Author: Del

How to train for 24 hours of paddling

Post author By Del
Post date March 26, 2021
2 Comments on How to train for 24 hours of paddling

In one week’s time I will be paddling flat water for 24 hours in order to raise money for Mind. When my friend James Ibbotson asked me to be part of this charity challenge at Christmas, I had very little flat water experience. The hour back up the Llangollen canal when paddling the river Dee is usually enough to remind me why I paddle whitewater and not flat water! So after saying yes to the challenge, I decided I quickly needed to establish a training plan to make sure I was prepared.

With offers of help from an overwhelming number of people, friends and strangers alike, I came up with a training plan. For the last 3 months I have tried my hardest to stick to that plan. In this article I want to outline everything I have done to go from being someone with minimal flat water experience to (hopefully) being able to paddle it for 24 hours next weekend!

Guest posts

Approaching coaching – an interview with Matt Brook

Post author By Del
Post date March 5, 2021
3 Comments on Approaching coaching – an interview with Matt Brook

Since he started kayaking 15 years ago Matt has developed into one of the UK’s most notoriously stylish paddlers and is affectionately referred to by friends as a ‘kayaking ninja’. Matt is well known for his love of downriver freestyle but also his expedition paddling. I’m still not sure which is cooler: the fact that Matt has paddled in remote Madagascar or that he once took a hand roll during the Green race.

Matt’s passion for the sport is infectious and he has combined his enthusiasm and his love of teaching to start a coaching business to help others to progress their skills in the sport, specialising in his favourite discipline – downriver freestyle. In this article, Matt discusses his approach to coaching and how you can make the most of your coaching sessions.

Paddling tips

5 tips that have improved my paddling

Post author By Del
Post date February 17, 2021
2 Comments on 5 tips that have improved my paddling

Whether you are a complete beginner or an internationally regarded expert – people will always share advice with you on how to improve your paddling. I’ve been paddling for 6 years and I could not even begin to list all of the pieces of advice I’ve been given.

Some tips however have really stuck with me as they made such a positive impact on my paddling. These were tips that permanently changed the way I approached an aspect of my paddling and made a clear impact on my overall progression as a paddler. Read on to find out what they were!

General

Reflecting on the positives of 2020

Post author By Del
Post date January 3, 2021
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There is no doubt that 2020 has been a very strange year and for many a very challenging year too. Every new year I like to reflect on how the previous year has gone and look to learn from it as I move into the new year. It would be easy to just write off 2020 but actually on reflection, I found so many positive things that I could take away from this year. This article is a reflection of my own positive 2020 experiences.

Gear

5 paddling items to add to your Christmas wish list

Post author By Del
Post date December 5, 2020
1 Comment on 5 paddling items to add to your Christmas wish list

It is the season of giving and what better gift to give than a paddling one! Whether you are searching for something for a loved one or a treat for yourself – hopefully this article may give you some ideas. This list doesn’t include the key pieces of gear that you need to engage in a paddlesport but instead the nice little extras that make it that bit more enjoyable. So sit back and enjoy as I take you through my top 5 nice little extra paddling related items.

Guest posts

Top Tips for better paddling photos

Post author By Del
Post date November 20, 2020
1 Comment on Top Tips for better paddling photos

This week’s blog article has been written by guest author Tom Clare. Tom is a well known photographer and kayaker in UK kayaking circles. If you have attended a UK kayaking event in recent years or even just paddle at HPP regularly you have more than likely had your photo taken by Tom. Tom is a professional photographer but his real passion for photos lies in extreme sports. So I have asked Tom to write a guest article about his top tips for getting better paddling photos. Enjoy!

General

Improving your kayaking OFF the water

Post author By Del
Post date November 8, 2020
No Comments on Improving your kayaking OFF the water

Back in April in the middle of the first global lockdown, I wrote an article called ‘Beating the Covid-19 blues‘. This article looked at things you could be doing as a kayaker to keep you occupied during lockdown. Considering that England has now entered a second national lockdown and restrictions are tightening in other areas around the world, I wanted to write another article with a slightly different focus. This article is going to explore activities that you can engage in OFF the water which will help you once you are back ON the water. Hopefully some of these suggestions will be helpful for you and applicable to more sports than just kayaking!

Uncategorized

My ‘top 5’ most popular kayaking articles over the last 6 months

Post author By Del
Post date October 25, 2020
No Comments on My ‘top 5’ most popular kayaking articles over the last 6 months

6 months ago I finally had the time to start writing a kayaking blog. I am hugely passionate about whitewater kayaking and super keen to share that passion with other people. What better way, I thought to myself, than through writing! The positive feedback I have had from so many people since I began has completely blown me away. This has been from friends but also complete strangers from all over the world (48 different countries to be exact!). So thank you so much to everyone who has taken time to read any of the articles and share their thoughts with me. It honestly brings me so much happiness to think that my ramblings might actually be helping others. So this piece is a quick review of my top 5 most popular articles. Hope you enjoy!

General Mind set

Mental Health & Kayaking

This weekend celebrated World Mental Health day. No doubt you will already know this due to the vast amount of posts that have been shared online about mental health. It is wonderful that people feel comfortable to have this open and honest discussion about mental health. Kayaking for me plays a huge role in my mental well-being as well as my physical well-being. This is an aspect of my addiction to kayaking that I believe is shared by many others within the kayaking community. Therefore this week’s article I want to dedicate to mental health and it’s association with kayaking for me.

Mind set

The Value of Coaching

A little while ago I wrote three articles about to how to become an ‘independent boater’. These articles focused on three smaller goals you should achieve in order to move from club paddling to peer paddling. There is one key ingredient that I did not talk about in detail however and that is getting professional coaching. This I felt deserved to be discussed in a separate piece and in more depth.

I want to discuss the value of coaching and how to get the most out of having coaching. I have made the conscious decision not to name any kayaking coaches in this article. A wise friend once said ‘different coaches work for different people and at different times in your life, different coaches will work for you.’ I thought that this was such an accurate statement and it has really stuck with me. Everybody will have different coaching styles that they prefer and that is fantastic. We also are incredibly lucky in the UK to have a huge wealth of talent in our white water coaches and it would be unfair to single out just one or two in this article.