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Plas Menai Olympic Warm Up
02/05/2008

At the end of April, Skandia Team GBR, the British Sailing Team whose sailors are off to China to represent Team GB at the Olympics in August, attended a two day teambuilding camp at Plas Menai National Watersports Centre near Caernarfon.

Nearly 40 members of the team including the sailing squad, coaches and support staff attended the camp. The team, which is one of the most successful in British and World sport, boasts many Olympic medallists and current World and European champions. Wales’ Sydney silver medallist Ian Barker and world champion and Athens gold medallist Sarah Ayton were amongst those training at the National Watersports Centre for Wales.

In addition to conference sessions on preparations for China, the centre set up and ran an extraordinary sailing regatta on the Menai Strait. With so many of the world’s top sailors pitted against each other, it was the most competitive event ever held on the Menai Strait and possibly ever in Britain, in one competition.

The brisk conditions saw Paul Goodison, European Champion and world number 2 in the Laser class, win from Star class sailor Andrew Simpson in second, and Yngling World Champion crew Pippa Wilson in 3rd - crewed by RYA Olympic Manager Stephen Park. Sydney Gold Medallist Iain Percy, representing Team GB, in the Star class in China, was plagued by gear failure when his mast snapped during the first race, but made a good recovery.

The squad were then tested on Plas Menai’s ropes course and, as part of a team challenge, the whole team jumped off the centre’s ‘leap of faith’ - a psychological test. Wearing climbing harnesses and supported by ropes, all team members leapt from the top of a 10-metre pole.

The team dinner included a prize-giving for the sailing regatta and Pen Hadow, the Arctic Explorer who walked unaided to the North Pole, inspired the team with a powerful motivational talk.

The final element of the teambuilding saw the Team ascend the Afon Ddu mountain gorge, which included climbing waterfalls, swimming across big pools of water and working as a team to get each other to the top of the gorge - guided and supported by Plas Menai’s instructional team.

Following a team photograph on the centre’s waterfront the team departed to make their final preparations for China. 49er class World Champion, Stevie Morrison, found the North Wales event a great experience: "The centre has offered us an amazing variety of exciting activities", with his crew Ben Rhodes adding, "It's been a thoroughly enjoyable couple of days, with great facilities and passionate, professional staff."

Manager of the National Watersports Centre, Alan Williams, also wished the team well in its Olympic campaign and said: “This has been a great showcase for Plas Menai, our staff worked hard to provide the team with an inspirational couple of days and we wish the team every success in China".

Photo: Sarah Ayton in action on the Menai Strait.

Topic: Plas Menai, Sailing in North Wales, British Olympic Sailing Team.

Gorgeous Gorges
22/04/2008

The recent seminar on 'Gorges in North Wales - Reconciling Conservation and Recreation' was a great success with a very positive reaction from both the outdoor sector and the organisers, Countryside Council for Wales (CCW). The key message to come out of the seminar was that regular users of these venues, such as outdoor centres and activity providers welcomed education on the ecological importance and relative vunerablity of these sites. Across the sixty attendees representing a broad cross-section of interests from both conservation and recreation angles, it was agreed an on-going dialogue would be established.

Dr Barbara Jones, CCW Upland Ecologist, kicked-off proceedings by setting the scene. She described the meeting as important because of the increased use of gorges across the region. Gorge walking often takes place in areas designated as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC's) with accompanying European legislation requiring an assessment being made as to how much of a risk the activity poses in damaging this environment. Ray Woods from Plantlife was next-up with an inspiring presentation. Starting by examining, despite appearances to the lay-person, how the Welsh landscape has been ravaged over the years by agriculture and deforestation, he quickly focussed his attentions down to the level of lichens, liverworts and mosses. Wales with its mild (oceanic) and damp climate, particularly in gorges, provides ideal conditions for these plants. He commented that: "These temperate ravines with their ancient woodlands, protected by their difficult access, are our ecological equivalents of the rain forest. Some moss, liverwort and lichen colonies in Wales are internationally rare and could be easily damaged by unknowing boots or a rucsac brushing against the site.

Doug Oliver, Senior Reserves Manager, spoke of his practical experience of reconciling recreation and conservation in gorges, saying: "Since the initial impact of gorge walking, I've concluded that I haven't found significant damage to rare and notable plant species but will continue to monitor usage and effect."

Karl Midlane, highlighted the educational importance of gorges for outdoor centres and how a code of good practice had been drawn up for the Afon Ddu Gorge. Richard Wyatt from Adrenalin Antics covered the commercial use perspective and believes the demand for the activity has reached a plateau. Ashley Charlwood from the Welsh Canoeing Association outlined how canoeists use these gorges, running them by necessity in high water and generally not getting out of their boats until they the reach the bottom: having minimal impact.

European SAC legislation states that if an activity damages a site, then measures must be taken to address this. This means that if we want gorge based activities to continue, we need to work together to ensure that a sensitive, low-impact approach is adopted at all sites. With this in mind, in the summing up session, outdoor recreation and educational users expressed their willingness to work with CCW to minimise their affect on particularly sensitive gorge locations. But clearly there was an issue in disseminating this information. Snowdonia-Active is currently working with the Forestry Commission and CCW on developing a toolkit that aims to provide solutions for sustainable water based recreation across Wales using the Mawddach river catchment as the pilot study area.

Topic: North Wales Gorges, Gorge Walking, Conservation and Recreation.

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