Marsport..not as scary as I thought!

Being a recreational paddler I never expected to find myself at Marsport.  For the UK Marathon and sprint canoe/kayak following they know all about it but for the rest of the world and mere mortals it seems to be the home for marathon racing.

Marsport is positioned in Reading on the banks of the Thames at Dreadnaught Reach, which is where folk paddling in the Devizes to Westminster canoe race get a hot meal before starting the overnight section of the challenge.  It's also where the day support crew swap and handover to the night crew.  Having done day support a couple of times I'm used to seeing the field in front of the Waterside Centre covered in mini camps attempting to boil water and make hi-carb meals before their racers come in.

Saturday morning was much quieter but this is still a technical racing place with lots of serious racing boats about - in for fixing and lots of friendly faces.  They design and build there too - clever folk.

Turns out Paul who coaches sit and switch was fooled (or more likely is the only person who so far has got us right) by our relaxed attitude into initially thinking we were a pair of numpties with no idea.  After a while we persuaded him this wasn't the case and we were particularly pleased by the reassurance he seemed to have for us by the end of the session that we were going to have a great time and that the paddling skills were certainly there  (slightly reassuring since I've been an L2 coach for 4 years now).

We played on his canoe ergo (I want one) and then did a few ups and downs on the Thames with me destroying a paddle in the process

To date our paddling style has really been a tweaked touring style but we have been told now to dab more at the water.  Increased stroke rate and dabs raise the boat (lessening friction I guess) and without extra oomph you go faster.  To minimise steering you then switch more often.  Our typical switch length at the moment has been 1/3 mile and now we are onto twenty max.   Now we just need to get to a point where we can estimate so we don't spend 31/2 days counting to twenty.  Esther isn't keen on having to call hut every twenty either

Whilst at Marsport we got us some technical paddles - British made bent shaft by Streamlyte which Paul cut down to size and told us how to alter if we need to before shrink wrapping the handle cover on.  Look we now look almost professional at this!

Having got the paddle home and carefully examined it - its technical - almost seems to be the canoe equivalent of a racing wing paddle - I love it.

After being put through our paces we decided to head for a paddle and the plan was to head down and turn around at Henley (of the Regatta).  On this stretch we paddled past the homes of the rich and famous and saw Paul Daniels in his garden in a lilac jumper (no sign of the lovely Debbie).  I already knew his magic is not that strong anymore as he has previously asked us to help with untying a rope across the inlet to his boathouse.

However - no stopping us,  we looked to see where the next train station was - Marlow - so off we went.  From setting off at about 12.45 we arrived in Marlow - 17 miles later - at 16.41 and that includes portaging - a couple of looks at the map to re-plan the route and eating. Ok so there was flow on the river but given we were trialling a new style of paddling I'm happy.

This is how we travel to and from the river - boats on trains!

What this does mean is that our next full Saturday paddle is the thirty mile one.  I realise these distances are much smaller than the Yukon but the Thames is a lazy river and whilst you do, in the main, get some push it's not a great deal so there is no way we could cover the same kind of distances.

Esther relaxing and showing off her un-matching shoe/outfit combo on the train home.