October Happenings

A bit late with this month's newsletter (school holidays/visitors/house painting...) but better late than never.

October is all about 1st November i.e. getting ready for Jacaranda Regatta. Our form at Rainbows Regatta showed us that we needed to improve our 200 metre race by 4 seconds to make the final. So, our training is focused on making that happen. Strength and stamina will play a vital role in getting us into the final at Grafton and our coaches are working us towards that goal. If you are paddling at Jaca make sure that you turn up to every training session that you possibly can. If we can get our team training consistently we will execute our starts and race plan to perfection. For those thinking of coming to the regatta but haven't yet entered your name - have a go. Regattas are great fun and very rewarding when all our hard work comes together with a good result.

Our Bunnings BBQ fundraiser will be on Sunday October 18th. There are emails a plenty circulating with rosters for the day and items to donate, so please lend a helping hand in whatever way you can.

Our sweep training is continuing thanks to Chris Evans' efforts. Chris and Ree would also like to do more safety training and sessions to work on this will be held in November after Jaca. We need to be confident and competent in the event of any mishaps in the boat. We had a chance to use the stirrup last Saturday to retrieve a person from the water and the exercise was conducted well by everyone in the boat. We will do more of this sort of activity so that everyone is aware of the correct procedures when a mishap occurs.

It's been great to see new faces in the boat - Lindsay, Peter, Gordon and Ian - and maybe others I've missed. We hope that you enjoyed your session and that you will consider becoming members of the club. We welcome Wayne to the club this month, great to have you join us. Let's all keep promoting the sport and our club so that our membership continues to build.

Our social luncheons will be starting again this month, open to all members (and partners if they wish to join us) and we hope to hold them regularly. The date chosen was the third Thursday of each month at 12 noon. Organising the lunch will be on a voluntary/rotating basis with the venue to be chosen by the member who volunteers to do the organising. This month it will be on Thursday 15th at the Marina Cafe, chosen by Maureen French. Maureen will send out an email in the week before to get numbers for the booking. Now we need someone to volunteer to organise the next lunch on 19th November!

Cheryl Cope is underway with planning the Christmas lunch to be held on Saturday 13th December (keep the date free). More about that in the next newsletter. Our last paddle before the Christmas break will be on Wednesday 16th December and the first one back will be on Saturday 16th January.

The dates for the next General Meeting and Board Meeting will be advised soon by email.
 
Members' News
 
From an email from Gaye Sprenglewski - on her trip to SA, returned to Yamba unexpectedly after Ted hurt his back: "Yesterday I attended a meeting of the dragon boat club, and the president said, "I thought you were an apology!" 
Well, I've been an apology for most of my life, so there you go."
 
 
Men!!!
 
A wife asked her husband: "Could you go to the shop for me and get a litre of milk and if they have avocados, get 6".
A short while later her husband returned with 6 litres of milk.
The wife asked him "Why did you buy 6 litres of milk?"
He replied "They had avocadoes".
 
Men will get it first time - a woman might need to reread.
 
 
Thought for the month
 
We do not stop playing because we are old.
We grow old because we stop playing.