A Weekend of Fun in Scarborough

Each year, the canoe section helps out Scarborough Canoe Club provide safety cover for the Scarborough Triathlon. After the swimming part of the triathlon, there is an open water swimming race, for which again we help provide safety cover. After this year's event we were asked to become involved in an international long distance open water event on the weekend of 1 and 2 September.

Only four of us could make the paddling that weekend, but the Wests, the Broadleys and the Bridgstocks, all with children (some bigger than others), decided to turn it into a weekend camp.

At the briefing on Saturday morning two things became clear: firstly, the swimmers didn't like the sea conditions and the course had been shortened, and secondly, the safety marshal was expecting about thirty of us (we were joined by one other chap, who told me his paddling was limited to lakes).

The swimmers were going off in two groups, the men first, and the women second. It was decided that as the men were a slightly weaker group, three would go with them, and two with the women. We started arranging who would go with each group "I've just seen the women competitors, and I'm going with them" volunteered Neil, I couldn't leave him to face this alone, so like a dutiful father, I agreed to go with him, leaving David, Wendy and our friend from Scarborough with the men.

The course was then explained - "they swim out to that red buoy then along to that orange buoy then back to this inshore buoy, and repeat it three times". This made the course about nine miles. What they didn't say was that the first red buoy marks the sewage outfall!

On the water, all the careful organisation turned into confusion as most of the communication stopped. There were about twelve motor boats of various sizes milling about, and their wakes, added to the choppy sea caused by the offshore breeze made sea conditions "interesting". Eventually, the first group set off, and Neil and I bobbed around, waiting for the women's group. Eventually they set off, but only after the event had been shortened to two laps.

Offshore, there was a decent swell running, and the buoys became all but invisible to us in boats. The swimmers can't have been able to see anything at all. It seemed to take forever to get round the course, I was shadowing the last paddler, with Neil looking after all the pretty ones (I think he studies wet swimming costumes as part of his Ocean Science Degree course). My charge, on the leg returning to the beach decided to stop. She couldn't speak English, and didn't understand that I really didn't want her to climb onto my front deck! Thankfully, one of the motor boats was on hand to help. The next two swimmers were some way in front so, head down, I made for them. When I reached them, they also decided to stop. Another boat took them on board, and I just managed to catch up with the group at the inshore turn, to find that the swim had been shortened to one lap. Wendy and Neil were on the beach, so I made for them, only to be told that the men were doing another lap and David was on his own with them, so it was back out through the waves and a solo paddle out to catch them up. The rest of the day was uneventful!

Sunday morning was spent looking round the Sea Life Centre, looking for damaged turtles and an octapus, whilst waiting for confirmation that we would be needed. A phone call told us to go to Wykeham Lakes, as the sea was too rough for the swim, and it was likely to be on there. Two minutes later, another call told us it was all cancelled.

Not an ideal weekend sea paddling, but a memorable one!

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A Weekend of Fun in Scarborough

Pete Bridgstock