Solent Sea Kayaking » bcu

4* Sea Training Course

Duncan — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 13:29:57 +0000

Owen Burson Briefing Group

Inspired, tired and a little sunburnt pretty much sums up this past weekend. With a fantastic high pressure system sitting over the UK providing superb sunny weather I headed over to the Isle of Wight for a 4* Sea training course run by Owen Burson of Isle of Wight Sea Kayaking.

Our base for the two days was Freshwater Bay where Owen has his HQ in the grounds of thew Sandpipers Hotel.

This two day BCU course is designed to prepare candidates for the 4* Sea Assessment. Under the revised BCU awards scheme, the 4* is a leadership course with an emphasis on developing and demonstrating personal skills and group leadership skills in moderate water conditions as opposed to a coaching qualification.

Stunning Classroom

Once a candidate passes the assessment, they are able to lead small groups within a defined remit:

…a group of 4 (not including themselves) paddlers, on short (six to eight miles, of at least three hours paddling). journeys in moderate tidal water environment with winds not exceeding force 4/sea state 4.

Day one of the course was focused on leadership skills and rescues (self and assisted). Freshwater Bay provided a sublime location for this. Without straying more than 1km from the launch point, we were able to play around stacks, small rock gardens and in caves whilst experiencing a decent helping of swell and breaking waves.

Playing In Caves

After a warm up session where we looked at ways of using the warm up to gauge the ability of a group of paddlers we might be about the lead, we spent the rest of the morning setting small challenges and activities in and around the stacks and caves considering at all times how best to protect the activity with adopting a leadership ‘position of most effectiveness’.

This moved onto a short ‘coasteering’ session in one of the cave sections. As well as being an absolute blast swimming and clambering about inside and out side the caves in the swell and breaking waves puts you in the position of a potential swimmer and provides another side to your understanding of the conditions you may be leading a group in.

Yours Truly On A Technical Landing

From here we moved onto assisted rescues working in increasingly difficult conditions/locations and then balance drills and self rescues. The final part of the day was spent on technical landings which require you to exit the boat and attached by a towline swim to a ledge or outcrop, climb up and then pull in the boat before reversing the manouvere to launch.

I think it would be fair to say all 6 candidates left the water buzzing but exhausted after the day. I came away from day one with a self created list of action points to work on over the coming weeks and months.

Day two was more focused on trip planning and navigation. Working in pairs we planned a crossing from Yarmouth to Hurst Spit which involves careful thought about the tidal race known as ‘the trap’. Interestingly each group came up with a different route which we all followed before reconvening on the the Spit to eat lunch and discuss the merits and issues with each route.

Towing Casualty

From here, Owen worked us through a series of tasks that pushed out ‘in boat’ route planning and execution before presenting a few common incident scenarios for us to work through as a group. This included a sun stroke smitten swimmer requiring a group tow and a holed boat at risk of becoming a ‘Cleopatra’s Needle’.

All too soon we were back at the launch point packing up before the final two sections on running a safe and effective surf session and repair kits and how to use them. The course ended with a discussion on moving forward to assessment.

Planning Exercise

The weekend, albeit aided by stunning weather, was quite simply brilliant. Once again, Owen proved to be an inspiring and considerate course director managing to provide a very laid back atmosphere whilst at the same time packing a huge amount into the course and pushing the candidates at all times.

From experience of attending a large number of courses with different governing bodies, this is a rare skill. It’s all too easy for the course to become overly serious or too relaxed and lack the pace and drive required. Owen knocked one out of the ballpark with this course.

Smiles Say It All

The location was also ideal for the nature of the course providing access to a huge range of conditions and coastal features.

Whether you are intending to work through the BCU award scheme, or simply looking to gain some vital skills for use paddling within a peer group situation, the 4* is a hugely worthwhile undertaking and if you are Southcoast based or fancy experiencing the delights of the Isle of Wight, I would heartily recommend booking on a course with Owen, a sentiment echoed by the other candidates on the course.

Now, where’s my after sun…..

Useful Links

Isle Of Wight Sea Kayaking Website
BCU 4* Award Details

Additional Images

Pumping Out Sea Kayak

Assisted Rescue Drills

Heading Home

BCU Coastal Navigation And Tidal Planning Course

Duncan — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 14:30:11 +0000

Chart Work

It’s easy to become complacent and fall out of practice with skills. I have become so familiar with certain areas of the Solent now, that I can simply check the tide times and weather forecast to know which route to paddle, the rough time it will take and the best time to set out. However this means I’m not regularly practicing my navigation/tidal planning skills and when I paddle a new route or in an unfamiliar area I can end up fumbling my way through my chart work.

This weekend, I took up a last minute place on the BCU Coastal Navigation and Tidal Planning Course, run by Owen Burson of Isle of Wight Sea Kayaking. The course was based at the 25th Southampton (Northam) Sea Scout Group base, in the shadow of Northam Bridge.

Group Tasks

The day was completely shore based with a mix of lectures, discussions and practical tasks. Owen kicked off the day by delivering a session on weather based on the principal that planning a paddle always starts with checking Weather conditions. This dovetailed into tides, then waves to give an understanding of the various conditions you may encounter, utilise or aim to avoid during a paddle.

From here, the course became more ‘hands on’, playing with maps and charts and beginning to look at the various techniques for planning and plotting a route using the various tidal, weather and map/chart based data available to us. This was primarily based around planning one day routes within the remit allowed for BCU 4* leaders award using a nicely organised trip planning sheet that Owen provided. We would study a new skill/technique and then practice in small groups using a range of maps and charts with plenty of opportunity for Q&A built in.

Route Planning

The day culminated with each group being set a 4* assessment task which required all the skills we had been taught to be used and provided an excellent opportunity for those paddlers considering the 4* award a chance to gauge their current level of ability and what would be needed to bring them up to scratch.

The day was crammed full of content, as Owen himself highlighted it would really be more suited to a 2 day course, and seemed to shoot past. For those paddlers who are not interested in pursuing BCU awards, the course is still an extremely worthwhile undertaking as the skills delivered are so vital, and although we utilised 4* assessment materials and discussed this 4* assessments the CNTP course is designed and run as a stand alone course with a certificate of attendance issued on completion.

Having recently attended his REC First Aid Course, I was once again hugely impressed with Owen’s delivery – and the sheer volume of equipment he provides to deliver the course! He has a great, relaxed style of delivery based on an obvious wealth of experience and worked hard to make sure all the candidates were happy and had their needs met.

I left the course feeling pleased that my existing knowledge base was better than I maybe gave myself credit for but also with a wealth of new skills/ideas and a desire to develop them further. I think the way forward is practice, practice, practice until the skills become ‘second nature’ – even if I am paddling a route I know like the back of my hand I think planning it fully will help cement the new skills I’ve picked up.

Highly recommended.

Further Information:
BCU: Course Information
IOW Sea kayaking: Navigation Courses

Isle Of Wight Sea Kayaking

Duncan — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 12:54:39 +0000

Isle of Wight Sea Kayaking are the South’s Specialist Sea Kayaking Centre; but that’s not all as they offer the widest range of courses in the South – with Sea Kayaking, WW, Surf and Canoe as well as the full range of BCU coaching awards and personnal performance awards. One of the guys heading up IWSK is Owen Burson, one of the very few coaches in UK able to run the full range of the new BCU/UKCC coaching awards. He is a trainer of new coach/leader trainer and assessors and works for the BCU in various capacities.

Isle of Wight Sea Kayaking also operate Island Kayaks; they supply all the main brands including Palm, Werner, Lendal, Dagger, Wilderness Systems, Perception and many more. They have in the last year taken over the South Coast’s main dealership for Valley Sea Kayaks and have almost a complete range of demo boats to try out.

Email: enquiries@iow-seakayaking.co.uk
Website: www.iow-seakayaking.co.uk

Phone: 01983 752043
Fax: 01983 209471

Isle of Wight Sea Kayaking
The Sandpipers
Freshwater Bay
Isle of Wight
PO40 9QX

Calshot Activities Centre

Duncan — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 08:32:31 +0000

Calshot Activities Centre in Hampshire is one of the largest Outdoor Adventure Centres in Britain and is run by Hampshire County Council. Offers a range of introductory and BCU courses.

Phone: 023 8089 2077
Fax: 023 8089 1267

Email: calshot.ac@hants.gov.uk

Calshot Activities Centre,
Calshot Spit,
Fawley,
Southampton,
Hampshire
SO45 1BR

Liquid Logistics

Duncan — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 08:14:40 +0000

Liquid Logistics

Liquid Logistics offer courses and training in Canoeing and Kayaking, for complete beginners to the serious paddlers.

Sea Kayaking courses starting with a 3 Hour Introduction to Sea Kayaking on the Beaulieu River Hampshire and Studland Bay Dorset, progressing from these to Sea Kayaking day trips along the Dorset and Hampshire Coast lines.

BCU Star Courses offer training and the chance to gain nationally recognised Awards. With the One Star being ideal for those just getting into Canoeing and Kayaking, up to the Four Star awards to excel in your discipline.

White Water Kayaking courses and trips available throughout the winter, with 3 hour introductions now available from August onwards.

Private and mentored coaching available for one to one tuition with their highly qualified instructors.

For more information or to book a course visit:
www.liquidlogistics.co.uk
or call: 01590 612377.

Twitter users can follow Liquid Logistics at twitter.com/LiquidLogistics

Liquid Logistics
Queens Mead Dairy,
Beaulieu,
Hampshire.
SO42 7YE