We've gotten to the darker cooler portion of the year, and water temperatures have dropped enough that PFDs are again required to be worn on DragonSports outrigger canoes at all times.

As a reminder the DragonSports Safety Rules & Guidelines permit the use of inflatable waist PFDs (please ensure that they are in working order) on the OCs only. Vest-type PFDs are required on the dragon boats.

As always, in fall, winter and spring, weather can be unpredicable. Please exercise caution and good judgment when going out on the water.  

We have also made some changes to the launcher on the dock.  It now has rollers to make the process require a little less muscle, but you need to pay attention to what you are doing to keep the canoe on track as you pull it up the ramp.

Please email Andrew if you have any questions.

The advisory for the Willamette River toxic algae bloom was lifted late last week. The DragonSports Board has been looking carefully at conditions in the RiverPlace Marina and while it appears that some patches of algae remain, we are going to permit teams to resume practices as scheduled starting Monday, October 6th at their own risk. 

The Oregon Health Authority news release can be found here. Information about algae blooms can found here.

If you have any questions, please contact board@dragonsports.org.

Word on the street is that new samples were taken this week and there should be results before the weekend. The Oregon Health Authority has advised DragonSports, however, that toxic conditions may persist in the Ross Island Lagoon and RiverPlace Marina and that even if the samples come back clear, we should wait until next week at the earliest before allowing practices.

The DragonSports Board is considering this advice and will send out a further update once we hear the results. There will be no practices this weekend, even if they do come back clear today or tomorrow.

Our friends across the river at Wasabi have shared with us information regarding Team USA trials at the Portland Boathouse on October 11. The trials will be overseen by Garf Cooper, the coach of the 2015 USA Senior C Mixed Team, and he is hoping to form Senior C Mixed, Open and Women's teams.

The first stage of the try-out process is basically a fitness test. All candidates will be asked to do a 4 minute erg test and a 30 second erg test. In addition, candidates can choose to do two exercises from a variety of one-minute fitness tests: push-ups, sit-ups, crunches, burpees, ball slams, planks. Basically, most folks have opted to do the 1 minute push ups, but many have alternated other exercises in lieu of the sit up. Some fitness experts feel that the old fashioned sit up exposes athletes (particularly senior athletes) to back problems. Accordingly, the other exercises can be substituted for the sit up. Crunches are the preferred option.

The initial screening process also involves a 500m OC-1 test. OC-1 testing has many variables: wind, water conditions, the type and condition of the OC being utilized, and experience paddling an OC-1. For this reason, it is difficult to achieve an "apples to apples" comparison of test results. However, individual OC-1 testing is probably one of the best ways to measure individual paddling skills. All candidates can expect to do OC-1 time trials at the subsequent Team USA training camps where conditions will be relatively the same for all participants.

Once the first round of time trials have been completed, candidates will be invited to two three day camps. One is planned for late January in Florida. The second camp, we hope, will be at a warm weather West Coast location in early March. Currently, the vast majority of our Sr. C candidate pool hails from the eastern part of the country. If we can attract a significant number of West Coast candidates, we’ll hold camps on both coasts. The three Team USA crews (Mixed, Open, Women) will be selected after the three day camps. The final crews will participate in a five day camp in Melbourne, Florida from April 28 through May 3.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact one of the Team USA Senior C Coaches:

Mixed Crew: Garf Cooper ecooper98@aol.com
Women’s Crew: Robin Parker parker_robin@yahoo.com
Open Crew: John Dyer jgdyer3@gmail.com