Many thanks to Thomas Harvey for organising a Grade trip to the River Barle on Exmoor. Our trip included 2 beginners, so we decided to run the lower Tavy from Dulverton down to the Anchor Inn at Exebridge. Levels were a little higher than expected and we were forced to… Read more: Trip to the River Barle
With rivers and sea paddling options covering all levels this was one of the largest events of the year. We had 42 people accepted on Spond; We had 35 Dinners prepared in the Abbey Inn with 34 people attending. The Bunk house was all but booked out, we also had… Read more: River Dart Trip 2025 21st – 23rd November
Welcome everybody to this year’s canoe club AGM. We’ve got an exciting agenda not only covering the mechanism of the AGM, which is primarily to elect new members onto the committee and to present our highly coveted trophies. We also have a presentation by Julie and Mark Hamilton for their… Read more: Chair Speech October 2025 AGM
The Club held its 2025 AGM at the Novia Scotia last night (October 21st) and was well supported by 46 members. We had several committee presentations, elected the new committee and presented the annual club trophies. Mark and Julie Hamilton gave a magnificent presentation of their Yukon 1000-mile race earlier in the… Read more: Club AGM 2025 & Annual Trophy Awards
Saturday October 18th saw our largest Canoe Sprint Regatta on the Bristol Harbour for some time Some 40 competitors came from outside the wider Bristol area and into Wales to join Bristol CC’s Racing discipline for Sprint Races. The races started from the iconic SS Great Britain and finished in… Read more: Bristol Canoe Sprint Regatta 2025
August 2023 Julie and I put our application in for 2024. So much more than a paddling CV is needed – details of wilderness experience and experience of stressful situations needed to be complemented by self-reflection on the multitude of deficiencies we had and how we would overcome them in… Read more: Mark and Julie Hamilton complete the Yukon 1000 in July 2025
Our first summer tournament of the year took us to Treharris with only 5 players raring to go, as some of our squad took the easy route and went to Glastonbury????. The tournament was held on the Taff Bargoed Valley near Merthyr Tydfil on the River Taff. There were 8… Read more: Bristol Pitbulls play at the National Div 3 Tournament
A big thank you to the 15+ people who supported the club’s rubbish clearance in the City Docks last night (Especially Anne Greenhalgh, who got the clean-up kit from Paddle UK, and helped with the organisation.). We collected 5 large sacks of rubbish, working in three teams, covering Cumberland Basin… Read more: Big Paddle Clean-up on the Bristol Harbour 2025
The Club organised its first Activity Day on Saturday June 14th, 2025 with over 50 members and their families attending. During the day we had demonstrations of play-boating, racing and canoe polo, as well as food and refreshments from an excellent BBQ. Many of the attendees had the opportunity to… Read more: Club BBQ and Activity Day 2025
So you want to get into kayaking! Bristol Canoe Club will again be running beginners courses on Bristol Harbour in 2025. The course is run in four evening sessions from our base at Baltic Wharf on the Harbour. We provide all the kit you need to learn to safely kayak… Read more: Beginners Courses 2025
The dates for our next beginners courses are now available for booking: Course 2: MONDAYS 6.30pm Starts June 9th. Sessions on June 9th, 16th, 23rd and 30th. Course 3: MONDAYS 6-30pm Starts July 14th. Sessions on July 14th, 21st, 28th and August 4th Course 4: TUESDAYS 6-30pm Starts August 19th. Sessions on August… Read more: New dates for Beginners Kayak Courses 2025
Bristol Canoe Club is a club for paddlers in the Bristol area. With around 150 members our members participate in many canoe based activities as well as social events throughout the year. The Club is primarily focused on white-water paddling, flat water racing and canoe polo, while also pursuing a… Read more: About Us
The Bristol Pitbulls debuted their new kit at the Div 2 South West Regional in Cheltenham on January 11th. Seven players all in new purple rash vests took to the water to face Wellington, who were joined by some Avon players. The game saw Tom roll and Nick roll onto… Read more: Our Canoe Polo Team play their first tournament of 2025
This lists the trophies that the club has awarded over the years. The information goes back to 1998 for complete information, and partial information back to 1989.
Bristol Canoe Club’s annual Dart weekend took place over 15-17 November 2024. We had over 29 paddlers having a great time despite the complete lack of rain, which came a couple of days too late for us. Nevertheless, a wide range of activities were pursued including hiking, sea kayaking, caving, kayaking,… Read more: Dart Weekend – Nov 15-17th 2024
Bristol Canoe Club held a Sprint Regatta on Saturday Oct 19th, with a superb sunny day of racing enjoyed by a strong turnout. Thanks to all competitors and supporters for coming and entering this unique event, and all the volunteers for making it happen! Many thanks also go to All-Aboard… Read more: Sprint Regatta October 2024
Welcome everybody and thank you for attending the 2024 AGM. The agenda for our AGM is very straightforward, I will be asking shortly if there are any comments on the minutes from last year, I will then ask the officers on the committee to present, followed by the discipline leads… Read more: 2024 AGM – Chair’s report
A reminder; we return to Bristol South Swimming Pool on the new day of MONDAY September 23rd of September 2024 for our weekly pool sessions. Usual format of a 8-00pm start for the General Session before Polo Training starts at 8-45pm.
Dear Members, As many of you may know, I have had to take some time out from actual canoeing after fracturing my pelvis following a crash on the road bike. I still hope to attend in person the Club AGM on Tuesday October 22nd, if the medics permit me to… Read more: Letter from the Chairman: September 2024
Bristol Sprint Regatta – Bristol Harbour, Sat 19th October 2024 In conjunction with Paddle UK (British Canoeing), Bristol Canoe Club is excited about hosting this local Canoe Sprint event for the south west region, and would like to invite you and your members to come along for a fun, competitive day of 250m,… Read more: Bristol Sprint Regatta – Bristol Harbour, Sat 19th October 2024
Friday:As Radio 6 music announced our departure, eight Bristolians and their coach travelled to take on the Belgians in an international canoe polo showdown! The early arrivals staked their claim to some primo campsite real estate before heading into the historic city of Ypres. Dinner was devoured, ice cream was… Read more: Bristol in Bruges!
Bristol Canoe Club recognizes the value of third-party training courses to enhance both thepaddling and safety standards of members within the club. To assist member participation onrecognized training courses, the club is willing to subsidise the cost of the training course, byreimbursing a 1/3 of the training fees per year… Read more: Bursaries for training courses
Our Club’s Racing section, accompanied by Devizes CC, demonstrated sprint canoeing at the Bristol Harbour Festival which was held over the weekend of July 20-22, 2024. Two races were held; the first was a relay from the Arnolfini up to the Matthew and the second, was a 2 lap race… Read more: Canoe Sprint Demonstration at Bristol Harbour Festival 2024
Our recent trip to Italy was an extraordinary adventure, full of thrilling paddling, stunning scenery, and warm hospitality. A group of us went paddling in Val Sesia during the first week of June and miraculously returned with all our gear, though the condition of the gear can’t be spoken for!… Read more: Bristol Canoe Club: Italy, June 2024
Bristol Pitbulls were in action over the weekend of June 29-30, 2024 at the Taff Bargoed polo pitch near Merthyr Tydfil, for the final Division 3 SW national canoe polo tournament. With 2 wins, a draw and 3 defeats we ended up 4th in the league. Most of us had… Read more: Bristol Pitbulls latest canoe polo tournament
[Links to photo albums at the bottom of this article.] A large group of Bristol Canoe Club members (21 people) headed out to the Briançon area of France again, in June 2024. We have been to the same area very many times in the past, and we go there because… Read more: France kayaking 2024 – High water
On Thursday May 30th, our weekly Club Session on the Docks participated in The Big Paddle Cleanup for 2024. We had 15+ members, including Dave Hill’s 5 year old son Toby helping clearing rubbish from the Arnolfini down to the Canoe Polo pitch situated below the Cumberland Basin. We pulled… Read more: The Big Paddle Cleanup 2024
Since I last wrote to you, the Club has engaged in a fair bit of paddling. Our marathon paddlers are building a growing number of members training on Tuesday and Wednesday nights (depending on weather) as well as competing in several races. They have also rebooked the gym at All… Read more: Newsletter from the Chairman – March 2024
Bristol Canoe Club have a regular marathon/sprint racing training session for 2024, every Saturday, starting 9.30-11am, and depending on attendance will hold another session midweek. “Racing in Bristol has been rather fragmented over the years with racing members getting on the water when they can, but it’s good to have… Read more: Regular Marathon and Sprint Canoeing sessions for 2024
On the 23rd to the 25th of February, 2024, 16 club members ventured up to the lakes in an assortment of cars. One club member decided to fly in from Switzerland, something about lack of snow for skiing or something. We paddle the Lake’s classics including the Kent (twice), the… Read more: Club Trip to the Lake District Peninsula
*** all these courses are now fully booked. We will be running courses again next year, check out the club website in April next year when we will post details of 2025 courses *** Bristol Canoe Club will again be running beginners courses on Bristol Harbour in 2024. The course… Read more: Beginners kayak courses 2024
Bristol Pitbulls played in their final Div 2 South West regional last night in Cheltenham. This was probably the toughest tournament I’ve every played in. We had two tough games against Swansea and Rhondda, both of which have strong players – we lost 6-1 and 7-0 I think! Then we… Read more: South West Regional Polo Tournament Div 2 on 17th Feb 2024
Our website is looking a bit bare, but yes, many club members have been kayaking white water through the winter. Members can hear about short-notice trips on our email lists. We have various weekend day trips, some weekday trips, and a few weekends away.
We seem to have created a tradition of having a Christmas pub crawl in the week or two leading up to Christmas. People were asking me the other day about some of the routes we had done in the past, so I dug out some info from old emails… Year… Read more: Christmas socials…
Over the weekend of December 24-26th 2023, the Club’s whitewater team met for their annual trip to Dartmoor. Most of the 35+ members attending stayed in the Caving Barn near Ashburton, while a few opted for more luxury in some of the local pubs. The Friday early arrivers managed a… Read more: Annual Dart Weekend 2023
British Canoeing provide a definition of a Club Activity, which defines (among other things) whether club members benefit from 3rd party insurance under Bristol Canoe Club’s affiliation to British Canoeing
This article is an attempt to clarify what the rules are about paddling on Bristol Harbour, and under what circumstances club members, and non-members, are permitted to use the harbour.
A couple of months ago, Steven Pike pointed us towards this book: “Moderate Becoming Good Later; Sea Kayaking the Shipping Forecast”, by Toby & Katie Carr.https://www.stanfords.co.uk/Moderate-Becoming-Good-Later-Sea-Kayaking-the-Shipping-Forecast_9781800076105“An exhilarating and deeply moving story of one man’s attempt to sea kayak the areas of the Shipping Forecast, perfect for fans of The Salt… Read more: Sea Kayaking; Moderate Becoming Good Later
The Harbour festival Committee invited both our Club and Avon CC to put on a demonstration of Canoe Polo at the Bristol Harbour Festival over the weekend of July 15th and 16th 2023. The rain and Harbour Festivals seems to come along at the same time, however over 20 hardy… Read more: Harbour Festival 2023 – Canoe Polo Tournament
Over the weekend of July 4 and 5th 2023, the Bristol Pitbulls played their final tournament in the National League Div 3. This year the league consisted of 10 teams across the South West and South East after a couple dropped out at the the beginning of the year. The… Read more: National Polo League Final results 2023
[ Link to the photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/NoqWM9HAt6jEhNQn8 ] Each year Bristol Canoe Club organizes a foreign trip, but with private trips to France and America the only overseas destination for members this year was Croatia. Our old sea dog – Dave Brain very kindly proposed sea kayaking, which would repeat a… Read more: 2023 Club Sea Kayaking trip to Croatia – Holiday or Adventure?
Our Bristol Pitbulls entered into Division 3 of the National League and played their first tournament in a new venue at Blackwater Lake near Camberley on April 29th. Annoying, a tournament was simultaneously run in the Bristol Docks, but the League organisers at GB Canoeing somewhat understandably decided this location… Read more: Bristol Pitbulls Tournament 1 & 2 – National League 2023
With rivers and sea paddling options covering all levels this was one of the largest events of the year. We had 42 people accepted on Spond; We had 35 Dinners prepared in the Abbey Inn with 34 people attending. The Bunk house was all but booked out, we also had… Read more: River Dart Trip 2025 21st – 23rd November
Welcome everybody to this year’s canoe club AGM. We’ve got an exciting agenda not only covering the mechanism of the AGM, which is primarily to elect new members onto the committee and to present our highly coveted trophies. We also have a presentation by Julie and Mark Hamilton for their… Read more: Chair Speech October 2025 AGM
The Club held its 2025 AGM at the Novia Scotia last night (October 21st) and was well supported by 46 members. We had several committee presentations, elected the new committee and presented the annual club trophies. Mark and Julie Hamilton gave a magnificent presentation of their Yukon 1000-mile race earlier in the… Read more: Club AGM 2025 & Annual Trophy Awards
Saturday October 18th saw our largest Canoe Sprint Regatta on the Bristol Harbour for some time Some 40 competitors came from outside the wider Bristol area and into Wales to join Bristol CC’s Racing discipline for Sprint Races. The races started from the iconic SS Great Britain and finished in… Read more: Bristol Canoe Sprint Regatta 2025
August 2023 Julie and I put our application in for 2024. So much more than a paddling CV is needed – details of wilderness experience and experience of stressful situations needed to be complemented by self-reflection on the multitude of deficiencies we had and how we would overcome them in… Read more: Mark and Julie Hamilton complete the Yukon 1000 in July 2025
Our first summer tournament of the year took us to Treharris with only 5 players raring to go, as some of our squad took the easy route and went to Glastonbury????. The tournament was held on the Taff Bargoed Valley near Merthyr Tydfil on the River Taff. There were 8… Read more: Bristol Pitbulls play at the National Div 3 Tournament
A big thank you to the 15+ people who supported the club’s rubbish clearance in the City Docks last night (Especially Anne Greenhalgh, who got the clean-up kit from Paddle UK, and helped with the organisation.). We collected 5 large sacks of rubbish, working in three teams, covering Cumberland Basin… Read more: Big Paddle Clean-up on the Bristol Harbour 2025
The Club organised its first Activity Day on Saturday June 14th, 2025 with over 50 members and their families attending. During the day we had demonstrations of play-boating, racing and canoe polo, as well as food and refreshments from an excellent BBQ. Many of the attendees had the opportunity to… Read more: Club BBQ and Activity Day 2025
Lisa and I paddled a canoe down the river Spey (Scotland) in September 2024, in a group of seven people.
Bristol Sprint Regatta – Bristol Harbour, Sat 19th October 2024 In conjunction with Paddle UK (British Canoeing), Bristol Canoe Club is excited about hosting this local Canoe Sprint event for the south west region, and would like to invite you and your members to come along for a fun, competitive day of 250m,… Read more: Bristol Sprint Regatta – Bristol Harbour, Sat 19th October 2024