Sunday, double Sunday

Location: Southwater & Lancing College pool
Conditions: Blustery and overcast

They boys and I had previously planned to go kayaking, but when the day arrived the weather let us down.  The sun rarely poked out from behind the clouds and a blustery wind was blowing.  The temperature was forecast to be around 15c, but the boys only have shortie summer wetsuits, so add water and windchill to that I could foresee some very cold and miserable children.

However, they were very keen to go, so I decided to risk it under the understanding that they were not allowed to get wet!  At the lake, Ell was first on the water, confidently paddling around.  It is amazing to watch his skills improve with each visit.  Aid and I soon joined him and we headed down the lake.  The wind was blowing directly in our faces, making for slow progress.

It was a good time of year for the lake, with all the signets, ducklings and baby moorhens being led around by their parents.  Aid enjoyed spotting those.  Soon hungry human bellies demanded feeding, so we stopped off at the beach for our packed lunch that had been bundled into a dry bag.  The boys took this as a their chance to wade out into the water, but I stopped them just in time!

Keeping kids out of the water is like herding cats, so we agreed to do one more lap of the lake after lunch (that included a game of  kayak tag) and then return to the beach so that they could have a swim, get wet and cold, and then we’d head back to the car to warm up.

While the kids played I chatted to a guy in a playboat who had turned up.  But of course before long the colour started to drain from Aid’s face and he complained of being “freezing”, so that marked the end of our session.

Still, Arun Canoe Club practice was on at the pool that evening, and Ell and I fancied some more, so we headed down to that.  We were both tired by the time we got there, but including us there were only 4 in the pool, so we had plenty of space to race and practice.  Ell did lots of capsizing, while I constantly failed to “double pump” my playboat onto its end, resulting in lots of rolling practice.

By the end of the day we were both completely exhausted, a sure sign of a good day’s kayaking.

-Mut