Paul Walker - Latest Blog Entries

Evening Clyde: 19/04/2012

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 09:05:00 -0500

All I can say about this trip is that it was planned as a replacement of the Glasgow Uni Canoe Club pool sessions whilst the Stevenson Building undergoes some upgrades. For myself, Kieran, Ross H, George, Peter and pretty much everyone else who went on it, it was an uneventful trip to the Clyde.

For Stephan, who had shown up forty-five minutes late (owing to a McDonalds food stop while we were all busy packing the bus), he received his much deserved comeuppance in the form of a particularly gimpy swim.

Oh, that and my lack of helmet, so I'm now going to look particularly silly and post up about a missing FnA helmet two weeks after the last time I used it...and with no idea of when it finally went missing. :(

P in the Loch: 14/04/2012

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 06:41:00 -0500

Outdoor kayak polo. Nothing could quite be so miserable in Scotland.

These were my thoughts looking at the weather forecast on the run-up to the most last minute entry to ever occur for a competition. With rain scheduled to be hitting the majority of Scotland, and with a deadline only a few days later this seemed the ideal time to jump on a river or hide indoors, rather than defend goals on an open loch.

I am so glad I decided to go ahead with the competition and get it all organised because it was phenomenal! Our team consisted of Ross Barnie (as captain), myself, Keong, both Georges (proving a bit confusing, particularly on the pitch), Stephan (arriving almost an hour late even with a wakeup text!!!) and Rory Slater (who had never played polo competitively before)....so I could be forgiven for expecting us to place fairly low out of the seven teams finally showed up to P in the Loch.

Arriving there, we found that Louise Cullum (an honourary lifetime member of Glasgow Uni Canoe Club) was there with her new club, Forth, who have just succeeded in earning a promotion to Division 2 at the national league; Gavin from Dundee Uni was there as part of the 'Dundee Ladies' *snigger*; and a bunch of other people who I was hoping to not have to play showed up in the same team as the, appropriately named, Misfits.

By 11am, the sun was out and everyone was having a great time when we saw the amount of food for the included BBQ arriving....nomnomnomnomnom!

Anyway, our first game was against the Misfits, and it was a pretty even game. A star turn from George and Keong saw the first goal of the game, Keong made the second on his own, and a lapse in my keeping ability meant that the final score was 2-1.

Our second game was against Fife B, who were pretty damn strong and just kept pushung us back into our own half, so even losing with a score of 3-1 seemed a reasonable effort.

The next game was against the Dundee Ladies, so I sat this one out and let Ross have a turn in goals. As normal he proved a good replacement and kept a clean sheet (with one particularly good save right at the end). The game ended 1-0 to us.

Lastly, in the group stages, we were to play against Stirling University. If we won, we would be in 3rd place in the competition (competing for the trophy), if we lost, we would be in 5th place (competing for the plate). We won, but for me, the biggest victory was capsizing Fraser - the cheer from his team suggested that they agreed with me on that one too.

Somehow, after all the games had been resolved, every semi-final was a rematch. Our rematch was against the Misfits. We scored the first goal, but they scored the second two. So much for being impenetrable...

The Misfits won the competition overall, but at least we can say that we beat them :)

After the competition was done, we went exploring Bridge of Allan to find somewhere to have a team meal as the day had been good enough to deserve it. The Allanwater Cafe, with it's chip shop menu and amazing ice cream fit the bill rather nicely.

Overall, a spectacular day, made even better by the occational making fun of Ross (Chandler) Henderson and his palace in St. Andrews where he eats swans for lunch and has a chat with queenie before afternoon tea...who still made his presence felt because of George Henders...no HAMILTON!!!

Lazy Day at Glen Etive: 28/03/2012

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 13:58:00 -0500

Nothing screams upcoming exams like an unprecedented urge to go kayaking. As such, with the weather in Scotland emulating summer (and for all we know, this may be all we'll end up getting) it was time for a casual trip up to Glen Etive to have fun times and barbecues!

Recruited in this trip were Kieran, Stephan and Ross (I suppose I should specify that it's Ross Barnie, not Ross Henderson who had, at this point, returned to his palace in St Andrews). With this group, and the predelection for one of them to show up late, a suitably early start time was arranged and - surprise, surprise - someone was late.

After collecting BBQ food, we boosted up to the Etive to find it PWL - actually the first time I've seen it like that in a while. Bristol Uni Canoe Club were there, and in the two minutes we spent admiring just how low it was, we witnessed two swimmers at the second drop. Well we weren't going to have any trouble there.....

With a race down Triple Falls planned, the other three decided to have a test run down it while I was doing the shuttle (proving it is possible to be ready and on a river for the driver's return, unlike what happens on so many a club trip). In this period, Kieran's run almost met with tragedy, running the third drop he'd ended up capsizing, and his 'bombproof' roll refused to get him upright three times, only just avoiding swimming on the fourth attempt.

We lined up, backwards, about 10 metres away from the first drop. Everyone was joking about how, with my incredibly slow Mamba, the race wouldn't be about who would win, but about who could be closest in front of me to get the most camera time. Well, with such faith in my paddling ability being presented it was only fair that I took the lead before the first drop and never bothered looking back....and then paid for my arrogance twice by capsizing at the third drop (thankfully rolling up) and then realising after I'd won, that I'd forgotton to put on my GoPro....

While Letterbox technically had enough water to be runnable, it wasn't worth it. We put in above Ski-Jump and all paddled it without difficulty.

Knowing how little hold Crack of Doom has at such low levels, we just paddled it with me sitting in the eddy in the crack 'just in case'. It wasn't needed, but it allowed me to get footage of everyone running the rapid. The other Crack was it's usual portage.

Great Waterslide actually proved a bit more devastating than usual. I ended up going down it backwards, Kieran and Ross went into the wall (I would have provided a picture, but the video is better), meaning that it was Stephan who got the best line out of everyone. To show just how grim a realisation that is....well....

Sometimes the best line just isn't good enough...

So after this heroic display of how to not kayak, we went down to Right Angle. For Stephan, it's old hat. For me, it would normally be even more simple, but since the last time I did the dog-leg was the day I broke my last set of paddles (may the rest in peace) I was pretty nervous too. Kieran was quite up for doing the dog-leg for the first time, and Ross, well, he just likes to be scared.

To cut things short, everyone did it fine, with Ross and I rolling at the bottom, and Kieran getting a great landing for his first run of the full thing.

Kieran on a PWL Right Angle

With the Etive pretty much done, all there was left to do was paddle down to the get-off, snack a bit, and decide what to do with the rest of the day. Allt a’ Chaorainn you say?

Kieran wasn't feeling 100% after the Etive, so he volunteered to be designated camera man while Ross, Stephan and I tackled this famous trib. Ross was petrified but, in a rare and pleasant example of manning up, still took on the challenge.

First up was Speed. Aptly named as most will know. It fired all three of us down it flume style and without any problems.

Next up was Ecstacy. It looks significantly more intimidating but, like Speed, is fairly friendly, particularly at this level.

Pinball proved to be a bit more questionable. Stephan decided to lower himself onto it, and still bounced around with seemingly no control. Ross and I fared little better, running the whole thing. For the third time in a day I found myself running a rapid backwards (though my entry had looked fairly good), and Ross, though his entry looked bad, came as close as you can to styling a rapid that bounces you around like a bucking bronco.

Ross on the scary one!

Finally there's Chasm. Just like Speed, but steeper. Stephan looked like he was caught at the top of it for a bit, but all was well.

The light at the end of the tunnel!

Well, with the paddling done for the day, it was time for our barbecue and for locking Kieran in the boot. He seemed really calm about it for some reason...hopefully Holly (his girlfriend) has not been locking him up too often. After a beautiful day in one of Scotlands most scenic valleys it was finally time to head home and hope that this day of perfect paddling procrastination would provide a productive work ethic for the rest of the examination period.

Probably not.

Strathclyde Film Night 2012: 23/03/2012

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 18:26:00 -0500

Well, the titles a good giveaway as to what this is about: I entered the Strathclyde University Canoe Club Film Competition (as I always do), and failed to win anything (as I always do). Even though this time my film did receive a decent amount of applause, it was clear who the three winners were going to be.

Well done to Julia, Callum, Dan and Murray for their respective films. If I get the chance I'll upload them here for people to wonder at, but until then, here's mine:

The Lovely Leny: 21/03/2012

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 15:59:00 -0500

As I imagine anyone in Glasgow Uni Canoe Club will inform you, my failure to paddle the Leny in my seven years at the club has become something of a joke. Fifty trips, private and otherwise, must have been run there throughout my time at university. Well, today is the day that everything changed - and just like with the Moriston, it took Mark Mulrain and Strathclyde Uni Canoe Club to do it.

Well, with a 12:30 start, I am pleased to say that no-one was late. And seeing as everyone going had as much in the way of common sence as kayakers have, we'd all packed food, cameras, towels (unless you were in a drysuit), meaning that there wasn't even any faff!....until Murray missed the turn off.

I shan't bore you with endless details about the river. Suffice it to say, the upper section (before the Falls of Leny) is a fairly nice and continuous grade 2, maybe 3, bimble.

At the Falls, it was time for me to make the choice that had been plaguing me the entire journey: would I run the Falls of Leny? Could I up the ante, and tackle a grade 5 that was both technical, and with a decent volume?

Challenge Accepted!!

I have it on good authority from Dan that my line wasn't that far off Mark's line (we were the only two to run it)...but anything better than a maiming is a victory as far as I'm concerned.

The lower half of the river caused me some more trouble, with me having to fall back on my brace and even roll (yes, no-one was more surprised than me when it actually worked!) as we got further down.

The Leny's definitely up there with the rivers of that level, and because it's nice and continuous, it feels more challenging than some of the others that I've run that are probably, technically, more difficult. I can certainly see why it's such a popular river, and I look forward to returning their before seven years passes again...otherwise this may end up being my Pon Farr river (that's in here just for you Mark).

The Middle Etive: 18/03/2012

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 08:52:00 -0500

With seven years of coaching experience with Glasgow Uni Canoe Club, it's been a while since anyone has really surprised me with their successes on a river, so I suppose I'm going to start out this post by saying well done to George and to Ross for catching me off guard.

Both of them had been looking at rivers they wanted to do, so when I invited them to come paddling they asked about doing the Middle Etive. Having paddled it a lot, I was willing to head there, but was expecting to have to portage a couple of the rapids due to limitations on safety coverage. However, Stephan was up for a jaunt to the Etive as well, so accompanied us, and was invaluable in providing safety cover while I demonstrated the line and set up cover at the bottom before switching.

Triple Falls proved to be Ross' best rapid of the day, styling all three drops, and managing a perfect boof on the third drop...though the amount of time he spent not capsizing while being pushed against the walls after the second drop was pretty funny.

We all ran Letterbox too, though I was the only one not to plug it, and George was shoved into the river right alcove by the water and had to make a technical exit onto the bank.

Ski-Jump was its usual, friendly, self - though I think it was one of the ones that had scared Ross most up to this point.

Crack of Doom was my screw-up of the day: my line in was great, unfortunately between choosing whether to run the drop at the end left or right, I went centre and then backwards down the right. On the plus side, my reverse boof/brace works fairly well. Ross and George both ran this easily. Stephan gave it a miss as his back started giving him some bother.

Crack of Dawn was it's usual portage and seal launch.

Great Waterslide was styled my Ross and I, caused Stephan to capsize, and George was our dedicated crasher.

Right Angle was paddled my me, George and Ross. Only Ross capsized, and his roll saved him. He then capsized against the wall, and after a little nudge from my paddles to move him away from the rockface, he rolled up again. Despite having a sore back, Stephan decided that sliding down the drop was a good idea...

Many moments were spent later sniggering as Stephan hobbled around at the Real Food Cafe and trying to climb sideways into his car. Silly Stephan.

It's been a very long time since I've been to the Etive and no-one has swum, particularly when with people who've never run it before. So well done again to Ross and George on what was, overall, an excellent trip.

The new paddles no longer look like this though....

Division 1 Kayak Polo: 26/02/2012

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 10:43:00 -0600

Nearing the end of the season, with just one genuine win (a second due to a team failing to show up) was starting to take its toll on the team. So this time, despite being against Woodmill (reigning champions), Kelpies, Stirling Black and Stirling Blue, we were determined to pull out all the stops in order to regain some lost dignity.

In the game against Woodmill, due to a weak start it was decided that I should play out of goals and attempt to mitigate the damage they were causing. Needless to say, this didn't work, and Ross went away for at least twenty minutes after the game ended so that he didn't break some of our players.

In our second game, against the Kelpies, we returned to our regular tactics with some improvement: I would stay in goals for the most part and coordinate, Ross and Cat would be full-time defence, George would be full-time attack, and Colin and Ezra would switch between both as needed throughout the game. We lost the game, but it didn't feel like a hammering, so the team morale was up for the final two matches.

Glasgow Uni Canoe Club has a long relationship with many of the people in the two Stirling teams, even having a current (Honorary Lifetime) member playing for Stirling Blue, so it's no surprise that half the battle in this kind of game is the analysis of the players and whom to mark.

In any match against Stirling Black, Alex Bowie must be marked. He has one of the strongest shots in Division 1, and even on my best days, he has scored past me. Ross Galloway and Fiona Beveridge are also stalwart players who seem to appear from no-where to score. So I had them marked out by Ezra, Cat, Ross and Colin whenever it looked like they were coming into attack. This was very successful, and we managed to hold onto a 3 - 3 tie with their team, in what had been one of the better matches of the tournament.

Our final match of the day was against Stirling Blue, with GUCC veteran John MacArthur in their team, they would likely be playing our tactics back against us too. Unfortunately, given what I'd seen that day, all I was able to advise our team was that if they were marking Ali Denny and another person moved into their area, they should mark that other person, as everyone else on that team has a formidible shot. In this game I was also forced to move out of goals more often than in previous ones, and for the first time in quite a while, I found myself being marked heavily....I suppose I should thank them for the compliment. I somehow managed to sneak a goal in under the radar, much to the distress of their keeper who was convinced it was missing the target.

So, at the end of this tournament, we had lost two games, tied one....and somehow....won 3 - 2 in our match against John's team.

Serena's tasted particularly good that evening.

Trip to the Tummel: 25/02/2012

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 15:07:00 -0600

Well, it's that time of year again where I start taking newcomers to the club out on private trips. So, on a nice and sunny day, myself, Ross Barnie, Ross Henderson and George Elderfield went to the Tummel (my usual testing ground).

What was different about this trip? Well, for starters, Ross Barnie was going to lead the group down the river. I had considered dropping this on him when we arrived at the river, but thought there was a good chance of my death if I did that to him, so changed tactics and gave him the whole previous day to fret about it and figure out how to lead.

This would also be the first time that I'd taken out two newcomers with only one backup person, and the first time I was leading from the back. For Ross Henderson, this would be his first trip since the North East Weekend, and for George, it would be the first time he ran the Linn of Tummel. So this was going to be a pretty ground-breaking trip all around.

Mr. Henderson started off well when he stuck his GoPro camera to his helmet off centre....I must say I'm looking forward to seeing the slanted footage. Ross Barnie (from now on, RB) started the tone for the day well by getting stuck on the first ripple and having to tell the group to take a different line. *I may have stifled a laugh very badly at this point*

The Tummel is a pretty standard run, but RH and George had been looking over the guidebook worriedly on the way up, so when it was announced that we'd arrived at Saw Mill Falls, they were slightly dubious.

RB got out to double-check the line was as simple as he remembered, and I got out to get some footage / have a throw-bag just incase someone, somehow, managed to swim. Everyone got down easily, though RH did seem to take the anti-line.

At S-Bends, everyone managed the first bit easily, while the second section seemed to be where we viewed the best line as the one which was screwed up least. RB demonstrated a good line at the start. George then demonstrated what not to do. RH then took it futher the wrong way by adjusting George's line in the wrong direction and capsizing - fortunately all the pool practice meant his first capsize in three months was met with a roll and not a swim. I took it the other way and cut quite far the other direction to deny any opportunity of a capsize: though I certainly didn't style the rapid.

Then we reached the Linn. And discovered a tree had been added. Well, to show them there was nothing to fear, RB demonstrated the line:

So as you can see, this nicely book-ended his lines for the day ;)

I did a second (slightly better) demonstration before George decided to run it. Unfortunately he ended up backwards after the initial drop, clipped the rock on his way down on the second drop and swam at the bottom.

RH was going to just do the second drop, but the tree made it much harder to get in that it had been previously, so the H3 ended up doing the drop without a paddler. At this point, I found myself with a leg in my boat and the rest in the water...George and Ross Henderson have footage of this from their respective angles somewhere, and I'm sure you'll see that piece of hilarity soon.

Overall the trip was a resounding success, and I look forward to paddling with that group again in the future.

George Elderfield has since made a video of the trip, and I've put it below:

First Advanced Fort William Weekend: 10/02/2012 - 12/02/2012

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 06:25:00 -0600

At the Glasgow University Canoe Club, all through the year strong paddlers give up their time to take out newcomers and take them out on slower, easier, and in some cases what they see as boring rivers in order to further the club and the sport.

The Advanced Fort William Weekend, which is subsidised, is the clubs way of thanking these paddlers. In my seven years at the club, I have been invited on this trip six times (only in the last three do I actually think I was good enough to go). Yet due to other commitments, I had never managed to go.

This weekend, held this late on the hopes of getting rain, was dry. Oh well.

On Saturday, we ran the Pattack (a rather pretty, grade 3/4 river that was mostly (if not entirely) grade 3 due to the levels) and a whole seven of us got on to the Spean Gorge. Feeling that I was paddling better than average I joined Rupert, Sam and Tom in running the Headbanger, and having ran the flat water of death once in my life I portaged Constriction.

Sunday was more interesting. Despite protests from some of those who'd been on previous Fort William trips, we went to the Dalness section of the Etive. I was quite up for this, and planned (after inspecting the run) to paddle everything, as I could see the lines on all of the rapids, thought I could make most of them, and knew I'd be in safe hands should I screw up. It turned out that a lot of people just gave paddling on Sunday a miss...and given that most of them hadn't paddled the Spean Gorge on Saturday, that meant they'd come on the Advanced weekend to paddle the Pattack... I must admit I did feel slightly sorry for them.

No-one messed up the first drop (though I'm sure my line was not one of the cleaner ones). Sam, Rupert, Chris, Tom and I were the only ones to attempt the Slot. Tom and I swam. Not sure there's much else to say except maybe "sorry!!" to Fraser for using the throwline he was attached to while escaping the churning water.

From what I understand, I got one of the nicest lines on T-Junction, possibly (unlikely) making up for my previous failure on the Slot. It was here that Euan and Kieran both capsized, with the former picking up a swim and choosing, like Tom, to get off the river.

Dalness Falls. It may seem a surprise to those reading my blog that I really only have two fears. My friends, colleagues, and those with whom I paddle are aware of them, but I suppost I can't assume that they are necessarily the only ones who read this blog ("hello", if you fall into one of those categories). I am both afraid of heights and water. Kayaking may appear a strange choice, but it means that I can try and control my fears rather than letting them control me.

With a waterfall, particularly one as intimidating as this one, my resolve is always put to the test. It is telling that the river on which I have racked up the most swims is the Etive, a river famous for it's waterfalls.

I almost didn't do it. It was close, but I managed to run it and, more surprisingly, not swim. In fact the only person to swim here was Fraser (though Kieran must have come close when the water pushed his kayak underneath an undercut rock with him still in it).

Overall this was an excellent weekend, and I'm glad I pushed myself to wring every last drop out of it. Hopefully it will not be my only Fort William Weekend.

SUS Kayak Polo: 03/02/2012 - 04/02/2012

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 07:54:00 -0600

SUS is always the most popular kayaking tournament at Glasgow Uni Canoe Club. The fact it is hosted by us, and for some uni's essentially constitutes a weekend of drinking and hungover kayaking chat is besides the point. Much to my joy, I was able to get this final SUS competition off work so I could join the A-team as their goal keeper.

In order to be fair to our Division 1 A-team, and in order to have the maximum firepower to bring to bear, the team consisted of nine players:

Paul Walker
John MacArthur
Chris Bell
Colin McMorrin
Ben Marshall
Ross Barnie
Ezra Watts
Euan Richardson
George Elderfield

This large a team also meant that we would need to split the players time to not tire them out, and to give the weaker players some game time (something that Ross still felt a bit sore about from last years SUS).

Our first game was very good. Stirling A had a strong Div 1 player, that gave them a significant boost and were only held at bay by the fact that our entire team had played together at Div 1.

And we were further helped by my continued progression from a permenant keeper to an all round player. Actually, I think one of my proudest moments of the competition was in our final game against St Andrews Univeristies A-team, when Chris (who I have always considered to have one of the best shots in the team) passed back to me allowing a surgical, and game winning, goal.

I suppose I need to mention the only team that beat us: Aberdeen Univeristy. They brought with them the player with the best shot against whom I've played. Actually stopping a couple of his shots seemed a success, and only losing 1-0 in the semi-finals seemed a victory.

Overall this was probably the most balanced SUS (in terms of the main competition) that I've seen. Every match after the group stages was close, and that made this, to me, the best SUS in which I've competed.

Open Trophy: Edinburgh A
Open Plate: Glasgow B
Women's Trophy: Aberdeen A

A few special mentions I think are in order. Patrick Jennins, the winner of the best paddler award, in what really was a long overdue award as he has propped up the St Andrews team on more than one occation; to the Edinburgh player who tried to take on the entire St Andrews B team at once; and to James from the Glasgow B team, for one of the best goals of the tournament.

Utterly fantastic weekend...I just wish it wasn't going to be my last.

Division 1 Kayak Polo: 22/01/2012

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 04:13:00 -0600

After a hard days paddling the day before, it was off in the minibus to Glenrothes for Division 1 Kayak Polo, and as this year the playlists are withheld until the start of the competition, we had no way to be able to come up with a strategy in advance. As it turned out, we only had three games with seven people to pick between, against Linlithgow (one of the top three teams in the league), Dundee Uni Canoe Club (who's team has twice picked apart our defence leaving no room to retaliate), and West Lothian (who after taking posession of our best striker now seem to know our tactics - or lack thereof - as well as us).

Colin (our teams captain) asked me to organise the teams for the games, but unfortunately I was still tired from the day before, so reenacted the delegation, asking Ross to come up with a plan. In the end, it was the somewhat predictable "Paul plays all the games in goals, and everyone else rotates round as needed" plan. I'd like to say that it's what I'd have done, but it's not.

Linlithgow was the predictable wash-out. I think I was the only player who let us down in the first half, conceding far more shots than normal; fortunately I managed to return to standard for the second half, Though it's still hard to view a 10 - 0 defeat as anything other than a total pasting.

The game hardened us for the Dundee match, keeping us on form and remembering to pass well. I managed to pull out of my stuper and set Colin up for a goal in the first half, meaning that for the first time in a Division 1 match, we were in the lead. And we never lost it. Glasgow Uni Canoe Club defeated Dundee Uni Canoe Club 2 - 1 ... and this is particularly good news when SUS (or SSS) is such a short time away.

Despite the hard fought victory against DUCC, West Lothian was just as good a match as despite it being a 6 - 1 defeat it didn't feel like they'd managed as much.

Throughout the competition the team was playing well, coordination was good, defence was much improved, and less shots were woefully off target (George's attept to knock the goalie out not-withstanding). Overall, an excellent tournament on the run-up to SUS.

The trip back was uneventful (Ezra had bet us that we wouldn't beat the DUCC's and lost so had to forfeit by being silent on the journey home). Serena's was excellent, even if Euan and George decided to bite off more than they could chew:

Oh, and Ross needs to learn to shoot.

A Ross-Lite Trip to the Nith: 21/01/2012

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 06:38:00 -0600

Well, it's that time of the new year where every sinlge person in Glasgow Uni Canoe Club wants to get on a river no matter how cold it is. For this trip, on one of the coldest days of the university year, twenty-five people signed up top go - and for anyone who knows anything about a kayaking trip, you will know that not all of them would turn up.

And guess what? Four people, including one of the drivers pulled out, meaning that others who had really wanted to go paddling missed out on the opportunity. I am always against signing up for something until I know that I can make it. As it turned out though, this ended up offering some comic relief on the journey there and back, as George Elderfield and I tormented Ross Henderson who had been desperate to go paddling, but had been too slow, and arrived late for the sign-up.

Once at the river, the safety paddlers had a look at the river and knew it would be a long day: the water was flowing much faster than normal and was looking slightly brown. All the beginners were keen, and got ready in the freezing cold and we all clambered into our boats and slid onto the river.

I'm not sure exactly when it was, but within five minutes we had our first swim of the day; this was by no means the last. Every couple of corners, as one group would start to have a rest, a boat would bob past upsidedown and paddlers would scramble to action. As the day progressed, more people began to tire and make the little mistakes that a river running high is unforgiving about. Fraser, slipping sideways into a hole was one of the casualties of this; then George when trying to tow a kayak....though he somehow managed to tow both kayaks into an eddy despite swimming! Pretty impressive actually, but he was slapped for the attempt at a hand roll.

Of the twenty-one people to get on the river at the top, eighteen completed the run. The cold proved too much for some, and one person volunteered to stay with them. It has to be said that everyone enjoyed their trip, even the ones who looked blue afterwards, and I was impressed by the groups firm commitment to pushing all the way to the end. A great trip! And Ross was un-impressed.

The RAF Fitness Programme: 19/01/2012

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 10:26:00 -0600

At the new year, Ross and I made a new years resolution to take part in the RAF 42-day fitness programme. As I was under pressure from imminent deadlines at the time, I couldn't take part in it immediately, so we postponed starting the programme until this week.

On Monday, we began with a quick fitness assessment consisting of a 1.5 mile run, and as many press-ups and sit-ups as you can do in a minute. Despite Ross beating me by a small margin in the number of press-ups and sit-ups, I was overall satisfied with the results....and my 1.5 miles in 8 minutes 55 seconds was far better than I'd expected (coming in at about 10 miles an hour).

Tuesdays twenty minutes of low intensity exercise (swimming) actually proved more challenging, though I think that it's mostly because (despite thoughts to the contrary) I haven't been swimming much in the last seven years. The steam room and sauna afterwards made it a pretty nice session overall though.

Due to having too many lectures on Wednesday, we switched the circuits we were meant to be doing then with Thursday's rest day. Having now done the circuits, it's possible we could cram them into an hour, but doing it today allowed much more freedom for warming up and cooling down, along with the insentive that we have kayaking tonight too (which will hopefully benefit from this programme too).

Tomorrow (Friday) we have to have a 20 minute run at moderate intensity - this is obviously intended to boost endurance in particular.

So far I feel dedicated to the programme, and actually felt that I hadn't done anything the one day that I wasn't in the gym.....from someone who's not seen the inside of one since their freshers week! If this continues, I imagine I'll be happy with the results, even if the only difference is being able to perform a shuttle run for kayaking faster.

On Saturday and Sunday of this week I have a river trip and a kayaking competition, and while it's naïve to presume that this training will have had any effect by then, I would love it if I can feel the difference by then.

"It's Time...": 09/01/2012

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 19:35:00 -0600

Later today, I will be returning to university for the last term of my undergraduate education. It's rather strange to think that after the holidays this year, I might not be undertaking some kind of study, I might not have to do any more labs and projects, and I might finally not have to worry about exams at christmas and summer. And while it may sound strange, this fills me with both glee and dread. For the first time since the start of my sixth year (prior to having been unconditionally accepted to university) I don't know what the future holds.

In my seven years at the University of Glasgow, I have amassed a sum of amazing experiences that I wouldn't trade anything for, met loads of interesting people, been part of three incredible societies and made the best friends that anyone could ask for.

Yet now, all of this is likely to change, this patchwork of friends and familiar figures and places could all be swept away ... but whatever happens next in my life, no matter what my final year of university holds, the people I have met and the events I've participated in will be cherished forever.

Part of my wants to rhyme off all the times, places and people that have influenced me to feel this way about these last seven years, but that would be unfair as I would inevitably miss someone off the list. I can't help but wonder if everyone feels this way as they near the end of their time at university. I certainly feel sorry for anyone who doesn't: it is a wonderful feeling to know that, come what may, you gave it your all and are ready for whatever life throws at you from now on.

So while I'm content with how my time at university has been spent, even with finals still sitting several months in the future and even with the slight trepidation of what that future may bring, there is just one question on my mind. In the words of the West Wing's President Josiah Bartlett: "What's next?"

Heavy Duty Procrastination: 05/01/2012

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 11:17:00 -0600

Well, I have my 20 credit project due in for final assessment on the 13th of January. It is meant to be a detailed examination of the potential use of a correctly aligned Michaelson Interferometer to exactly and promptly construct optical apparatus for use in space in the LISA Pathfinder mission.

Unfortunately, it's a lot easier to describe in this informal style than it is to present it in a properly cited and referenced document as is required for marking. This means that although every part of the project seems utterly trivial to examine, describe and explain, it is in fact taking forever to discuss even the simplest parts of the experiment. This seems to be the biggest downfall of the Physics with Astrophysics degree programme at the University of Glasgow: no-one really explains how to do these reports properly. We are given a set of things that "you must do!"...except when you don't need to, and "things you must never do!"...except when it's the only method that works in English prose. Instead it would have been far better to leave the door open to all methods, pushing good form, but not dismissing anything that remotely resembles writing style immediately as frivolous, useless and unworthy of marking. So those who genuinely care and are interested in their subject, and can describe it in clear and stylish prose, are forced time and time again to contain themselves and shelve their enthusiasm in all written assessments. This could be one of the reasons that science is suffering funding cuts left, right and centre - all those who could articulate good reasons for saving it and even increasing its funding have been held in check by an oppressive system that eschews style as a form of substance.

Anyway, now that I've had my little rant about why the marking criteria for written assessments in my degree course is nearly self-harming, I might be able to return to my project and maybe even get past the thousand word mark.

Drastic Shake-Up Time

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 12:37:00 -0600

Righto, I can't really keep using this page as little as I have been of late, so this is likely to now turn into a bit more of a weekly blog, with random thoughts and maybe even discussions on what's currently going through my head at the time. Most of the site will still be trying to give accurate river descriptions of runs that I've done and maybe adding a little onto what UKRGB already provides, but I'll now take some time to give some opinions (not reviews per se) on games and series which I've been watching of late and general stuff to add to my final year procrastination.

Anyway, we'll see how long this lasts, but some stuff I'm likely to be looking at soon:

League of Legends
Similarities of Sherlock and Doctor Who
The Distaste of Kayak Polo
The West Wing (possibly as a prelude to a review on Uniquely Generic Reviews)

Division 1 Kayak Polo: 18/12/2011

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 11:27:00 -0600

Well, we (Glasgow Uni Canoe Club A) have now played our second tournament of the season, and we won a game (on a technicallity because the opposition didn't show up but shhhhh).

Our first game of the day was against Woodmill, reigning champions and up with the top teams in the league. The team played phenomenally well - Cat, in what must have been the best moment of the year so far, paddled all the way up to their goals and scored: our first goal of the tournament. I'm pretty sure one of the refs cheered too, possibly showing some slight partiallity there, but I don't think anyone else noticed. The game finished 12 - 1, but as Dundee Uni A, who had wiped the floor with us previously were beaten 11 - 0, this doesn't seem quite as bad as it no doubt could have gone.

The next game was the Kelpies...who were the only people to have beaten Woodmill to this point in the tournament.... this was going to go well. Once again, the team played very well, and I must have been playing better than I thought as we only lost 6 - 0 (yes, in Div 1, that means the keeper's doing a good job).

Then we played Stirling in our last game that counted for something.... This was a slightly more even game - in fact, with a bit more practice I think that we could beat this team in the future. Colin and I both scored in this game, but by this time I was getting tired, so I let in a few shots that wouldn't normally have gotten through. In the end, we lost 5 - 2.

Finally we had a scratch game against West Lothian, we'd lost against them very easily a few weeks previously, but this time, we actually pulled ahead in the first half where I scored 2 goals to their 1. In the second half they caught up and beat us with only those 2 goals from the first half defending our goal difference.

Colin, Ezra, Ross and I pulled together well in this tournament, bringing our previous experience to the field to keep the pace at a rate we could handle. Cat really pulled a rabbit out of her hat with a terrific goal against the team at the top of the leaderboard, and continued to excel in defence. While for Stephan, he was able to bring years of paddling experience to good use in the games - the first two I think were more of a struggle as the pace isn't what he was used to in the pool training sessions, but he reigned it in by the end.

Overall a highly successful (for teambuilding if not for the score) competition.

Oh and Serena's was awesome as always ;)

Water Water Everywhere: 30/11/2011

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 05:21:00 -0600

Well, as you may have guessed from the title, one of the hardest things to do before going paddling here was finding something low enough to paddle.

The Leny, a river paddled at least once a month by our club yet one which I have never done, was suggested, but was unbelievably high. The guidebook was consulted again, leaving one of two rivers as our options for the day: the Fenwick (down near Kilmarnock) or the Mousewater (by Lanark). And those of you who looked at the tags before reading this will know that we chose the latter....this is because the guidebook made a hullabaloo about the amount of water required for it to run.

When we arrived there, we went to have a look at the first grade 4. There is no way in hell that it was anything less than a grade 5.

Tom and I both looked at it (Tom with considerably more enthusiasm/chance of doing it without dying), but in the end decided that we currently valued our limbs.

Getting on just below, the river was pretty fun if not overly challenging. Some nice big waves and stoppers and strange loopy regions kept us interested down until the next grade 4. This was one which, in retrospect, we all should have done, but only Kieran and Tom did it. I wimped out due to lack of reasonable paddling, and Ross didn't like the presence of the siphon.

After this rapid, the river continued its romp until the get-out...which was actually not where the guidebook described. This kept Tom and Kieran waiting at the get-out for an extra half hour while Ross and I performed a systematic sweep of Lanark and the Mousewater bridges until we found them.

Despite wimping out of the grade 4, it was a good day, and a decent end to this years river paddling.

Division 1 Kayak Polo: 20/11/2011

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 13:05:00 -0600

Well, we were successfully promoted from Division 2 to Division 1 at the end of last year, and it looked like we would have a good team for our first competition...until Mach was scheduled for the weekend of our first tournament.

Colin, who had gained the role of Competition Secretary in the closest election I've witnessed at Glasgow Uni Canoe Club, decided to ditch the first tournament to go to the drinking weekend. As our top striker, this was a pretty big loss. Ezra then dropped out shortly before due to illness - now with both our strikers gone, it was looking pretty bad for us.

Catriona McBride, formerly of the FCAG Division 2 team, volunteered to play up and proved to be an incredibly effective defender. George Elderfield, a fresher who had never played division standard polo before, also joined the team showing himself to be effective, but in need of a decent amount of training.

In the end, to no-ones surpise, we lost our three games pretty convincinly. I managed to hold onto my reputation as a good keeper despite conceding about twenty goals over three games as I somehow saved more than that! In the end, we're not going to be able to compete at this level without some kind of commitment from other team members, and will probably do poorly at SUS (or SSS as it is apparently being called this year) due to team demoralisation.

When I joined the club, Kayak Polo was the reason that I stayed long enough to get good, so it upsets me to see it deteriorating so much as my time in the club draws to a close.

The North East Weekend: 28/10/2011 - 30/10/2011

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 19:00:00 -0600

This was likely my final trip to the river Findhorn with Glasgow University Canoe Club. Since John started this weekend trip for our newcomers five years ago, I've been fortunate enough to get to go on every one of these trips. Each time I've been on this trip there've been the full variety of beginners - from those who've flundered and swum at every rapid to those who have styled everything and been able to lead short sections - and this was no exception with everyone from Sweet Cheeks to George. It is also where each year we've seen some untapped potential show its slightest glimmer...and some of these people are now amongst the clubs best paddlers.

For these reasons, I think that the North East Weekend will be one of the trips I miss most once I graduate and leave this fantastic Canoe Club.

On this trip, I had the misfortune of being in a group with none of the people who I had been coaching previously - but I hear they did fairly well. My group managed to keep the swims low, with most of them happening at training sessions being conducted along the way allowing breaking in and out of eddys and ferry gliding to be taught. Carnage Corner lived up to its name, causing numerous swims on both days. The people whom I'd been instructing ended the weekend with only 4 swims between them, so I was pretty pleased with them all.

The social aspects of the weekend were strictly enforced by the Social Secretary, and as always, Fraser did a fantastic job at it, with all the freshers (and a lot of other people) suffering from the previous nights exploits both mornings. Ross (Henderson), George and I were well prepared, however, and had bacon and cream cheese bagels both mornings to prepare for the long day ahead.

Overall, this was possibly my favourite NE weekend: though whether it was because it was particularly good, or if it's just because it might be my last, I doubt I'll ever know. But at least they ended on a high :)