This forum is a means of communication for those who paddle with North West Sea Kayakers, a few old boys and girls, ex-pats and friends from afar. We are not a club, just a few (approx 150) free spirited paddlers some of whom organise trips and others who like to follow.
To access the `Trips' and `General' discussion sections of the forum it is necessary to register, and to be logged in with a user name and password.
We're a friendly bunch really and we don't bite, but we'd like to know a little about you if we're going to end up paddling together.
We need to make you aware that the NWSK’s is not a club with club support but more of a meeting place (as an internet forum) where paddlers “meet” and organise trips and perhaps without knowledge of other’s experience (or inexperience). We are not able to provide training and coaching that you might get from other type of canoe/kayak clubs, although you might end up learning a lot anyway.
We do need restrict access to the forum for safety reasons, the purpose of this “hurdle” for you in joining the NWSK group is to reduce spam and to discourage novices from joining “challenging trips” that may result in others being put at risk. It is very important that you make sure that any trips you join are within your capability.
Many of the individuals who plan trips are not necessarily trained or qualified as leaders but are experienced enough to go out with paddlers of their level, they may not be able to cope with having to deal with less experienced paddlers in marginal conditions. So please get advice from them regarding any trip you wish to join and let them know your capabilities. What they will need to know is whether you can handle the boat in certain conditions and whether you can roll the boat successfully in anger, (rolling is not necessarily a requirement for joining, there are several experienced paddlers that are not good at rolling but have years of worthy experience!).
We try to impress upon all that we cannot be expected to provide safety cover as in a club or commercial outdoor activity centre and some of the meets may be challenging to the degree that the inclusion of an inexperienced paddler could result in others in the group being put at risk due to an “incident” occurring in deteriorating conditions.
Please note, if you change your email address then you will need to contact me (Trevor Shepherd) to unlock your account, just use the email address on the home page.