Discoveries Camp 2012 Canoeing

 A very enjoyable day running the canoeing activity at Discoveries Camp.  It was very hot.  A great day to get wet.

www.discoveriescamp.com for more photos.

One of several capsises. 

Frank & Liam.

We had 7 groups of about 10 that would come for about an hour.  For some this was more than enough.  For others, I suspect that they would enjoy a longer treck.  Each canoe had two paddlers and a gunner.  The gunner had a water sqirter. 






For some strange reason, there were quite a lot of capsises just near the shore at the end of the activity.

In the late afternoon, the wind really picked up. (nothing to do with this photo).  "Luckilly" we were positioned such that the wind blew us back close to our launcing point.  Somehow that last group had a number of kids in thongs.  All other groups had almost everyone with shoes on as they were supposed to have.  This made it difficult to 'walk' the canoes back.

One canoe with 3 girls in it got blown into some dead trees.  They persisted and remained calm and made it to shore.  After gathering their breath, they insisted that they wanted to have another go at paddling home against the wind and waves.  They made it back.  Another canoe with three boys in it tipped over.  They struggeled against the wind and waves.  With some arm waving from me, I managed to communicate to them to 'let the wind and waves blow you to shore'.  They did and eventually reached the shore.  Once the water was drained and the craft righted, they too had another go.  Keeping close to the shore, but not so close as to be in the breakers, they made it back to the launching base.

We had started the day with the younger kids as experience had shown that canoeing, being a physical activity, tended to go better earlier in the day especially for these little kids.  We had tried to get the kids to canoe along the Northern side of the lake toward the dam wall with some navigation through some dead trees.  When the wind picked up after lunch, the older kids actually made much less distance than the younger kids.  Some crews in the last group did not even make it across the water from our launching point.

I had initially thought that the wind and waves had rather messed up the activity.   Interestingly both of the crews mentioned above that made it back exhausted but exclaiming what a great time they had had.  Maybe the extra challenge was a good thing for them personally and provided a better sense of achievment as compared to the usual prepackaged adventure that most gets get served up these days.

Notes for next time:-
If the wind picks up, add to safety talk
- If you tip over, don't try to fight the wind and waves, hang on to the canoe and let the wind and waves blow you.  You will get to an edge of the lake eventually.