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| BCU 4* Course
Here is a description
of the 2000 trip The trip started with a prompt 1800 hours departure from the unit (for once!!), all the cadets where unusually quite and a little apprehensive. We picked up Lt Dave MacKay who was the course instructor on the way up, and after a 3 hour ride made it to the Youth Hostel at Welsh Bicknor. The road to the hostel was… rather interesting, being just wider than the minibus, very steep, with a sheer drop at one side and a vertical wall at the other, and a hairpin bend which needed a 3 point shunt to get the bus round, not to mention unhitching the trailer. The hostel itself was great, with a games room, drying room, showers, and bunk accommodation… sheer luxury for a sea cadet course!! Everyone was self-catering which proved interesting (how many people forgot cooking oil for their morning fry up!) Saturday found us on the river, which was flowing quickly due to the heavy rainfall the previous week, we had a safety brief and ventured out into the current…. 16 km later we where at the end of our river trip, unfortunately our intended dinner spot was underwater because of the height of the river, so we had to complete the trip in one go. Not to worry, this gave us plenty of time on the rapids which where rather faster than we expected and very ‘bumpy’! Dave Mackay ran through the training, breaking in and out of the river flow, surfing waves and the inevitable rescue of our fellow paddlers. Saturday evening gave us a chance to run through the theory and the odd game of pool, space invaders (for only 10p) and some very competitive and animated games of chess!! Sunday after eventually pushing the bus up the hill out of the youth hostel carpark, and made our way back onto the rapids to complete our training. This time it was throw lines, for rescues, surfing some more waves, this time heading for the bigger ones further up the rapids, rolling, support stokes and many other challenges to test the limits of our personal ability. The weekend was really successful with four candidates passing their BCU 4* and two passing their BCU 3*, everyone got a lot out of the weekend and hopefully next years will be even better!! |
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