Fort Smith Paddling Club

Our regular weekly polo nights have started up.  Polo is a great way to keep your kayaking skills up during the winter!  We are in the water every Sunday, from 7:30-8:30.  Because it's only an hour of pool time, please be changed and on the deck by 7:15 to start getting the kayaks down. 

You don't have to be an expert kayaker to play polo with us - if you can do a wet exit and you're 13 years or older, you can play with us!  The game is fun, and the rules are simple to learn.

Polo is either $10 per session for drop-in, or $120 for the whole season (which lasts until May).

Hope to see you all out in the pool soon! For more info, call John or Gen 872-3593.

Sunday's beginner clinic was a resounding success, with 8 new adults and teens coming out to learn the basics of kayaking.  Students learned to "wet exit" from their kayaks, and then moved on to a friendly game of kayak polo. Thanks again to Get Active NWT for sponsoring this free event - keep an eye out for two more free clinics over the winter.

Thanks to our 5 volunteers who came out - without you, these events wouldn't happen!

Hey guys, just so you all know, the registration/ check-in table for the whitewater weekend will be at the Friday night feast at Fitzgerald, Alberta.  If you arrive in Smith Friday night - that's where we all are!  Take highway 5 east out of Fort Smith - Fitz is about a 20 minute drive.  Come on out and meet us there!

              (photo: Rick James)

Our group trip over to Roller Coaster was fantastic - we had 24 people out, ranging from age 4 to considerably older than 4.  Beautiful weather, calm crossing, and pretty huge waves once we got there!  What a beautiful place to spend the day!  Welcome to Paddlefest week folks!                              

What a fantastic turnout for our pre-Paddlefest youth night!  We had 10 youth out in the bay tonight and nearly the same number of volunteers for an evening of wet-exits, strokes, races, keep-away, piano keys, and semi-submerged paddling.  What a fantastic night!  Thanks again to all of our volunteers who make this stuff happen!

We had our biggest beginner night of the year tonight - 18 people came out to run the Mountain to Golf Course run!  What a great night - thanks to all of our fabulous volunteers!

The Paddlefest 2011 schedule is online now  - click here for a larger version (which loads REALLY slowly... sorry!)  This schedule is just for the weekend events - for details about the Edge King throwdown, click here

See you all soon!

Click here  for the schedule of pre-festival events.  This schedule is aimed at locals, and includes the details about our "meet the river" hikes, beginner lessons, and a group canoe/kayak trip in the week before Paddlefest. 

Of course, pre-festival events for out-of-town paddlers include the Big Air Surf Competition on July 26 and 27 (see link on the left for details), and informal river trips - meet at John's house (39 McDougal) at 10 am each day to learn where people are paddling that day.

Get ready for it - the first World Kayak Throwdown of the year is coming up next week!  It's Thursday, July 14th at the playground at around 7 or 7:30.  If you don't have gear, meet at the yellow house at 6:30 as usual.  Throwdowns are fun competitions (with prizes!)  You don't win by being the best kayaker though - the prizes are drawn from a hat, so anyone who comes out and paddles has a chance to win.  Since this is in conjunction with beginner night, we're going to have some competitions for beginning kayakers too! 

Beginner nights are on again - every Thursday night!  This is a great time for beginners (and those of us who just need a little practice) to get out on the river.  For those of you who don't need any practice, it's a great time to come out and practice your teaching and rescue skills!

Meet at John, Gen and Saskia's place every Thursday at 6:30 to get geared up.  It's 39 McDougal - the bright yellow duplex right beside the armouries - you can park at the armouries.  Remember, bring a polypro base layer top and bottom to go under your swim shorts, and the splash jacket that the club provides. If you have a truck or a vehicle with a roof rack, bring it.

Don't forget your $20 club membership fee, and your $20/day rental or 100$ rental for the whole summer. If you haven't joined the club yet this year, you can print the membership form and waiver off of the "membership" page to save time this year.  Hope to see you out on a Thursday!