padddling so far...briefly..

Me and KKC!

hello there cheers for looking at my blog.. i am a blog virgin so bare with me!!

I live up in orkney just now and have been paddling off and on since I was 13..

Kirkwall kayak club introduced me to sea kayaking around orkney, teaching me the basics in the nice warm climate of the swimming pool. Pretty sure it was my brother that got me into it, he certainly got me rolling with and without a paddle

Me brother Leon With LeaAnne and Jodie,
he always was a layed back paddler!

Some of the dafter members of the early 1990's (including brother Leon, johnny Johnston and noel Thomson) would chuck us 'kids' in an old perception dancer and send us out in the cold surf with nothing much more than an old rain coat on! How the hell I didn't jack it in right then I don't ken!! This was a contrast to the sheltered paddles in Scapa Flow and Inganess

Me peedie boat the 'Pickie-Terno'

My teens came and went in the same fashion... I feel i really started to paddle when I moved to Edinburgh and pretended to be a student ( I was working as a Bricklayer which is how make my bread!) joining Napier kayak Club on river trips to the Scottish Highlands. Quickly getting thrown down rivers like the Etive, Roy and The Spean

Me paddling 'the Crack of Doom' on the River etive

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Orkney Polo team 2001

before I went to Edinburgh I had a brief fling with Canoe Polo when Orkney entered a team into the Scottish Open Championships. We won the bowl!!

After a few years of Edinburgh we did a bit of traveling and ended up back in Orkney. I think only now do I fully appreciate these islands. i rejoined Kirkwall kayak club and started myself on the coaching ladder. I had been coaching and leading for a number of years so this seemed to be the natural thing to do.

Last year I became chaiman of KKC and now thoroughly enjoy the organising and arranging of trips, coaching the adults and kids. We have members between 10-65 years old and I love watching them progress thier skills and confidence on the water.

We also have regular sea trip in the summer, a polo team in Scottish Division 2, river trips and the occasional surf trip.

That is about as brief as I can make my paddling story.. I will try and be disciplined enough to update regularly...