Skills Training Day – West Lakes 16 October 2021
Start of training session
A good turnout on Saturday 16 Oct for our training at West Lakes! Especially considering those nice spring days are a bit intermittent now! We had ten club members and two hopefully soon-to-be club members attending.
Members were Bernard Goble, Peter Carter, Mark Loram, Charlie and Marina Walker, Renata Perez, Abelardo Pardo, Simon Delaine, Greg Watts and Brian Slater. Both Greg and Simon are recent members and very keen to start attending regular trips. Greg had booked for Sunday’s Beacon 19 paddle, making the most of his drive from Port Augusta.
Big welcome to both Julie Palmer and Uday M for coming along as Trialist members. We are hoping to see you joining the Club and participate in future trips.
The car park was full when I arrived and Dragon Boats busy on the water– oops. I thought I’d checked the Calendar before setting the date! My panic was soon over, just an early morning training day from 6am, phew! Peter Carter was there nice and early and all prepped and ready to go. Our training time was a bit more civilised, 10.30am arrival for 11am start.
The Session
Skill training
We began with new member introductions. It was great to see Greg coming all the way from Port Augusta and Julie from Meningie. After introductions we got Uday and Simon set up in the kayaks kindly arranged by Peter and Bernard. Many thanks to Bernard and Peter for helping with the Training and everyone else that participated in the Towing Exercise.
The day was a bit overcast with a hint of SW winds but as the day progressed things improved better than forecast. We started with warm-up exercises then went through primary paddle strokes on the grass before getting on water. We spent the next hour and a bit on water, primarily putting the strokes into practice.
The time flew by and soon the tummies started to rumble so we took time out for a short break. Short before we demonstrated various towing configurations on land. Peter’s kayak models came in very handy for showing group dynamics when setting up and changing over the tow. Again, all keen to put things into practice, so headed back on water. We were soon tired out, so we returned to the beach to clean up the gear and prepare the BBQ.
The BBQ
Barbecue after the training session
The BBQ provided a great opportunity to talk about aspects of the training and the upcoming club events. New members went away happy, Peter had been “Spring Cleaning” his kayaking gear and brought along several very handy Flatwater and Sea Kayaking Booklets for our newbies. Many thanks to Abelardo for showing his culinary skills and cooking up the very tasty onions and snags.
Overall, a great day!
