Hi Everyone

A BIG THANK YOU everyone who helped, raced and supported our Chester Hasler Yesterday, big thanks to Sarah and Melvin, special thanks to Kate who worked everything out on the computer, Adele and Jean, a big thanks to our wonderful Bacon Buttie Crew Sue Denise and Carol, Phil for doing rescue, John for organising the lightnings ........ Helen and Dave for sorting the portage ......and anyone else I may of missed. THANKS!!!

Good weather and about 50 'bums' on seats made a great days racing, everyone really enjoyed it, and we had some great results from the Chester Paddlers.

 

Medals went to  

Lightnings Under 12 Boys 2nd Tom Mitchell, Under 12 Girls 1st Rona Fishburn, Under 10 Girls 1st Maggie Corr. 

Div 7 2nd Owain Williams and promoted to Div 6 

Div 6 1st Mark Tidmam - 2nd Steve Chorley - 3rd Mark Williams - 4th Struan Fishburn

Div 3 to 6 K2 1st David and Jake - 2nd Melvin and Jean...... who's knees were knocking together at the start, (according to Adele) but was fine when she got going ... she said at the end of the race 'If I can put all Melvin's tips into practise I might just be able to paddle proper by next season!!  watch out boys!!!!

 

Special mention Margaret (Div 8) who during her race, helped our 2 new girls from Kings School Laura and Hannah who paddled K2 (for only the second time ever) they capsized, thanks Margaret and well done to the girls for getting back in and finishing ... hope it hasn't put you off!

 

Good to see paddlers from RAF Conway and Runcorn. Big thanks to the crews from Trentham and Macclesfield who all really enjoyed themselves ... and said how much they loved visits to our Club in Chester ... think it must be the Bacon Butties!

Well Done Chester!

Results here.

 

 

SNIPPITS

Phil Roberts sent me this valuable information its a great read and really interesting if your looking for a new kayak.

KAYAK INFORMATION - Faster or just a flashy kayak!

A number of paddlers are reaching a point of looking at different boats I have been thinking about what are the important considerations.
Boat choice is highly subjective and requires a compromise to balance many factors, Paddler's size, weight, Fitness, skill level, finances, availability...fashion....!

So what things really makes the difference? Two major components in boat speed are boat length and aspect and the ratio between the two. For racing kayaks the length is set by the rules so all boats are pretty much the same length. The width is determined by how wide does a boat need to be in order for the paddler to sit in it? So again most boats fit into bands that are very similar due to the need to fit an 'average' paddler Also its the width of the boat that's in the water that is relevant, so the old rules boats that had to have a minimum width, generally only met that width above the water line so the difference between old and new designs may be less than you may expect.

Many of the top boats today continue to be evolutions of Struer Boats dating back to the 1970s. The discontinued models page still makes interesting reading particularly when those ebay bargains appear!
http://www.struerkajak.com/International-site/Discontinued-models/Complete-list.aspx

I have recently tripped over an article on the Epic site that gives some interesting comparisons between boats and different skills of paddler:
http://www.epickayaks.com/news/news/boat-speed-comparison

What conclusions stand out from this article?

 


I believe there is a trend in boat design to recognise that stability is an important design factor and an increasing recognition that wobbly does not automatically mean fast. This certainly agrees with my personal observations.

A paddler needs to be stable enough in all conditions they will face to gain significant benefit from a boat. A boat that feels comfortable and stable will have a highly positive effect on being able to paddle powerfully and maintain good style and make inroads into that 20% speed margin that an elite paddler could extract from the same boat.

A boat that's too unstable promotes poor technique, defensive paddling and is often very frustrating for the paddler and the time lost usually far outweighs any theoretical boat design advantages. I have seen many paddlers struggle for years with a boats that are too unstable for them. Ultimately some give up believing they can't paddle a 'proper' boat!!

It is worth remembering: Paddlers make boats go fast, boats don't make paddlers go fast. Speed comes with hard work and experience and unfortunately there are no instant short cuts that can be bought.
http://www.epickayaks.com/news/news/should-i-go-with-a-faster-ski

There are a number of considerations that are often forgotten in swapping boats and it is important that any boat is set up to optimize the boat for the individual paddlers needs. Club boats often highlight this issue as the easiest option to quickly get in a boat is to just move the seat and not the footrest. Boat trim often needs to be adjusted for best performance ie. moving your position forward or back wards, adjusting seat hight etc all of these can have a significant effect on how the boat feels and performs.

Too often I see people judging boats on a short paddle and subjective assessment. In reality its better to be more scientific in trying new boats or even changing boat settings. The best way of assessing boats is to paddle for as long as possible and include known set pieces eg. our regular time trial distances and seeing what the times are like. If we look at time trial history individuals times are usually quite consistent. Only by this type of approach can you gain an objective assessment of any change due to equipment choice.

Does this mean you shouldn't try a different boat? No, not at all! it can take time and perseverance to master a new boat and it can be worthwhile but to quote Epic: The most important component in Training and Racing well is COMFORT and CONFIDENCE in your boat. 
 It depends on your primary objective, is yours to enjoy your paddling and perform the best you can or to master a wobbly boat? you may achieve both quicker by learning to exploit a more stable boat before jumping to the most unstable ones!
If you want to read a more description of what contributes to or limits boat speed:
http://www.wavewalk.com/COMPARISON.html

If you want an idea of how stable a particular boat is? Although it would be helpful to have an idea of the paddler weight range, Marsport is good for that.
http://canoesouth.org/index.php?page=k1-stability

It is often helpful to have an idea of the paddler weight range, Marsport is good for that.
http://www.marsport.co.uk/Racing/Boats/k1.html

Written by Phil Roberts Trentham Canoe Club.

 

Also here is another interesting spread sheet David Hatton did for a school project, Choose the right kayak ...its well worth a look!


RIVER THAMES
Congratulations to David Walliams for swimming the length of the River Thames. All Devizes to Westminster Paddlers, and paddlers who have raced on the Thames will really appreciate the challenges presented by this stretch of river. I remember there's quite like getting to those steps at the finish line of the DW. Take a look at Walliams finishing his Thames Swim - what a great place to finish a massive challenge.... Awesome but think I will stick to my Kayak!! (Jean)

The BT Sport Relief Challenges Walliams Vs The Thames | Sport Relief 2012

www.sportrelief.com

Comic Relief

 

IMPORTANT NOTE

The next Hare n Hounds and Lightnings day was going to be 9th October, this will probably have to be to canceled, as its the Chester Marathon and 4000 runners, spectators, medical teams, and feeding stations will be in Sandy Lane, it will be closed from 10 -3 and it will be very hectic outside the club.

We will decide on Thursday what to do?

 

Remember if you've got any races lined up, marathon, slalom, whitewater, results, canoe tips or stories, you want to share with the club, I'd love to hear from you and so would the rest of the Club so I can publish them in our Canoe Email News.

Its good to share News!!

Just email me malpasashleys@btinternet.com

Happy Paddling Jean

(on behalf of the canoe club committee)