Great enthusiasm from members in a weekend of paddling.

OC6 paddling on Saturday and dragon boat paddling on Sunday.

Siobhan and Cam came up from Great Britian Outrigger  (GBOCA) in London to train us in the use of our recently acquired OC6 outrigger canoe for six paddlers. Members are excited to have finally launched the canoe on Windermere which was the wish of one of our founder members Sue Cogley.

Siobhan explained all the parts of the canoe with their Polynesian names and their purpose on the OC6 so that we could rig it correctly for paddling  with the outrigger correctly oriented.

Cam demonstrated as we  learned how to fix the outigger arms (‘iako ) to the main hull and outrigger float (ama) with correct spacings between hull and ama using rubber strips to tie them on..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Siobhan then took us through a safety pre-launch checklist to ensure the canoe is ready to use safely as well as some basic safety procedures to be aware of when we are paddling.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The boat was decorated with flowers along the outrigger spurs in a similar fashion to the way we decorate our dragon boats.

At last we were ready for the first launch of our OC6 on Windermere.

We were also fortunate to have Keni visiting. She is our dragon boat coach from Three River Serpents in Durham and she also has a lot of experience and expertise with outrigger canoe paddling.

The remainder of the day was spent with Siobhan teaching our helms Jane, Roz, Chris and John the skills of being in the steer paddling position at the rear of the OC6.

Keni took the first seat and she and Cam gave members basic coaching in the paddling techniques of outrigger canoe paddling with particular emphasis on transferring the paddle to opposite paddling positions.

Many members had the opportunity for a short paddling experience across Low Wood Bay and were very enthusiastic about the experience and looking forward to using the OC6 on Windermere.

Thanks to everyone who brought us to this point. It has taken a huge effort by all the members and the trustees had much to plan to organise this training day.

Special ‘Thanks’ also to Siobhan, Cam and Keni for this training opportunity.