The biggest event in the Kayak team’s calendar is our annual week-long trip to Newquay in Cornwall. The trip is organised and run by the social secretaries (with help from the rest of the committee) and is designed as a kayak surfing holiday.
This year we went from Friday 29th March to Friday 5th April. We were graced with pretty good weather the whole week (and by “pretty good weather”, I mean: no rain!) and we took over Fistral beach with our boats, tents, body boards and games. Those who braved the freezing sea came off the water happy everyday- the fresher’s (despite capsizing a fair amount) did really well and the old pro’s graced those on the beach with their tricks on the waves. The only injury to speak of was Sophia and her broken tooth, although that occurred with a SUP board and not a kayak.
Newquay, as a trip, is also extremely social. We had a fancy dress night out which was a superhero vs. villains theme. I’m not sure the club knew what hit them as 21 comic book characters took to the dance floor! There was also a night of games including twister and plenty of other fun activities. One of the days saw part of the team set up a mini rugby match on the beach, needless to say it was obvious to see who had played before and who hadn’t…
On the Tuesday most of the team drove down to St Ives, an extremely pretty coastal town to take in the sites and do some shopping/photography/paddling/pier jumping/ eating of delicious food. The day was bright and sunny and involved plenty of laughs. If you’ve never been to this part of the country you won’t know, but the seagulls in this area are extremely cocky. One took a piece of pizza straight from my hand! However the highlight of the day had to have been Alistair. He stood on the beach wall with a piece of pizza crust held high above his head waiting for a seagull to come and snatch it (we were all poised and waiting on the sand with our cameras). It was as if they knew it was some sort of trap though, and none of the birds came. There was a man with his two young children sitting on a bench behind Alastair watching the whole affair and we all saw him get up and gestured for us to keep quiet. He crept up behind our team member and grabbed his wrist. Alastair screamed very loudly (and very much like a girl!), jumped off the wall and curled his body up into the foetal position. Obviously the rest of us nearly wet ourselves with laughter and the whole episode was made even better by the fact it was caught on camera… The day also involved hilarity in the arcade with Forrest getting soaked by a local pro in a shooting game some amazing ice cream and a hike up to the highest point where there is a church, for some epic photos.
Overall then, despite a few hiccups with the accommodation, and a fair amount of illness, the week was a success. There were plenty of photos taken, a lot of laughs had, and the paddling standard was high even from the beginners. I would just like to say a huge thank you to everyone who came on the trip and made it what it was and to the attending committee; Candy and I couldn’t have done it without you all.
See more photo’s on our Flickr album.