Fresher Taster Sessions, all you need to know!

Enjoy a taster of Kayaking & Canoeing right here in Lincoln! The University of Lincoln Canoe & Kayak club is hosting 4 taster sessions to allow you to try this exciting sport over freshers. We’ll explain all you need to know on this post.

When Can I come and have a go.

We are hosting 4 sessions across 2 days. The 23rd of September and the 30th of September. With taster sessions at 2pm & 3pm. Please show up only to one as we need to allow everyone a chance to take part.

What should I expect?

You’ll spend 1 hour taking part, 15mins gearing up, warming up and a quick safety briefing then we head onto Brayford Pool, allow you to paddle around, we’ll play some games and activities as well as teach basic skills. It’s flat water so no rapids so we don’t plan anyone to fall in.

Do I need any special kit?

No, we’ll provide the boats & paddles, as well as the safety equipment to get paddling, we just ask you dress appropriate and bring a towel.

What should I wear?

Sports/active wear is good. A t-shirt and swimming shorts/tracksuit trousers, However we’ll provide a CAG to cover your torso from water, however you will get wet, be it from splashes in the water or the rain so please wear clothing you don’t mind getting wet. But please don’t wear jeans or cotton/fleece tracksuits as these absorb water and make paddling unsafe. Footwear wise, please wear footwear you don’t mind getting wet.

Should I bring anything else?

A change of clothes is essential, you don’t want to be walking home in wet clothes, also a towel and a change of shoes. There is changing facilities so you can leave your belongings in the changing rooms.

Is it easy, safe, dangerous?

We have a team of trained students who’ve been on various BCU courses who’ll be on the water providing coaching and assistance, The Brayford Pool is a flat body so no waves or choppy water will make this great for a first time paddling. The kit you’ll be wearing is also safe and keep you afloat if you accidentally fall in. While the Brayford pool might look questionable some days, however the Environmental Agency has deemed the water perfectly safe to paddle on.

Overall, it’s safe and the easy to paddle on the Brayford.

Where should I meet?

We meet at the Lincoln Canoe Club, based on campus, it the building near the Minerva building (formally M.A.B), to find it walk down the road/path as if you were heading to the level crossing.

We’d love to see you come along and try this sport out. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us on Facebook, or e-mail canoe@lincolnsu.com

Happy Paddling!

Hello Freshers 2015

A big welcome to new and returning students of the University of Lincoln, and well done if you’ve just secured your place. With Freshers Week and moving in weekend fast approaching we’d like to let you in on some of the canoe & kayaking you can get upto in Lincoln during your study and what to look forward to!

Kayaking? Yes, kayaking.

While you might be loading the car full of stationery, books and the odd cheap bottle of vodka, you might of not thought of kayaking or canoeing. Whereas some of you might be paddle in the hand ready to arrive next month, whatever your situation we welcome everyone no matter ability into our team. This blog post we’ll give you some advice and tell you what’s happening if you want to get into this sport.

Who we are?

We are L.U.C.K, University team for Canoeing & Kayaking. We meet up weekly to paddle on open water in Lincoln and surrounding rivers, as well as weekly indoor pool sessions to learn skills. We also travel across the country to paddle different rivers and go surf kayaking on the cornish coast once a year. Kayaking & Canoeing is a great sport and it’s much easier to get into then you think. We as a club provide the basic kit to get you started and with a mix level of ability, you can learn skills from other members as we are happy to help each other out. It’s also cheaper as membership is just £55 for the academic year, covering all equipment use costs & Wednesday Session costs. We also have a thriving social side, from club nights to bowling.

You can see what we’ve been upto over the past year over on our facebook page. www.facebook.com/lincolnunikayak

Sounding good, want to get involved?

If this is sounding good, Fantastic. It’s really easy to get involved with L.U.C.K. Here’s how: Visit us at the Sports Faye on the Wednesday of Freshers Week we’ll have a stand where you can ask questions and speak to us face-to-face. Then we host 4 taster sessions, 2 on the 23rd Sept, and the 30th Sept, both 2pm & 3pm on those days pick a day to come down and have a go for an hour, free of charge. (More information will be updated on this blog soon) If you enjoy that then we encourage you to join up. We also want you to feel free to ask us as many questions as you need to. So you can e-mail us over at canoe@lincolnsu.com or message us on Facebook.

What should I bring from home?

If you are planning to pack we have some simple suggestions:

Sports Kit: With so many sports on campus and wanting you to try out during the first couple of weeks, pack some sports clothing so you can have a go. For kayaking we recommend, lightweight t-shirts, tracksuit bottoms/shorts etc.. We don’t recommend fleece pants or denim as these can absorb water and be uncomfortable to paddle in.
Thermals & Wet Gear: Got some thermals & baselayers, bring them if you want to join in. During the winter months it can get cold, these provide an extra layer to keep you warm when paddling. Wet Gear? Got a wet suit or some boardie shorts? These are great to bring along, as well as simple swimming shorts.
Footwear: Let’s be honest, you might fall into the water in this sport, don’t worry everyone does. So be prepared to get your shoes covered in river water and the rest, so if you have a set of old shoes you don’t mind getting wet, bring those, no studs however.

This and some common sense (a towel) you’ll be ready to get paddling without footing a bill for stuff you already had at home.

Wait? What About that expensive kayaking gear?

Just like all sports, Kayaking & Canoeing has specialist kit, which can be very expensive. We do not need you to have any specialist clothing/kit to join in. As a club we provide members with enough of the kayaking gear to get started. A buoyancy aid (BA) CAG A waterproof overlayer, Decks a piece of kit to stop water getting into the boat and helmets when needed. We also provide paddles and a boat.

Previous paddler, have you own kit already?

Then we welcome you to bring your own kit along. Each year members join with various amount of kits, We also can store your boat & paddle in our secure store with the rest of the club boats. If you thinking of bringing your own boat or paddle then get in touch and we’ll explain how to do this.

So what now until the Sports Fayer?

If you like the idea of joining us and giving kayaking a go that’s great, we already mentioned some things you can pack if you want to get involved about. But here is some things you can do in the meantime as well:

Visit our Facebook page and see what we’ve been upto in the past year: www.facebook.com/lincolnunikayak
Follow us over on Twitter for the latest updates @LincolnUniKayak

If you have any questions feel free to e-mail us canoe@lincolnsu.com

And we look forward to seeing you in September!

Happy Paddling.

Another year ends, another era passes.

WOW, is it the end of term already, and with Wednesday’s midnight paddle and last nights summer meal still fresh in our minds, I’d thought we’d write a post on how we celebrated another successful year in the Canoe & Kayak Team!

Well first of all I can’t talk about the past year without a mention of our special anniversary. In the academic year of 2004/2005 a keen paddler by the name of Shaun Hazell sought to find other kayakers within the then still young University of Lincoln, and created the University of Lincoln Canoe & Kayak Club. Now 10 years down the line, LUCK is one of the biggest sports teams on campus and has had countless of memories, of which when we came together at the end of April to celebrate in our special event. So a huge thanks to Shaun who has helped the club over the 10 years!

So how can we talk about 2014/15, well, we can mention Tyne Tour and our array of hats on show, and how we even managed to get into The Linc (the proper printed version as well!), or to our first Canoe Trip to the River Wye and getting ‘re-educated’ into proper canoe sitting position, to our Pub Golf social in which.. well we won’t mention that!

We can talk for hours about those times we swam down rapids, cruised in and out of eddies, began life long relationships with rocks, surfing the tides at fistral beach and being too cool for NSR! But what we’ve come to really enjoy and remember about this club is not just the sport, but the people we meet and become friends with.

And that is how we can talk about 2014/15, this year for many of our team will of been there last year. From those finishing 3 year long courses, to completing masters. Many on the team will be leaving this summer, and for all who’ve been around for the past year or 2 years it’s something we can’t imagine seeing that generation gone.

There are so many people to mention, Charlie King, our current treasurer (who is much nicer to you when you don’t ask for money), has managed to become friends with almost everyone! Ever the one to provide kayaks on the wednesday sessions we’ll miss her colourful array of Kayaking gear, and DIY gear, and headwear, and all of the colours!

Tom Candy, former Social Sec, Former Vice President and always a friend, while he might of missed the mark on the amount of pool sessions he managed to organise. He was always better at making sure everyone was okay and having a good time, be it on a river in the middle of Wales, to the dance floor in Skint! And without Candy, there would be no Joe Brightmore, a friend who while might of been missing on the water, was everywhere else at the time! We’ll miss his increasing complicated football organization skills and worried about who’ll fill those shoes next year!

Our Vice President, Joshua Williamson has been a regular face on our socials, from his ever increasing ability to drink far more than the average human being (and even kayaker) to his ever well organised Crawl of Duty helmet challenge! He’ll be missed, not just by the bars he manages to keep open, but by all who has come to meet his cheeky charm and humor, you’d be surprised (and slightly terrified) to know he’ll be working soon of creating cars to be sold to the public! And of course not to forget his drinking partner and former treasurer Oliver Barrow who will be leaving also!

And while there is many more people we could of mentioned, (and sorry for not!) We could not talk about this leaving generation without the mention of our President.

Our President who has served 2 years in her role has done an outstanding job, and has provided a honest and approachable face for many in the team. Kind, Caring, hard-working and just friendly, it’s with great sadness to say Rachel Turner will be leaving this summer as she has finished her 3 years study. For the past 2 years Rachel as overseen a massive expansion in club numbers and overseen and helped 2 committee worth of problems, from getting kicked out of our storage shed, to being the chair on all of those committee meetings! We can say it’s been a pleasure having her as our president for the last 2 years!

So while it might of not yet sunk in, that in September we won’t be seeing these people coming down on Wednesdays, we’ll still be sure to remember that we can’t spend the rest of the time wishing for their return, as a new committee takes its role from July and a new set of freshers will appear, we’ll begin a new generation of kayakers at the University of Lincoln and hopefully be as great as the last committee & generation.

So to everyone leaving and those yet to join, we wish you the best of LUCK!

Committee elections 2015!

It’s that time of year again, well a few weeks earlier. But its once again time to vote for next years committee.

If you not sure or don’t know, the club is ran by a team of 7 members who from the committee. Each member has a specific role and manage day to day aspects of that. But overall they are responsible for moving the club forward and keeping it running.

And not it’s your chance to be a part of that. As we said we’ve got 7 positions open with 6 different roles. These are:

President
Vice President
Treasurer
Events Organisers (x2)
Kit Secretary
Web & Media Officer

Each one has a different role and anyone can run for any positions as long as they are a current member and are studying next year. Here is what each role entails in some more detail:

President: Responsible for running the day to day activities are club, they over see the work of the committee and development of the club & our members. He/She will also lead the club and act as an our ambassador to variousmeetings adding our opinion! Its a great opportunity to be the leader of the biggest clubs at the university and seen as a great chance to add your mark on our clubs future!

Vice President: You’ll be helping directly with the president as well as other aspects of the club, including the running of our pool sessions. The VP also records minutes of our meetings and helps the smooth running of the club. They also organise the last trip of the year during summer.

Treasurer: Good with money? The Treasurer is in charge of keeping the clubs finances in a good condition, they’ll budget out our spends and spots moments when we can pay for new kit, they also seek funding from various grants and funds and make sure we are not overspending! It comes with plenty of support from the SU and is one of the essential roles on the committee!

Event Organisers (x2): These 2 roles are about getting what we learn in our sessions into practice! Organising our various trips across the year and across the country, these 2 get us out of Lincoln and onto to some great rivers (and beaches). They also run our weekly club socials, from bowling nights to hitting the clubs! They’ll always have something for us to do!

Kit Secretary: Keeping our collection of kit safe and in good condition, our Kit Sec is a key role in what we offer as club (being providing the basic kit to get started) They’ll get to know which kit is best for our members and also find chances to get some new kit. They are also the clubs safety officer and make sure everyone is safe before we get onto the water.

Web & Media Officer: Keeping our members & the rest of the world well informed of what we get up to! From checking e-mails are being sent, to passing great news onto the press. The Web & Media officer is a great chance to show off some of the good stuff we do as a club, they’ll also manage our collection of video & photos dating some 10 years and publicise the club across the year!

As well as there individual roles, committee act as coaches & guides passing on experience to new and current members.

If any of these roles appeal to you, you can nominate yourself from today until the 20th of March online at www.lincolnsu.com. Elections open the week after from the 23rd – 27th of March.

Any questions feel free to approach the current committee members or e-mail the club canoe@lincolnsu.com

Happy paddling Good luck to all who are standing!

Tyne Tour 2014

Originally reported in the November edition of the The Linc.

From Canoe’s to tennis ball helmets. It can only be on thing. The Canoe & Kayak team return to Tyne Tour.

Every year members of the University of Lincoln Canoe & Kayak team or know as Lincoln University Canoe & Kayak (L.U.C.K) travel up north to Hexham just outside of Newcastle to take part in one of Europe’s biggest kayak & canoe festivals. And this year was no different.

The date was set, 1^st – 2^nd of November. So on the Friday the 31^st of October members of L.U.C.K gathered to pack kayaks, paddles, helmets, spray decks and plenty of thermals. Once the packing was done a long road trip on Halloween night to Newcastle meant Tyne Tour had began.

37 members went on the trip. All from various year groups including some alumni members, joined up at the site and we made camp for the weekend. As soon as the hard work was out the way we explored the site and meet other universities from across the country. Including Sheffield Hallam, Newcastle University, York University and the University of Cumbria. It was a great evening speaking to other students about kayaking & just having a good time.

After a long night on the Friday the team where up sharp at 7pm to begin the whole reason we’ve travelled, to paddle the river Tyne. In terms of rivers the Tyne is a great all rounder. It provides generous flat water to get ready for its mixture of easy short rapids to long waves. With 35 of us on the water and 100’s more from other universities & clubs, we began 11am kitted up and rearing to go.

However before we got onto the water, another L.U.C.K Tyne Tour tradition was required. Each year members are challenged to decorate there helmets and come along with the silliest hats. This year they ranged from a Tennis ball helmet, reindeer head, duck shower caps to a hat made out of balloon animals. It is as always only a Lincoln tradition, so we did turn some heads from other universities.

The L.U.C.K team spent all day on the water and only stopping for lunch break. We had a range of different boats in our team. Most members paddled creek kayaks; these are boats designed for 1 person and allow a lot of connectivity with the paddler. This allows for the boat to respond to certain movements of hips & the body to allow easier control of the boat. These are the most common kayaks. However other members who’d completed Tyne Tour many times decided to challenge themselves with new boats. President of L.U.C.K Rachel Turner joined up with a member of the safety time to paddle the river in a duo sit on top kayak. While alumni members & club ‘legends’ Shaun & Ian tackled the whole river in a Canadian canoe. Amazingly they managed to stay afloat & dry until the last rapid in which they capsized in such a dramatic fashion it was almost ripped out of film scene. However as the photo’s show, it takes a lot to wipe a smile of these two.

As always many members swam in the river after being pushed out of they’re kayaking by rocks or waves. But thankfully after plenty of safety training & planning no one from the team was injured, only suffering was wearing the soaking kit for the rest of the afternoon.

Overall the first day of paddling was a success. All members found the paddling fun & challenging; from complete beginners to semi-pro’s Tyne Tour has something for everyone and with 100’s of paddlers on the water. We all looked out for each other, making a safe & relaxed atmosphere.

As the sun was setting down we reached the end of the river. Quick change into dry clothes and hanging up the kit. The evening’s festivities began. The festival organisers hosted the Tyne Tour classic Ceildhi, an evening of traditional dancing. Along with that, the clear November skies were filled with fireworks from the town centre. It was a much called for celebration after a day on the water.

However the weekend was not over! A few soar heads on the Sunday didn’t stop us. After packing the vans & cars we said farewell to Hexham & the Tyne and travel the short distance to Barnet Castle in Teesdale to paddle our 2^nd river of the weekend. The middle tee’s. Less members took onto the river due to a paddle shortage in the club. The Tee’s offers a much more rapids & white water in the shorter river. In the 3 hours we took onto the water, we came across various rapids of different difficulties including abbey rapids, named due it being next to a disused Abbey.

The paddle finished at the site of the historic wooden drawbridge near the village of Whorlton. It also meant the last challenge of the day. This being the Whorlton Lido waterfall. While it not being the classic long rocky waterfall, It provides a 2 meter drop in the river. It might not sound terrifying on land. But when in a kayak sat down readying yourself to do a drop. It can be quite scary. Whorlton Lido has also gained a reputation within the kayaking community as being the site of a death of a canoeist last year. However our safety team assed the risked & supervised to make sure everyone paddle it safely. And all members who tickled it made it down with no swimmers.

As soon as boats where of the water. L.U.C.K began the drive home on the Sunday evening back to Lincoln.

Overall the weekend was a great success. All of our members enjoyed the time off water & on the water. And it’s always nice to travel & mix with other universities. Unlike our other trips with other universities, this was not a competitive event.

However the competitions will begin in March with the return of the NSR.

If you would like to know more about canoe & kayak team please feel free to e-mail us at canoe@lincolnsu.com. Or follow us on twitter @lincolnunikayak.

About the Canoe & Kayak Team:

The Canoe and Kayak Club at the University of Lincoln is a great, fun filled and exciting club that is now one of the biggest teams on campus. The team go on regular excursions across the region and further afield including Tyne tour, the National Student Rodeo and surf kayaking in Newquay. The club has progressed massively in the recent years with its highest ever membership. The club has a very active social side and and run weekly sessions on campus, on the Brayford Pool.

canoe@lincolnsu.com