Was a breezy evening on the River Chelmer for SUP Club last night – but it worked out perfectly. We stayed tight and kept it super-social downstream to Rushes Lock and back downwind to Mill House before dinner and drinks at the ever-awesome Six Bells. Thanks everyone for another epic evening.

Venue: Mill House (CM3 4BG)
Meeting: 6pm
Briefing: 6.20pm
Finish: c.8.10pm
Level: Strong, competent river paddlers

No rain on the forecasts today, but it is windy again – and this week easterly, so much chillier than last time. But all good to allow SUP Club to head back to the gravel at Mill House. Tonight we’ll be going out downstream towards Papermill, against the wind but with the flow. Then back with the (probably dying) breeze and against the stream. Still not an all-comers week as we’re going against the grain, so keeping up with the pack will take a little bit of effort. The roadside shouldn’t be too bad, but parking and pumping are never pretty at Mill House: as ever, just be ready to dodge the puddles on Church Road.

So, parking at Mill House by c.6pm (https://w3w.co/fitter.ideas.transmits) ahead of a 6.20pm briefing at the launch. We’ll aim to finish soon after the 20.05 sunset. Then we’ll be off for dinner and drinks at our favourite local pub – numbers with a show of hands at the briefing.

Paddlers on the Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation must be licensed: get or renew yours via www.waterways.org.uk … we have a few simple codes of conduct for SUP Club (eg; all paddlers must wear a leash) that you can find on our main SUP Club page.

All competent paddlers (by which we mean comfortable and confident standing-up and paddling strong, non-stop for 90-minutes, able to steer, stop and turn around effectively – and not in need of a lesson to do so, which of course we offer via www.supsect.com/learn-to-sup) are welcome at SUP Club. This week we need to know that everyone can paddle strong enough to keep up with the pack against some headwind on the way out, then back against the flow.