff when I was living in Glasgow. Nowadays not so much, hard to establish a new crew and clubs down here seem to be a bit different to what I'm used to.

Ideal, good to hear some feedback.

I've booked a beginners lesson this Saturday to see if I enjoy it. If I do, I'll book onto the 4 week course starting a fortnight later and then will hopefully look into getting involved in a club and doing some open water stuff. Hope we still have a bit of good weather left this year though!
 
Associate
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Next weekend I'm attempting a 50 mile SUP tour over 2 days (with 4 others in kayaks). Looking forward to it but a bit of trepidation re the distance.

Good luck with your trip, remember to keep wiggling your toes :)

Looking forward to find out how you got on next week!

Cheers all
 
Man of Honour
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Good luck with your trip, remember to keep wiggling your toes :)

Looking forward to find out how you got on next week!

Cheers all
Thank you, will let you know! I bought some draining gul trainers as I think that may help with numb feet. Will try and move around the board a lot too.
 
Soldato
Joined
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Hondon de las Nieves, Spain
Wow that’s excellent.

Today I did my first SUP effort. Absolutely stacked it around 10 seconds from standing up but my feet were all wrong.

The rental guy told me to keep my feet further forward and I was ok. Couldn’t believe how quick the time went by. We only rented it for an hour and i glanced at my watch and realised we’d been out for 45 mins and should head back.

Did get a little hairy as speedboats went past causing lots of waves in the sea. I then fell in once when a boat went past very fast causing lots of short big waves.

Would definitely like to try it again. Although the thought of falling into the 25C sea in Corfu is a lot more pleasant sounding than the canal waters of Preston!

Are people on SUPs allowed to just jump on a local canal?


EDIT - just looked and is it true I’d need a canal license at £90 per month to use a SUP on a canal?
 
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Man of Honour
Joined
28 Nov 2007
Posts
12,736
Wow that’s excellent.

Today I did my first SUP effort. Absolutely stacked it around 10 seconds from standing up but my feet were all wrong.

The rental guy told me to keep my feet further forward and I was ok. Couldn’t believe how quick the time went by. We only rented it for an hour and i glanced at my watch and realised we’d been out for 45 mins and should head back.

Did get a little hairy as speedboats went past causing lots of waves in the sea. I then fell in once when a boat went past very fast causing lots of short big waves.

Would definitely like to try it again. Although the thought of falling into the 25C sea in Corfu is a lot more pleasant sounding than the canal waters of Preston!

Are people on SUPs allowed to just jump on a local canal?


EDIT - just looked and is it true I’d need a canal license at £90 per month to use a SUP on a canal?

Have a look at British Canoeing membership. That includes license for a lot of waterways, see if your covered (works for SUP, canoe and kayak)Have a look at British Canoeing membership. That includes license for a lot of waterways, see if you're covered (works for SUP, canoe and kayak)
 
Associate
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12 Sep 2009
Posts
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Wow that’s excellent.

Today I did my first SUP effort. Absolutely stacked it around 10 seconds from standing up but my feet were all wrong.

The rental guy told me to keep my feet further forward and I was ok. Couldn’t believe how quick the time went by. We only rented it for an hour and i glanced at my watch and realised we’d been out for 45 mins and should head back.

Did get a little hairy as speedboats went past causing lots of waves in the sea. I then fell in once when a boat went past very fast causing lots of short big waves.

Would definitely like to try it again. Although the thought of falling into the 25C sea in Corfu is a lot more pleasant sounding than the canal waters of Preston!

Are people on SUPs allowed to just jump on a local canal?


EDIT - just looked and is it true I’d need a canal license at £90 per month to use a SUP on a canal?


The trick is to keep your knees slightly bent, look forward and not down at your feet also if you feel yourself start to wobble dig the paddle in the water and pull it back to steady yourself up.

Also make sure the paddle handle is 6 inches taller than the top of your head.

Your feet should be a shoulders width apart and parallel with the carry handle on the board (behind the handle is ok but not in front of it).

I paddle mostly on the north sea so no permit to worry about :)

Cheers all
 
Man of Honour
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28 Nov 2007
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Back from my little expedition and it was great fun. Hard work though. Started in Cookham and paddled to Runnymede the first day with a couple of stops. Then Runnymede to home just past Hampton Court yesterday with only a couple of brief pitstops. Around 40 miles or so. We adjusted our start point as realised day one was going to be overloaded. Glad we did as we finished paddling at about 19.30 on Sat.

It was plenty. My SUP kept up well with the kayaks but no doubt I had to work harder. Benefited by being on a 14 foot SUP vs 12 foot kayaks as well. I couldn't get away with lazy touring stroke though like the kayakers and had to paddle harder.

The locks took up a fair bit of time mostly with portage although a couple of lock keepers let me in on the board.

Lucky with the weather as only had a couple of sections with a headwind and may be an hour of rain, the rest was pretty sunny. The only dunkings were a couple of the kayakers spazzing out on docks.

Feel like I got to know my new board much better and very grateful for its glide. It would have been hellish on my inflatable. Already thinking what the next tour might be.
 
Soldato
Joined
20 Feb 2004
Posts
21,195
Location
Hondon de las Nieves, Spain
The trick is to keep your knees slightly bent, look forward and not down at your feet also if you feel yourself start to wobble dig the paddle in the water and pull it back to steady yourself up.

Also make sure the paddle handle is 6 inches taller than the top of your head.

Your feet should be a shoulders width apart and parallel with the carry handle on the board (behind the handle is ok but not in front of it).

I paddle mostly on the north sea so no permit to worry about :)

Cheers all


Cheers, i did start to find it a lot easier as i got on. I've never had much balance and was always unable to skateboard/rollerskate etc.

Have come home and started looking into things but i don't think i realised boards were so expensive! Inflatable ones seem to be around £700 is for a 34" one (think i'd be better with a wider board).
 
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Associate
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12 Sep 2009
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1,550
Cheers, i did start to find it a lot easier as i got on. I've never had much balance and was always unable to skateboard/rollerskate etc.

Have come home and started looking into things but i don't think i realised boards were so expensive! Inflatable ones seem to be around £700 is for a 34" one (think i'd be better with a wider board).


Give The Sup Company in Southampton a call they will help you out, I get most of my gear from them good bunch of people plus free next day delivery as well.

Cheers all
 
Soldato
Joined
20 Feb 2004
Posts
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Location
Hondon de las Nieves, Spain
Haha and there i was eyeing one up on the Decathlon website.

I gave them a call and seems the Red Paddle Co Ride 10"6 is the recommended one. I found a website which seems to suggest a local event at a Resevoir near me, however their website sucks. Would like to try and hire a SUP for a couple times before committing such a large amount of cash on one due to the fear of not using it!

How is it during winter months?
 
Man of Honour
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28 Nov 2007
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I used supco for my Allwater and they were very helpful. Agree with the above, there are a gazillion 'brands' selling cheap chinese inflatables which you will outgrow very quickly. If it's £300 and on ebay avoid, it will be a floppy drag. Get something from a solid brand like fanatic, JP, starboard, Red etc. Red is great but look more widely than that. My inflatable is a fanatic fly air premium and going strong into its third year. It gets windsurfed as well.

What kind of SUP appeals to you longer term? You may want to get something a bit more focused like touring orientated or a bit more surf orientated for example that is still friendly enough to learn on. Need to be able to windsurf or not is another consideration.
 
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