2023 Paddlesports

Date: 22nd Jan 2024 Author: Mark Eastman

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This year has seen another great year for the group on the water offering paddlesports to all our members.

This year started at K2 with an afternoon for the Cub Scouts to have a taster session in the warmth of the pool, this was supported by Explorer Scouts helping them in the pool.

We then held our three training sessions in K2’s diving pool where the novices got to try kayaking and building confidence capsizing in the warm water. The experienced paddlers made use of the pool to develop their ‘wet’ strokes including a number mastering their rolling.

In May saw us return to our training home of Tilgate for our weekly evening session, where they all developed both Canoe and Kayak skills.

May saw our first river trip which was a gentle paddle on the River Arun to introduce the young people to tripping, but for the experienced paddlers there was a chance to play in Hardham weir.

June saw our annual water camp where we camped on the bank of the river Arun and spent the whole weekend on the water, using our Canoes, Kayaks and Stand-up paddleboards.

As always, we have a great number of Parents and siblings join us at Group Camp along with members from throughout the sections, in the Canoes and Kayaks, a chance for the young people to teach their parents for a change.

July saw the return of the bellboats which gave us the opportunity to have a lot of the Beavers and Cubs out on the water for a fun session of paddling and teamwork.

During the summer we saw both Scout troops out on the water on their meeting nights, this year they built and paddled their own rafts, some with more success than others.

The Explorers also spent time on the water during their meetings with half using the Stand-up paddle boards while the other half were out on the English Channel on SUPETA, the Scout Sailing Yacht, changing over the following week.

In addition to our own we have welcomed Explorers from Reigate and Horley and supported East Grinstead.

This years Explorer Summer Expedition was to Yorkshire where lead 3 one day canoe trips on the Liverpool to Leeds Canal paddling into Skipton. This was a chance for the experienced paddlers to support the novice paddlers.

The Tilgate lake sessions finished in the middle of September as the nights draw in, but we returned to the river for a peer led trip on the Wey & Arun Canal, followed by a two day trip on the River Medway for the Explorer Scouts.

One session left this year with our annual Boxing Day paddle.

This year we provided 700 individual sessions on the water, a great success for the group and this is thanks to all our volunteers on the water, Damien, Keith, Adrian, Sarah, Lynn, Christina, Ben, Toby, Mark, Roberta, Luke and Mark. Also, thanks to our land-based team of Brian, Diana and Chris for getting boats and kit to the water, supporting us at the bankside and getting the kit dried between sessions.