Magic paddling with the ultimate coaching tool.

Once again, Paddlers for Life find themselves hugely privileged to be presented with yet another unique opportunity.They just keep on appearing!
It gives Paddlers for Life immense pleasure to acknowledge the tireless and generous efforts of Dr Helen Crank and Heather Driscoll, Sheffield Hallam University,in progressing our pre-season training both individually and as a team.

The story begins when Helen can hardly believe her good fortune to hear that Sports Engineer and colleague, Heather, was involved in the technical design of an Australian data acquisition dragon boat paddle, the Excalibur by Merlin.
Heather was able to secure the loan of the Merlin Excalibur Paddle from the distributors, Stylo Sports (www.stylosports.com) who are about to make the tool available for hire in the UK.

A weekend training camp on the River Wear, Durham (a big thank you to the Three River Serpents) was arranged.
It was timely for Heather to join us in Durham…multi-tasking as the courier, demonstrator, data analyst and co-paddler, to name but a few roles she so willingly took on!
There were mixed feelings of excitement and uncertainty among Paddlers for Life being the first crew here in the UK to try the paddle out. And check, of course, on training progress.

A great weekend was had by all!
Paddlers for Life are grateful for the, albeit brief association with Merlin Advanced Dragon Boat Gear and Paddles which produces equipment in support of Dragon’s Abreast, Australia.
For more information on the Excalibur paddle, follow this link to the Data Products section of the Merlin website http://www.merlingear.com/excalibur.htm
We wondered if Dragon’s Abreast had experience of the Excalibur in preparation for the 2010 Celebration of Life.