We just wanted to let you know that FlowFree now have access to a small range of the latest white water and freestyle boats for you to demo, including the much sought after 2010 Jackson Star range (2010 Star, AllStar, SuperStar and MonStar all available, plus 2007 Shooting Star). For more information or to reserve a demo boat for a particular course, please email us on info@flowfree.co.uk
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Canoe Wales Freestyle Dev – Feb 22nd – SOUTH WALES
The next Canoe Wales (formerly known as WCA) Freestyle Development Day will be held on the Morriston Weirs on the Tawe in Swansea. Directions can be got here: http://www.swansea-canoes.co.uk/map-directions.htm – as soon as you come off the roundabout, go past Wychtree Street and park on the left hand side near the foot bridge. Walk across the foot bridge and up the path to access the weirs.
There are three weirs, water level will dictate which weirs we use and what sort of features they produce. This is a friendly spot so people of all abilities welcomed, but confidence on white water is highly recommended.
We welcome anyone with an interest in freestyle and particularly youngsters, anyone who’d like to get into competing or coaches who wish to learn how to deliver better playboat coaching. Those wishing to attend as a student should live in Wales and/or be a CW/WCA member. Coaches are welcomed from anywhere; those wishing to observe and get coaching tips can come for free. If you would like to help with providing the coaching, please get in touch and we’ll also cover your expenses.
The day costs £15 for adults and £10 for U18s, which includes quality coaching from a range of experienced coaches and use of a small range of demo boats.
Meet at 9am outside Swansea Canoes.
Please let me know if you plan to attend by dropping me an email on wca-freestyle@flowfree.co.uk or joining the facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=50563572846
WCA Freestyle Dev – Feb 7th @ the Dee
The first WCA Freestyle Development Day of 2009 will be at Mile End Mill on the Dee, where we will be based throughout the day. Park in the White Water Active / Paddleworks car park as usual and meet at 9.30am in the cafe.
Mile End Mill is ideal for aspirant playboaters of all abilities, with 3 features which are great for learning all sorts of new moves or even having your first surf (if the river is very high, those without a confident white water roll will be advised not to attend. I will update on water levels on the Thursday before.) We welcome anyone with an interest in freestyle and particularly youngsters, anyone who’d like to get into competing or coaches who wish to learn how to deliver better playboat coaching. Those wishing to attend as a student should live in Wales and/or be a WCA member. Coaches are welcomed from anywhere; those wishing to observe and get coaching tips can come for free. If you would like to help with providing the coaching, please get in touch and we’ll also cover your expenses.
The day costs £15 for adults (coaches attend for free) and £10 for U18s, which includes quality coaching from a range of experienced freestyle coaches and use of a small range of demo boats. It does not include the charge made by White Water Active to use their site.
Please let me know if you plan to attend by dropping me an email on wca-freestyle@flowfree.co.uk or joining the facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=49882181829#/event.php?eid=50993751346
Any questions, drop me an email.
Hope to see you there!
FF at Paddlefest
FlowFree are proud to announce that we will be providing coaching clinics, workshops and freestyle demonstrations at Paddlefest in Nottingham this March 28-29th. Sessions will include Introduction to Playboating and workshops for nailing your cartwheels and loops.
Throughout the weekend we will also be on-hand to answer questions and take bookings, so keep an eye out for stand – we’ll have a flag!
For more info see the Paddlefest website, or drop us an email.
2nd North Wales Playboat Gathering
After the success of the first gathering that saw 27 people braving the cold on the Dee… a mixture of novices to GB team, C1 and K1, men and ladies, old and young all having fun messing about on the river.
Brandon was elected “winner” of that gathering for general fun attitude and smileyness and he decided that the next one would be….
February 1st at Tryweryn (with the Dee as a back up if there is no release of there is lots of water).
Meet 12pm.
There’s a facebook event for it here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=41401264019#/event.php?eid=41401264019
See ya there!
Informal Playboating Gatherings in North Wales
Inspired by the old Sunday league at Tryweryn and the current league held on the Thames Weirs, an informal playboating league is being set up in North Wales. The basic premise being to get people together to have a play and help and encourage each other while having fun!
Times and places for a playboating gathering will be advertised here and on the Dates and Events section of UKRGB, and will happen roughly every 2 weeks or so. The first of these gatherings is happening the day after boxing day (December 27th) at Mile End Mill on the Dee. Meeting 12pm for about 2 hours of boating.
The session will last 2 hours but obviously, you can paddle before and after the gathering if you wish!! It’s totally informal, so there is no single person in charge, no rules, no formal coaching, no entry fees, no paperwork… just come along and paddle with a bunch of like-minded people who enjoy going for a play, no matter what ability.
After each gathering, a “winner” will be decided by the group (the winner may be the person who did the best old school move, had the biggest smile or encouraged other people the most… whatever, the group decides!) and that person then gets to decide the time/place of the next one.
This way it does not rely on one or two people to make it happen… just whoever would like to get involved at any time; which should mean it has some longevity. We can use also a range of places and features, depending on what suits those involved. There are already quite a lot of people keen to make this happen and I hope it will create a new, friendly and approachable playboating community in North Wales.
The main idea of this is to encourage people to come along and give plaboating a go without the stress of an organised event / competition, but where there will be plenty of people around to help out and paddle with – so shake off that xmas pud and come for a play! 🙂
WCA Freestyle Dates 2009
I have some hot news for you… I am able to release to you first, here on FlowFree, the dates for WCA Freestyle Development days over the next 6 months or so. Full details of locations and times etc will be announced for each one as they approach. Keep an eye on this website for details.
7th February : North Wales
22nd February : South Wales
4th April : North Wales
2nd May : South Wales
Other dates may be added.
All of these dates are open to all Welsh residents / WCA members. Any coaches wishing to gain more experience or learn new techniques for teaching basic playboating are more than welcome to come along. Any questions, email wca-freestyle@flowfree.co.uk
On top of this, an informal playboating league will be set up in North Wales – inspired by the old Sunday league at Tryweryn and the current league held on the Thames Weirs. The basic premise being to get people together to have a play and help each other progress while having fun! Details to follow…
The New WCA Freestyle Plan!
The next WCA Freestyle Development weekend was due to be the 15th of November. With Stanley Embankment being shut due to works on the bridge (see previous post), I have made a new plan. We’ll now be running a single day session at Chester Weir on the 8th November with a more advanced session at Tryweryn on December 6th.
Saturday 8th November: Chester Weir (map)
Cost: £10 per paddler (paid on the day)
Chester Weir has a couple of friendly features and eddylines we can use to develop basic freestyle skills such as front surfs, spins, cartwheels and enders and is ideal for those who are less confident on white water. What we will cover will depend on numbers and abilities of those attending.
Parking is available on Castle Drive (see map for details) – it is pay and display. Please note that there are no changing facilities.
Meet at 9.30am the car park shown on the map.
Booking: To ensure we have enough coaches, please email wca-freestyle@flowfree.co.uk if you intend to come to either day (you can still come if you haven’t emailed – it just helps us to plan if you let us know!). Please put either ‘Chester Weir’ or ‘Tryweryn’ in the title to help me keep track.
Saturday 6th December: Tryweryn (subject to a dam release)
Cost: £10 per paddler (paid on the day)
Tryweryn has 3 good freestyle features to work on anything from spins and blunts to cartwheels, loops and felixes (no, really!). It is a bit more advanced so the day will be designed for people who are confident on whitewater and have a solid whitewater roll.
Booking: To ensure we have enough coaches, please email wca-freestyle@flowfree.co.uk if you intend to come to either day (you can still come if you haven’t emailed – it just helps us to plan if you let us know!). Please put either ‘Chester Weir’ or ‘Tryweryn’ in the title to help me keep track.
Important News: the next WCA Freestyle Development Weekend
| Quote: |
| Contractors for Railtrack are undertaking repairs to the bridge which forms the wave at Stanley. The tunnel is closed for 4-7weeks from 16th October. This means that the wave will likely be out of action until early December.
WCA have been assured that the wave will not change as a result of these engineering works. |
This means the development weekend planned for 15-16th Nov will NOT be at Stanley!
I am trying to make alternative arrangements at the moment but with current political issues and the less guaranteed water at Tryweryn over the next 6 weeks, finding a suitable venue for that date is pretty challenging. I hope to have further info by the start of next week.
Sorry for any inconvenience this causes.
Please let others who were planning to attend know!
Thanks,
Lowri
Llandysul Development Weekend Photos & Video
All of Tom’s photos are online at http://www.digibug.com/tlphotography/ – select the album “WCA Freestyle Development – Llandysul”. Full high resolution copies and prints are available to order.
The video from the weekend is online here – Matt Cooke’s put it on facebook so you may have to ‘make him your friend’ before you can view it. I will try and get it on youTube or similar soon.
