This will be based at the dragon boat clubhouse, near Manning River Rowing Club and will start at 9am. Those interested can then sign-on for a four week L:ean2Paddle program.

This will offer a structured program for those wishing to learn to dragon boat paddle and develop their skills.

Each week participants will build on their experience either for active recreational purposes or to develop to competitive racing.

The first week, the Come and Try Day is free to all who wish to have a go. It offers a great introduction to dragon boat paddling by initiating paddlers with an off water warm up, introduction about boat set ups, sweep calls conducted by the experienced Level 3 club sweep, Karen Drury.

The sweep, who steers the 10-seat boat (20 paddlers) from the back gives directions to the paddlers to keep the boat stable. She instructs paddlers how to paddle back, how to 'hold water', slow the boat and how to swap sides safely.

During the first session, participants in the Come and Try Day also get a brief introduction into the basic stroke. They learn about the set-up; keeping the outboard arm fully extended, the inboard arm extended and out over the water, the body forward and hinging from the hips.

They learn the catch with the drive down with the top hand and the best part - the recovery, where the paddle is guided to the front of the stroke again.

The Come and Try Day usually finishes with an extended cool down and stretch to allow participants to stretch out muscles they might not always use during day-to-day activities.

Participants then decide if dragon boating something they might try so they pay $25, to sign up for the remaining four sessions.

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The $25 contributes to their club membership fee if they decide to join the club when they complete the course.

The program focuses on the stroke, focus on working as a team, with timing being pivotal. Participants concentrate on using the different levels of effort during paddling. During these four weeks paddlers also participate in the type of activities that they will be doing during the regular club sessions such as drills like paddle-tap, pause-paddling and podwork.

After working on building their fitness and knowledge of dragon boating, the paddlers end up focusing on the skills needed to prepare to participate in regattas.

They learn how to do race starts and have a go at a few races.

For further details contact Karen Drury on 0410 608 042.

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