This weekend we didn’t make it out for a paddle. The weather wasn’t ideal although the forecast thunder storms never materialised, so instead we helped out with the Dorchester Sailing Club maintenance day, and spent some time checking our paddling equipment.

Green wheelbarrow full of weeds, sitting on gravel.
End result of our hard work weeding around the sailing cub.

One of our OPfL members had the clever idea of adding position markers to our paddles so that when we’re paddling we know where to put our bottom hand, and are better able to keep it in place. First we added elastic bands to the paddles to mark the upper-most hand position, and then we covered them in tape to keep them in place. It will be good to try these out at our next paddle. The aim is to stop your hand from slipping up the paddle.

Dragonboat paddles with coloured elastic bands placed to mark where the bottom hand should be when paddling.
Step one of adding bottom hand position markers to our paddles.
Dragonboat paddles with tape wound over elastic bands placed to mark where the bottom hand should be when paddling. The padles are hanging vertically.
Step two of adding bottom hand position markers to our paddles.

And as usual there was time for tea, coffee, some home-made treats, and a chat.