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News and Updates from Canoe and Kayak Store

CIWW Freestyle Club - 24th September

Register your interest by joining the CIWW Freestyle club event page on Facebook

See you there

Welsh Canoe Symposium 2010 8-10 October 2010

The Welsh Canoe Symposium is the premier event for open canoeists around the UK.  Hosted by Gwersyll Glanllyn Outdoor Centre on the shores of Bala Lake.  Book your place here

This year special guest Mike Cichanowski, owner of Wenonah Canoe. He will be giving a master class on open canoe technique. 

Mike Chanowski’s visit is supported by Outdoor Active and Canoe and Kayak Store.  Outdoor Active is the UK distributer of Wenonah Canoes. 

For this event we will be bringing our full range of Wenonah Demonstration boats including kevlar and Royalex models. 

Outdoor Active – Canoe and Kayak Store is the UK distributer of Wenonah Boats.  If you are unable to come to the Canoe Symposium and would like to organise a demo please call, email or visit our demo page to find out more.

Venue
Gwersyll Glanllyn is an Outdoor Education Centre situated on the shores of Llyn Tegid (Bala Lake). Owned by the Urdd (a Welsh National Youth Organisation), it is situated about 4 miles west of the town of Bala on the A494. The site has direct access to the lake shore & is within easy reach of a variety of other canoeing venues.

Environment Agency Now Posting River Levels Online

A major new resource has just been published by the Environment Agency showing us river levels online.

Once we can gather data on decent river levels,this will hopefully become invaluable for stopping wasted car journeys and making White water Kayaking a much less frustrating sport. 

Over the next few months we will be adding data for our local rivers so we can gauge good levels.  Please email in with your findings/photos/descriptions and we will collate them add them to the site.

New River level data hopefully means we can have more classic days on the Dart like this. (Great water levels on the Upper Dart)

And less like this (Very low day on the Exe, my friend able to walk into Bolham Weir)

Devizes to Westminster Easter 2010

Once again Wenonah boats imported by Outdoor Active dominated the C1 and C2 classes. 

Congratulations to Fryer and Watts who won the C2 race in and astounding time of 19 hours and 50 minutes in Wenonah ICF Boat.

Also congratulations to Sean Martin for winning the C1 class again, in his Wenonah Jensen J2-03.

Canoe and Kayak Store sponsored and supported their own overseas team in the race.  Bob and Brenda from Canada came 2nd in the C2 class incredible as Bob Vincent was the oldest paddler in the race at 67.

Below is an account of the race from Canoe and Kayak Store paddler Bob Vincent.

Bob and Brenda DW Race 2010 from Mark Miles on Vimeo.

Started in the canal all went good. We could not catch the men's team that left just in front of us. I thought we might but they had too much power for us to handle and it was to be a long race. On the portages it was very muddy so we ran, slipped and slid our way down to the water. Luckily we did not have any falls. There was water on the landing in many places so our feet were wet most on the time and let me tell you the water was not warm.

We ran all 77 portages Brenda is one tough woman but we both wondered how A 30 lb canoe got to weight 100 lbs by the last portage. The canal is only 25 feet wide so it had no waves but just a little wind. The rain came and went. ( what did you expect we were in England the land of rain).The last section of the canal was a blast, fast water through the town of Reading. We had been with a young crew of kayakers off and on for 3 or 4 hours. When we hit the last section they flew past us. It took 20 minutes for us to catch them and I said (was that a blast or what) they laughed and said it was the best part.

At the 54 mile mark it was the get out and check you over to see if you were fit enough to go on. It was at Paul's store and there were no less then 30 crews there. They were eating and talking about different sections. I asked Richard out crew chief when we could leave and he said go so we did. In the cannel our light worked well you could see everywhere. When we were in the Thames river it was much larger and the light was just in front of the canoe no reflection from the shore line. The first battery lasted for 5 hours and the second lasted for 5 hours just perfect. We pasted about 10 or 12 teams on the Thames and we were overtaken by 5 or 6 fast double kayaks because we all leave at different times as you have to time your race to Teddington when the tide is on it's way out. There is a 4 hour window and if you do not get there then you have to wait for the next tide. Our timing was good and we arrived right in the middle of this window. On the last 3 portages you go over rollers. They are beside the locks for when the water is in flood to let the extra water pass. There we had to lift our canoe down a walk way with metal straps in concrete for good footing. New to us but easy to do except you walk into the water AGAIN to get into the canoe.

From here it was about 2 1/2 hours to the finish line. After about an hour I got a muscle cramp under my rib cage.( when this happens new partners always think it is a heart attack) but I take 5 tums drink lots of water and it went away. My hip flexors were in rough shape 1 mile from the finish and it was hard for me to balance in the waves. The tug boats were out on the Thames working and they put up some big waves. Brenda paddled hard to the finish and I did what I could.

They help you up the stairs at the finish and carry your canoe. It is at the Westminster bridge by Big Ben. Our pit crew was at the top of the stairs and took over. We were both in need of food and drink. I went for dry clothes and then the food  eggs,beans and sausage. Brenda was not so lucky she had to go for first aid. She is one mentally tough lady and pulled as long as she had to to get to the finish line. After some TLC they sent her off to her hotel. Thanks for a good race Brenda. A special thanks to Richard and the pit crew as they were fun and great to be around. I think we finished  15th over all and in 20 hours 59 minutes .  Forth mixed team and second in the Canadian canoe class.
 

Bob

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Midweek Park & Play at Cardiff International White Water

Cardiff International White Water will be open for Kayaking on Wednesday evenings.

The session will run from 18.00-20.00 and will cost £10.  More details.

The on site shop will be open during this time so pop in and say hi.

All items over £50 qualify for free recorded delivery

All items over £50 qualify for free recorded delivery

If something is shown out of stock please call or email for delivery times as we can usually get these items despatched to you within a week.

New Canoe and Kayak Store Outlet, Cardiff International White Water Centre

We are delighted and excited to announce that we have opened a new store with demo fleet on the site of the Cardiff International White Water Centre. 

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This is an exciting development at this brand new facility, the only Olympic standard pump driven course in the UK so you will be able to have water on demand.

We are hoping the site will become a centre for boating excellence and to reflect this we are stocking all the latest boats for your demoing pleasure.

We are aware this is a small shop.  If you are coming for something specific please call ahead as we have a huge amount of stock at our premises in Bristol that we can bring over for you.

The new Whitewater Centre is based on Watkiss Way, in Cardiff Bay and the new shop is located on the premises.

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New Medium Pyranha Molan In Stock, Demo Boat Available. Pyranha Burn 2010 In Stock

We have just taken stock of a The New Pyranha Molan Medium.  This brand new playboat has been given rave reviews by all that use it, novice and expert alike.  It retails at only £699.00. 
Pop in to give our demo boat a try or order the Pyranha Molan here.  Also just in the New 2010 Pyranha Burn

We are the only Canoeing and Kayaking website with a live stock report

Our website is now fully stocked and reflects what we have in the shop, it is the only Canoeing and Kayaking website with a live stock report so you can be confident that when you order a stocked item it will be despatched the next day.

If you see some you like out of stock please email or call and we can usually get goods in within 48 hours.