Training

There are three main training sessions each week – the Wednesday Beginners Session for newcomers to the sport, the Tuesday Intermediate Session and Weedcatchers, intermediate to advanced session every Thursday.

Beginner sessions

Our Wednesday sessions are held weekly from our Clubrooms on Kerrs Reach. We aim to get the group on the water at 5.30pm. There are generally 2 instructors to help you out and first timers are more than welcome to attend.

These sessions are aimed at beginners, free of charge. We can supply kayaks, paddles and life jackets, but beware, if you are using Club gear, you will need to get there early, as its "first in, best dressed" and people have their favourite items! We also have a limited amount of Club beginner boats.

We allow newcomers to attend these sessions 3 times before making the decision to join. We figure that if you are keen on kayaking, you will know within 3 sessions and will then sign up. Joining is easy, complete the membership form, send it in to us and you are done!

The main focus of the begineer sessions is getting good habits built in at an early stage – you can always add the power and speed later, in your own time and training sessions. Typically there are about 2-5 kayakers per instructor, so you will always get some personal attention.

Most of our beginner session paddlers are aiming for the Coast to Coast, so the training is broadly structured around that goal. If you intend to do the C2C, get started with your paddling as soon as you can – April/May/June will ensure you get enough paddle skills and miles under your belt to ensure you enjoy the Waimak, rather than grovel and swim your way down.

Note: We don’t do grade 2 certificates, check out the Coast to Coast website for a list of course instructors (we offer no guarantees about their quality). Do your grade 2 course as soon as possible, and get some river time up.

Tuesday Intermediate session

The Tuesday sessions are the "next step" for those moving on from the Wednesday Beginner Sessions. If you've done a few of the beginner sessions on Wednesdays and want to pick the pace up or do a bit more milage in the session, but still get a bit of technique instruction, Tuesdays are the days for you! Same time - 5:30pm, same place. The aim of these sessions it to build on what you have already learnt and to also add some extra skills and speed. These are more "training based" with technique, rather than just technique based.

This session is open to club members only.

Weedcatchers

The Weedcatchers sessions are almost as old as Arawa! These sessions are held Thursday at 5:30pm, from the Clubrooms - the session starts at the first bridge at 5:45pm.

Get hard, go harder. Weedcatchers is a mix of technique and speed work for intermediate to advanced kayakers, with lots of interesting ways of getting the training and skills up. The Weedcatchers sessions are broken down into three groups, so that the groups don’t get spread down the length of the Avon. This means there’s a group for you – get out there and make the most of it.

Between January and March, these sessions may be changed to a 10km time trial or a mass start race. We like to mix it up a little!

Junior sessions

The junior sessions are aimed at youngsters learning to paddle. They are encouraged to paddle any craft they feel comfortable in and then move to the paddling direction of their choice (ie, multisport, K1, Surfski). Paul Fidow is our junior coach. If you or your child is interested in joining this group, please contact Paul - fidowpa@hotmail.com

Other sessions

Brett Leask, Grant & Tammy Restall, Leigh Barker and Paul Fidow run other, specific sessions that may be more appropriate for your training or timetable. Contact the club coach to find out when they train and how to get in touch with them.

Some instructors will do one-on-one sessions for a reasonable fee, again contact the club coach to get in touch with them.