darnsarf

No....thank you

Just wanted to say a huge thank you for the clubs support. Not been on for a while due to HOW workload. Your support has lead to a very successful first full year that isn't over yet. We have taken out over 120 veterans. Several have followed our development pathway and are now fully capable independent kayak anglers with their own equipment. The HOW Team have had success in competitions and we have just been approached by one of the major military charities to look at co-operating with them in future programs. This would not have been possible without the club's help. Thank you. Paul Take a look the videos and pictures on the website www.heroesonthewater-uk.org And join us on Facebook Heroesonthewateruk.

Enjoy a summary of HOW activity for April. Some great stories and half decent fish. You might find the odd club mention in there too... http://www.heroesonthewater-uk.org/kunena/welcome-mat-and-general-news/84-how-in-april-grab-a-drink-and-put-your-feet-up#113

This should be fun and is easy to do.. Fancy a fun species competition any time between 16th & 22nd of June? Even if you raise a couple of pound it will make a great contribution. HOW's running this as a fun national fundraiser that will also present another excuse to go fishing. Help us achieve the HOW formula: 1 + 1 = 1 + 1. or If just 1% of anglers raise just £1 it will equal 1 years operations plus leave enough funds to start to set up one new HOW chapter. To join in take a look at: http://www.heroesonthewater-uk.org/fishathon-2014 Thank you. (again ) Paul

Could have been very nasty.... well done the RNLI.

In the last week thanks to the Plaice Chase and the collection you held at the AGM the club have raised enough funds to cover the costs for Heroes on the Water to operate fully for a month. A huge thank you............. again.

Just wanted to say a quick thank you to Lofty and the guys from the club who organised and helped at The Plaice Chase on Saturday. Great competition and numbers were up on last year too. Well done and thanks from HOW for the funds raised.

Hi Rob. Got them today. Really good quality. They are fitted and look better than the other sponsors logos. Put a couple of pics up on Facebook. Thanks for sorting this.........

Looks great Rob. Havent arrived yet. Let me know when you post them. Thanks Paul

Cheers Rob

Water pump bearing threw belt. Fixed now, should be collecting in the morning.... Thanks.

Well thanks to all the support we have received we are now able to put a team together for most kayak angling comps. Many of our injured have given up on ever being competitive again. We can help in our own small way to give them a new opportunity. Something they take with both hands. See how TEAM HOW got on at the first team competition of the year. Thank you. http://www.heroesonthewater-uk.org/kunena/welcome-mat-and-general-news/83-team-how-wins-at-llangorse#108

On about sponsors logos. I am now putting logos on the HOW van. If anyone has 2 x PBSBAC logo that can go on the van approx. 6" high x 12" wide (loosely) can you please post them to 252 Leigh Road, Chandlers Ford, SO53 3AW. Thanks

Ok, BFBS have released the news clip to us and it is posted on our website in all its over exposed glory. Hopefully this time you should be able to see it without any problem. Apologies for the ugliness http://www.heroesonthewater-uk.org/your-help-in-action/video-gallery/video/how-in-the-uk Thanks

http://web202.ssvc.com/news/programmes/british-forces-news We did a recent news item for BFBS TV. Pretty happy with the results given we all have a good face for radio........fast forward to just after the 20 min mark. Thanks as always

It gets worse..... SKY Channel 212 at 1830 tomorrow. The British Forces Broadcasting Service news will be doing a piece on HOW. Or see www.bfbs.com news page tomorrow evening. Cover the kids eyes as we all have good faces for radio.

Thanks Mal. If you havent seen the reason Ive been a bit tied up here is the latest session held in the lake district. True ground breaking stuff. http://www.heroesonthewater-uk.org/kunena/welcome-mat-and-general-news/79-bfbs-visit-how-session-at-esthwaite-water#99

Thanks Charlie. For the latest HOW outing on Upper Tamar Lake click and take a look our HOW FORUM article.

Hi. We have lots going on at the moment and we don't want to clog up forums too much so we are launching a HOW forum for our supporters. We will continue to post catch reports and major events & developments etc on here but general conversations and other bits and bobs will be limited to the new forum. Please register and get involved, share your ideas or just come along for the ride.........it should be fun. HOW Forum http://www.heroesont...rg/kunena/index

We are now officially registered. Charity Number 1155380. Thanks for the faith the club showed in HOW prior to this. With your support we can now move forward on to the next stage. Thank you.

Need to get myself a copy.......huge thanks again from HOW.

Happy New Year and here's to a very fishy 2014. Pleased to announce that Heroes On The Water will be entering official teams in the major Kayak Angling competitions in 2014. One of the first will be the Poole Bay Plaice chase organised by Lofty. Competition is very important to our guys, they are naturally competitive and it means a lot to them to be able to compete in a sport on equal terms. They will ask for no favours and give no quarter even if their experience level is pretty minimal. The team will try to give as many individuals as possible a taste of this great sport at a competitive level. Getting the team to the various locations will require a separate funding initiative, if as an individual you think you can help please leave a PM here and I will be in contact. Thank you for your continued support. Captain for 2014 is injured Royal Marine Martin Payne. He fished the recent Poole Flounder Meet and loved it even though he suffered the next day. He's the ugly one in the middle. Thanks again and I hope those kayak manufacturers teams aren't quaking in their drysuits too much

On Saturday the kayak Flounder Meet was held at Lake Pier. PBSBAC took the opportunity to present HOW with a £500 cheque for the purchase of drysuits. Huge thanks to Tony and the team for taking the time to come along and make the presentation. I am sure the guys will put up the pictures, unfortunately I didnt get the chance to take any. Just wanted to say a huge thank you to the club. The day saw our first veteran take to the water as part of a HOW fishing team. Martin also accepted the cheque from Tony on behalf of HOW. He caught his first Flounder and helped the Team to lead the way. He personally thanked the club members for the help he had received. Once again a huge thank you from the HOW team. Paul

They were Charlie.......its the Flounder Meet in the Harbour on Saturday and Martin is travelling over from Plymouth to take part. If you are on the water and see me or Lofty, say hi. Thanks again for your support.

I am very keen that HOW is not just seen as a day out and we provide genuine angling pathway opportunities for the guests that want to really get into kayak angling as a sport. Martin Payne, an IED victim is proving that the theory can be put into practice and is turning out to be a great HOW story. We held our first sea session with Martin last week. He has completed a freshwater series of sessions and despite his blast injuries demonstrated his self rescue abilities. As a Royal Marine he listens, he’s determined and willing to have a go, making him a pleasure to coach. The venue was Plymouth Sound and the preparations started 3 days prior to my trip to the West Country. Anchor Reels had to be built, trolleys fitted, sea tackle purchased and rigged. Martins friend was also due to come out with us but unfortunately he broke his wrist the day before the session but Gregg who paddles already will be joining us once his hand is fit enough. I have never paddled the Sound before and Robin (Tinkernut) and Simon Everett helped out with some local knowledge. I decided to drive from Southampton without a stopover so the van was packed the night before and the alarm set for 0430. It was a frosty morning and with the autumnal colours the sunrise was a bit special. It really is a special part of the country. At 0900 I met Martin at his house and after a quick coffee and a bucketfull of banter we left for Mountbatten beach by the breakwater. It looked stunning. Unfortunately we were forced to fish the ebbing tide for most of the day, not ideal but I wanted to see how he got on sea paddling and the neap was perfect in that respect even if it meant the fishing would not be at its best. I did plan to visit some marks that I put in the Humminbird that weren’t too far or tidal. Unfortunately, something very bizarre happened. While carrying all the gear and kayaks down to the beach my steel flask rolled over the top of the terminals of my GPS/fishfinder battery. Let the fireworks begin. Best bit of ARC welding I have seen in a long time resulting in battery terminals becoming part of the flask, writing off the flask and battery. An expensive start to the day and plan B became the only option, if it looks fishy fish it. First things first, it was time to learn and practice working with a drogue and then the slightly more taxing anchoring with the new reels. As always Martin just got stuck in and came out with A* in both disciplines. He seems to really get on with the OK Elite, sorry Martin it’s Tina’s. Time to deploy the drogue and try some feathering with large Hokkies. We did this for an hour or so and the result was some small Pollock, Mackerel and Whiting. We ended our final drift in a very nice rocky bay that looked perfect for a bit of Float fishing. So we went through the basics and dropped both Ragworm and Sandeel under floats. The catch didn’t really change with all the above taking bait as well as the feathers. At least some of the Whiting were sizeable. Not a Wrasse to be seen, probably due to the ebbing tide and drop in temperature. It was officially cold, Martin said so, at one point he even lowered his ear flaps on his hat. For a Booty that means it’s cold. Really been impressed with the Crewsaver drysuits which provided all the protection he needed. The early nights meant it seemed we were looking at returning back to the beach before we knew it but we managed a good 4 hours out on the water and had one last opportunity to try another educated guess fishing mark, much closer to the main channel. Another chance for Martin to try his anchoring and this time we fished with both float from a rod holder and feathers on the Yuki Orion rods. It was pretty frenetic, with fish hitting both rods. Unfortunately, nothing big other than some very nice Herring. Martin for the second time decided to opt for involuntary catch and release and his Herring joined the Pollock he accidentally released earlier. Much banter ensued...... and we headed for the beach. Martin cleaned the catch while I got the gear back up the beach to the van. It was a great day and Martin can’t wait to get back out on Saturday at the Flounder Meet in Poole Harbour and try his hand at ledgering. The day ended with dinner at his provided by his ever suffering wife Shiv. They are a great couple who have really seen the benefits of HOW. To the point where Martin who’s biggest frustration was no longer being able play football with his boys has now found an activity that he can share with them. They now love going fishing with their dad and are just as competitive as he is. Should provide some more fireworks when they are a bit older. Arrived home around 11pm tired but very satisfied with how this first sea session had gone. Also want to mention an amazing session I held with Blind Veterans UK in Brighton on Friday. We are looking at offering kayak angling to blind veterans next year. On the face of it, bit of a challenge so Blind Veterans UK offered to look at my proposed methods and coach me in how to assist partially sighted and blind vets. I worked with blind rehab professional Bryan Kilburn who is himself partially sighted. Bryan is also a semi serious Carp angler so he, like me thought this was a very realistic target. I took the OK Caper (Tinkerbell) for a trial pool session with him. He was soon casting and hitting a 2m square target, striking, fighting and boarding fish (simulated :0 ) he carried out self rescues, seal launches and was standing up on the Caper. Needless to say we are both happy that with 1 to 1 coaching this is a definite reality for next year. Really looking forward to 2014, things are coming together very nicely with several new enquiries for sessions. Just can’t wait for the winter to be over so we can really get stuck in. [video src=http://youtu.be/gyG-9YJdWWw][/video] As always thanks for your support. Paul