This Fall, we finally got club members to a race! The Off Da Couch race in Newport Beach, hosted by the Newport Aquatic Center in honor of Sam Couch, gave our club an opportunity to do a short distance race in flat water with a large group of competitors in singles of all kinds. There were 100 boats finishing and most of our club members took home a medal and more importantly, new learnings and motivation to train. Several club members wanted to race but had other commitments but we hope that by the Hal Rosoff Classic race the second weekend in February, the entire club will be ready to do the same short course (4 miles or about 6km) in the Newport back bay.
We’ve returned to our off-season paddling schedule of a long Sunday workout and dry land training the rest of the week. The coaches have put together a training schedule for the winter and will focus on building endurance and strength during this time. We will have a club training camp during the first week of January when some of our younger members have time off from school. Distance work and hopefully some team boat training will be our focus.
In case anyone missed it, our club — and sport — suffered a loss with the passing of our club founder, Coach Bill Bragg this past August. While nearly all of our new members never knew him, Coach’s philosophies, workout structures, and teachings are still very much a part of the club ethos. We’ve made some “boat stickers” to hand out at the National Championships in August of 2024 in honor of Coach Bragg — here’s a sample:
The main image is a copy of Coach’s logo from when he made surfboards back in the late 1950s. His logo said “Surfboards by Bragg” and we know he would like the modification we have made to it.
