**help** summer paddling Reading

[mahobalib]

hi,
I'm a student recently been taken by the paddling bug at university far down south in Cornwall. sadly having had to leave my boat down in cornwall for the summer iv now returned to my home lands of Reading (feels a bit like iv done it the wrong way round). having taken up the sport down in the west country I have absolutely no idea what there is local to me and I'm keen to take part in a casual local club that have their own boats that could use during the summer months. I'v done a quick search but havn't been able to find anything and was hoping that someone more enlightened than myself might read this and be able to guide me :)

thankyou for reading this

Chris

[snuggle_bunny]

http://www.facebook.com/ReadingCanoeClub


hope this is of some use, I just typed in canoe clubs reading and got this- theres a bit of stuff on the web about reading canoeing in general

[mahobalib]

thanks,
yer I saw them too but I dont know if its just me only being used to a uni club, that does mostly sea kayaking and sitting around in pubs :P , but I got the impression that reading cc was very race orientated and I was looking for something more casual. but I will get in touch with them and find out more :)

[snuggle_bunny]

try typing in google or whatever- reading canoeing . theres a fair bit of stuff about canoeing in the reading area

[bib_bob_euroslap]

Try Reading Uni Canoe Club.
They do more of what you're after and there should be some folk hanging around in Reading this summer, as well as all their old gits.

[Eliza Dolittle]

Hi Chris,
Canoe England club finder here http://www.canoe-england.co.uk/findaclub.aspx

Reading CC is very competition focussed, mostly flat water racing but a little slalom too.

There is Wokingham Canoe Club and Waterside centre just downstream of Reading CC and Adventure Dolphin Centre and Pangbourne Canoe Club just upstream of Reading CC. Berkshire isn't the best place for sea kayaking but some of the other nearby clubs like Basingstoke Canal CC and Basingstoke and Deane CC have sea kayaks that members can borrow and run the occasional sea trip or if you have transport look at Portsmouth and District CC .

Liz

[StillNewish]

Hi Chris,

I'd reccommend BADCC and BCCC, if you're keen to do a mix of flat water, whitewater and sea paddles. BCCC is fairly racing focused, but not overly so, it's more a case of it just being another option if you decided to get involved with it in future.

Just drop the relevant people an email and arrange to come along for a (free, if memory serves me correctly) taster session.

These are run outdoors at present, on the Basingstoke Canal, and should give you a feel for what the clubs do, equipment availibility and so on.

If you are keen on sea paddling, take a look at the calander on the BADCC page, for sea trips on Tuesday evenings, flatwater on Wednesdays. BCCC does most of their group training/paddling on Saturday mornings, as well as weekend trips.

Must admit I'm not entirely impartial here, being a member at both, (a white water paddler mostly, just getting into playboating)

Good luck with it, I'm Basingstoke based so just let me know if you fancy doing any local stuff (Thames, Kennett and Avon etc).

Cheers,

Colin

[ollier]

Hi

I am from Reading uni canoe club based at wokingham waterside centre - we have the bay next door to wokingham canoe club and you would be more than welcome to join our casual paddles during the summer etc. I have sent you a pm. Get in touch if we can help

Oliver