Day 4 - Canoeing Day

This day we had a chance to try out several boats and gain experience in boat handling.

Early Morning: Swim Practice

The theme around the early morning swim was all about canoeing clothes. We were asked the night before to come to the pool dressed in sportswear and we'll be kitted out there, unless we bring our own stuff.

Running tights, a long sleeve sports shirt, and a yellow anorak was all I wore to the pool. The others were dressed in all sorts of sports gear, but mostly tracksuits and hoodies.

After a quick rinse in the showers we all hopped into the pool to practice swimming a few lengths in our canoeing clothes.

Then we were told to dress our teams in waterproof clothes from the drying room. Some of the students preferred the canoeing anoraks, others tried long cagoules, coveralls or sailing suits. Buoyancy aids and life vests were also available to try out.

Moments later we were all splashing around in the pool. It was an interesting experience to swim with all the canoeing kit on. Climbing into the inflatable boats was quite a challenge with heavy waterlogged clothes. This was all great fun and looked very colourful.

Afterwards we had a shower as we took off the waterproofs, put them back into the drying room. Then we changed into dry kit for breakfast and the following canoeing session.

Morning: Canoeing in the Pool

The canoeing training this morning looked like a reasonably dry event, at least for the staff. So I dressed in my staff uniform, red jogging pants, yellow tee-shirt and hoodie, socks and tennis shoes. Giovanni suggested we should take our canoeing anoraks, just in case they started splashing around.

Our teams showed up in dry casual clothes. Most wore jeans or jogging pants and tee-shirts, some in sweatshirts or hoodies. Others were slopping around in their wet clothes from the early morning swim and went to the showers to warm up.

Balance Demonstration

We team leaders showed them how to carefully enter the boat without capsizing it right away, and how to use the paddles to go in a straight line.

The instructor asked us to stand up and demonstrate how stable the boats are. I stood up holding the paddle in front of me. The boat wiggled a bit but was fairly stable. Easy!

Then the instructor asked us to slowly tilt the boats by stepping to the side. My boat leaned over a bit and became more and more unstable.

"See how far you can go before it capsizes." he shouted across the pool. And I thought this was going to be a dry session. Oh, well, time to get wet in my clothes again.

It was quite thrilling to edge slowly towards the point of no return. Steadily I stepped closer to the side which sank deeper and deeper. The water was only a little bit from the edge.

Next to me a team leader fell into the water. The resulting wave washed over my edge and soaked my left canvas shoe. I just managed to keep my balance.

Carefully I tilted the boat more. Whenever some water came in, I stepped back a bit, then tried again. Slowly the boat filled up, soaking my feet.

Eventually enough had water come in over the side and the boat flipped over. With a big splash I fell into the pool.

The big challenge was to get back into the boat after I flipped it upright again. The wet jogging suit weighed a lot as I climbed back into the boat.

"One more time!" the students shouted and so I fell in again and pushed the boat towards the poolside. I climbed out and water gushed out of my jogging suit, much to the delight of my team.

Now it was their turn

The students quickly got into the boats and paddled around the pool for a while, splashing each other often.

Soon they stood up and tried to keep their balance which wasn't easy with two or three people in the boat. It didn't take long and they were all soaking wet, having a fantastic time.

"I told you, dry is not an option here," said Giovanni after he surfaced next to me. "You're right, and it's a lot more fun in wet clothes," I replied as I pulled the hood of his anorak over his face.

Afternoon: Trip to Town

The afternoon had no official programme. Teams were free to choose what they wanted to do.

Clouds came up in the afternoon with light rain. Our team suggested we should walk down to the town and check out the shops, hoping in might rain a bit more later.

We put on light cargo pants, long sleeve tops and hoodies. Andy and Tim chose rather long hoodies that reached almost to their knees. I wondered how long they would get if they were soaked by the rain.

Giovanni took a keen interest in some anoraks and nylon camo ponchos at an Army Surplus Store. After trying them on for a good while he bought a few for his collection.

As we wondered around town the rain slowly got heavier, and so did our clothes. Tim and Andy's hoodies also got longer just as I expected. The guys were happy, looking good.

It started tipping down as we went back. I put my hood up as the rain began to soak through all my clothes. Wonderful feeling. Finally we reached the adventure centre, passing the pool hall.

"Anybody fancy a swim?" asked Andy.

Since we were already soaked to the skin, that sounded like a lovely idea. We quickly rinsed any dirt off in the showers and hopped into the pool keeping our wet clothes on. Great fun.

Evening: Pool Ceremony

Throughout the day all teams had been talking about the ceremony at yesterday's pool party, helped along by Giovanni, no doubt. He knows how to promote things. I've been asked about ponchos several times. Thankfully the centre kept a few dozen in the drying room, should the need arise.

As we got to the pool hall our team was already there, others were arriving in small groups, nicely dressed in casual clothes. Most walked over to the drying room and came out dressed in ponchos.

"What have you told them?" I asked Giovanni.

"Nothing much," he said with an innocent smile, "only where the ponchos are, so they can do their own dunking ceremonies." Obviously the idea caught on.

Our team had chosen Karim for a dunking tonight. It was his first time and he was clearly excited. He showed up in a blue hooded tracksuit, looking good.

Linda gently wrapped him in a white poncho and put his hood up. She also checked that we all were properly dressed. Then we lifted Karim up and walked into the shallow end of the pool.

We noticed that the other teams all had someone wrapped up in a poncho and followed us into the water. Karim loved every bit of this as we carefully lowered him into the water. His blue tracksuit became visible throught white poncho as it got wet.

It was a different athmosphere that evening. Alex turned on the sprinkler to a gentle rain fall, which many had asked for. It is so relaxing to watch the rain drops roll down a poncho or soak into a hoodie and jeans.

Instead of the usual mayhem, groups settled down in the shallow end of the pool, wrapped up in ponchos and deep conversations about life, the universe and everything.