And we’re racing!
Congrats to all who took on the first Hoe Horo of the season last Sunday. Particularly to Lisa in doing her first OC2 race and Tara for not only completing her first OC1 race but for being one of the few to do the correct course! Also congrats to the many PD women who stepped up to take on their first long course race. A top race course and challenging conditions made for a great start to the season. Race report to come from the PD OC2 combo, of Lisa Flat and Nicola Stick.

This coming Saturday sees the first surf ski race of the season from Dee Why. There are 14km marathon and 4km novice courses. Check out the Ocean Series website for more info.

Introductory OC1 Course
Don’t forget to email Billy if you’re interested in doing an Introductory OC1 Course. This will allow you to use the club OC1s.

Use of Club OC1s/OC2
A reminder to see Billy if you’d like to use the club OC1s or OC2.

Next Ocean Athletic Session
Following on from the off-season fitness course many PDs attended, Greg Long is running similar monthly sessions from Ramsgate. This Sunday the format will be a little different with 1.5hrs on the water and 30 minutes of strength work. See his website for more info.

Training

What should I be doing?
This part of the season is all about gaining free speed and base building. Until we’re able to run some formal sessions here’s some things to think about when you get on the water…

Base Building – The key to building an endurance base is paddling continuously at Level 2. More on this next week but for now lots of Level 2 is top of the menu.

Free Speed – This is what I call going faster for no more effort. How cool is that! So how can you get some? I’ve got lots of tips coming your way but for starters during the first 5 mins of every session and race warm-up think through your technique. That’s right all you’ve got to do is think. One by one focus on the various components of your stroke, paying particular attention to areas of improvement your coaches may have pointed out in the past. Setting these up at the start will ensure you take them with you as you invariably switch to auto-pilot later in the session or race.

Club Training Sessions
It appears as though we can’t run anyway sessions unless someone in attendance has completed the Australia Sports Commission’s ‘Beginning Coaching General Principles’ course and the session is signed off by a qualified Level 1 Outrigger Coach. Christian is currently working out who in the club has these. If you do please email him asap so we can get some single craft sessions happening.