Welcome to another fabulous year of paddling. You are a valued member of a wonderful club made up of diverse people of all ages and abilities with a wide variety of paddling skills and goals. Together we can build on the proud history of our club by involving ourselves in events and activities and volunteering when needed.
Members have been active throughout the Christmas period enjoying the longer days and warmer weather. I hope you’ve managed to make the most of it.
Committee Areas of focus for 2019
- Improve our coaching and squad structure
- Improve clubhouse facilities
- Increase participation by members at races, recreational and social events
- Continue to communicate with members and the wider community
Social/Recreational Activities
Our Christmas Celebration and the official opening of the Rob Godwin Gymnasium was a great event. Thanks, are extended to Sally Miller for her great organisation. It was exciting to see our new Mayor, Danae Bosler, in attendance along with members of Rob’s family and of course lots of members.
A group of paddlers recently enjoyed a weekend of paddling using Jamieson as their base. We descended the Goulburn River from Kevington to Jamieson and also paddled on Eildon Weir. The Goulburn was a little low for a real white-water experience, but it was never the less a very pleasant three-hour paddle. Eildon Weir was a completely different experience on the freshwater lake with a spectacular mountain backdrop. The power boats added to the excitement, but everyone remained upright and had a great time.
Please let us know about your paddling adventurers so that we can share our experiences and learn from each other.
Building Development
The City of Yarra has identified our club as a high priority for improvement and a full report is being prepared for councilors to consider at their February meeting. Our site sits under a heritage overlay and our building is considered of heritage value which will need to be considered in the planning process, however they are very supportive of our proposed plans.
With the gym now up and running please make use of the new facility by joining the Boot Camp sessions on Wednesday nights or undertaking your own program in your own time.
Thanks for enduring the lack of lighting in the clubhouse. The electricians are currently installing new lights and we should be back to normal soon.
Supervising your guests
As you will be aware members are able to bring guests to the club for three sessions. Please assess the swimming ability, paddling experience and fitness of your guest before offering to take them out. The likelihood of capsizing is almost inevitable for inexperienced paddlers, so please familiarise yourself with how to empty a boat full of water. It is your responsibility to ensure your guest is safe and our precious boats are not damaged. This film clip will help you. You can find it on our website under Training/technique and tips. https://www.incc.org.au/training/technique-tips
Volunteers needed
Our club boats are in constant need of repair and this is undertaken by our hard-working volunteers Rob Godwin and Geoff Baird. If you have some knowledge of boat repair or are willing to learn please come along to our boat repair working bee on at bbbam Feb 16th. Don’t leave all the work to a few people. Consider what you can do to help.
Paddle Vic Marathon Committee is calling for people to train as race volunteers. As a club, we need a minimum of four people to train. Without these volunteers, races cannot run. Further information will be forwarded soon, but in the meantime please forward your name to me if you are interested in becoming a race volunteer. info@incc.org.au You would not have to volunteer at every race, maybe three a year. A group of trained individuals will ensure that our races are conducted safely and that all the work does not fall on the same few people.
Racing
Congratulations to the following people who contested the Massive Murray Paddle. The weather was challenging ranging from wind, to rain, to more wind, to thunder, to lightning, even more, wind and hail. A great effort everyone!
Sally Miller – Full distance K1
Candice Charles & Andrew Cox – Full distance K2
Debbie Bennett – Full distance K4
Andrew Cochran – K4 relay
The Ben Ward weekend on the Murray at Cohuna and the Nathalia race on the Broken River enticed members to get out of town, with our MLC and Camberwell paddlers excelling at Ben Ward and other members dodging trees and submerged logs in the Broken River.
Set your racing goals for the year and enjoy the challenge of paddling against others in the friendly fun competition.
Safety Update
INCC has a defib and Paddle Vic Marathon is about to receive a defib that will be taken to races.
There is a free defib training session at Paddle Vic, Westerfolds Park, Templestowe at 1 pm on Sunday 17th of February. Please contact membership@incc.org.auif you would like to attend. 20 places are available.
Paddle Vic is looking for a budding photographer to be the official p[photographer for marathon races. Please contact John Young if you can help.
