Woodmill Activity Centre, River Itchen, Southampton

ABOUT BECOMING A MEMBER ?

We hope you enjoyed your taster session. Our coaches are a keen bunch of volunteers and are very much looking forward to continuing your introduction into paddling.

As your instructor advised, we would like you to become a member now so that you can get the most out of your experience with the club and to ensure you are covered by British Canoeing Insurance whilst under our charge.

HOW TO JOIN

We operate an online subscription system where you can login to enter all your details and pay online. We offer a monthly payment system to spread the payments too.

Click on this ‘MEMBERSHIP‘ link to Start your  Journey.

We also use the data held in this system to email you on up-coming events, and to ask you to pay to enter events, so please ensure that you complete all the details we require, especially if you have any ailments we should be made aware of.

ANNUAL FEES

£200 : Family membership – 1 adults and up to 2 children under 18

£280 : Family membership – 2 adults and up to 2 children under 18

£100 : Adult

£75 : Junior under 18

£75 : Student

£45 : Associate

Please can you make sure you have enrolled before your next session

Any problems please contact us and we will hopefully be able to sort things out for you.

HOW DO YOU KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING AT THE CLUB?

  1. Our Website – www.southamptoncc.co.uk – advises on formal matters associated with how the Club is required to operate and has a google calendar you can link to your own advising on weekly training schedules.
  2. Our Facebook pages – We have both a Public page and a Members page under Southampton Canoe Club. The Coaches also use this to keep you advised of changes in sessions – so please LIKE US.
  3. We issue a yearly calendar in pdf format that you can print off to put on your Freezer and so that you can manage your own holidays well in advance of events running throughout the year. We provide a new one around Christmas time every year. For your information – We include every event we as a club intend to send people to, usually highlighted in red. We also advise on other events you might want to take part in yourself as well, but which, as a club, we do not necessarily arrange the bookings for. These may include descent races, out of region Hasler events and other club’s events.
  4. Please look at the Notice Boards at the Centre.
  5. The Coaches will contact their training groups individually to advise on their courses and up coming events they might be interested in.

WHAT EVENTS DOES THE CLUB ATTEND?

Generally the club will arrange advanced bookings and go to the following events:-

  1. All Southern Region Hasler races including Lightning races
  2. All Nottingham sprint regattas including Lightning and Hody races.
  3. All Thameside series races on the Thames
  4. All Waterside series races on the Kennet and Avon Canal
  5. The Devizes to Westminster race – though we will only put people up for this if they have the right ability.
  6. National Hasler final – Location varies per year
  7. National Marathon championships weekend – Location varies per year

BOOKING A PLACE AT AN EVENT

In all cases an email will be sent out by the Race Captain well in advance to advise on races coming up and the booking details for each race.

Our coaches are also aware of when these races are coming up so if you are not sure please ask. They can also advise as to whether a race is suitable for you or not.

In terms of what is involved in booking a place at a race, we ask you to book through our Online system. When a race is flagged on the system by the Race Captain he will ask you to pay for the seat through the payments page. If you are not sure, we are happy to show you how.

The Club generally has to pay by cheque and send details to the race organiser a few days in advance of the race – hence why we ask for payment up front.

Boats and kit can be booked on a first come first served basis through the Race Captain and access to these boats comes as part of your membership fee. If you cannot transport the boat to the race yourself then in most cases it can be taken by club trailer / roof rack, we just ask that you contribute a nominal £3 per seat in fuel costs to whoever arranges this for you.

WHAT ABOUT BUYING KIT?

We have a club shop and have recently added a payment system to this so, again, payments can be made online – see the ‘Current Members’ website section for details. James Hinves presently runs our club shop and he will be happy to advise on any items available, including the official club racing vests.

A lot of our paddlers tend to go to Decathlon to get their general kit items, such as thermal leggings, cagoule and the like. Plus buoyancy aids can also be bought from there. You may want to look at getting some pogies (gloves which attach to paddles) for the winter months.

Water shoes are better than trainers and you also get these at Decathlon and other sports outlets.

As for paddles and boats – these can be found through specialist paddling stores, on ebay, second hand websites and other clubs members. We have a number of very knowledgeable club members who will be happy to give advice before you commit to a more expensive piece of equipment. You may even be able to try before you buy, as the variety of kit that is owned by the club as a whole is quite vast.

THANK YOU

Lastly can we finally thank you for choosing Southampton Canoe Club to help you develop your paddling skills. We hope the above has not been too detailed but sufficient to give you the information you need to get started.

If you have any other questions please do ask. See you on the water soon!