Hammo 2009 about to start

Well Today is the last day before some of our paddlers head down to Hamilton Island for the Pure Blonde Hamilton Island Cup. OC1 and OC2 events will kick off on Thursday with Tom and Lian paddling in the 8km OC1 Race. Good luck to them and all of our paddlers over the course of the regatta. Race hard but remember to have fun. Try and visit the Merchandise store on the first day as it all sells out pretty quick. Make sure you get to see the clinics that are put on they are always worth while.

The will be display OC1’s on the beach there and don’t be afraid to ask around find the guy who makes them and try them out.

On a side note we hope that Panamuna and the other clubs that were involved in the accident can find Canoes for their races, and that the driver of the trailer is OK and healing well.

Also Training will continue on Wednesday and on Saturday. Lewis will be down there and we will hopefully be able to at least get the four out.

Cheers Guys and once again good luck at Hammo for all those going.

Joe Waka

Hey All Maggie Paddlers

We got a small message from a former and hopefully future paddler. Joe Waka wrote to me the other day to say how he was going. The following is from Joe:

Started OC1 cross training on Sunday and again yesterday in an old patched up and foamed up Anderson the club has. The two guys Mark and Paul have brand new Zulu’s that they train in.Fell of 6 times at the start but as we paddled into deeper water there was no more tipping….just the thought of lurking crocodiles really sharpened my sense of balance not to fall off.

The most magical moment was paddling due West into the sun and watching it slowly disappear down the horizon.

Rocky Regatta 6th of June

Well evryone should know by now but I should post it on our site to be safe.

The Rocky Regatta has been cancelled due to lack of  interest.  Not enough teams regestered to make it a viable regatta. I think most people would have been saving up for Hammo and couldn’t afford to make another trip this close to hammo.

Maybe next year the zone shouldn’t hold a regatta that close to hammo.

OC4 or 4 man canoes

Our club is lucky enough to have an OC4.  It’s an excellent little canoe in the surf and in the bigger stuff.  It also manages to go reasonable well in the flat as well.  We can chuck any 4 people in it and it goes pretty well, mainly because it has a rudder so steering is easy and all 4 people can paddle at all times.

Who makes OC4’s though, well there are three that I know of in Australia:

Bladerunner boats has made an OC4 for a long time and is a excellent surfing canoe as well as training tool for those days when you get odd numbers at training.

Sabre Marine here in Townsville make an OC4.  Bill Murray has only recently start making them but judging from the performance of our canoe (which was his first) he has hit on a winning formula.

The other OC4 that I’ve seen from Australia is the one built by Peter Corbishley.  It was at Hammo last year and looked like a very nice canoe.  Unfortunately I never got a paddle in one, however if your heading north from Townsville I’m sure you could stop by Cardwell outriggers and have a paddle in the one they have. You can see the Comet OC4 and Peter’s other canoes at www.theoutriggerman.com.au/

Well I found another one.  It’s from the small island off of Australia’s east coast.  I think the Kiwi’s got a bit confused when they were designing this one. It does carry 4 people and they all paddle, but it has 2 hulls rather than 1 hull and an outrigger.  Sort of Like strapping 2 OC2’s together.  Check out the Boulder Bay people and their crazy boats.

I’m sure there are others either being made or in the planning stage so if you here of them or know of any other OC4’s please leave some info in a comment below and It should be added to the list here fairly quickly.