Wet West Paddle Fest feedback

[james fleming]

The 2011 WWPF has now been and gone.

If you have any feedback, good, bad or indifferent we would love to hear what you have to say. Please be constructive. Either post here, send an e-mail or write to the SCA office (FAO WWPF).

We will listen and have a chat about the feedback in due course and will post some answers once the dust has settled a bit.

I’d like to say a massive thanks to the SCA Recreational Rivers Committee for organising the event and the volunteers that help make what it is. Thanks! Also to all the exhibitors, Moriston Gun Club, Shinty Club, SEPA, supporters and everyone else.

If you have any good pictures send them to me and I’ll try and get them on the SCA web site.

[GlennT]

Just back from another top WWPF, so another 'well done' to the mall number of people who actually organise the event and to everyone who made it work so well.

Just a couple of issues that, if addressed, may improve an already great event:

Perhaps there could be a better way of identifying which shuttles are going where. I was at the pick up point at the take out for the upper Morriston, where there was a very large group of people and boats waiting for the shuttle, when a number of vans arrived together. I and a mate put our boats into the trailer and were getting onto the van to be told that it was going to the lower Morriston and that we should have been on the second van going back to the Gun Club - which was full by the time we managed to get boats and gear out. Perhaps if they had some signage in the front of the Vans this issue could have been avoided. A minor point perhaps, but when you've waited over half an hour, it was a bit of a pain.

Was it just me or did the room in the Nevis Centre seem to dwarf the numbers there? I know that the huge amount of water this year may have resulted in boaters doing there own thing rather than attend the WWPF, but that room needs a lot of people to fill it and give it some atmosphere. Perhaps a return to what was the British Alcan club, now Rio Tinto club, which seemed to be an optimum size for the event could be considered?

But in the end these are minor issues for what is now an established event in the British boating calender.

Glenn

[DaveSt]

Hi James. Well done to you and all the team, in organising another great event.

Will be editing photos for the next week or three, including some of a certain organiser taking a couple of swims on the Garry...

In the mean time one from the Moriston:


And one from the Garry:


Cheers for now,

...Dave St...

[scarr]

I would have to agree all in all a great weekend. Massive improvements in my opinion being the Moriston on the Saturday, less journey time on Sunday and less hangovers, worked really well! Definatly a keeper for next year, and the water was on early so we managed to get a few runs in before the crowds arrived. Also having the t-shirts and wrist bands for people who had pre paid set aside was great, as every other year I have registered on the Saturday (after pre paying) and there have been none in my size. The wristbands themselves also good as it is easy to show who has paid, however when they ran out there was no way of seeing who had and hadn't paid as no names were taken. Another thing the t-shirts themselves much better than before, great design.

I do however have a few thoughts on areas for improvement, as above the room at the Nevis centre was very big and when we arrived at 9pm there was no music and lacked atmosphere, which resulted in us (as I'm sure others too) having our own party in the car park after the raffle. The party two years ago, at the British Aluminium Club (Alcan?) was fantastic! The video at the start got everyone interested, the dj was great and everyone was up dancing and everyone stayed until the end, by far the best so far that I have been to in my opinion. The Aluminium Club also had ample parking/camping space for people wanting to stay there with no disruptions to other groups, however this year with the bikers and the carnival going on there was fewer spaces and groups didn't really mix. That year we were staying at Chase the Wild Goose hostel, however stayed at the club to join in the after party for a while, which was a great end to the night.

If possible it would be great to figure out a way to manage the eddies, as after two runs we had a break for lunch and when we got back on every single eddy from the get on to the bottom of the first drop was completely rammed, making it very difficult to break out above the drop to line up and when you did eventually get in it you couldn't get out as people kept coming in. For those eddies right above drops it would be much more efficient if people went in, lined up and got out again.

Just a few opinions, but still a great event, thanks to everyone who organised it!

See you next year!

[bigbird]

Excellent weekend, many thanks to the organisers on the river, the shuttles and everything. I'd echo the comments about the evening bash, it kinda lacked atmosphere; I didn't experience the ones at the other venue, but somewhere smaller would seem better (the Dangleberries last year were great, but I gather that was just a lucky double booking and not affordable year on year). On the river, I think that if more people knew that it's just a 15 minute paddle from the take out of the Upper Morriston to the gun club, more would paddle it rather than wait for the shuttles, and that might take the pressure off and reduce the queues. Maybe that could be in the publicity and a wee sign by the gun club on the river wold avoid anyone floating all the way to the Lower section by mistake. Also thanks to lotsa old pals who drove a helluva long way from the southern reaches of engerland just for a weekend - cracking effort too.
Cheers
Iain

[husky]

I thought it was a great weekend
The Nevis center is a little to big to have an atmosphere unless you had much more people
I personally liked the Alcan social club but I believe it was already booked
I would like to thank all involved who put on a fantastic weekend and all the guys and gals that go for such a great time
On a personal note thanks James and Arlene for the help
Steve

[Eunoia]

I am just some random that had a great weekend Thanks.
Very well organised as always and very friendly.
We did not do the Gary this year as it would have meant driving North again. It was great that the big M was on sat this year.
Is it something to consider to have the party somewhere near the big M or Gary next year? is there anywhere up that way? this will be more environmentally friendly and the money we will save on fuel we can spend on raffle tickets and cider.

[Dave T]

I also agree with the comments above about the lack of atmosphere on Saturday night. The vast majority of people I've spoken to that attended felt the same too.
As mentioned above the night at the Alcan (?) Club 2 years ago was great and everybody seemed to really enjoy themselves. I suspect it might of cost more with the dj and venue but personally I would rather pay a couple more quid to have a really good night.

Other than Saturday night I really enjoyed it again this year, big thanks to all the organisers.

[TheKrikkitWars]

As ever it was an awesome event, I'd echo that the nevis centre was a bit big and morover that the bar was unusually expensive; though that did leave the carpark with an excellent atmosphere, much to the consternation of the poor fellow who seemed to be acting as door staff (he wryly suggested a marquee in the highstreet outside an off licence might be more appropriate), and based on that I might as well add my voice to the crechendo of people asking to move back to the ALCAN Club if possible as it was an uncommonly good night when we held it there.

Moving the Morriston release to the saturday did seem like a good move, though I presume that probably killed the busy party atmosphere of the garry release (like many others we decided to catch something on the way back).

Finally, I'm not sure if the SCA have any contacts with the minor weather deities, but if you could get the same rain for next year, that too would be appreciated!

[janet brown]

As someone who is new to WWPF, and only a grade 2/3 paddler, can I just say how fantastic I thought it was. I was never made to feel out of place, and the shuttle drivers were very accommodating. Enjoyed being able to paddle a demo boat as well, though didn't get time to try one out on Sunday as we had to leave the Garry after one run in order to be able to get home to Sussex. Didn't get to the Nevis centre as staying with friends in Fort Augustus.

Janet

[Andy H]

Hi all

A great weekend again and good call on Morriston realease on the saturday this year. Meny thanks to all of the event organizers for all your hard work.

I noticed a girl taking photos or video with a very large camara on the first drop on the upper Morriston most of the morning are these photos/video going to appear anywhere?

Cheers Andy www.escapetoadventure.com

[waterbourne]

I took quite a bit of video footage of quite a few people with my phone... I will try to upload it to my lap top and then you tube and post some links....

Its a desire HD if anyone has any knowledge on how to do that?

[Notters]

Just like to say a huge thanks to the team who once again organised the event. I too think it worked really well having the Mighty Mo on the saturday, this possibly contributed to less intoxicated folks actually making it down in one piece which no doubt helped the medics and organisers. The Nevis centre was a bit on the expensive side for drinks and possibly on the big side. The atmosphere at the Alcan place really did make that an amazing party, the break dancing by mark watson and davey biggin was as gid as sliced breed !!!

[DAB]

I took quite a bit of video footage of quite a few people with my phone... I will try to upload it to my lap top and then you tube and post some links....

Its a desire HD if anyone has any knowledge on how to do that?

on the desire S all you need to do to get the video off the phone is to plug it in to the PC with the charger cable and select "mount as disk drive" on the phone then rake through the phone in windows explorer to find the file then upload it to youtube as you would normally.

[Eunoia]

oh by the way I believe someone swam the top drop this year, is this true? did anyone get any footage?

[DaveSt]

oh by the way I believe someone swam the top drop this year, is this true? did anyone get any footage?

Footage - no.

Photographs - yes!

Apologies to Ian(?), but I was glad to see you looked well after that, especially with your boat following so very close behind you...

[justin-g]

My 3rd WWPF and best so far paddling wise - excellent. Same comments re the party - 3.50 for a pint of cooking larger is not great really.

[Dave McCraw]

We had at least twenty minutes on the Garry with the playhole to ourselves, which is unheard of. It was almost quieter than a midweek release.

Can't comment on the rest as we only popped in for the afternoon - people seemed to be having fun.

[Jim Pullen]

We had at least twenty minutes on the Garry with the playhole to ourselves, which is unheard of. It was almost quieter than a midweek release.

Can't comment on the rest as we only popped in for the afternoon - people seemed to be having fun.

Hey Dave - shame you weren't there for the Morriston on the Saturday! A lot of people seemed to be on the Etive on the Sunday.

My 5th WWPF and I agree with most of the posts above. Morriston on the Saturday was great, got 4 runs of the Upper and a couple on the Lower and made it home by 730pm on the Sunday, much to my wife's surprise!

I would echo the comments about the Nevis centre - £3.50 a pint was a bit steep and the main room lacked atmosphere. I think the Alcan club year was the one I missed, so can't really compare. Still managed to catch up with loads of people and put a few faces to names (for future reference for anyone who hasn't met me, I'm not in my 50s and don't have a beard!)

Overall a great event and many thanks to James and the team for putting in the hard work!

[Dave McCraw]

Sorry we missed you, Jim. We were on a mountaineering club meet in Glen Coe, but couldn't resist popping by. Probably passed you coming the other way!

[clarky999]

oh by the way I believe someone swam the top drop this year, is this true? did anyone get any footage?

Footage - no.

Photographs - yes!

Apologies to Ian(?), but I was glad to see you looked well after that, especially with your boat following so very close behind you...

How did that happen?! It's basically flat above it!

Would love to see photos/videos if there are any though...

[Kayak Mike]

Same comments with everyone above about saturday being a good day for the release, and the room being too big and beer too expensive.... that said I thought there was a brilliant atmosphere around the stage towards the end of the evening.......

[Dave @ TRC]

High james and the gang great weekend .

Ideas for next year.

A sign of some kind, at the get outs, of the moriston, and the garry , for those wanting to paddling down to the shinty club or the gun club.

Those groovy wrist bands, need to be glow in the dark !!!

The venue is to big ? Did they not split it in half a few years back ? , or as said the alcan club was a great venue,

Prizes for most entertaining, swim, move, beating, ect ,

Someone to carry my boat back to the top off the morriston whould be nice to !!!!



Love and kisses, Dave

[p.sanger]

So this was my first wwpf and I really enjoyed it. I thought moriston on the Saturday was grat as we were able to get loads of runs down without the dreaded drive home. As others have said the hall and drinks were a bit pricey but I liked the smaller function room used on the Friday. Campsite that was recommended was really good and they were really helpful and pleasant owners letting us keep our gear in their " drying room" over night. Signs for the get out would of been nice on the moriston but it was quite a nice gentle paddle back as a cool down so I didn't ache that much. Overall great event and thank you guys for organising it.

P.s. Second the idea for glow in the dark bands and some stickers would be ace!!

Pete

[Neptune]

James,

Sorry for the late reply, only just back, but once again another fantastic WWPF weekend organised by you and all the team of the SCA Recreational Rivers Committee and the volunteers that help make what it was. I will drop you a more detailed email with feedback later this week.

However I will say immediately have the River Moriston release on the Saturady was so much better and thanks to the 'Rain Gods' managed to finally get enough water to run both the Coe and the Nevis, terrific.

Peter

P.S. Make sure you keep an eye on Giles when out on the water, you don't want him gettig too excited or rampent.

[powereduppackman]

James,

Only positive feedback. Great to get on the Moriston on the Saturday, hope you have the same plan next year. Beers and social on both evenings was good too.

Will be there next year.

Cheers,
- Chris.

[james fleming]

Thanks for all the feedback so far. Please make your voice count. If you want things changed have an opinion we need to hear it!

The Committee that make this event happen are due to meet next week for a wash up meeting. After that we’ll post some comments on the points raised.

Thanks!

[SimonMW]

Photographs - yes!

Looking forward to them!

[Paula_V]

Really enjoyed the moriston being on the Saturday, as many have said.

I'm sure that more people would have gone to the Garry, had there not been water around in other rivers.

One slight niggle was that the "ladies" t-shirts were just the same as the boys really. I was hoping for an actual ladies size S (as the UKRGB/Gene17 t-shirts have been) rather than just a seemingly boys S.

Echo the sentiments regarding the party venue.

Cheers for the organisation, appreciate the effort and time put in by all on the committee.

[waterbourne]

smaller venue please and live band instead of a person playing records would add to the atmosphere no end......

My first wwpf... really enjoyed it although everyone I spoke to couldnt be bothered to drive up to the garry...