At Addlestone Canoe club we have a great track record of developing paddlers into the world of Freestyle Kayaking with several of our members going onto represent GB in both European and World Championships.
What is Freestyle Kayaking?
Freestyle is a discipline of whitewater kayaking or canoeing where the paddler performs various technical moves in one place (a stopper or wave). The moves and tricks are often similar to those performed by snowboarders, surfers or skaters, where the athlete completes spins, flips, turns, etc. With modern freestyle kayaks it is possible to get the kayak and the paddler completely airborne while performing tricks.
More information can be found on the GB Freestyle website.
Freestyle Kayaking at Addlestone Canoe Club
Being located in the South East of England, our club is near some of the best freestyle kayaking spots in the country, with our closest weirs at Chertsey, Shepperton and Sunbury. Also, the world famous Hurley Weir is only about 30 minutes drive from the club – this is regularly used for GB selections and international competition.
With regularly monthly weir trips it won’t be long before you’re styling it out on some of these great locations. You can find out more about the Thames weirs and their use for freestyle kayaking on the Thames Valley Freestylers website.
How to join in
For 2024 with are working in association the Rock The Boat Activities and GB Freestyle to develop our members’ freestyle skills. We have a series of monthly development sessions – if you’re interested in learning freestyle or you are already a developing freestyle paddler why not get in contact?
The dates for Spring 2024 are:
- Saturday 13th January 2024
- Saturday 27th January 2024
- Saturday 10th February 2024
- Saturday 24th February 2024
- Saturday 8th March 2024
- Saturday 23rd March 2024
- Sunday 24th March 2024
- Saturday 13th April 2024
- Saturday 27th April 2024
Morning sessions will be for under 18s, and afternoon sessions will be for adults.
Club members should book via Neil Leahy – see the club weekly email for details.
Due to the paddling environment and the boat control required to get the most out of the training, paddlers should be:
- confident in their ability to paddle on grade 2 water (doing it in a big boat counts we can teach the little boat tweaks);
- confident swimming in normal paddling clothing suitable for a moving water environment; and
- have a solid roll (at least 3 out of 5 attempts is a good goal)
- Freestyle pool session – 24th January 2024
Addlestone Canoe Club are hosting a freestyle pool session on the evening of Wednesday 24th January 2024. Sign up online via https://classfit.com/index.php/c/Profile/27817. ACC Members £7.50 Non Members £12.00 Further information visit https://addlestonecc.org.uk/pool-sessions/ - Freestyle success
Britain’s freestyle kayaking community came together over the weekend, 11 & 12 February, as the top paddlers competed for places on the 2023 GB freestyle team, with all eyes on the World Championships in Columbus, USA. The selections saw great success for Addlestone members. Jools and Sienna were both selected for the Junior GB team,… Read more: Freestyle success