The Canoe Section part fo the site tries to give you an idea of how SOC trips work, and what sort of things we get up to, with both overview articles and writes-up of past trips. Being a multi-activity club, we cater mostly for people with a background in adventure sports, but not necessarily canoeing. Thus a lot of the information here will draw attention to how SOC paddling differs from paddling with more mainstream Canoe Clubs. There's a lot of stuff here, so we've tried to structure it for easy digestion - do delve deeper in the menus and links. There are Frequently Asked Questions lists for both Whitewater and Sea Kayaking among other goodies in the two "Learn about..." sections.

SOC is not a coaching club - club rules prohibit the club itself from offering instruction in any activity (though we can and do organise coaching with instructors acting in their own capacity). Perhaps this is the biggest difference between SOC and many other paddle clubs. Not offering instruction doesn't mean we aren't a club you can learn with, however - there are easy trips as well as hard, and plenty of good advice and encouragement. But if you are someone who feels the need to learn the sport in a protected environment with formally qualified instruction, perhaps SOC is not the ideal club for you.

Most people from one adventurous activity will be good at evaluating risks and their own ability and will be well aware that not all the risks are readily apparent to a newcomer to the activity. Not offering instruction is not the same as not pointing out hazards that beginnners may be unaware of, and we do take safety seriously. This section of the site includes an overview on safety, and our detailed generic risk assessments for both sea and river paddling. Reading through these will answer a lot of questions about safety, but perhaps draw your attention to a lot of risks that you hadn't thought of. Don't let this make the sport seem more dangerous than it is - identifying the risks is all a part of making sure that we are taking appropriate precautions and running trips in a way that minimises the hazard.

This section of the site also has two categories "Sea Touring and surf kayaking" and "Whitewater rivers and inland touring" under which you will find more detailed information about these two main aspects of Canoe Section activities. These include Frequently Asked Questions (and answers) but possibly the most frequently asked questions tend to be about the likely conditions for the next trip, which is not something we can address on the website, given the nature of the weather, so use the mailing list and/or forum, or even phone the contact numbers in the programme to see what is happening in the immediate future. Trips are often organised that weren't in the programme, if the conditions suit (this is particularly the case if the rivers rise in summer as they need to be paddled at short notice before they drop! See More midsummer whitewater. If you are the sort of person who may be available for a midweek paddle at short notice, use the mailing list and make sure those of like mind know you are interested and have your number! Days at the seaside surfing are also usually short notice trips). Programmed trips may be changed to suit either the water level or the people available to paddle, so the mailing list, in particular, should always be open on your desktop waiting to offer you the chance to get out paddling. If we have a bit of notice about a change to the programme, it will be noted at the head of the Planned Trips page.