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UK, Wales, Cardiff, Cardiff International White Water (CIWW) also know as (C-Wic)

What's it like

Cardiff International White Water (Welsh: Dŵr Gwyn Rhyngwladol Caerdydd) is an Olympic standard White water course centre based at the Cardiff International Sports Village in Cardiff Bay.

The centre opened in March 2010 after taking two years to build the £13.3m venue, which is the first on-demand white water centre in the UK. The facility was designed by French company, HydroStadium, who designed similar courses for the Sydney, Athens and Beijing Olympics.

The course it self pumps water out from their own section of water from the nearside harbour. When the pumps are not running the course is completely empty of water.

There are 4 pumps at the top of the course and each one can pump a maximum of 4 cumecs. The standard release for the course is 8 cumec (2 pumps) which is a good level for Freestyle. Any lower i.e a 4 or 6 cumec release is not suitable for Freestyle but is good for beginners and  intermediates. They usually crank up the volume for big events,so check the website before.

For information before you travel to the course. Check the pump release times on CIWW.COM

The best thing about this course is that the staff are passionate about all the features on the course. The omni-blocks (Blue parts you can see in the photo) can be changed, removed or move even added! Every time I go down there, they have tweaked one of the features to make it better. So if you have been down the course in the past it will be a completely different now.

Features:

1. The first section of the course is just moderate rapids with 6-8 break out eddys. (All the eddys on this course are very swirly so have your wits about u!)

2. Vicarious is a hole on the horse-shoe bend of the course. This feature is always changing. Loops, mcnasty, cartwheels... it all goes on here! (on a 8 cumec release)

3. Dr. Cosmetic (Name comes from the amount of people hitting their face on the underwater omni-blocks) Nice surprise when coming around the corner!

4. NEW WAVE (Called the 'new wave' as it gets tweaked every month) Great for blunts and anything else you feel. (Watch your head on the bottom!)

5. Conveyer (LAZY) Belt. After all that you don't even have to get out of your boat to get  to the top.

There are many other features on the CIWW but i just listed the main ones so you can get the feel.

How to get there

As you hit cardiff head for sign posts for CARDIFF BAY  and when you reach Cardiff Bay (From any direction) there will be sign posts for the 'international sports village'.

Check the website as its really helpful: WWW.CIWW.COM

Nearest weather station (°C):