On the 3rd of January we lost a truly fantastic friend. Sad as her death is she would have wanted life to go on and to this end she has already helped up to 20 people have a new lease of life through organ donation.
If you do 2 things today please listen to, Radio York breakfast show 9/1/12, from 36:20 mins at http://www.bbc.co.uk/
Kate, you will be missed but you will always be in our hearts and our minds.
| 04/07/2011 | Mountain Bike | 16.54 mi | 1:19:53 | 4:53 | 752 | – | |
| 09/07/2011 | Walk | 3.27 mi | – | – | – | – | |
| 10/07/2011 | Walk | 3.27 mi | – | – | – | – | |
| 14/07/2011 | Run / Jog | 1.09 mi | – | – | – | – | |
| 18/07/2011 | Run / Jog | 2.67 mi | 27:59 | 10:29 | 349 | – | |
| 19/07/2011 | Road Bike | 1.31 mi | 5:13 | 3:58 | 52 | – | |
| 19/07/2011 | Road Bike | 16.52 mi | 59:12 | 3:34 | 874 | – | |
| 20/07/2011 | Run / Jog | 3.57 mi | 38:17 | 10:43 | 462 | – | |
| 21/07/2011 | Walk | 1.09 mi | – | – | – | – | |
| 22/07/2011 | Mountain Bike | 5.42 mi | – | – | – | – | |
| 24/07/2011 | Kayak (Racing Boat) | 4.96 mi | – | – | – | – |
This article was written by Mario Vittone I have re-posted it here because everyone should read it. Especially parents and especially parents of kayakers, and other watersports participants, where there is a (hopefully) high chance that their child will follow their passion for being in the water. The original article can be seen here
The Incident – The new captain jumped from the cockpit, fully dressed, and sprinted through the water. A former lifeguard, he kept his eyes on his victim as he headed straight for the owners who were swimming between their anchored sportfisher and the beach. “I think he thinks you’re drowning,” the husband said to his wife. They had been splashing each other and she had screamed but now they were just standing, neck-deep on the sand bar. “We’re fine, what is he doing?” she asked, a little annoyed. “We’re fine!” the husband yelled, waving him off, but his captain kept swimming hard. ”Move!” he barked as he sprinted between the stunned owners. Directly behind them, not ten feet away, their nine-year-old daughter was drowning. Safely above the surface in the arms of the captain, she burst into tears, “Daddy!”
How did this captain know? – from fifty feet away – what the father couldn’t recognize from just ten? Drowning is not the violent, splashing, call for help that most people expect. The captain was trained to recognize drowning by experts and years of experience. The father, on the other hand, had learned what drowning looks like by watching television. If you spend time on or near the water (hint: that’s all of us) then you should make sure that you and your crew knows what to look for whenever people enter the water. Until she cried a tearful, “Daddy,” she hadn’t made a sound. As a former Coast Guard rescue swimmer, I wasn’t surprised at all by this story. Drowning is almost always a deceptively quiet event. The waving, splashing, and yelling that dramatic conditioning prepares us to look for, is rarely seen in real life.
The Instinctive Drowning Response (IDR) – so named by Francesco A. Pia, Ph.D., is what people do to avoid actual or perceived suffocation in the water. And it does not look like most people expect. There is very little splashing, no waving, and no yelling or calls for help of any kind. To get an idea of just how quiet and undramatic from the surface drowning can be, consider this: It is the number two cause of accidental death in children, age 15 and under (just behind vehicle accidents) – of the approximately 750 children who will drown next year, about 375 of them will do so within 25 yards of a parent or other adult. In ten percent of those drownings, the adult will actually watch them do it, having no idea it is happening (source: CDC). Drowning does not look like drowning – Dr. Pia, in an article in the Coast Guard’s On Scene Magazine, described the instinctive drowning response like this:
"Except in rare circumstances, drowning people are physiologically unable to call out for help. The respiratory system was designed for breathing. Speech is the secondary or overlaid function. Breathing must be fulfilled, before speech occurs.
Drowning people’s mouths alternately sink below and reappear above the surface of the water. The mouths of drowning people are not above the surface long enough for them to exhale, inhale, and call out for help. When drowning people’s mouths are above the surface, they exhale and inhale quickly before their mouths start to sink below the surface again.
Drowning people cannot wave for help. Nature instinctively forces them to extend their arms laterally and press down on the water’s surface. Doing this permits drowning people to leverage their bodies so they can lift their mouths out of the water to breathe.
Throughout the IDR, drowning people cannot voluntarily control their arm movements. Physiologically, drowning people who are struggling on the surface of the water cannot stop drowning and perform voluntary movements such as waving for help, moving toward a rescuer, or reaching out for a piece of rescue equipment.
From beginning to end of the IDR people’s bodies remain upright in the water, with no evidence of a supporting kick. Unless rescued by a trained lifeguard, these drowning people can only struggle on the surface of the water from 20 to 60 seconds before submersion occurs". Source: On Scene Magazine: Fall 2006: 14
This doesn’t mean that a person that is yelling for help and thrashing isn’t in real trouble – they are experiencing aquatic distress. Not always present before the instinctive drowning response, aquatic distress doesn’t last long – but unlike true drowning, these victims can still assist in their own rescue. They can grab lifelines, throw rings, etc.
Other signs of drowning on the water:
So if a crew member falls overboard and everything looks OK – don’t be too sure. Sometimes the most common indication that someone is drowning is that they don’t look like they’re drowning. They may just look like they are treading water and looking up at the deck. One way to be sure? Ask them, “Are you alright?” If they can answer at all – they probably are. If they return a blank stare, you may have less than 30 seconds to get to them. And parents – children playing in the water make noise. When they get quiet, you get to them and find out why.
This weeks photo is an HDR one taken at Porth Dafarch on Angelesey whilst at the Angelsey Sea Kayak Symposium with Desperate Measures. It comprises of 10 exposures ranging from 1/2000 through to 1/30 all at f/4.5.
It was nice to get out on the water in nice, albeit rather windy, weather. Over the weekend I had the chance to paddle a few sea kayaks in the bays around Porth Dafarch including the brand new Valley Etain and the Northshore Atlantic. I won't pretend to be a good enough sea kayaker to provide a full review of either boat but they were both good fun paddling around the rocks and bays of the Anglesey coast and if you are after a new boat then they are worth considering.
A weekend in Wales with York Canoe Club. Not only was this my first club trip in a long time it was also my first time on 'real water' in almost 2 years. Things are never simple and I spent most of the week before in bed ill but did manage a day at work on Friday and then the journey over the M62 that night! Friday night was the usual beer (and whisky, rum, vodka, etc, etc) based evening of banter in the Eagles @ Penmachno until about 1 in the morning when the landlord really wanted to go to bed!
I didn't paddle on Saturday due to still feeling lousy so missed out on the Tryweryn. It was only running on 7 so no great shakes. It did give me the chance to point the camera at a few people. Not feeling so good meant very little came out. A few that did work are featured lower down this article (click 'read more' if you can't see them). The low levels didn't deter anyone and the Tryweryn offered the perfect opportunity for everyone to work on their personal skills as well as their leadership skills. A few beers and some food in Betws and we headed back to the Eagles for some much need showering and more beers and pig snacks. Daz of Pure Land Expeditions fame dropped in with the entire back catalogue of 'Playboating' magazines to keep us entertained.
Sunday we headed to the Dee. Seems like half the paddling world was there including several rather large groups. There was some significant queuing and carnage at Serpents Tail and after a couple of out of boat experiences (one above the drop!) we floated down to Mile End Mill for a play. Part of the way down we found a football on the side of the river and had a quick play with it to keep us amused, didn't last very long and the ball disappeared … we'd find out where later!
Once we made it to Mile End Mill we hit 'Sticky Hole' for some Jefe extracting practice! It was quite sticky and those of us man enough to paddle without edges were having a barrel of laughs trying to get out. After a little coercion James decided to give it a bash and got mashed! Eventually he decided to bail … this is when we worked out where the football went. The ball was well and truly wedged between James' legs and was stopping his exit from the boat. Needless to say we all piled in and saved his sorry ass, but that was because it was a hole we all know we could escape … it wasn't letting go of James in a hurry though. Lesson learned … don't wedge things between your legs unless you are 100% sure what to to when things go hairy. Whether it is a football you've found half way down the river, or a peli case with your SLR in it if it is stopping you getting out of your boat it can't be a good thing.
Last drop of the day and the weekend was Town Falls. We dropped down and ran it follow my leader stylee. Only problem with this was I got off line and Buzz followed me. I took a roll but Buzz took a swim, sorry Buzz! A good day out even with a roll and a the small mishap on the way down!
This is my Werner Powerhouse. It is made from carbon fibre and is an absolute joy to paddle with and look at!
It is a 197, Neutral Bent Shaft which gives me plenty of reach when in my big boat … it is a little too long for playboating, but I don't really get much chance to do that these days so still use my 194 glass fibre sidekick for playing. It is a slightly special sidekick in that it is on a neutral bent carbon shaft rather than the newer neutral bent glass shaft, I don't think you can get these anymore but I don't like the neutral bent glass shaft so if / when I replace them it will be with a full carbon set … I may even go shorter for playing.
All my paddling kit comes from Desperate Measures who have recently launched their brand new website with online ordering. You can still give them a ring on 0115 981 6815 if you need any help with your purchase and if you need something for Christmas the boys can sort you out even up to the 23rd December!
I've just finished by 'UKCC Level 3 Core' training. The course was run by Ken Hughes and Kim Bull who were assisted by Roy Halpin and Kelvin Horner who have kindly offered their services as mentors to us aspirant UKCC L3 coaches. The UKCC Level 3 package that I am taking is a 12 day package put together by John Lucas and BCU Yorkshire including:
So I've been out of it for quite a while and am veeeerrrryyy unfit, but I am now fully functional(ish) and need to get my fitness sorted so that I can enjoy doing the things I enjoy doing. I often struggle with the motivation to get out and do 'training' which in the long run has a negative effect on my ability to really enjoy the 'fun stuff'. I think we'd all rather be hooning down some sweet single track or dropping some sweet grade 4 than riding down a road or paddling on the Ouse, but the less fun things make the fun things more fun.
Anyway someone said the other day that it is much easier to get out and do the boring stuff if you have something to aim, so I suppose I need to set myself some goals. Problem is I don't know what to set. I'm going to do the Great North Run in 2011, but that is a long way off and won't push me to get out and do stuff. I'd quite like to do the Devizes to Westminster next year, but again it's a long way off. I need some short term goals to get me going and a long term plan of some kind.
Here is what I have at the moment:
So something has to go in the gaps … any handy hints and tips from those of you who are good at training / motivation let me know!
8 months, 21 day, 3 hours & 31 minutes … that is how long it is since I went to sleep and had a pilonidal cyst removed from my lower lower back (or butt to most people!). It's been a long while coming but today the consultant gave me the all clear to resume normal life! It's still going to be uncomfortable for at least a while if not always and I need to be very careful to make sure the area is clean and hair free but at least I can do stuff again!
Having not done anything for so long I am pretty unfit and have put on quite a bit of weight which needs shifting so it'll be steady away for a while until I get back up to full speed. I'll be out on my bike, back in my boat, back on my board and even dare I say out running a bit as soon as I can. I suppose I have the winter season to get myself bike fit for riding next summer and this winter is going to be all about my UKCC Level 3 in a boat. No races to train for running, not until the Great North Run 2011 anyway. Not sure how my skating is going to go .. Skaterbeach has been handed over to new management and to be honest that is the one I am most wary of as falling of my board tends to lead to landing on my ass! I've also started the task of putting my Blade 4.9 back on handles (rather than the VPS) so I can get out and fly it easier.