Newcastle Uni Launched 40 boats at once on the Tees- Discuss

[MattBibbings]

As the title suggests, when we arrived at the Middleton get in on the Tees on Sunday we were met by 40+ kayakers all belonging to Newcastle Uni.

They appeared to be split into groups (I know this because I heard comments of "are we in his group?") but nevertheless all launched at the same time. We got past them and watched as they ran the first corner rapid (all at once, one group after another like a conveyor belt of paddlers). No space between groups, folk hitting each other etc. (Hats off to the Lass that handrolled after losing her paddle though!).

From the outside looking in it appeared to be Chaos but everyone looked to be having fun and enjoying the experience. We got ahead and didn't see them again.

As the title suggests - 40 boats launched at once - Discuss.

[Tom_Laws]

Excellent news. Keen, enthusiastic students.

What's your point? Are you fishing for someone to say that it's outrageous?

[RichA]

everyone looked to be having fun and enjoying the experience.

Discuss? No need.

[RVabdn]

40's a good effort. I love trips like that. Like you mention it's important to split into smaller groups and to know which group your in etc. Apart from that fair play!

[Diamond Dave]

Was an excellent day, fun had by all.
A few swimmers but no epics.
Slightly crowded at the start perhaps, but down all the 'major' rapids there was adequate safety set up and easily enough space between boats.

(Hats off to the Lass that handrolled after losing her paddle though!).

Hahaaa! That must be Emily! I swear she loves swimming more than she does paddling (despite having a solid roll!)! You obviously caught her in a rare moment where she decided to stay in the boat!
Hope you enjoyed the rain too.
Dave

[Adrian Shanahan]

BOOM


What Tom said...

Excellent news. Keen, enthusiastic students.

What's your point? Are you fishing for someone to say that it's outrageous?

[MattBibbings]

Excellent news. Keen, enthusiastic students.

What's your point? Are you fishing for someone to say that it's outrageous?

No, not fishing for 'outrage' just a discussion. I do believe you may have the worng end of my stick.

This is a rare sight on Uk rivers outside events such as organised Tours or at 'Honeypot' venues (Treweryn, etc).

As with all rare sights I thought it might generate some discussion (what these forums doo-hickeys are for, I was lead to believe?)

So, my thoughts are..... if we can launch large numbers in organised groups on classic sections of classic rivers and not be told to bugger off by land owners/fishermen/Joe Public (I think even the group of walkers watching the launch enjoyed it!), leave no trace (even the parking was responsible), then I call that progress. We are conditioned to think this behaviour (enjoying our sport publicly and without the need to sneek around) is somehow wrong. We need to break that cycle of thought if we are to stand a chance of equality of access in Enaglnd and Wales. Sorry if anyone thought I was 'baiting' with the OP.

[barCODE]

doo-hickeys or two-hickeys on the water? we've been rumbled...

[MattBibbings]

doo-hickeys or two-hickeys on the water? we've been rumbled...

Eh?

[Bil]

Amazing.

Forty paddlers is a fine fine effort.

[Dave McCraw]

I think it's terrible. Kayaking should be kept as an elite activity, pursued only by small groups of veteran paddlers who can slip on and off the water like ghosts... if we start opening it up to anyone to take part, it will only dilute the achievements of the few!

What's more, it will upset our good friends the anglers, land-owners, any members of the public who may be passing by, and anyone who sees the paddlers' cars parked in the car park. What's more, many years of sterling effort by the BCU to negotiate those one or two days a year when navigation is permissable on some other rivers may be wasted!

No good will come of it, mark my words. Naming and shaming on ukrgb (stern though such punishment may be) is too good for them!

[SwamP]

I think it's terrible. Kayaking should be kept as an elite activity, pursued only by small groups of veteran paddlers who can slip on and off the water like ghosts... if we start opening it up to anyone to take part, it will only dilute the achievements of the few!

What's more, it will upset our good friends the anglers, land-owners, any members of the public who may be passing by, and anyone who sees the paddlers' cars parked in the car park. What's more, many years of sterling effort by the BCU to negotiate those one or two days a year when navigation is permissable on some other rivers may be wasted!

No good will come of it, mark my words. Naming and shaming on ukrgb (stern though such punishment may be) is too good for them!

Agreed and to follow on from this I have a strong opinion that we should perhaps licence the sport for male WASPs, aged 19-39 only!

Are you fishing for someone to say that it's outrageous?

AAARRRGGGGHHHH You said the F word.....F you whale, F you dolphin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Paul L]

Agreed and to follow on from this I have a strong opinion that we should perhaps licence the sport for male WASPs, aged 19-39 only!

Make that 19-45 and I`d agree though it would`nt give me long left so maybe extend it if your good to 50.
A mate and I passed them on the race course section was a real surprise coming round the corner to be greeted by them all have never seen so many boaters in one spot.Looked well organised so can`t see any probs we passed them about half way,one of their group stood on the fork of the main left hand rapid and thank fully pointed us down the right way which we could`nt see because of the sun so cheers for that. It was a good level am sure they would have enjoyed themselves ,we did.

Cheers

Paul

[Pete]

Agreed and to follow on from this I have a strong opinion that we should perhaps licence the sport for male WASPs, aged 19-39 only!

I have to object, I've just turned 41 and since reaching that ancient milestone, I've become all-inclusive and think Paddlesport should be promoted by TeamGB, Sport England et al to the exclusion of all other sports and specifically targetting septugenarian fly-fishermen, introducing them to the concept of fishing from sit on tops at the entrance to both Conwy Falls & The Fairy Glen!

[TheKrikkitWars]

Good effort, Ben Hurr scale epic blue-angel paddling* is exactly the sort of high jinx we need to encourage, lest we get an image as a staid, conventional sport.

Sounds like an outragious amount of fun was had by all!

*That is a gargantuan number of paddlers each following a boat length behind the one in front.

[Ela]

Over 45 in fact, which still doesn't beat the clubs mighty mighty Tweed 55+ trip!

[clarky999]

Just to quote what MattBiblings said

No, not fishing for 'outrage' just a discussion. I do believe you may have the worng end of my stick.

This is a rare sight on Uk rivers outside events such as organised Tours or at 'Honeypot' venues (Treweryn, etc).

As with all rare sights I thought it might generate some discussion (what these forums doo-hickeys are for, I was lead to believe?)

So, my thoughts are..... if we can launch large numbers in organised groups on classic sections of classic rivers and not be told to bugger off by land owners/fishermen/Joe Public (I think even the group of walkers watching the launch enjoyed it!), leave no trace (even the parking was responsible), then I call that progress. We are conditioned to think this behaviour (enjoying our sport publicly and without the need to sneek around) is somehow wrong. We need to break that cycle of thought if we are to stand a chance of equality of access in Enaglnd and Wales. Sorry if anyone thought I was 'baiting' with the OP.

I think it's quite interesting that everyone read the title and immediately expected that someone was condemning the large group thing, it's what my first thoughts were too (maybe people should read more than just the title before posting?). All the 'indignant' responses make it seem like many people still expect large groups to be condemned too, which is strange. Why?

[TheKrikkitWars]

Over 45 in fact, which still doesn't beat the clubs mighty mighty Tweed 55+ trip!

To think we were proud of getting 11 of us on the ogwen in one go; I'm just going to head out and gather a press gang now...

[mattclarke]

Hey guys,

Im far from the most experienced paddler here but thought id get back into posting the occasional opinion....i like others had assumed it was going to be an atricle/discussion about how bad 40 people together is...and to a degree i would agree its not ideal but from what has been posted it would seem that like my own opinion...many people here think that as long as adequate safety and caution is taken on any major rapids (major is subjective on group ability) then i think its good to have 40 paddlers from a group on a river...can only be good for the sport. i have fond memories of dee tours past and wardens gorge on tyne tours past, with the river swollen with multicoloured kayak-duckings drifting down...its chaos sometime but great to see.

Ah well just my meagre opinion lol

Matt

[Neptune]

There would have been more paddlers than this but three 'Oldies' from Doncaster pinched Diamond Dave and a few more of these young students for a bimble down the Upper Swale so we don't become complacent in our old age.

By the way, the 'Oldies' had a combined age of over 170 years between the three of them and they were still able to do everything these young rapscalions did.

Nice to see the young folk getting out and having fun just like we did and still do.

Peter

[andya]

Kudos to Newcastle for getting all those boats out! Nicely done!

But its not "that" unusual a sight is it??? Photo below was from Symonds this year which I think was the third or fourth best attended trip of the year so far.



And just to illustrate, with a story of "people power". The look on a River Fromes fishermans face at the end of this conversation was priceless ...
Picture leading and coming round the corner, to the longest Carbon rod you're ever seen going from one bank of the river to the other...

• Me - "Morning, which side would you like us to pass"
• Fisherman - "I'll lift my rod you can go under"
• Me - "Might take a while there are over 50 of us ..."
• Fisherman "50? 50!!!! I'm going for lunch"

[Notters]

Agreed and to follow on from this I have a strong opinion that we should perhaps licence the sport for male WASPs, aged 19-39 only!

[/quote]

Are you in that age range ryan??
You sure... haha.

[CptBorg]

The picture above, on Symonds Yat, appears to show lots of happy children. In a country with children reported to be amongst the least happy in Europe, that can ONLY be a good thing. Even 50 canoes won't take more than a few minutes to pass so I'm sure in this exceptional case the fisherman would have been only slightly hindered in his activity and it appears he had the sense to take a short break.

I'm of the opinion that larger groups, on anything other than flat water should be spread out, as soon as possible as it appears happened on the Tees. As well as making safety easier to maintain with regards to collision etc, it also helps to preserve the tranquility of the setting or the illusion of isolation, which I find is part of the appeal of our sport.

[Andy J]

As Andya said, 40 paddlers on a river at one time isn't anything new. I don't beleive it is a rare sight either. Just because you don't see a post on UKRGB about it doesn't mean to say there isn't groups of friends, clubs or university clubs of 20+ people on the river every week.

I fail to see what the discussion is. If two people "responsibly" paddle a river at a same time, then what is the difference if 40+ people "responsibly" paddle a river at the same time.

Nice one Newcaslte. Good to see you guys providing the oppertunity to loads of people to enjoying kayaking in a safe and structured manner. Sounds like a great day on the river.

[seanieb]

I think it's terrible. Kayaking should be kept as an elite activity, pursued only by small groups of veteran paddlers who can slip on and off the water like ghosts... if we start opening it up to anyone to take part, it will only dilute the achievements of the few!

What's more, it will upset our good friends the anglers, land-owners, any members of the public who may be passing by, and anyone who sees the paddlers' cars parked in the car park. What's more, many years of sterling effort by the BCU to negotiate those one or two days a year when navigation is permissable on some other rivers may be wasted!

No good will come of it, mark my words. Naming and shaming on ukrgb (stern though such punishment may be) is too good for them!

Thanks. This post made my day.

[ricwalker]

This is probably a good thing, they're gonna need all the practise they can get before taking on the mighty Loughborough at this weekend's BUCS White Water Racing...

Good look ;)

[garya]

Have you ever experianced the start of the Liffey Descent ???

I think I was paddler number 354 on that one..

Straffan wier 600 meters from the start.. Carnage

http://www.liffeydescent.com/language/e ... 9-109.aspx

Gary A

[scubasteve]

I think it was a very successful trip, good amount of safe swims, the farmer was happy as we kept opening the gate for him and fun had all round! Only a truely brillaint effort by the president! Bring on WWR.

[Jim]

What is most encouraging is that it proves that the standards set by my predecessors at NUCC are still working well many generations on. I'm impressed that they found transport for 40 people though, even when we had access to a minibus and a few cars 25-30 was a realistic max.

NUCC has always been a big club (although rarely getting the full support they deserve from the AU based on numbers) and has always maintained a high number of trips and high number of people on trips. The club used to shun the BCU way, principally because their way was more relevant and better. The NUCC way includes having lots of relatively small groups setting off together or at short intervals, mixing the paddlers up so that the strongest paddlers look after the weakest and so on. On flat water, this does often look like a mass of paddlers all paddling together, but the key thing is what they do at rapids, which is spread out. Depending on difficulty the groups will either self-protect, or protect each other, the latter being a great way to rotate the lead group and keep things moving so no-one needs to get too cold. Right from the start the freshers are taught how to protect rapids and everyone takes a turn. Obviously this ethos requires a good number of experienced paddlers in the club at any one time, but it works by quickly building many of the freshers into strong river runners within a couple of years so the training is continuous, yet informal and effective.

Obviously behind what happens on the river there is a strong social scene which is also important because it provides an opportunity to make really good friends who you can then depend on on the river.

Although I have seen and heard criticism of many university clubs, most of them actually seem to have systems something like this which work just as effectively. Perhaps the thread will encourage people to think twice when they encounter an apparantly large group and take a deeper look and see how the discipline within the group actually works?

The biggest groups I normally paddle with now are not university paddlers but my more regular (more hardcore some would say)friends who often end up with 12 or 15 people on the river at the same time paddling effectively in one group, but often with several different plans when it comes to rapids. Some inspect, some protect, others run blind - it all works because we know each other well and have a good idea who is going to do what but to be perfectly honest we don't approach things as safely or with as much discipline as a uni group would.... On the other hand, at least the guys who run stuff blind are in position to do boat safety for the others, and we are usually faster for a number of reasons.

Jim

[scottdog007]

I hope all you Uni guys each paid your £3 access money to the farmer? :-) Gee he nearly jumped down our necks for the money 5 seconds after arriving, i'm sure he was hiding behind a tree.

40 x £3 emm oh thank you sir.