CORA Townhall #1: Intermediate Steering Technique – VIDEO & Drill Sheet

More than 100 members from across Canada attended our first townhall video forum of the 2022 year. The recording of this video session along with an inventory of drills to improve steering technique are now available for viewing and download here:

  • CLICK HERE or on the video image below to view the recording of this session
  • CLICK HERE to download drills and exercises to improve your steering technique

Steering is a never-ending master-class of how to get better. Our guest speaker, Cheryl Skribe, will describe how to set yourself up to learn without settling, and to set yourself challenges for improvement, in as much detail as 90 minutes can hold. Here’s what you’ll see in the video…

Cheryl Skribe and members of the CORA board (including Cindy Wright, Erik Ages, Leanne Stanley, Ron Chin and Val Simmons) discuss a range of techniques and technical decision-making for review by people who have some or plenty of steering experience. Non-steering paddlers as well as novice and aspiring steerspeople are encouraged to soak it in too, bearing in mind this isn’t the start of a life-long conversation, but the middle: we don’t, for example, discuss “how to poke,” but rather WHERE and how long and how deep to poke for the best result in specific conditions. We don’t discuss “how to post,” but rather WHY a poke may be better than a post in many instances and not all, and how to choose one over the other. We discuss how other seats in the boat can support the responsibilities of seat six, and how to train to nurture those supporting roles within a crew. And we’ll summarize some of the key skills to gauge conditions, as well as how to remain oriented in terms of short and longer-distance navigation, as well as how to challenge yourself, as a steersperson, to get better.

This session forms part of a series of skill development sessions over the year ahead. Future sessions will continue this first conversation, and will include tactical and strategic discussions about short- and long-distance racing (and steering), navigation, safety…and yes, surfing.

Click on the video below, as well as the skills sheet that Cheryl Skribe has prepared, and enjoy the banter, humour, insight and experience that Cheryl and CORA’s merry band of board directors bring to bear on the age-old dilemma of what to do and what not to do when you hear “ready, set, go.”

  • CLICK HERE or on the video image below to view the recording of this session
  • CLICK HERE to download drills and exercises to improve your steering technique

Hugh Town Memorial Builder Award 2021

The purpose of the Hugh Town Memorial Builder Award is to recognize volunteers who have made significant and exemplary contributions to the Outrigger Canoe Racing Discipline of Canadian Outrigger Racing Association (“CORA”) within Canada in the Builder Category.

The CORA Board has approved Policy and Procedure relating to selection and awarding and administering the Award as per the Hugh Town Memorial Builder Award Policy.

The Hugh Town Memorial Builder Award is awarded after the CORA AGM. The CORA Board has reviewed nominations received for the past season and has recognized Don Mulhall of Penticton Racing Canoe Club as the 2021 recipient of the Hugh Town Memorial Builder Award.

Don Mulhall has a 25-year legacy of selfless volunteer effort to paddlesports in general and outrigger canoe racing in particular. He has made contributions to support Canadian paddlers at the international, national, provincial, and club level. He has been part of the Penticton Racing Canoe Club (PRCC) that has hosted the popular Penticton Duel In The Desert, Length Of The Lake Ultra-Distance, Okanagan Small-Boat Racing Series, Skaha Downwind event, Channel Parkway small-boat event and Penticton Dragon Boat Festival. He has served both on the Penticton Racing Canoe Club Executive continuously from 1999-2021 and on the CORA Board from 2017-2019.

CORA was finally able to have a Hugh Town Memorial Builder Award photo-op on a gorgeous afternoon in September 2021 at Barnet Marine Park between Lotus Poker Paddle heats with CORA Chairman (Ron Chin) making the presentation to Grace Morissette (2019 Recipient) with the Indian Arm backdrop in the distance.

      

CORA made best efforts through travel restrictions and wildfires and atmospheric rivers to have a Hugh Town Memorial Builder Award photo-op and presentation with Drew Mitchell (2020 Recipient) in the Okanagan, but this may need to wait until early 2022.

 

For more information about the Hugh Town Memorial Builder Award, CLICK HERE