Two days of contrasts. Saturday - blowing a hooley, rain, sleet and time playing on the water, but not in the usual kind of boat that you'd associate with the National Whitewater Centre. Sunday - sunshine and relative calm; me in a canoe (yes - a canoe).
Saturday morning and Andrew took off going through as many demo playboats as he could get his hands on, while Sue and I were on for some sea kayak coaching, Sue in a 15' Easkey and me in my new toy, a 16' 10" Sirroco, the boat that I had only collected days before and, no, I wasn't aiming to be on the whitewater course! We spent a couple of great hours with Doug Cooper working on strokes edging and turning with Sue demonstrating her extreme edging technique (splash! - sorry, no camera!) and me doing my utmost to stay upright despite being pushed ever harder by Doug. After the session we popped into one of the show tents and bought Doug's book on Sea Kayak Handling from the man himself. Maybe next time we'd do things in a different order...
In the afternoon Sue took on a WWS&R session; very bravely as she'd been in the water at the start of her morning session and, wearing a wetsuit and neo top, had been wet all day. The highlight of the training was a trial swim and throwline rescue on the WW course - just as the heavens opened with some very heavy sleet. Sucking it all up, Sue headed for the wet stuff. Defensive then agressive swimming, take the line and onto the bank, slipping and sliding, but out of the water and she was ready for more. Instead, I had a word and pulled her off the session - hypothermia has no place in training and Sue's determination to complete the course was taking her in that direction!
Another fine day at HPP Paddlefest (photo from the 'net)
Back to the campsite, showers and into Nottingham for the cinema rounded the day off; fortunately the film was so good (Gran Turismo with Clint Eastwood) that we all stayed awake - just.
Sunday morning arrived as the worst of the weather left - the dogs were rather unimpressed that the water in their bowl had frozen overnight though. Not that they bothered much during the night, what with Bruce snuggled up at our feet and Dougal on top of our sleeping bags, bouncing every time one of us rolled over! Sue determined not to get wet at all, so Andrew and I had a blast in some demo boats (I have some serious thinking to do having had a shot in a small Habitat 74 - yep, the small one! - I'm liking it a lot, but have bought two boats this month already...)
Ain't she sweet, just floatin' down the creek... the Habitat 74
Hmm - it's the same colour as my Mamba so maybe nobody would notice if I did a trade? Not quite as tempted to think about buying an open boat, though me and the youth did have a blast playing in a double - once we worked out which was the front..
All too soon the weekend came to a close and it was back to Ulverston for an Indian and early(ish) night. A good weekend, Paddlefest and the National Student Rodeo rolled into one with plenty of exhibitors and a few bargains to be had. Maybe we'll be back next year, though doubt we'd get to see such a good movie...
