Crew 325’s Got X-Factor

There are a number of choices that have to be made before Easter…. Crew – we have to be compatible, and capable of months of mundane, harsh weather training together before being confined to the same K2 for a period of 24hrs give or take… Boat – a compromise between hull speed and stability after […]

The Planets Align

Changes to my work shift pattern mean that Beaujolais and Dirty D are going to manage more training sessions together – all being well, 5xK2 sessions in a week… there’s no substitute for time in the boat, and it shows. If we were to have any doubts, our head to head battle against the boys […]

Thor once said… “You cannot fart against a hurricane”

It has been an interesting week. Weight wise it was a disaster. Up to 16stone 3.9pounds on Monday morning- possibly not helped by this: Dirty D has been singularly unimpressed- her righteous post paddle breakfast being: She has in fact taken decisive action- appearing at the House the other day to set up Beaujolais’s Turbo […]

The Devil’s in the Detail…

Last night we paddled in wind driven rain, rain which turned rapidly to snow… it was what can only be considered as character building paddling – with the addition of 20 portages. I blame Morgan for the 20 portages, his teenage honesty when Mike asked if it was the last lap after just 19 portages […]

Inclement

This weeks paddling has been interesting. If wind, rain, sleet and snow are of interest to you. Having spent the week on a meteorology course, Beaujolais has found the conditions not just interesting but educational. As he has paddled he has wondered exactly how many hectopascals of pressure have been sitting directly above him, he […]

Roses are red, violets are blue, my DW boat, is a Condor K2

As my Mother might say ‘It’s a Sair Fecht’

My body feels like it’s been run over by a truck…. An intervals session in the K1 yesterday in cold, calm and very pleasant conditions at Ratho on the Union Canal. It was the following eight hours of lifting cases of whisky from pallet to pallet as we screened stock for label defects that tipped […]

Round and round

So what’s new? Nothing really. Loch Lomond was windy and cold yesterday. So repeatedly paddled the 900 metre portaging circuit staying close to the shore, car and warmth. Beaujolais in the K1 as Dirty D is paddling K1 over Linlithgow way this week- due to work and weather constraints, the Boys in the Orange Condor […]

Uncertain Times for the Elephant in the Room

From the safe and relatively dry heights of a Scottish Hillside the News on TV does not look good. Any pictures of the Thames appear almost unreal, the sort of scenes you would expect to see in some sort of climate change disaster movie. On Facebook this morning it was announced Waterside A is cancelled […]

et deinceps in aeternum et ultra (onwards, ever onwards)

A good weekend for crew 325… Friday saw our usual rendezvous on Loch Lomond, a 7km warm up followed by a wee intervals session, 10x900m (portage at each end)… The boat was moving well and the portages are getting increasingly slicker, progress can be felt in the boat, and it feels good. Saturday drew the […]