We were shocked to be made aware of very serious safety boat issues at the Trafford Water Park that centred around the decision made by their newly appointed Centre Manage Chris Mole. So serious were these issues that they were reported to both Matt Collins (Head of Peak Activity Centres) and later, Dan Svensson, (Chief Operating Officer for the Keys-Group - the company that owns Peak Pursuits) with photographic evidence provided in support. Rather than take our concerns seriously, both senior officers chose to ignore the evidence provided.
Safety is paramount in our events and consequently, the whole event was moved from the Trafford Water Park to Salford Quays. Details on how the event went can be found HERE >>>
It is worth mentioning that in our 2022 event at Trafford Water Park and despite us booking the centre to provide safety boat cover, when we got to the venue, Operations Manager Laura Sharp (who was standing in that day for the manager who was off ill), had decided off her own back and without consultation with us, to cancel the event's safety boat cover.
Demanding to know why, we were apologetically initially offered a centre staff member on a stand up paddle board to act as dragon boat rescue - and when that was dismissed, we were then offered safety cover via a canoeist in a kayak, with claims the canoeist could perform an X-rescue* in his kayak should a dragon boat capsize! (See the note about an X-rescue below).
On further investigation, we eventually discovered that the reason for the safety boat cancellation was because the Trafford Water Sports Centre had no qualified staff available to drive their safety boat that day, despite the centre running other events that same day.
This incident was reported to Mr. Dan Svensson, along with all emails in evidence. Mr Svenson however chose to ignore everything, leaving us to wonder just how safe the events run by Peak Pursuits really are? Especially as the centre also runs youth events.
* An X-rescue involves the rescue kayaker presenting their boat at 90 degrees to the capsized kayak and instructing the swimmer from the capsized craft swims to the front end of the rescue kayak and hold on. One they are in place, the rescue kayaker slides the capsized kayak up and over the deck of their rescue kayak. Once half way over, it is possible to rock the balanced upside down kayak from end to end so that the water in the capsized kayak is then emptied out before turning the emptied kayak the right way up and helping the swimmer to get back into their empty kayak.
This sort of rescue would be impossible to do on a capsized dragon boat weighing 500 Kg and involving 18 swimmers in the water.