As of January 1, 2011, OutriggerSports USA has merged its operations into DragonSports USA. With the merger, we are excited to announce the following changes:

• The Bradley canoe, which has been out of service for most of the past year is currently being repaired at the DragonSports warehouse. We anticipate that both canoes will be in service in February.
• DragonSports plans to purchase a third OC-6 so that we'll always have two available on the dock. Plans to purchase additional canoes to update/replace our fleet will be considered as opportunities present themselves.
• DragonSports plans to build a trailer to haul up to four canoes to regional races.
• A new fee structure, which will hopefully allow more paddlers to get on the water. Crews may reserve canoes much like teams currently reserve dragon boats and will pay for practices in advance quarterly ($10 per practice), with the option to cancel (three days notice required) for credit. Open practices will be $3 per paddler.
• More open practices--at least one per day once we have two canoes back in service--and steers won't have to pay to steer for open practices.

I already paid my fees for 2011. What's going to happen to those?
We have a list of who has paid and will be contacting you individually to find out where to send a refund check.

Do I need to join DragonSports?
All current OutriggerSports members will automatically become DragonSports members. Membership cards will be sent to all actice DragonSports members in mid-2011.

What about the current schedule?
For now, please continue to use the Anderson canoe as you have been per the published schedule at www.outriggersports.org. DragonSports will continue to maintain the OutriggerSports website and mailing lists until the complete transition has taken place.

How will the new schedule work?
Starting in January 2011, we will contact all OSUSA steers to find out their preferred practice schedules and attempt to fill out a Master Schedule for 2011. We anticipate there being at least four available practice slots available each evening and very few conflicts. If there are significant conflicts, we may hold a scheduling meeting to resolve those. Non-booked practice times will become "open practices" for the time being--crews joining later in the year may schedule open practice times as their own if they are not consistently being used for open practices.

How will open practices work?
We're no longer using the Google Doc that has been in place for the past year or so. Please sign up for Team Snap, a team scheduling website, by emailing outrigger@dragonsports.org.

Will the rules change?
For now, the OutriggerSports Safety Rules will continue to control use of the canoes. Members of the DragonSports Safety Committee and Board of Directors will be reviewing and incorporating all rules and documents into the DragonSports Operations Manual.

How do I become an outrigger steer?
Look for announcements from DragonSports about upcoming steer certification opportunities. DragonSports will continue to require that all crews go out with a certified steersperson.

Most OSUSA steers and board members were issued keys to the RiverPlace Marina in exchange for a $50 deposit paid to OSUSA. We have what we believe to be a complete list of deposits and where these dock keys landed and will be contacting those individuals to either:

1. Return your dock key for a $50 refund.
2. "Check-in" your dock key for $35 refund. Dock keys now cost $15 (not a deposit).

If you once had a dock key and need a new one, DragonSports will issue new dock keys to qualifying individuals for $15. If we run out of dock keys, we will refer you to the Harbormaster to purchase one at the same price.

If you have a dock key and don't return it or check it in, please know that it may be deactivated after January 31, 2011.

If you have questions, please contact outrigger@dragonsports.org.