I had met Mark-Jan Dielmans when he came to England to attend the OCA's BCU 4 Star Open Canoe training or assessment on the Dart in 1999 and also at one of the introduction to white water weekends, so when I met him again at the Canoe Exhibition in Birmingham I was pleased to confirm that I would be attending his International Canoe Symposium in June.

Jonathan Prosser agreed to come with me, which was important for his excellent company and to help with the driving. I did a huge amount of preparation for the meeting, including partly stripping and revarnishing my circa 1900 Strickland wooden canoe, and constructing a roof rack which would take two boats. As we were determined to have a gentlemanly long weekend, we left Bristol at about midday on Wednesday the 23rd for the long drive in beautiful weather and through delightful countryside to Dover. After a couple of beers in nautically named pubs we stopped overnight in the Gateway Hovertel and caught the 8:30am Hoverspeed for Ostend. This is a great adventure as the boat goes a huge rate and is in Ostend in two hours.

Ostend was looking splendid, they had a huge festival of the sea there, but we had no time to stop and were soon on our way across the whole of Belgium to Roermond. The motorways are splendid, especially as they are nearly empty. Only problem was at Brussels where we completely missed the sign to the major ring road, and ended up going round the centre in tunnels until John said " We've been here before!" and we surfaced. What is it about Brussels that confuses true-blooded Englishmen???

We arrived at the campsite in mid afternoon, and having put the tent up, our Dutch neighbours invited us to take supper with them. This is typical of the kindness we received from everybody at the meeting and in Holland. Not at all as I had feared, what with foot and mouth and all, and our general bloody-mindedness about Europe. I took time out to erect a splendid flagpole with a Cross of St George flying proudly above the Union flag. (If Jock and Dai have their own flags and parliaments why shouldn't we!) I was interested that two people came to ask what the Red Cross on a white ground was. Having met everybody, including the excellent Peter Stokx (who also attended the four-star), and the bold sailors of the Open Canoe Sailing Group, we did a little night paddle and then calmed ourselves with a few “Trappistes”. We were ready next morning for an introduction to Free Style Canoeing under the expert tuition of Becky and Mark Molina, who had come all the way from the USA. What a delight to be a student rather then a coach, and to be taught by such wonderful people! I didn't learn much about freestyle canoeing, (I'm far too old to move around the canoe as quickly as I would need to,) but did learn an awful lot about styles of instruction, and those of you who know me well will be delighted to see a much changed Richard when I next instruct. I did put my foot in it when Mark told us that he ran courses in" meditation and freestyle "and I sniggered. However I redeemed myself by showing excellent commitment to the paddle and gently swamping my boat on three occasions during the morning.

John and I could see that we would need much more practice in what we had been taught before we could progress, so we took ourselves off to the town in the afternoon and sat in the main square in the sun drinking the excellent white beer, which contains wheat, wonderful on a hot day! We made up for this with a night paddle to recce a route to town for the following night.

Next morning John and I were able to help Bob Ottley, (Uncle Bob to the Dutch) by teaching two star skills. I had two boats of adults paddling tandem. They were exceedingly keen and committed and appeared to understand what I was saying because they returned in the afternoon and we made good progress. In the evening John and I led three boats, after dark, to Roermond where we tied up at a wall and go to a cafe for an excellent beer in excellent company.
The following day we packed and started for home, still in good weather. We arrived in Ostend in time to look at some of the wonderful boats that were still in the harbour, including four traditional Dutch barges, which were in perfect order. And so back on the Hoverspeed and a hard journey home back in England

This really was an excellent weekend, paddling, sailing competitions, coaching, freestyle coaching and competitions. Freestyle is a whole new world, very elegant but achievable. The OCA should take a lead in developing it in the UK. Excellent instruction is available from the USA; all it needs is a group of paddlers who want to learn.

It seems that the Dutch have not yet developed a star system. Although we do tend to complain about the regulations of the BCU, the Coaching Service does provide an excellent structure. John and I were able to teach and to lead the night paddles without any concern for our competence, and it would have been difficult to do this if we were not part of a comprehensive and rigorous coaching scheme.

Our thanks to Jan Mark for an excellent holiday. We can thoroughly recommend the Fifth International Symposium. If anyone is thinking of going I'll be very happy to give them some advice on ferries and routes because I believe I could have done the trip better and more cheaply.

Richard Scullard,
randmscullard@ukgateway.net