Eyes right >>>>>

OK, just a wee change. We’ve added a “Pool session info” tab on the top of the right hand side of the site. This will hopefully make things clearer with no need to dig about trying to find the info you need

Etive fun

We have a new video up showing our adventures on a chilly River Etive.

While the weather was bitterly cold the river gods smiled on us and the chilly breeze that welcomed us into the valley soon died off leaving us with a beautiful day on an equally beautiful river. A trip report by Graeme “no longer an Etive virgin” Cleary has been promised shortly.

Oh, and rumours of a wrinkled old prune swimming? I was clearly wanting to REALLY test my drysuit

You know you want one!

There is no better way to fend off the winter chill than a new LPKC hoodie.

These have been river tested by your committee who can confirm that although the tops arent 100% waterproof they are still a darn good piece of kit.

The Logo is unique to our club & was designed by an artist from Lochwinnoch.

A limited range of sizes & colours available – see me at the pool.

And whilst your hands are in your pockets, we have a few Dagger ® waterbottles, excellent stocking fillers at £3

Nice wee Avon Trip – pics & video

Just a few photos of the weekend’s trip to the Avon; a little paddled fun grade 2/3/4 run through Lanarkshire. Some interesting lines were taken and the odd swim/near miss but all good fun. Trip report will follow along with Alan’s Nith report from last weekend (sorry Alan, you were very prompt; I, however, am useless). Clickety Click to view the photos or go to the video page for a short movie showing the two main sections.

Gorge us.

Safety cover was a bit depleted this weekend so only a small group made it down to a foggy Nith in medium water. Some for their first taste of grade 3. The gorge was full  of boils and the surprises that they bring but somehow we managed to end the day with the same number of boats and paddlers we started with. Only one serious communication problem & that was in the toilets at the put in. D & D will have to explian ………

Girvan trip Oct 30th

A few club members ran the Girvan a couple of weeks ago & Ive got some pics now. This drop was fairly friendly in the low water we had but an old wise man on the river said there is a “must make”  line into the top in high water.

Beginners trip Sun 6th Nov

A small but frost hardy posse made it down the Clyde on Sunday with just enough water to make it fun,  back in time for tea & brownie points.

Congratulations to our new coaches

Well done to Tom, Graeme C (thats Graeme with the dent in the front of his car), Fiona and Peter who all successfully passed their Level 1 instructors course today. The course takes 4 days plus the time to get the prerequisite safety training & star awards so its a fair chunk of time & effort.  This more than doubles the number of instructors in the club. As soon as they have their certificates we will be passing copies to Johnstone pool & this should translate into fewer pool sessions cancelled & better coaching too.  Please note that  we support the course expenses of our active club instructors with cash from your membership fees as the courses arent cheap.

So what do the instructors get? A warm fuzzy feeling of achievement of course, 12 credit points at Level 4 from the SQA. And all of our gratitude, who can put a price on that ? ………..

Upper Tummel trip report

Congrats to all who attended this weekend’s trip to the rarely paddled upper section of the Tummel. This river contains many nice rapids, some bizarre features, the odd pummeling and lots of fun. Check out Duncan’s trip report here and view the trip gallery here.

Some happy campers (& Graham)

We hope to have a beginner’s trip in the near future so read on and get inspired!

Castle Semple Pentathlon Sunday 17th July;

A big thanks to the team who competed in challenging conditions today. The challenge was especiallly difficult for the windsurfers and sailors as there was no wind. The teamline for LPKC was Duncan S – running, Stuart B – windsurfing. Fiona B  – sailing, Alan S rowing and David S kayaking. As you can see from he teamline, the chairman, in the best traditions of sportsmanship, gracefully opted out in the true spirit of fostering inclusive participation by other club members new and old.

[This did give him the opportunity of getting a place in a rowing club team ironically, in the absence of wind, named the old farts - and they/we won!]

The kayak club team was one of 12 teams entered for the event & it was great that we were represented.