Adventure Paddlers Weekend

This weekend the RDCP once again played host to the annual Gene17 Adventure Paddlers Weekend. And once again the Gods of rain delivered, and delivered BIG! While I had to work on Saturday many people got out on the rivers, however many people got far more than they bargained for. After several days of heavy rain all the dartmoor river were in full flow, and many were caught out by big water and rapidly rising river levels. The tales of carnage were many and varied!

Trying to find a clear view of the screen was hard

Saturday evening saw the main event, the lectures, raffle and the amazing freebie give away! This year featured four lectures, The west coast of the USA, Greenland, Gabon - Africa, and The Four borders expedition. The lectures were good, but the new layout of the bar kind of hampered things, there now only being one room including the bar. This meant that there was no space for people to socialise away from the lectures, so it became quite hard to hear and see what was going on sometimes.

The bar was busy all night!

The Freebie giveaway was as mad as usual, with Dave Carrol launching all sorts madly into the crowd. While I don't think that there were any give-away accidents this year it must have been close, I managed to get a drybag to the forehead!

Dave "the compare with the hair" Carrol giving away free stuff

The raffle was also a big draw, with the top prize being a Sweet Rocker helmet. There were loads of prizes, and many people left something, from books, DVD's, spraydecks, bags, drybags, throwlines and a huge array of accessories.

Ali and Liz selling raffle tickets