Canoeing & Kayaking

Canoeing offers something for everyone, from calm steady paced touring on canal and placid waters, to competitive canoe sprint and facing the challenge of racing down white water. From exploring fantastic coastal scenery by sea kayak to performing the ultimate playboat moves while ‘playing’ and ‘shredding’ the river.

Getting started

Canoe England is the National Governing Body for canoeing. Visit the Canoe England 'Get Started' web pages for advice and guidance on enjoying canoeing for the first time. It is recommended that you visit an affiliated club or approved centre. Doing so will help make your canoe experience fun and safe and will help you to master the basic skills more quickly. Clubs and centres welcome new faces and many run special sessions for newcomers. You can find a club on our Find a Club pages, plus Canoe England also have a search facility. For extra peace of mind, Clubmark clubs have demonstrated a commitment to safe and fun canoe experiences through adhering to minimum operating standards. Canoe England has more information on Clubmark canoe clubs.

Progressing

Canoe England has a wealth of information on enjoying canoeing in its various formats - whether you are looking for information on canoe slalom, or freestyle kayaking, marathon racing, canoe polo, touring and recreation, white water rafting, white water kayaking or even wild water racing!

National Go Canoeing Week - 6-15 April 2012

Canoe England has identified a 10 day week to promote the sport and encourage people to get out on the water. The week will be packed full of canoeing activities going on nationwide which will include local events for beginner’s right through to Olympic canoeists taking to the water. The first day of National Go Canoeing Week 2012 will leave just 112 days until the Opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games – How exciting!

The aim of the 2012 National Go Canoeing Week is to encourage 2012 new participants by date of the 2012 Olympic opening ceremony. This week will also see the launch of a brand new project and website called Go Canoeing which is a national campaign supported by Canoe England, to encourage and inspire more people to go canoeing more regularly. Go Canoeing will have a range of captivating and exciting activities and opportunities for people to enjoy. These will include local starter sessions, guided tours and events, as well as information on where to go and how to get started.

If you are keen to get out on the water or are interested helping us promote the sport by organising an activity near you visit our website for more information or contact us at info@gocanoeing.org.uk

Sport Hampshire & IOW has been working with it's partners to produce five exciting new Hampshire Canoe Trails, as part of the National Canoe England programme to fulfil the purpose of the 'where can I go and paddle?' Enabling beginners and non-club members to also enjoy and paddle safely on our local waterways.

Members of Canoe England have a licence for some navigations and canals which is fantastic but which bit of the river, canal or area of sea makes for a good trip? Where can I park? What is there to see? Is it accessible for someone that uses a wheelchair? Is it suitable for Children to come along? There are many questions that frequently get asked and most will be answered in the Canoe Trails leaflets.

The Trails

The five new trails include the Beaulieu River, the Saltwater Itchen, Portsmouth Harbour, Upper Hamble River and the Basingstoke Canal. All the trails have been designed with new paddlers in mind with a detailed map, suggested kit checklist, difficulty rating and an informative guide of the local area. They also attempt to encourage safe and sypathetic usage of our waterways and best practice amongst paddlers to the area.

Download: A PDF of the trail maps is available for download by clicking on the relevant trail link. The saftey information is also available to be downloaded

Coming soon: The opportunity to purchase an waterproof A5 trail leaflet for £2.50 from Hampshire Information Centres, Canoe Shops, Outdoor Centres or Harbour Master. For more information please contact Samantha Jones.

The information for the trails has been donated by local Clubmarked Clubs around the County. They are tried and tested routes that Club members use on a regular basis.

Future Trails

There will be an Isle Of Wight edition available in the late Summer and three New Forest trails added to the collection in the Autumn and will include Calshot, Eling and Lymington.