Australian Canoeing E-news April 17

Accidents and incidents

Thank you to all those who have been giving us your information about incidents.  We are gaining an excellent picture of the hazards currently impacting on our sport. 

If you havent told us about an accident, incident or near miss (no matter how small), please take 5 minutes to complete the survey here

Early results have indicated the following are actions we should be taking (and arent always)

• Wear a PFD (bright coloured) no matter what you are paddling or where and
• Dress brightly and paddle to be seen (Be seen Be safe), dark colours are not cool, they are dangerous  and
• stay out of other boat's way if at all possible and
• paddling in moorings hides you, it doesn't protect you
• don't paddle alone and
• lodge a float plan
• keep your skills up and
• stay within your skill level (if you haven't done it for 6 months you will be rusty, if you haven't done it for a year, you will need to work back up to the skill level)
• check your equipment before EVERY paddle regardless of its age (broken rudder cables and systems account for a large number of incidents).

And again we request If you havent told us about an accident, incident or near miss (no matter how small), please take 5 minutes to complete the survey here

 Results from the 2009 Marathon National Championships

Click here to read more

The latest in our club development and support program

Over the next few issues we will be giving details of the things that worked for various people to start, run and develop vibrant clubs

This issue

Rob Mercer, president of the NSW Sea Kayak Club for only 14 hours was faced with one of Australia's major kayaking incidents.  This briefly covers the actions he and the committee took after the incident to build what became one of Australia's largest and best run clubs. Read more here  

Jill and Ian Dewey started a regional competion club in Batemans Bay, Bay Adventure Kayakers.  In under 3 years it set regional, state and national event attendance records as well as getting juniors to major events.Read more here

In Coming weeks hear more from the teams running our largest and most successful clubs

Coaches and coaching

The latest in Dr Liz Broad's nutrition information sheets, Supplements is up for your information here

Happy canoeing

Ian Dewey