Thursday, July 24, 2008

Two Stars on Tuesday

Final day of the kayak BCU two star course and we passed! Well, the three of us left - there were some drop outs.

And one final trial, which was to turn upside down in the kayak yet again into the Thames, escape and swim to shore without loosing either paddle or kayak. Given it was a lovely and warm summer evening that wasn't so bad.

Yesterday was talking to an ex-rower who remembered when he was young drinking the Thames when they got thirsty, in days before water bottles.

Not sure up to that: but on a hot day might be tempted to go for a swim!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

As an ex-rower, all I can say is that your canoe instructor must have known some mad rowers. They used to have posters up in the boat club about all kinds of diseases you could catch just by spending time in the water let alone drink it.

JP said...

When was that? We keep hearing how much better the water is and even though wouldn't drink the stuff don't feel that worried about the odd dunking.

There are those in the canoe club that do rolls in it every time they go out without apparent harm.

Famous last words of course!

bonnie said...

Congrats!

I'm off after a new BCU certification myself next weekend & the following - trying for certification as a Level 1 coach.

JP said...

Thanks Bonnie - and good luck with your coaching course!

It was good to hear on your blog that the BCU is a good qualification to have.

bonnie said...

So one question -

How many days all told did your 2-star class last?

Was it 2-star, or did they work you through 1-star up to 2?

Right now my club dedicates 2 days to our "old school 2-star" training - I'm wondering if 2 days would be enough!

JP said...

It was 6 or 7 weeks of two sessions a week - Tuesday evenings on the river (about 2 hrs) together with Saturday mornings in the swimming pool (in theory an hour) - plus the half day canoe fiasco.

Maybe 18 hours in total - more like 3 days than 2 and most of us had at least some kayak experience before starting.