BCU Courses this winter
Up and coming courses being delivered by Blue Paddle leading into the spring
Feb 19th UKCC L2 Assessment South Wales
March 2nd-4th Raft Guide Training London
March 14th-15th WWSR Course South Wales
March 23rd-24th UKCC L2 Transfer South Wales
April 4th-6th Raft Guide Training South Wales
April 14th-15th Ladies Raft Guide Development
April 18th-20th Rescue 3 WRT Course South Wales
April 25th-28th UKCC Level 1 Coach Award S. Wales
For other courses or different dates drop us a line
Happy Paddling
BCU Raft Guide Training
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
Scotland Rafting Trip
The Alpine Raft Guide Development Week
The Alpine Raft Guide Development Week 2011
Rivers are up, Raft Guide Training and Assessments
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
Lee Valley White Water Centre, Raft Guide Training begins
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.
Raft Guide Training for CIWW
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.
New Raft Guide Training Course Dates 22nd – 24th Novemeber
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.
The wet season begins
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.
French Alps information
The Programme
This will run from 9am on the Wednesday 23rd of June to the evening of the Sunday 27th June. Our aim is to provide you with a good amount of time learning and practicing your guiding skills on some classic alpine white water. As part of this process you will have the opportunity to take further Level one Raft Guide assessments to progress towards your Level 2 Raft Guide award. Guides with the pre requisites in place will be able to gain Level 3 Training status. For detailed information on these awards please see the attached document.
The rivers in the local area are quite simply amazing for rafting, at the time of year we are going we can expect good sunshine and good volume of water, however we do not control the weather (yet) so our plans may change with the conditions we are presented with. We expect to use the following rivers and sections;
River Durance: Various sections including the sunshine run: Grade 3+
River Guil: Various sections: Grade 2 -5
River Ubaye: Various sections including the racecourse: Grade 3 -4+
Other rivers in the area may be used dependent upon conditions.
There is a great guide book called “white water south alps” by peter Knowles that has loads of information in regarding these and many other great runs.
Our days will consist of loading up the equipment and being out on the water for as much time as possible, we would like you to get stuck in with the chores and organisation of the trip. We will have lunch on the river and aim to get a couple of sections or rivers in each day. These days will be physically demanding and the evenings are for recovery, relaxing and reviewing the action fro the day, if however you have more energy you are more than welcome to head off and grab a quick kayak session in on one of the classic surf waves in the area (the Rab and the wave in Embrum).
Staff working the Trip
Matt Blue www.bluepaddle.co.uk Matt Blue
Lawrence Harris (Hoopla) www.bullrafts.com Lawrence Harris
Paul Marchant (Bob) Paul Marchant
Assisted by
Bryony Devoy Bryony Devoy
Accommodation
You will be staying in a Gite (A house) there are beds and these come with pillows and duvets, you are required to bring your own pillow cases and duvet covers. You can arrive on Tuesday evening the 22nd June after 4pm and settle in. We will depart the Gite on the Saturday morning the 26th as our last night will be camping based. I have attached a link that gives you full information about the Gite and the local area. We will be cleaning the Gite ourselves before our departure to keep the cost of the trip down. http://www.alpineaccomodation.com/#
any questions drop me a line
matt
