Page 36 - Wish Stream Year of 2018

Exercise AQUITAINE CADET
OCdt Lodge
Four intrepid Officer Cadets from Alamein Company CC181, and their instructor
set out to explore and perform
an endurance run of the pictur-
esque Dordogne river system in
Bordeaux. They all deployed in
August 2018 for an inland kayak-
ing adventurous training expedition to the South of France. The initial goal of OCdts Lodge, Howlett, Brown and Marrs had been to paddle approximately 150km of the river, divided into fearsome legs of roughly 30km a day over five days, heading downstream. The early intent was to start in Castelnaud-la-Chapelle and end in the French city of Libourne. However, this changed massively in the run-up to their departure...
There was an unidentified (initially anyway) issue of having an inexperienced kayaker such as OCdt Haslam as a part of the team for such a challenging expedition, which meant the instruc- tor felt uncomfortable with attempting to com- plete such hefty endurance legs each day. This
OCdts Lodge, Marrs, Brown, Haslam and Howlett (L-R)
led to a radical exodus from the original plan. Instead of completing 30km endurance legs, he wanted to focus on a more tolerable (and significantly less arduous) week of technical skills at a different spot along the river each day, in order that everyone could acquire a good base
knowledge of inland kayaking. Most importantly, it meant that the team could competently and thoroughly complete the Kayak Foundation 2 qualification.
As such, when we were on the water, we had a delightful time of learning technical skills in the calm majesty of the Dordogne. With barely a rip- ple in sight, the skill level of everyone, including the experienced kayakers, increased tenfold. Without any inclement weather to hamper train- ing or morale, the only major threat to any OCdt was self-capsize. After a particularly busy Inter- mediate Term, this was exactly what the expe- dition team required to recuperate and regain focus prior to the trials of Senior Term.
Despite a few hiccups during the planning and preparation phase, expedition was executed with enormous success. Although the expedi- tion never accomplished its initial goal of com- pleting 150km of the Dordogne, it was a valuable team and skill-building event. Naturally, there are always points to improve, but not a single expe- dition member left on the last day with the ability to say that they had not enjoyed the kayaking, or
the camaraderie of being in the French sun with friends, which is all anyone could really ask for. OCdt Haslam now has his eyes on a
podium place in kayaking Tokyo 2020.
34 SANDHURST
However, this changed massively in the run-up to their departure...