Swansea University Canoe Club is a well-established sport club within Swansea University. Confusingly, we actually use kayaks, and only use canoes occasionally! Our trips are equally balanced with our awesome socials, so whether you like just the socials or just the kayaking, we're open to all...
River and Surf Kayaking at Swansea: In Swansea we’re lucky enough to have perfect access to some of the UK’s best whitewater rivers, no matter the level of experience, we have local rivers to suit any paddler. But of course we have our favourites, Teifi, Tawe, Ogmore and Usk. These trips come at a minimal cost, mainly covering the fuel for our drivers.
The club also runs pool sessions to get basic skills up to scratch, which can then be used on real rivers around the country. Cardiff International Whitewater Centre is a short drive away and provides an ideal artificial training course for when rivers aren’t an option. Swansea is also positioned on the edge of the Gower Peninsula, which has miles of beautiful beaches perfect for some surf kayaking.
Canoe Polo: This is a team sport that mixes kayaking and throwing the ball between teammates before shooting at a raised goal. This is loved by many of the club and is friendly to newer paddlers! We compete in many competitions such as BUCS, Varsity and other local comps. We are currently defending champions against Cardiff in Varsity!!! Our women’s team won Varsity Team of the Year! We train both outside on the local river that runs through Swansea as well as in a warm pool, which is preferred by our members especially in winter.
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Slalom: Canoe slalom is a competitive sport with the aim to navigate a canoe or kayak through a course of hanging downstream or upstream gates on river rapids as fast as possible. Last year at BUCS slalom, some of our members travelled to Holme Pierrepont course and we even came back with some medals! We train most of the time in the pool but for slalom we like to go to Llandysul as they have a slalom course already set there and is a great place to learn or practice slalom skills.
Wildwater Racing: WWR is a kayaking discipline where paddlers race down a stretch of whitewater river in racing specific K1s, C1s and C2s. There are both sprint and longer classic categories to test your stamina. This year we returned to BUCS, racing in Scotland and coming 4th overall.
Sprint: Sprint is a discipline where you race in a straight line over variable distances. We are considering entering a team for BUCS this year.
Sessions: We run pool sessions at the Wales National Pool Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 20:30-22:00. Our pool sessions cost £5 a session and is a great place to learn and improve on both river and polo skills with our dedicated sessions for each discipline. A cheaper polo session will be run outdoors which will help with game experience and goalkeeping. Our kayaking nerds are always on hand to help newer paddlers improve their skills! This year we have two new polo coaches who will hold various sessions throughout the year.
Socials: SUCC is also a great place to just chill we offer a lot of different socials; these range from a fun night out in Jacks, the place to be on Wednesday night, to walking up a mountain. Some of our members definitely prefer the socials as we rarely see them kayaking! We offer both heavy drinking socials, less heavy drinking socials and sober socials. We range from our famous punch party to pub crawls to good old-fashioned house parties and nights out as well as some brand-new ideas for the coming year. And then of course there are the sober socials where we visit trampoline parks, play ninja tag, go gorge walking or go bowling. There's plenty for everyone, the kayaking is optional.
Kit: We provide all of the kit you will need on a river including boats, paddles, helmets, wetsuits, buoyancy aids, jackets and spray decks. All the kit can be borrowed as part of your membership. Or if you want advice on buying your own kit, just ask. All you need to bring is clothes you don’t mind getting wet, a towel and a positive attitude :)
Got your own boat? If you have your own boat and would like to bring it to Swansea but have nowhere to store it...don't worry as we are able to store boats in our shed. Each member can store one kayak for free, then its £10 for each additional boat for the year.
Interested in joining
If you are interested in joining please do one of the following:
join the Facebook group www.facebook.com/groups/succ.me and message an admin,
fill out the SUCC interest form,
or message us on instagram and we can arrange a time for an introductory session!!
You can check out some of our sick content at:
Facebook - www.facebook.com/groups/succ.me
Instagram - @swanseaunicc
TikTok – @swanseaunicanoeclub
Alternatively you can email us at canoeclub@swansea-sports.co.uk