After checking the weather and the river conditions, we knew it was going to be a little breezy, the conditions weren’t too bad at all; plus we had the bonus of it being dry and sunny, so all in all a great day for our second paddle.
We met up at the Isis Farmhouse for 10am, with a few early arrivals helping to get the boat cover off before we were even due to have started – great teamwork! We were delighted to be joined by some new faces; three lovely new members – Anna, Dona and Rosemary – plus some more experienced paddlers from Pink Champagne (based in Bournemouth) and Kingfishers (from Reading – fellow river Thames boaters!) who came along to help us beginners get to grips with things, and share their experience.
Anne-Marie led the safety briefing and a short warm up session to get everyone loosened up and ready to get on the water.
Once the boat was in the water, it was over to our helm Chris, who took us through various techniques which included the basics of all paddling together, to a racing start and even paddling with our eyes closed. It was quite blustery heading back upstream, if we rested for too long, we started going backwards!
It was a bit more of an effort getting the boat out of the water after all that energy put in to paddling. The boat was soon back to base, with everyone helping with the safe storage.
We finished with a gentle warm down and debrief. A huge thank you to everyone who supported the paddle and made it so much fun.
