Author: David Arnfield

Tyne Tour 2013

I am going to let one of the freshers, Charlie King, winner of the prestigious Best Hat at Tyne award for this year, describe her experiences of the weekend as a newbie. She writes:

The weekend starts off with a merry round of drinking and a stumble back to the tents, any weekend that starts like that is only bound to escalate in excitement! After a few hours of sleeping off the drunken stupor, Saturday morning arrives and the white water starts its siren call. Kit is put on, beloved comedic hats are painstakingly secured to the helmets and the warm-up includes a funky chicken dance followed by a world war re-enactment, who could ask for more?! On to the water!

The paddle itself is an experience of death defying flying and long periods of flat water. There is everything from small rapids to waves that engulfed any paddler unlucky enough to favour a low seated kayak, concrete slides that lead to flumes of water ready to carry you face first into trees, rocky drops and finally warden’s gorge. All in all, an adrenaline junkies wet dream!

If kayaking for a minimum of 4 hours isn’t tiring enough for you youngsters, a night at the Ceilidh will have you so exhausted you’ll be passing out on table tops! Or as some of this year’s frequenters: on top of pint glasses. Don’t worry about getting lost in the crowds of universities though! Neon green L.U.C.K shirts are sure to keep everyone aware of each other.

On to the dancing! Follow the man in the ridiculous suit and everything will go swimmingly! Ready?! Get in lines of 8 facing each other, come together, back into position, line A raise your arms, line B go under! Spin your partner until the floor is on the ceiling, back into line formation, front couple go between the lines doing something ridiculous! Think you can handle that?! Start the music!

Would I go again? Sign me up for next year!

Tyne tour; a fun filled weekend of drinking, rain, mud and kayaking! Bring lots of thermals.

From Rags to Cags

 

So you’re a fresher, you’ve just had your first few sessions and had a great time with some amazing people and now you’re thinking, “I could really get in to this, maybe I should get some better stuff to wear.”

Here’s something to get you thinking about what you could buy first, and then as you progress in the sport.

Let’s start with what you’ve probably got already. Your current kit will most likely consist of trakie bottoms, a t-shirt and trainers with a cag, deck and helmet provided by the club when you need it. It’s worth keeping in mind that the club will always be able to lend you these when your with them so do you really need to buy what for the moment you can borrow.

So what’s the first thing you should buy? Well some people might suggest to you that you buy a wet suit, and that could be a good option but you should think about both the short and the long term. A wet suit is good in the beginning when your taking regular swims but if you’re a planning to work yourself up to dry gear do you really want to spend money on something that eventually you not going to use.

“What do you suggest then?” you ask. Well, there are two things I would say should be you first bit of kit, shoes and rash top or thermals.

Shoes because they might be the most important bit of kit you will own, you will be wearing them no matter what you’re doing and they’re will cause loads of discomfort if they don’t fit right or do their job properly. Plus it means that you can stop ruining those trainers that you’d usually still wear but grabbed because they were your oldest pair.

Secondly thermals or a rash top so you have something to keep you warm when the temperature starts to drop. These can be worn under your trakies and club cag or under any dry suits you may find lying around. If you were considering a wet suit you could pick up a neoprene rash top that would do the same job when you swim but would more appropriate when you don’t.

Next, you could start looking at the club kit that you’re constantly borrowing, but doesn’t quite fit properly. Maybe you find yourself using club helmets a lot, but your head is human shaped, unlike the people who design them. Club BA’s not fitting correctly can also be an issue, mainly for girls who can end up having to wear a large or suffer with squashed boobs. If you don’t have these problems then whats wrong with continuing using club kit, for now at least. Why not save the money for the next social.

A while later you’ll probably find yourself in a place called Hexham for what their calling “Tyne tour.”  This is a great place to pick up some kit as it’s full of stall with sale racks and discounts for students and a good buy might be to grab a nose peg as it’ll be handy for practicing in the pool session.

Any kit you don’t have now can be picked up when you have the cash, probably when the next loan comes in. Just remember that this is just to give you something to think about. Everyone has there on opinion and you know best what you want and need, but if you are looking at buying kit, just asking people is a great way to get a little bit more knowledge, before parting with your money.

Andrew Sinclair.