Day 1 of "Paddle the Desert" camp

Mornings are never fun - but I got up at 7:00 and prepared for the day. I got my gear together and headed to the gym for registration. We had to fill out the usual waivers and got a goodie bag with a water bottle and a cool max hat. Breakfast was provided - scrambled eggs, bacon, hashbrowns & an english muffin. The coaches were introduced, an overview of the week was provided, and we met the other members of what would become "our team."

We had some top-notch coaches for the clinic who cared a great deal about each paddler and their strengths/weaknesses:

Andrea Dillon : False Creek Women’s Dragon Boat Coach, World Dragon Boat Champion
Jackie Webber : Solo - Outrigger World Sprint Champion, World Dragon Boat Champion
Kamini Jain : Olympian Flatwater Kayaker (2000 Sydney, 2004 Athens), False Creek Men’s & Mixed Dragon Boat Coach (2006 World Club Crew Champions)
Lynda Roberts : NCCP Level III Coach with 20 years experience coaching and racing sprint canoe/kayak, outrigger, marathon and dragon boat paddling.
John Roberts : Two time World Sprint Solo medallist (Hilo, New Zealand), 12+ World Masters and Canadian Marathon Championships, 25+ years of paddling experience in marathon and outrigger canoeing.
Jason Rusu : NCCP Level 3 Certified Flatwater Coach experience includes dragon boat and outrigger paddlers, 1999 World Championships Finalist K-4 500m (Gainesville, GA), 1992 Olympic Competitor K-2 500m, 1000m (Barcelona)



During the morning break, I walked up to the grocery store. I had a fridge and a microwave in my room so I wanted to make sure I had some healthy foods there, too. I bought the regular stuff, plus some "vegetable cactus." I never did figure out what to do with it.



Our first session was a talk by Jackie about stroke mechanics. I know Jackie fairly well because she runs my paddling club (Dragon Zone) and is a partner in Water's Edge, the company that put on the clinic. She's a very dynamic speaker and it made us anxious to get out on the water. I learned a lot from her presentation. Valerie, a paddler from the Portland team Wasabi, has posted notes about all the sessions here.

We had a lunch break, then headed to the marina for our first water session. It was between 30 and 33 degrees that afternoon, so plenty warm. And yes, I was actually using sunscreen! Jackie was my primary coach and she sure shook things up on the boat. We are all seasoned paddlers and used to doing things a certain way. Jackie really went back to basics and changed our strokes quite a bit. She explained everything in great detail and it made a ton of sense. It's hard to change your technique after doing it differently for so many years - and my muscles were screaming at me after just a few minutes.

It was so nice to be paddling in the sun, wearing shorts & a tank top!!

After the first day, I already had some good chafe marks on my arms and on my butt. These would only get worse as the week progressed. War wounds!

That evening, I went back to the marina and took a bunch of photos along the way. Tempe is a beautiful town and I love all the cactus & red sand.