Scottish Canoe Symposium 2009 Monday, September 21, 2009

I had great fun at the Scottish canoe symposium at Glenmore Lodge last weekend. It was good to be a student, taking classes and trying to get some good habits before the bad habits start to set in too much! I enjoyed having a fairly steep learning curve and picking up new tips and tricks.

I was paddling solo whitewater for the first time, and I paddled 2 different sections of the river Spey - from Loch Insh down to Aviemore, and from Knockando downstream about 6km. It was great fun on grade 1 and 2 water. I found it easier to control the canoe ( to some extent!) than I had thought I would.

About 70 people attended the symposium and it was fun to chat to a different crowd of paddlers and learn more about canoeing. On Saturday night I showed about 25 minutes of video from my upcoming canoeing DVD, which seemed to go down well! I still don't have a name for the DVD though.... ideas very welcome!


Thanks to Venture Canoes for lending me a canoe for the symposium. I wasn't sure they'd lend me one of Sunday after I showed the video of Barry and I pinning my canoe on the Rannoch Moor crossing, so thanks a lot for having faith!

There are a few more pics on the Stirling Canoes Blog here.

I'm back home in Wales and tomorrow I'm filming with Ray Goodwin doing some strong wind sailing on Bala Lake!