A year ago I wrote an article sharing tips to support new paddlers and help them to fall in love with white water kayaking. Following this article, I had a number of people reach out to me to ask if I had any specific tips for helping to introduce children to kayaking. As I am not a parent myself, I reached out to the wonderful Chris Eastabrook and Dan Wilkinson who have kindly shared some of their expert tips with me. Both Chris and Dan are incredibly talented paddlers, coaches and also parents. This article will share their top tips for sharing the love of paddling with children. Enjoy!
Category: Guest posts
Following a trilogy of articles I recently wrote about my favourite white water rivers to paddle in England, Wales and Scotland, I was left thinking about what the best rivers to paddle in other countries would be. I recently took an Irish friend (the lovely Alex McClure) paddling for her first ever trip to the river Tees. Whilst paddling we got chatting about rivers in Ireland and I thought it would be lovely to do a following blog article on awesome white water rivers in Ireland.
Alex kindly put me in touch with another friend of hers – Catherine Mahon. Catherine seems to be one of the most enthusiastic paddlers in Ireland and was very happy to share her favourite rivers with me. She kindly agreed to let me then share those with you all through this article.
How could you make the perfect paddling crew? If you asked most paddlers that question, they would probably list off answers such as ‘get a group where they are all really good friends’, ‘people who are all eager to get out on the water regularly’, ‘people who can have fun together’ or ‘paddlers who support and encourage each other to grow into better paddlers.’ Every paddler hopes and dreams for the perfect crew and there is one little group in Scotland that seem to have done a pretty good job in making theirs.
Kyle Roger, Taylor Stevenson, Rowan Andrew and Niamh Shannon are four paddlers based in Glasgow and all working at Pinkston Watersports centre. Young, enthusiastic and fun to be around, these four individuals are some of the core paddlers that are helping to grow Scottish kayaking right now. Recently supported by Pyranha Kayaks, they have been regular attenders of kayaking events across the UK over the last year and are making a name for themselves. They have kindly agreed to be involved in this article so that you can get to know them a little better. So sit back and let me introduce you!
In honour of International Women’s Day 2023, I want to showcase a massive development that has happened recently in the world of competitive paddling. This is the creation of a women’s C1 category in paddling competitions. Previously women have had to compete in an open category with men. This has happened in all disciplines of paddling but for the purpose of this article I am going to focus on the introduction of women’s C1 in freestyle kayaking.
Having really gotten into white water stand-up paddling boarding (SUP) in the last year, I decided to put together a series of white water SUP focused articles. The articles are to help guide beginners in white water SUP and each article has a different focus and a different guest writer. My first article was an introduction to the series and a focus on the different boards you find in SUP. My second article looked at the moves on white water that you can do on a SUP and how to achieve them. My third article looked at the safety considerations that should be taken.
This fourth and final article in my SUP series is going to look at the rapidly growing white water SUP community and how you can get involved. Thank you very much to Matt and Eddy for helping me out with this one!
Having really gotten into white water stand-up paddling boarding (SUP) in the last year, I decided to put together a series of white water SUP focused articles. The articles are to help guide beginners in white water SUP and each article has a different focus and a different guest writer. My first article was an introduction to the series and a focus on the different boards you find in SUP. My second article looked at the moves on white water that you can do on a SUP and how to achieve them.
This article is going to look at the safety considerations that should be made when taking a SUP on white water. Thank you to Barry Hughes for sharing his wisdom in this article.
Having really gotten into white water stand-up paddling boarding (SUP) in the last year, I decided to put together a series of white water SUP focused articles. The articles are to help guide beginners in white water stand up paddleboarding and each article has a different focus and a different guest writer. My first article was an introduction to the series and a focus on the different kinds of whitewater stand up paddle board. This article is going to be about the basic moves on white water that you can do on a SUP and how to achieve them.
Big thank you to my lovely friend and coach Tom Bayliss for being a guest writer in this article.
Just over a year ago, I took a stand-up paddleboard (SUP) on white water for the first time. I had tried it on the flat twice and my paddling friends persuaded me that I had to try it on white water too! So, under the careful watch of my lovely friends Beth and Joe, I went down Holme Pierrepont (HPP) white water course on a SUP. Having kayaked for 6 years and being a local to HPP – I understand white water and the course well. Doing it on a SUP, however, was a different story. To say the least, it went rather swimmingly! (See video below)
Why do people take part in freestyle kayaking? Quite simply because it is fun. As the 2022 freestyle kayaking world championships are kicking off, there is a huge amount of excitement in the paddling world about freestyle kayaking right now. With such a strong focus on the championships and the talented athletes who are competing, it would be easy to forget that this is just one layer of the freestyle kayaking community. But freestyle kayaking is for everyone, no matter your ability. It is a sport for anyone who wants to have fun.
Prior to the start of the world championships, the International Canoe Federation (ICF) organise a development freestyle camp. This development camp is a fantastic 6-day camp aimed at developing aspiring freestyle paddlers. In this article, I want to share with you what happens during the development camp and why it is so important for the growth of freestyle kayaking in the wider community.
Recently I have completed a trilogy of articles around the upcoming freestyle kayaking world championships in Nottingham. I chose to write these articles to help raise awareness of what the freestyle kayaking worlds are, what the different categories are and the profiles of some of the junior GB athletes competing.
Following these articles, Alex McClure, who is an Irish squirt paddler, got in contact with me. She wanted to know whether I would be keen to do a piece about the Irish team. Of course, with the Irish team being such an awesome group of lovely people and phenomenal paddlers, I said yes! With Alex’s help, I’ve recruited a few of the Irish paddlers to let them tell you about their team!