The Loop

Wednesday evening saw my first river trip as an instructor. Joining me were Lewis, Helena, Valerie and Andrew. As we were going round the Loop, it was decided to take sea-kayaks and the sit-on-top to save time.

The expedition started out well as we went downstream to Iffley Lock. Unfortunately as we paddled off the other side, Lewis, in a brave attempt to try a backwards turn in the sit-on-top, fell in! Having lost one shoe in the mud, a vain rescue mission only resulted in him losing the other one as well, so we decided to cut our losses and move on.

Further on down the river we practiced different strokes and discussed the pros and cons of sea-kayaks versus regular ones. To demonstrate, a race of sorts was organised around the caissons of the railway bridge involving lots of sweep strokes!

Twilight was closing in, so we hurried up the back-waters to emerge at the Triple and Double (now deceased) where we spent a short time chatting about river safety before heading up to the Lasher. A thankfully uneventful seal-launch above the weir and some quick draw stroke practice at the Swimming Pool meant that we arrived back a short two hours after setting out, with everyone having had a good time.

- Seb