The ferocious waves and howling winds at Silver Sands, Aberdour welcomed the first LSKC Pathway paddle of the season. Our storm-tossed adventurers, some not yet even wet behind the ears, battled their way through mountainous seas etc (cont page 94)…….oh all right, it was completely benign. The weather gods had decided that not even the forecast F1-2 would appear; while overcast, the clouds were unmoving. The hardest test of the day was finding a space in the car park, what with the mass beach yoga group (who themselves eventually made it into the water to continue, unseen, their sub-aquatic contortions.)
10 paddlers, accompanied by 5 leaders/supporters/assistants met at a busy beach (see above) for some considerably extended faffing and introductions. For the vast majority this was their first real paddle with the club, so the rituals of boat hire, collection, transport, beach briefing, ICE cards and most vitally, the possession of jelly babies were experienced and indelibly imprinted upon their unquestioning minds.
After some brief work in the bay in smaller groups involving forward paddling, turning and edging we worked our way round the western headland and into Aberdour harbour, encountering a rather over-laden Topper dinghy to which we nimbly gave space. The arrival of several slightly larger yachts at the harbour entrance increased our nimbility and we quickly headed across the bay to have lunch beside the golf course.
After the demonstration by more than one experienced paddler of how not to re-launch from the beach, it was terrific to see the post-lunch change in quite a few paddlers. The coaching was of a high level clearly – unless there was something particularly energising in those sandwiches – and the return journey was marked by some hugely improved forward paddling across the (sea)board. Back in the bay, some wet rescue work was introduced and the session was completed by our new paddlers swapping boats to widen their paddling experience (and perhaps influence their hire choices for next time round.)
Huge thanks to Dave Towsey, Graeme Tough, Morva McKenzie and Michael Wilkinson for supporting this paddle which gave a considerable number of new members their first, and extremely positive, experience of LSKC.