ThePADDLER 114
Words and photos : Ollie Taylor-Wood
Lieutenant Ollie Taylor-Wood currently serves on HMS Queen Elizabeth . He is a Royal Navy Paddlesport Association committee member and is the Group Scout Leader of 4th New Forest Solent Hythe Sea Scouts . He holds various provider roles with British Canoeing across freestyle and whitewater .
REMAINING
I ’ m not that old ; I ’ m also still relatively fit , healthy and fortunate enough to have a job that sometimes pays me to go paddling ( recruitment plug in early ). I haven ’ t been very paddle active over the last few years like almost everyone . Sure , I ’ ve thrown a boat in a lake or had the odd fleeting hour on a river , but between family , friends , work , pandemics , and for me , an eight-month deployment , I ’ ve never got into a decent paddling rhythm .
Those long-ago teenage years of paddling three or four times a week have all too quickly changed into weekly , then monthly , and with lockdowns getting on the water came dangerously close to becoming an annual event . This article is my experience of keeping paddle active against my ‘ odds ’. Everyone will have different ‘ odds ’; for some , it may be an injury , for many of my military colleagues , its deployments ; after the impact of COVID , I think everyone will relate to something in this text .
Most people who write this kind of article are paddle athletes or leading coaches : the innovators of our sport . I am amazed at how resilient the elite end of our sport has been over the last two years ; in particular , the resilience of coaches , many of whom have been unable to work , is particularly impressive . I am not , however , one of them ; I am an enthusiast , developing coach , Naval Officer , Scout Leader and someone who , up until now , has never really had to think about going paddling .
If you ’ re shredding down 100ft waterfalls , doing open sea passages or competing at a world cup event , you ’ ve probably got everything I ’ m about to say covered . But if , like me , you have suddenly found yourself at risk of doing more reading or watching than actual paddling , then maybe you will find the
following five ideas useful . If nothing else , it might be nice to know that many others are in the same boat ( pun intended )!
TAKE EVERY OPPORTUNITY This is easy to say , sometimes it just won ’ t happen , but the adage of ‘ failing to prepare is preparing to fail ’ is very accurate . On hearing I was deploying for eight months last year , my heart truly sunk , don ’ t get me wrong , I love my job , but leaving family and friends is never easy . I deployed on HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH for her first operational deployment to the Mediterranean , Middle East and South-East Asia .
This should have been the deployment of a lifetime , but globally the likelihood of getting ashore was low , and Asia ’ s COVID regulations , in particular , were super tight at the time . Despite this , I thought I ’ d plan for success , so I dutifully embarked a freestyle kayak and a SUP , much to the amusement of the rest of the crew . Luckily for me , there are loads of spaces on an aircraft carrier to hide a small kayak if you know where to look and come prepared with a pack of biscuits for the owner of the compartment . I also contacted some sponsored paddlers in Japan and Korea , thinking a hook up might be possible .
Well , I tried , but it wasn ’ t to be ; almost everywhere , the doors were shut . Having a boat on board did , however , give me an opportunity for what I believe to be a world-first . I ’ m not sure Guinness World Records will be reaching out , but doing a bow stall on an aircraft carrier with F-35B jets in the background did make for a great photo . I ’ d also like to add that if you value the watertight integrity of your 10ft swimming pool , then trying freestyle moves in it , especially flat-water loops for the first time in a year , is a truly terrible idea .