Rewilding
Because the club located in a country park you can expect to share your sessions with the local wildlife; I have paddle boarded while a herd of deer were in the lake. It was very strange; they seem to like to enter the water to go for a swim about. I’m not sure we will get them on a board though. And, because the reservoir is a feeder to the canal system comprising around 100 miles of waterways around Birmingham, you have access to that as well (if you have your canoe licence or British waterways licence). This in turn connects to the rest of the English canal system, so if you plan to paddle through the heartland of England, this is where you’d start.
One of the reasons that I wanted to see sup at Chase is because you need a stable platform for a sport to grow and I think the sailing club can offer that. It is a permanent base for sup with excellent facilities with a vast amount of accessible water. We know the club works; it has produced more than forty world champions in sailing and national champions in windsurfing. Some of the best windsurfers in the world have been to Chase sailing club in the past and I see no reason why this cannot be the same for sup. The water is large enough to hold major racing events and the club has the experience in holding major events, maybe we’ll be welcoming the 2nd international sup race in the UK calendar to the Midlands one day, and maybe we’ll be fielding the podium finishers?
For more info go to www.chasesc.org.uk. Thanks to Boardwise and Dave White/RRD for setting up the demo event in the photos. SUP
