Cumbrae basked in glorious sunshine over the weekend of the 7th-9th July and saw the second sportscotland sea kayak and stand up paddleboarding symposium take place in near perfect conditions at the national watersports centre.

The weekend attracted a wide audience of participants and combined some of the UK’s leading coaches with a world renowned expedition paddler. There was a blend of technical workshops and clinics with a friendly BBQ and social event on Saturday night which culminated in expedition paddler Olly Hicks recounting his story of a recent sea kayak paddle from Greenland to Scotland. Olly broke the world record for this amazing feat and is now in training to be the first person to ever ‘Row the World’ solo. He joined the symposium to recount his story and his preparation for the next adventure to an audience of fans and enthusiasts for the sport.

The participants had on hand some of the UK’s most well known coaches with Doug Cooper developing skills in efficient forward paddling, George Fell providing expert tuition in rock hopping (aka sitting in a kayak next to rocks in a flat calm), Matt Haydock teaching practical navigation and open crossings and Dave Rossitter and Jules Burnard mixing it up on the stand-up-paddleboards. Cumbrae very own staff Peter Braidwood and Tim Stuart shared their combined expertise in sea kayak and sailing by providing session is sea kayak sail handling.

Calum McNicol, Senior Instructor at National Centre Cumbrae said: “The weekend was a great success. As I stood on the beach on Sunday morning and watched as nearly 40 paddlers left the shore at Cumbrae I felt pretty proud. we’ve been shouting from the rooftops that the waters around the Clyde are just stunning and offer some seriously spectacular sea kayaking opportunities for beginners and intermediate paddlers alike. I felt over the course of the weekend we delivered a balance between introductory and fundamental skills with more advance development of technical skills. The BBQ and social event in the evening and Olly’s talk topped off a great weekend. “

"Scotland really does have some seriously talented coaches and to have them here at The National Centre was special for our participants."

If you are interested in watersports then hop on over to Cumbrae and find us five minutes from the ferry terminal or visit our website www.nationalcentrecumbrae.org.uk

The Great Cumbrae Kayak Race is taking place on Saturday August 12.