OMers organise their own kayaking course...
We always knew you OMers were a pro-active bunch. The latest escapade organised on the
meets and partners section of the forum was a kayaking course in North Wales and from what we hear, a great time was had by all. Here's a personal account by OM member David Mycroft:
"September saw the culmination of several weeks of excitement for a small OM contingent, with the follow up to “Operation Cetrain Death” – “Death by Drowning”. At the instigation of Hayley Dyer a motley crew of 8 descended on the unsuspecting Llanberis from around the country for the beginners kayaking weekend.
We used Boulder Adventures Outdoor Centre, Bryn Du, in Llanberis for all the instruction, equipment and accommodation and got an excellent deal. Dave and Hayley arrived early to lull the participants into a false sense of security, armed with bottles of Black Sheep beer. By 10.30 the full complement had arrived with Phil, Carolyn, Lorraine, Darren, his wife Kate and son Nathan swelling the numbers – and the alcohol store. With the late arrivals the staff had rustled up platters of sandwiches, quiche and sausage rolls for everyone.
Saturday dawned, and breakfast was ready for us by 8.30am – no fighting with Trangias on this meet. The centre is superbly placed looking down on Llyn Padarn, where we were soon to be found taking our first tentative paddles in the small lagoons. Dave and Sam, our instructors, soon worked out we were a pretty adventurous lot and started us off with a game of frisby involving a disk shaped piece of sponge thoroughly soaked and aimed at the head of some poor unsuspecting paddler. Now in the mood, we learnt to “edge” or lean the kayak over till you were ready to fall out. By the time we’d raced around the lagoon madly shouting “eat my pants” people were becoming detatched from their kayaks. Dave was the first casualty – going beyond the limit when edging, followed by Nathan – who spent more time in the water than in the kayak. Others followed in quick succession, culminating in Hayley evacuating mid water at the threat of being tipped out.
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Saturday evening saw us relaxing in the lounge with bottles of red wine and beer, watching DVDs of suicidal paddlers launching themselves down precipices. In a break from the OM tradition no-one felt the urge to find the pub – why bother when there was enough fun to be had without going out? The day’s activities obviously took their toll as by the start of Match of The Day only Dave, Phil and Karen were still up.
Afon Dwyryd was our target for Sunday, with a full day on the river. We set off from the river bank at Coed Bryn-Mawr just outside Porthmadoc downstream towards Portmeirion. The idea of the weekend was to make as as self sufficient as possible for the future so Dave and Sam moved us down the river in stages, using games at breaks to teach us new skills. From throwing a ball around at the start we progressed to shouts of “I’m an otter” and “you’ve got a nice bum” in a King of the River contest of tag. Finally we were treated to Kate’s rendition of some indistinguishable Elvis song as she became the “King”.
As we approached the toll bridge from Porthmadoc to Harlech, which was our destination we got to the highlight of the weekend. This was where the few who hadn’t got a soaking on the Friday got their final chances as we learnt how to lie in the water and right the kayaks with a swift hip swivel . If that didn’t do the trick we could learn a “seal jump” off the island into the river. The last 2/3 of a mile went all too quickly to our designated disembarkation point and the drive back to the centre.
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All in all it was a great weekend in the tradition of OM meets. We learnt how to stay in the boat – always useful, how to get back in the boat after falling out –equally useful and even how to rescue a “man overboard”in an atmosphere of a great bunch of mates. If there’s ever another OM kayaking meet you can bet on eight people being up for it again."
If you want to organise your own meet-up with fellow OMers, check out the meets and partners section of the forum where the kayaking course was organised. Throw about some ideas - who knows where you'll all meet up next.
