This was probably one of the most significant experiences of our kayaking learning journey so far. From discussing it, to booking it, and then getting into the pool, it all seemed to happen very quickly, (and then it was over just as quickly), but we loved it, and we learned a great deal.
During the autumn of ’25, my daughter and I joined a canoe club. The idea was, that as we were enjoying paddling more and more, and as we’d progressed quite quickly into sit in kayaks, it would be beneficial if we learned safety techniques properly, and went out with larger groups of people, for safety.
So I wrote to a club, told them what we’d like to do, and asked them if managing my disability would be a problem. The answer we got back was exceptionally positive, and they gave me loads of solutions for getting around the use of my chair, and how they could help. It was really great. In the email, they also mentioned doing pool sessions over winter at Plas Menai, as a way to learn quickly, with dedicated coaches, so that we were safer on the water. The courses would be coming up during the winter.
So we met the club. Cerys and I had to go out on a couple of assessment paddles with the chair and membership secretary, so they could assess what help I might need, and see where we both were in terms of paddling. We were nervous, but we had good long chats with them, and they were all great (there were three people from the club). It was deemed that we were obviously still learning, but that we could paddle in rough weather (it was a windy day, luckily), and we were okay to go into the pool sessions. We gained the tag ‘Improvers’. Exciting.
Winter came, (we’re now joined, but not yet paddling with them), and when the regular club paddles stopped, the pool sessions were advertised, and Cerys and I booked on immediately. It’s worth pointing out that while we did join a canoe club, they are actually a kayaking club, and even then, they are primarily a sea-kayaking club. Which is perfect for what we wanted to do/experience. The pool sessions are used to train paddlers who join the club, and refresh others, on safety procedures, and best practice.
The Plas Menai course, was a series of four weeks, primarily consisting of being able to capsize our own kayak (turn over and end up upside down underwater), then wet-exit (so escape from the cockpit), and then ultimately self-rescue back into the boat.
I had known this before we even joined the club (using YouTube), and I’d made sure I already knew the processes, so if I ever went over, I could get out. It had never needed to be used until that point, though, so the first pool session was going to be the first time I was able to test myself, actually capsizing.
There were lots of options for what people could wear in the pool, but Cerys and I chose to wear swimming costumes, with our PFDs on. We did this because when upside down, a PFD can actually cause added difficulty, and we wanted to be able to do it as well as possible, in the same gear we’d be wearing outside. It would likely be even harder in winter with dry-suits on, too. So we wore our PFDs for all the sessions, despite being fine swimming and floating.
From the moment I got in the water after being wheeled to the side of the pool, I felt more free than I have felt in a long time. I was asked if I needed help into the pool, and I joked that it was okay, I was just going to throw myself in. Ultimately, Cerys helped me in. The support of the water was amazing, and it made my old disabled body feel like I might just be able to do this after all. Then, after being positioned in a kayak (with help), and being shown how to get in and out of the boat from the side of the pool, without them tipping, we were given a brief outline of how to capsize, pull off the spray skirt, and then how to wet exit properly.
Essentially it was the same as I’d seen online, with a couple of refinements. Tip the boat over, until you’re upside down (which is the coolest thing, honestly), reach your hands out of the water and loudly tap on the boat underside (which is now in the air), three times. Bring your arms back into the water, find the lip of the cockpit, follow it around until you find the spray skirt handle, push forward, pull off, and then do a sort of upside down rolly-polly, as if the boat were a pair of trousers. It sounds lengthy, and like you might need a lot of stored breath, but in all honesty, it took a matter of seconds. Ten at the most.
So, I’m ready, and eager. The first one to capsize, of the first session. When the coach was ready, I just threw myself sideways. My goodness, did I get a shock. I kept my eyes open as I love being underwater, but I had not expected so much water to rush straight up my nose. That led me to cough, and I nearly gasped for air. I waited for the boat to balance itself out upside down, as I’d thrown myself quite deliberately, and then I exited, while banging my head on the boat coming up for good measure. It was amazing. One of the reasons I love to actually do things, rather than live vicariously watching other people, is that things feel very different than you imagine they do when you watch them on the Tube, and it’s stays with you!
Cerys did very well at this. After my initial fail, I had remembered I’d bought a nose plug for just such a problem, and then the capsizes became very smooth, very quickly. Especially once we understood what it would all feel like. It became routine, and we were doing them over and over. Such that I was calm enough to not just tap three times on the underside, but knock out a quick drum beat, before coming out of the boat. That’s what it was about really. Do it often enough, that you’re very calm when trapped in a boat, underwater. Then, hopefully, when it happens for real, panic will be minimal, and you’ll stand a good chance of surviving. Which is all thumbs up, really.
After that fun, we then had to learn how to get back into the boats. Many of the techniques require a lot of support from other people, and it got to the point that everyone on the course could get back into a boat from the water. It’s all mostly upper body, which for me is okay (manual wheelchair). Thus far in this adventure, then, we’re able to capsize, escape from our spray skirts, then the boats, and get back in. I think goggles would have made it more fun (you cannot really see underwater without them, even in a pristine pool), and I’d have loved to have a picture of me upside down, underwater, but other than that it was superb.
Feeling confident, when this four-week course had finished, we then booked onto the next course, which would start in only a few weeks. The next course was four weeks of learning to roll. So the same capsize, but instead of a slow exit and rescue into your boat (which is safe, but not efficient), instead, using your paddle, you should be able to roll yourself back upright.
At the start, I did well with this training. A lot of the initial learning, was about holding onto the side of the pool, while your boat was at 90° to the water, and being able to bring yourself back up. Then from there, holding the side of the pool with your outer arm, and lowering yourself underwater, so the boat is almost upside down, and then using your waist to bring you back up. I loved this bit, as I love being underwater*.
The next part was to use floats instead of the poolside. This was a really uneasy part of the process, because you progress quickly to this point, but the floats make everything feel ‘wibbly’. You’re in a kayak, leaning out as far as you can reach into the pool, with your boat at 90°, using just a couple of floats to hold you up. However once you realise this gives you leverage, it gets a lot easier, and it starts to feel natural. Cerys struggled with this for a while, but I think it was the coach she had. Once the coach changed, she caught up very quickly.
After that, was the part I struggled with. Essentially, with a paddle positioned to one side, you then (with a coach’s help), need to capsize, and use their support of the paddle to bring yourself back up. It’s difficult to learn, especially when it’s just that same leverage you have already been using, but now it’d a paddle instead. I could not manage it for the life in me. I just did not have enough core strength, or technique. Cerys also struggled for a good while, too, and it left us both disheartened after one of the sessions. There were a lot of panicky taps on the underside of the boats, so that the coaches could bring us back upright (to save us wet-exiting – for time).
Then, something clicked for Cerys. Rounds of cheers went up in the pool while I was upside down (as they had been for other people as they managed it), and she’d rolled. Then she did it again, and again and again. It was amazing to see. Such an accomplishment, and she caught up really quickly once things seemed to fall into place for her. I was so very proud. I, however, did not manage to do a roll. I tried, and tried, and tried. It was just not in me. I was gutted to end up finishing this course without having managed even one roll (especially after everything we’d achieved), but we went into the second course, knowing it was unlikely I’d be able to do it.
So, Cerys can roll, and I cannot. That’s something I hope to remedy in the coming years. It’ll be needed for more adventurous paddling, as I strive to get better in very small increments. For now, though, both of us can safely wet-exit if, or when we capsize, and we can then self-rescue back into our boats in deep water. As we progress, we will have to do this outside, of course, and we’ll keep striving to learn more safety techniques, to try to give us the best chance, out on the water.
Emma
*When I was a kid, I would swim as often as possible. In the summer, we’d swim in the canals, and up at Hollingworth Lake (after a long bike ride over the moors), and in the winter, I would catch the train into town, and spend as long as possible in the pool. I’d often swim underwater from the deep end, and down into the driving area, where I would stay out of the way in the corner, for as long as I could hold my breath (4 mins easily), watching people dive in from underwater. The life-guards often told me off for that.
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