Monday, November 26, 2007

All in a day's work...

We've had striking sunsets, flat calm seas, wind, rain and a mixture of them - all in one day, or varying massively from day to day. Rock Climbing is happening regularly and there is some excellent talent in the making! And despite gusty days, we're using locations which provide ideal learning conditions for our different ability groups.

Sunday's sessions (Intro to Sea Kayaking group, Adventure Club beginners, Intro-mediates, and Intermediates groups) were all run from Laxey Beach. A delightful stretch of coast for exploring, heading South past Herons and Shags, waterfalls from the recent rain, mating Seals in the rocky 'alcoves' and a fair few ducks on the water. Those who paddled North gazed beneith the towering cliffs and lesser used Climbing crags, round to Bulgham bay to spy the illusive Wild Goats grazing. Then on past secluded beaches, Dhoon bay and waterfall to Port Cornaa, a rocky beach with adjacent car park.

Engrained as one of our family favourite locations to visit, the lower fields and land belong to the Barony, who kindly give public access, enabling us as kids to race down the footpath, through the woodland to the fresh water pool.

The fastest and bravest plunges boldly in first, coming to the surface gasping and shrieking at the intense cold!!

The little river which feeds this natural beauty spot pours through Ballaglass Glen, gushing down the small falls, splattering the rocks and vegetation, past the old mill wheels and creating an almost fairytale, peaceful atmosphere.

After hot chocolate, sponge cake and various other treats, it time to paddle back to the beach, and reality again!

The Adventure Club is growing steadilly, with most members having sea kayaking as their primary focus. This may be because, especially in the pool sessions, students have had an instructor coaching one or two pupils, which is very fortunate and above even our generous instructor to client ratios. As a result students learn fast, and push their personal boundaries, taking maximum advantage of ample learning opportunities throughout.

The Adventure Club is a lot more than a group of individuals, and reasons why our members stay with us and continue to be so motivated, are greatly influenced by how all members operate as a team, have appreciation of each others progress and challenges and therefore get much more from every session. Our students learn from formal demonstrations and exercises as well as informal input from our staff, from the environment we have selected for that session, from others around them, and the feedback they receive from all these areas.

Our students trust that our staff have the customer as their primary focus and the experience to ensure the best progressive learning program for them, by building skills through experiencing varying situations and sea states, session upon session.

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Year-round Adventurous Experiences...

We're often asked when our 'season' finishes and "what do we do in the winter"?

My answer as always is that we operate all year round, but dress dependant upon conditions and what activities we are participating in. We provide super fleecy tops and winter drycags on the sea when its colder, because of course its more fun when your warm and dry.


FACT - every one of our record days on the water, have been in the colder months!
This week has given a mixture of 'chilly' sunny days, and others that have been overcast, with a delightful combination of wind and rain...

We live on a very versatile Island, with plenty of little places to hide from the weather should it be adverse, and so many places to capitalise on when its fantastic. 'Toddler' seals are scattered about many of the rocky inlets, and you may not even realise they are there until your close by...
Beginners kayak courses, and rock climbing sessions are still very popular at weekends. Theory sessions on hill navigation will begin on Tuesday evenings whilst the pool is closed, and we are taking bookings for Christmas Sea Kayak Trips and Coasteering sessions.


To help you with your bookings, we have updated our website to make the details of our trips, courses and activities more clear, and to put our prices for all activities in one place for convenience.