Well February and March were very busy indeed here at FlowFree. We’ve run trips abroad, freestyle courses, safety courses, week-long bespoke courses, BCU courses and white water skills courses of all varieties. And our coaches have been just as busy in their spare time: slalom competitions (see below), ski trips, Level 5 development, open boating and much more besides…

New Course Dates Online
We’ve now put all of our course dates for the whole of this year online so you can chose a date to suit you. Of course, if you do not find the course you would like on a date to suit you, just get in touch – we may well be able to arrange (or re-arrange) something for you. Check out our course calendar.

New Confidence Booster Course
Due to popular demand, FlowFree now offers a two-day confidence boosting course for anyone who feels that their inhibitions hold them back on the river. Confidence is a delicate thing and without it, no-one can paddle at their best. Losing your confidence can happen to anyone, of any standard. There may be a trigger – perhaps a you’ve had a bad experience or had a long gap since your last white water adventure – but sometimes you just seem to lose your mojo. We understand how frustrating this can be and would like to help you past that mental block towards happy, relaxed and enjoyable paddling at whatever level you’re at. Low ratios and highly experienced coaches ensure that you will have a very productive weekend, tailored to your needs. For more info and dates, click here.

FlowFree in France this Summer
From mid-June to early July, Lowri will in the French Alps and available for coaching courses, guided trips and playboating clinics. During this time, she will also be running Big Wave courses on demand on the Hawaii-sur-Rhone wave in Lyon. Whether you are freestyle whiz-kid or a river boater who fancies the thrill of surfing a giant standing wave, Lowri can help you to make the most of your time at H-S-R. Our “Intro to Big Wave Surfing” courses have been extremely successful in the past, with big smiles and great feedback every time. Why not come and join the fun? Lyon is perfect if you are on your way to or from the Alps or just fancy a few days of big wave fun as a short break from work.

For more information or to arrange some coaching in France this summer, just reply to this email or give us a call.

Student Boater-X, France
While we’re on the subject of paddling in sunny climes; we’ve just confirmed that we will be sponsoring the 2010 Student Boater-x which takes place on the Durance at l’Argentiere. This event is close to our hearts as our very own Tom Laws was the creator and original organiser of what has become a rip-roaringly fun event. Any Uni groups who will be in the French Alps on 11-12th June should definitely go along. It’s free!

Can we do better?
“To stand still is to go backwards.” – we understand the importance of always seeking to improve. Your feedback is really important to us, which is why we have made it even easier with an online form. If you have recently been on a course with us, please give us any feedback you may have. We take on board anything people take the time to send to us, so whether positive or negative, we want to hear from you!

New Coaching Staff
We take great care in choosing who we employ and have strict criteria: they must be an experienced and passionate paddler who is able to pass on this knowledge, technique and tactics to others through great coaching skills. But most of all, they should be people that we like spending time with and that we think our clients will like too. That’s why we are excited to announce David Fairweather as the latest member of regular FlowFree staff. Dave is an experienced white water paddler who over the past 15 years has paddled in Nepal, Kyrgystan, Morocco, Norway, Italy, India… the list goes on. You can read more about Dave’s adventures and passion for coaching on our About Us section, or check out some of his glowing customer feedback in our testimonials.

Palm Big Paddle
We are proud to announce that FlowFree will be running clinics and will have a stand at the Palm Big Paddle at Symmonds Yat on May 15-16th. If you haven’t heard about the Big Paddle, check out www.thebigpaddle.com – something for everyone!

Slalom Success
After whimsically saying she’d enter a slalom, Lowri realised she had just 4 days back in the UK before she was supposed to race in a Div 1 (for those who don’t know much about slalom, it has leagues like football, which go from Premier down to Div 4 – Premier is for very good people, usually GB Team and those sponsored for slalom who regularly train, so Div 1 is kinda like the best of the rest). There were a few problems with this plan: a) She had been in a slalom boat just twice, ever before b) She didn’t own, nor have access to a slalom boat c) The only rules she knew about slalom were that you had to go through the sticks. In order. Fast.

Luckily, Lowri found a slalom boat, someone told her what the beeping at the start meant and she didn’t miss any gates – resulting in her finishing middle of the field and being granted a rank in Div 1 for future races. Well done!

More Congratulations!
To FlowFree coaches David Fairweather and Lowri Davies for becoming Aspirant BCU Level 5 coaches earlier this month. We wish you luck with your continued coach development!

That’s all for now. We look forward to see you on the water sometime soon!

The FlowFree Team

After a busy autumn with consistently high river levels throughout November and December, things froze over for a good few weeks here in North Wales. Check out our blog for some amazing photos of some well known North Wales rivers frozen solid!

Now that things have thawed out and the rain has returned, we have plenty of courses and trips to look forward to as spring approaches.

Last minute spaces
Fancy improving your skills on some classic North Wales rivers next weekend? We have last minute spaces available on our White Water Improvers course – 30-31st January. Book asap to avoid disappointment.

You can now book online
We improved our booking procedure to allow you to pay for your course online using Paypal or your credit or debit card. We’ve also added an online booking form, so you can complete the whole booking procedure online within minutes. The printable booking form and alternative payment methods of bank transfer or cheque are still available, check out the booking info page for full details.

Gift Vouchers
We now offer gift vouchers in a variety of values – perfect for giving to loved ones on special occasions. Not only can they be used towards all of our advertised courses but also for one-to-one and bespoke courses.

New course calendar
We’ve added a Google calendar to our website with all of our course dates on, making it easy for you to see what we have going on around any particular date. You can also easily add the course details to your own calendars at a click of a button. We’d be keen to get feedback on this new feature, so please check it out and let us know what you think!

BCU White Water Safety & Rescue
FlowFree are now offering BCU White Water Safety & Rescue courses always staffed by a combination of experienced safety specialists and active white water adventurers to ensure you get a good balance of technical knowledge and practical application.

Current dates:
6-7th February
10-11th April

For more information, see the BCU courses section of our website.

Ladies Weekend
Back in December, we ran a bespoke ladies weekend course for Birmingham Canoe Club (pictured left). Working alongside their coaches we did workshops on everything from core boat control, ferrygliding and eddying in and out up to some playboating for those prepared to stick their head in the icy waters! The big hit of the weekend was the “stern squeeze” introduced by Lowri – some of the girls couldn’t resist calling “And squeeze!” in the voice of an aerobics instructor every time they used the stroke! From the emails we received from the ladies after the course, it seems a lot was learnt and everyone had plenty of fun. We hope they are still calling “squeeeze!” at each other down rivers for years to come…

Our next weekend of Ladies Specific courses is set to be 24-25th April; with a Confidence Booster day and WW Skills Development available in either 1-day or 2-day options. If playboating is your thing, we’ll have a Ladies Playboating day on February 21st. Check out the Ladies Courses page for more information and prices.

Bespoke Courses
Whether it’s a one-to-one or a course for your club, our bespoke courses have been very well received with very high return custom. Due to their growth in popularity, we have now added our standard bespoke course prices to the website.

We hope to see you on the water soon!

Kind regards,

The FlowFree Team