Last year, we held a ‘book launch weekend’ to celebrate the arrival of ‘South West Sea Kayaking’. The weekend was based at East Prawle in south Devon, and was a lot of fun. So, let’s do it again. Purely for want of a name, I’m calling it the South West Sea Kayak Meet, but we went through a fair few possibilities (‘South West is Best’ and ‘The Unsymposium’ were strong contenders) and hey, I may change the name again next week.
So … I’m going to dripfeed information about the weekend bit by bit, but here’s a general outline …
- The weekend is free (apart from camping). Nobody will make any money from it (I can think of one person who’ll lose money on it) but we will raise some dosh for the RNLI and the Devon Air Ambulance.
- It’s an informal get-together of friends and soon-to-be friends. I’ll do my best to make it run smoothly (generously aided by volunteers) but don’t expect a tightly choreographed Bejing-Olympics-Opening-Ceremony-type-spectacle.
- The weekend is aimed at folk who just want to go paddling and enjoy the wonderful south Devon coast. All abilities are welcome, but the paddling will not suit complete novices.
- On Saturday night, there will be an evening of talks in the wonderful Pig’s Nose Inn. The guest speakers have been invited purely because they’re entertaining and visually appealing; no PowerPoint lectures from Highly Respected Coaches, I’m afraid.
- PH Kayaks and Venture Kayaks are kindly supporting the weekend and will be offering demo kayaks for use on the water.
- There will be a range of paddling trips on the Saturday and Sunday; there will be a choice of doing your own thing, or joining small guided groups, led by experienced volunteers.
- There will be camping available at Higher Farm, just along the road from the pub. Bring your own food or eat at the ppub/cafe
If you are planning on coming, please let me know as soon as possible. I particularly need to get an idea of … how many of you in your party, how many tents you are likely to use (little tents? family tents?), and whether you will attend the talks on Saturday night. I hope to make the event open to all, but as we only have half a farm field to play with and one pub hall, I may have to do some ‘rationalising’ if numbers grow beyond a certain point! Please email your plans … mark@ukriversguidebook.co.uk.
As noted, I will supply more information bit by bit. Watch this space in the weeks to come!
Cheers,
Mark R
Hi,
Me and Lloyd would love to come. We’re in the Stroud Valley Canoe club and have sea kayaked a few times with Dave Thomas. We usually turn up on our “big yellow” sit on, much to the amusement of others but we’ve coped with all the paddling so far. Would this be OK? May struggle to get there before midnight on Friday, but could get there nice and early on the Saturday if that was OK.
Cheers
Helen
Of course it’ll be fine – see you there.
This has the makings of a terrific weekend – thanks for going to all the trouble.
One question for you. What scope is there for camping either side of the weekend?
Cheers
Jonathan
I am pretty sure that the farm will welcome you – I will dig their number out.
Mark