A fun canoe and kayaking club based at Chiswick Pier
Date 15 May 2022 Lovely weather for a paddle and to start with a lovely tide and then the tide gods turned against me. I had cancelled the club session I normally run on the grounds it was too dangerous a tide. I wasn’t wrong and that was a mere 7.7 m one I guess not helped by the previous night’s rain and it felt like every other boat that could float was out on … Read more
HAMPTON COURT PALACE (Molesey lock) paddle (in Sea Kayak) with tide from Chiswick pier and back 9.25am – 18.05pm. 28.5 miles round trip. Might be useful to use a gps: https://gb.mapometer.com/canoeing Headed off on a minor tide, which was partially due to the sluice gates being down. The water flattened off within 15 min and really was not much of a help for the rest of the day which made it a challenging extra long … Read more
CLUB PADDLE TO TASTE NAKED LADIES BEER. Sea Kayak Paddle with tide from Chiswick to Twickenham and back. I have included some snaps from previous paddles which I never got around to posting. So a couple of stories intermingled. Sea Kayak Paddle 14.45- 19.00pm. Headed off on a powerful tide to Twick. Smooth paddle low wind. Not just the pigeons are exploiting CPCC’s sumptuous riverside pontoon. No stops lots of Canadian Geese nesting on moored … Read more
The Thames is a fantastic spring board to do training, trips, planning, checking ideas, equipment and group dynamics. We always aimed to test our skills at sea – with a little wind, a few waves, sun and salt.After studying weather and sea state, we called it a ‘rough water handling session’ and went to Lulworth Cove where the sea was rough, the wind blowy and the water salty. Unfortunately, my sea co-workers consisting of Jules, … Read more
Isleworth Ait with Igor and Colin. We started at a civilized 10.00 am Though this meant we were soon paddling against the tide which hit us around Chiswick Bridge. Around Kew Bridge we bumped into Belinda who was swimming merrily in the water in a fetching pink ensemble. (Well hat and buoyancy bag). I did not recognize her but she shouted out to me. I approached wearily as frankly anyone swimming in this part of … Read more
Went on a kayak paddle from Chiswick Pier to Hampton Court Palace and back (Molesey lock) with Kiki. We set off at a leisurely 11.20 came back around 9.20pm. 28.5 miles round trip (probably more like 29-30 miles as following edge of river not central fairway) Might be useful to use a gps: https://gb.mapometer.com/canoeing Could try this for planning and plotting: We thought we would catch the incoming tide which gave us a minor help … Read more
Went on a kayak paddle from Chiswick Pier to Twickenham and back with Kiki and Julius . We set off at a leisurely 9.20. We used Ventures and fusion boats. The weather was overcast with low predictions of rain. Our journey with the incoming tide was smooth, we went at an unusual leisurely pace via all the roundabout routes to look at the moored boats. There was strangely one rusting barge with graffiti paintings supporting … Read more
During the week or more likely last thing, the procedure from the club is the coaches who have made themselves available are issued with their paddling groups. This Sunday was no exception, however with the particular tide forecast for this specific Sunday it was a high tide paddle I had advised one of my group that it would be a tough paddle and not suitable for someone of their skills level. Harsh maybe, but safety … Read more
Greenwich paddle to see Cutty Sark. The pontoon had been hijacked by a family of swans with their four new babies, (cygnets) did anyone know that a male swan is a cob and a female a pen! In fact they seemed to be treating us like squatters and almost seemed to be ignoring us, unperturbed by our two sea kayaks being made ready to launch. We headed off with the tide around 9.20am for a … Read more
Went on a kayak paddle from Chiswick Pier to Richmond and back via a detour to Grand Union Canal (River Brent) with Kiki, Julius and Harvey. PS: I wore my surgical gloves on the paddle.. We set off at a leisurely 10.30. We used Ventures and Fusion boats. The weather was overcast with low predictions of rain. Our journey with the incoming tide was smooth, we saw ample heron and it was nice to catch … Read more
