Five nomads descended on the Nene white water course in Northampton on Sunday to enjoy the white water. The weather could have been better, but we didn’t let this put us off even though some of us were in shorts!
We thought it would be a good idea to start on the middle of the course to give Charlotte and Fane practice breaking in and out and ferry gliding with Ben and Ian showing us how it should be done.
Very soon Fane and Charlotte were styling some nice moves, so it was time to let them loose on the bottom part of the course, which they paddled very nicely. At times it was like paddling in thick mud, as you’ll see from the pictures. This was due to so much rain and high water levels – apparently it’s not normally this dirty.
Whilst Ian was getting to grips with his new play boat and Ben was busy shooting round the course, I was working on helping Fane and Charlotte develop their paddle strokes and soon they were both feeling confident enough to run the full course. I was impressed with how quickly they improved. The rest as they say is history as we blasted off the ski jump and round the course three or four times.
The last half hour was spent on the bottom of the course doing more break in and break out practice and by the end we were all in need of a hot shower.
Despite the rain and dirty water we spent a great two hours together and to see Fane and Charlotte do so well inspired us all. We celebrated with a pint in the local pub before heading home.
Thank you to Ben and Ian for helping out and Ben for the pictures.
Well done all!
Anthony