April 12th, 2008
We hosted our 2nd Sprint Regatta last Sunday, April 6th. Once again, it was a great day of racing. Well done to all those that competed. Full reulsts are here.

February 20th, 2008
This weekend we headed over to Patterson Lakes for their annual Marathon regatta. Saturday's racing started with the women's OC1 and men's OC2 6km race. Eleri, Judy and Yvonne lined up for the OC1 with Rod and Tony on the OC2. Lisa Spain from Melbourne led out the girls with Yvonne jumping straight on her wash in the flat conditions. Eleri was coming 3rd, with Judy right behind when Rod's pride and joy, "China Polly" (OC1) decided to eject her! The girls finished Yvonne 2nd, Judy 3rd and Eleri 4th. Rod and Tony fought hard to come in 2nd in the OC2.

The boys from Patterson Lakes and Footscray fighting it out in the OC2 race.

The girls in the OC2 race

Justin leading the juniors race

Girls coming in after the OC6 6km.

Juniors racing hard

Juniors with their awards

September 24th, 2007
Yesterday the Ted Pace Memorial Canoe Race was held in very windy conditions on the Maribyrnong. Three outriggers braved the wind to compete on OC1s as part of their preparation for the Echuca Mini. The first 13km of the 16km race felt like paddling into a head wind in both directions, but there was a great tail wind for the last 3km, which almost made the hard slog worthwhile!

September 16th, 2007
We had our first come and try day today, and had a few brave paddlers come down and have a go at outrigging, despite the less than pleasant weather! We hope they'll all be back to start training with us in October.

September 6th, 2007
Festival New Zealand was held at Fed Square last Saturday and featured a Waka Ama display on the Yarra river. Footscray and Patterson Lakes Outrigger Clubs trained up 30 junior paddlers to participate in exhibition races. Congratulations to the Footscray boys who won their race and the Footscray girls who came a close second. All the kids trained hard to master outrigger paddling in just one month and they are all looking forward to training hard and participating in the upcoming regatta season.

Thanks to all from Footscray and Patterson Lakes for all the work put into making this day a success. Thanks also to Neil and Craig from Lifesaving Victoria for assisting with the training sessions and the transport of canoes. And of course to all at Te Roopu Ataawhai for inviting us to be part of this fantastic event.

August 25th, 2007
We are all training hard for another attempt at the Echuca mini 50km canoe race on the Murray River in October. This time all crews will be attempting the full 50km on either OC1 or OC2. We are all looking forward to the challenge!

May 23, 2007
We will be holding a come and try day, this Saturday, May 26th 9am - 2pm at the club. So come down and have a go! This is also your opportunity to be a part of the outrigging presentation at Festival New Zealand 2007 on September 1st. Come down and sign up for this fantastic opportunity to race outriggers in front of 50 000 spectators on the Yarra in front of Fed Square.

May 21, 2007
Footscray hosted the final regatta of the season yesterday, our first ever sprint regatta. The day was a huge success. Results are here.

January 26-27, 2007
The first regatta for the year was held this weekend in Geelong. As usual, Geelong OCC put on a full program of racing. Friday was the OC1 and OC2 events and OC6 sprints. Rod and Tony raced all the events. Anna, Andie, Judi and Peta raced the women's short course events.

Saturday was an early start for the girls with a scheduled 8am start for the women's race. Unfortunately some hooligans had pushed 3 OC6s out into the water during the night and the race was delayed while the search began to find them. Fortunately the organisers were quick to get the Coast Guard and Water Police on the case and two of the canoes were found in time for the women's race. We headed out and lined up on the start line waiting for the starters flags to come up. We had the perfect spot, but unfortunately some other crews decided to squeeze in next to us and after failed attempts to get everyone behind the line, we were asked to paddle around and line up again. We did as we were told and the race started with us still half a boat length behind the line. We started well, but the boats either side of us converged and left us with nowhere to go. We back paddled to get out of the way and eventually we were off. By this time the other boats had quite a lead on us and we set about narrowing the gap. Melbourne 1 were well in front, but Geelong, Melbourne 2 and Patterson Lakes weren't too far ahead, with Torquay and Adelaide soon falling behing. Heading out to the first turn the waves were pushing us along and we gained on the leading teams. We nearly got run over by a yacht, but they kindly moved out of our way after we told them we were about to turn! Once around the first turn, the waves were ama side, and our lack of training off the river began to show as we weren't comfortable in the conditions. We stil managed to pass Melbourne 2 on this leg. Once we got around the 2nd turn and were heading straight into the waves it was time to put the foot down and chase down the crews in front, with Patterson Lakes in third place our first target. We gained alot on them, but unfortunately they saw us coming and picked up the pace. We negotiated our way around some more yachts, including a few digging Eleri for not paddling (I was steering!!). We didn't quite catch up but finished a close 4th. Melbourne 1 came first and Geelong in 2nd place also weren't far ahead of us.

Another missing canoe returned before the men's race and the boys headed off. Our boys got off to a good start and had soon disappeared into the distance. Hopefully they'll give us a report on what happened out there. We watched Geelong win, followed by Melbourne 1 and Melbourne 2. We waited and waited for our crew to come in until there were only two boats still out there. We couldn't imagine our boys would come last, and were getting worried when we got the news that they had flipped and Patterson Lakes had lost their ama. We waited some more, and eventually they were towed back to shore! Turns out they also lost their ama shortly after the first turn and were unable to complete the race. Better luck next time boys!

Thanks to Tony for bringing his OC6 down for us to paddle. It performed great for the women's race! Thanks to Clarkie for towing all the canoes down. Thanks to Nikki for feeding us all. And of course, thanks to Geelong OCC for organising another great weekend of racing. Next race is at Patterson Lakes on February 24-25.

January 21, 2007
We took the OC6 over to the Edgewater Boat Show on Sunday. Despite the weather, we took over 30 people out for a paddle. A few people also had a try in the kayaks. Thanks to Terry, Stew, Tristan, Andie and Annette for keeping the boat moving, and catching us on the dock, to Wendy and Anna for helping get the boat there and back, to Ron for helping on the landing and Liam for taking people out in the kayak.

December 3 2006
We trekked over to Patterson Lakes for the Pre-season regatta this weekend. We took a mixed crew but the girls volunteered to combine with some girls from Patterson Lakes in the women's race. We got off to a great start and managed to negotiate our way under the bridge and around some slow moving yachts, before the other Patterson Lakes canoe veered across the front of us stalling our progress. Melbourne managed to sneak around the back, but we got stuck behind and ended up being pushed into the rock wall. We eventually unstuck ourselves and were on our way out to the first turn marker in the bay. There were some big, messy waves and our ama popped up several times. Fortunately it always went back down and we turned and had an easier ride back to the river. Once in the river, we settled down and started chasing down the other crews. We rounded the final turn and found ourselves headed into a strong headwind. No worries, that's what we're used to training on the Maribyrnong. With our very own cheer squad on the support boat egging us on, we got on with the job of catching the other crews. We didn't quite make it, but they were pretty surprised to find us right behind them when they crossed the line. Another 500m and we would've had them!

Next was the men's OC1 sprint, with Tristan representing Footscray in style. Then we had the women's OC1 sprint with Eleri coming in a close 2nd. Eleri and Tristan also did well in the mixed OC2 sprint.

Finally it was time for the mixed OC6 - the race we'd all come for. Unfortunately half our crew had to leave before the race, so we again combined with some Patterson Lakes people to come 2nd.

Thanks to Patterson Lakes for organising the day, and to Dwane from Melbourne for towing our canoe.

Pictures are here

October 30th 2006
Training is back in full swing. It's great to see so many new faces. We're loving the new OC6 and the OC2. The season starts early this year with Patterson Lakes holding a warm-up regatta on December 3rd and the Men's Health Race at Lorne on December 9th, so it's full steam ahead!

October 8th 2006
Congratulations to all those that competed in the 50km Echuca Mini Marathon - Tony, Rod, Judi and Eleri who paddled the full 50km, and The A Team - Anna, Andie and Angus who did the relay. It was great to see so many outriggers on the water and to meet the Adelaide contingent.

September 12th 2006
OC6 training will resume on Tuesday, October 10th, 6pm for a 6.15 start.

Huge thanks to Dwane who is heading up to collect out new canoes from Sydney at the end of the month.

August 30th 2006
We've just had a club meeting to determine our goals for the coming season. As well as the Victorian race season we will be training hard for the Gold Coast Cup changes race in April and then our main goal, the Queen Lili'uokalani in Hawaii in September.

August 22nd 2006
We're busy training for the Echuca Mini Marathon 50km race, coming up on October 7th. We will have members doing full distance on OC2s and OC1 and an OC1 relay team.

June 16th 2006
WINTER TRAINING
While we are waiting for our new canoes to arrive, we are doing lots of cross-training to keep our fitness up for next season.
Tuesday - own weights session
Thursday 6pm - swimming at VU pool
Sunday 9.30am - paddling - OC1s, kayaks and canadians

May 12th 2006
We said a sad farwell to our canoes this week and sent them on their way to start their new life with Hobart Outrigger Canoe Club. Hope they have as much fun with them as we did! Now we're looking forward to upgrading to newer, faster canoes.

April 13th 2006
MOCC hosted the third regatta of the season from their Docklands home. The OC6 marathons were held on a 17km course on the Yarra River. Again the girls got a fantastic start, sticking with the leaders as the crews began to spread out. It wasn't long before the Melbourne crew started to put a gap between themselves and the rest of the field. We stuck with Kai O'Pua a bit longer, but soon they too drew away. In the second half of the race we started to increase our lead over fourth placed Geelong and towards the end gained a little bit on Kai O'Pua. Another 3rd place for the girls.

The men's race took a bit longer to spread out off the start, but our boys were in a good position as they headed past the club house. The boys were holding fourth place but a big effort saw them pass Geelong to come home in third.

The OC1 race was a 6 person relay, with 3 men and 3 women each paddling 1km. The Footscray team was coming a close second until poor Anna decided it was a nice day for a swim!! She managed to jump back on to finish in third place.

March 27 2006
The second regatta of the season was hosted by Kai O'Pua and was held at Torquay making for a nice change from racing in the bay. The girls got off to a fantastic start. Uby was the only steerer to follow the lead boat, so we were on our own for a while as the other boats sped off in the wrong direction!! We were soon passed by Kai O'Pua who had quickly realised we were going a different way and decided following Uby was the smart thing to do. Melbourne took a bit longer to change direction but eventually they passed us as well. We were having a great time crashing over the waves and couldn't believe when we got to the turn around we'd already gone 8km (probably because we hadn't). We held on to our third place on the return trip and crossed the finish line to the news that we'd only travelled 8km! Oops!! The lead boat must have gotten a bit lost! 8km suited us just fine though!!

The boys weren't so lucky, with the glitches in the course having been rectified by the time they headed out, so they completed the full 16km course to Bells Beach and back. The boys were holding down 3rd place at the turnaround before sea sickness claimed poor Willy. They eventually finished in fifth place. Thanks to Damien from MOCC who raced with our team on the day.

Next up was the mixed club 6km race. Everyone's name was drawn out of a hat to make up the teams for this race. Anna was unlucky enough to be put in seat 5 of her crew which meant she had to run for the Le Mans start - beginning lying in the sand!! Eleri was a bit more fortunate paddling in seat 1 and having a close race to finish in 2nd place.

Judy was brave enough to tackle the swell for the women's OC1 race, coming in in 3rd place. Rod and Tony then took 3rd and 4th places in the men's OC1 race.

Well done to Kai O'Pua for putting on a fantastic day of racing.

January 28 2006
Unfortunatley due to injuries and holidays we weren't able to field a Footscray team in the Geelong regatta, but those that were able to attend put on a strong showing in the OC1 events and formed a combined OC6 crew with Patterson Lakes for Sunday's race. Lisa took out both the 3km and 9km OC1 events, with Uby and Heidi also finishing strongly. In the men's Tony won the 3km and came 3rd in the 9km with Rod also doing well in these events.

January 4 2006
Training will resume for 2006 on Tuesday, January 10 at 6pm, in preparation for the first regatta of the season to be held in Geelong on January 28-29. Hopefully everyone is feeling rested after the Christmas break and is raring to go!!

Congratulations to all those who participated in the Murray Marathon, particularly the boys who completed the full distance in only their second ever kayak race!

November 20 2005
Footscray Outriggers will be at Edgewater Estate (enter off Farnsworth Ave, Footscray) next Sunday, November 27, from 10am - 12noon. This is a great opportunity to come down and see the outriggers in action and to have a go yourself. If you can't make it on Sunday, remember new paddlers are always welcome at our training sessions on Thursdays at 6.15pm. Just remember to let Uby know you're coming.

Training has resumed on Thursdays at 6.15pm, with lots of new faces joining us for the new season. We are looking forward to fielding strong men's and women's teams in the Victorian regattas this season as well as looking ahead to sending a strong mixed crew to the Hamilton Cup in June.

Congratulations to the BHPBilliton team who have been training with us in preparation for the Corporate Games. They finished second in Saturday's competition.

October 23 2005
Training will resume on Thursday, October 27 at 6pm.

The girls are fit and strong from their Murray Marathon training in the kayaks and are itching to get back in the outrigger. Now is the perfect time to come and have a go at outrigging, with plenty of time to get up to speed before the beginning of race season, so come down and give it a try. (Remember to confirm training times with Uby before you come.)

August 14 2005
The boys are training hard for the Murray Marathon OC1 Relay. They competed in the Canoeing Victoria Marathon race in Geelong on July 31st, racing 18km.

July 9 2005
Check out the Kai 'Opua girls in their 2006 Ocean Spirit calendar. As well as being a major fundraiser for their club, $1 from every calendar sold will be donated to the Cancer Council of Australia.

July 8 2005
Congratulations to Lisa on a fantastic effort paddling with the Kai 'Opua team at the Hamilton Island Cup. Lisa's crew finished 7th in the 16km marathon, 5th in the final of the 1000m sprints and 2nd in the mixed division of the 42km Hamilton Island Cup. Full results and photos from the event are here

Meanwhile, the rest of us are braving the cold of Melbourne's winter (including one Sunday session where it was two degrees at the start of training!). We have introduced some keen new paddlers to the sport of outrigging and are busy working on improving technique and endurance while exploring the bay, the docks and the Maribyrnong and Yarra Rivers during our longer paddles. The boys had been training hard in an effort to win a proposed girls vs boys race, but some of the boys have fled the country to avoid the humiliation of defeat! Not to worry - they can't hide forever! Some of the team have also been training hard on the OC1s, with 4km times trials to look forward to at the end of the month. There are also plans to enter an OC1 relay team in this year's Murray Marathon.

May 15 2005
The final Victorian regatta of the season was held at Patterson Lakes on April 30. Unfortunately Footscray were unable to field a team but Eleri and Lisa were able to paddle with Kai 'Opua. Due to bad conditions on the bay the race was run on the Patterson River with the course consisting of three laps of a 5km circuit. After a messy start the Kai 'Opua girls got out in front and lead for the entire race, finishing well ahead of Geelong and Melbourne.

The winning Kai 'Opua women's crew with Lisa (far left) and Eleri (2nd from right)

Lisa then backed up to join the Kai 'Opua men's crew who paddled hard to come in second behind Geelong.

Kai 'Opua men's crew (Lisa 2nd from right)

Unfortunately both crews were later disqualified. Photos from the regatta can be found here

Footscray are now looking ahead to the 2005/2006 outrigger season and recently held a team meeting to set goals for the coming year. Training will continue through winter with a focus on technique and fitness with the aim of fielding strong crews in both the men's and women's events at all Victorian regattas next season. We are also looking to compete further afield with possible races including the Gold Coast Cup, Nationals, Hamilton Cup and even an overseas race in Hawaii or California. Some of the team are also firing up for the Australian Masters Games in Adelaide in October.

April 7 2005
Footscray Outriggers will be at Edgewater Estate for a come and try day this Sunday, April 10th, from 9am - 1pm. This is a great opportunity to see the outriggers in action and to have a try yourself. There will be some kayaks there to have a try of as well.

March 13 2005
It was MOCC's turn to host the racing this weekend in the 2nd Vic Zone regatta for 2005. The weekend kicked off with the OC6 events, with MOCC again taking out the women's race. Footscray fielded a mixed crew (Uby, Lisa, Tony, Eleri and first timers Luke and Pete) in the men's race and paddled hard to come in third behind Geelong 1 and Melbourne 1. It was a hard race, with the advertised 16km course mysteriously becoming 20km. Patterson Lakes were breathing down our necks for the first leg, but some classy steering on the second turn increased the gap. They threatened to catch us several times throughout the rest of the race, but we stayed strong and managed to hold them off.
The girls had other commitments in the afternoon, but the boys managed to find some girls from another club to race the sprints with them in the afternoon. There were also OC12 races held later in the day.
Sunday was an early start with the women's OC1 marathon kicking off at 7.30am. The lead changed several times in the first lap, with not much separating the three boats heading into the second lap. At this point Marie (MOCC) put her foot down and maintained a significant lead for the rest of the race. Eleri paddled strongly to finish second overall ahead of Lou (MOCC), and win the open division.
Next, the men headed out for their marathon with a much larger field. Michael (Kai Opua) won by a large margin with Tony winning the Senior Masters division.
Eleri and Heidi headed out for the women's short course. It was a close race, with four of the five canoes staying close together for most of the first leg. The wind had kicked up by this time, so there were a few waves on the way out and a nasty head wind on the way back. Eleri, Heidi and Cheryl (MOCC) took the first turn together, before Eleri opened up a lead on the other two. Eleri won, with Heidi coming in second overall and winning the Masters division.
Michael (Kai Opua) took out the men's short course with Tony coming in second in the Senior Masters division.

Patterson Lakes will host the next regatta on April 30/May 1.

February 24 2005
The Footscray crews are training hard for the next regatta, which will be hosted by MOCC on the 12th & 13th March at Sandridge Beach. The new members of our men's crew are looking forward to their first regatta, while the women are out to redeem their loss to Melbourne in the last race. Regatta details are here

February 14 2005
There was a great turnout for the Saltwater Classic, including four OC1s. Unfortunately the girls all piked on this event, but the men had a very close race. Results can be found here

January 26 2005
FACC are hosting the Salt Water Canoe Classic on Sunday, February 6th, including an OC1 12km division. Details can be found here

January 24 2005
Geelong Outriggers put on a fantastic weekend of racing at Eastern Beach this weekend. The Footscray crews paddled well in both the OC1 and OC6 events.
The weekend began with the women's OC1 3km race which saw Footscray take the first three places. Lisa powered through to finish first, despite being tipped off her canoe at the start. Eleri came home in second with Uby close behind in third. Heidi also paddle strongly in this event.
Next was the men's race with Michael leading from start to finish, Tony coming in third and Scott T successfully completing his first outrigger race.
After unloading the OC6s it was back on the water for Lisa and Eleri in the OC1 9km race. It was a close race, with the leader changing several times. Lisa finished second and Eleri 5th.

Lisa finishing a close second in the OC1 9km

Michael and Tony headed out for the men's 9km and got off to a fantastic start. Unfortunately both experienced rudder problems, with Michael having to be towed back to shore. Tony battled on to complete the race.
Next up were the OC6 sprints. The women's crew of Lisa, Narelle, Eleri, Heidi, Merryn and Uby fought hard to come in a close second to MOCC. The men's crew of Lisa, Michael, Tony, Scott T, Darryn and Uby (with two girls in the boat!) came second to Geelong in another close race.

Footscray and MOCC fighting it out in the women's 250m sprint

In the OC1 sprints Uby just held off Lisa to win the second heat.
The day finished with a traditional canoe blessing ceremony.
It was an early start on Sunday for the girls, with the 13km OC6 race starting at 8am. It was the Footscray and Melbourne crews battling for the lead from the start, with Melbourne opening up a small lead by the first turn. The Footscray girls paddled hard to close the gap, but couldn't quite manage to get past. It was a hard fought race with Melbourne holding on to take the win.
The Footscray men's crew (Michael, Tony, Scott T, Scott S, Tristan and Darryn) were paddling together for the first time, with Scott T and Tristan paddling in their first regatta. The boys got off to a blistering start, taking an early lead in their 13km race. The boys paddled hard, finishing the race in fifth place.
Click here for more pictures.
Full results can be found here

January 19 2005
The Footscray crews have been training hard for the first regatta of the season to be held this weekend in Geelong. Footscray will be entering both men's and women's OC6 crews, with most paddlers also competing in the OC1 events. Good luck to all those competing.

January 14 2005
The Footscray and Melbourne clubs provided Price Waterhouse Coopers' newest recruits with an introduction to the sport of Outrigger Canoeing, holding a sprint regatta at Docklands. Around 40 paddlers were divided into teams, each competing in three heats, with the fastest teams making it to the finals.

December 18 2004
It was back into the outriggers this weekend, with two of the Footscray girls competing in the Men's Health Ocean Racing Series and Brighton Beach. Lisa and Eleri competed in the OC1 short course event. Lisa paddled strongly to finish in third place, while Eleri managed to snap both her iakos and was unfortunately unable to finish the race.

December 12 2004
The Footscray girls got in some cross training in the kayak, competing in the Footscray Dress Rehearsal Race. The girls competed in the Womens Open TK2 Relay, winning the event for the second year in a row. Having missed the race record by a mere six seconds last year, the girls were keen to make amends this year. They did so in style, taking two and half minutes off the previous record. Despite limited training (Jen had only been kayaking for a month!) the team of Lisa, Eleri, Lynsey and Jen completed the 28km course in 2:43:33. Lisa and Eleri got the team off to a flying start, surprising race officials with the speed of their first leg. The girls continued to paddle well, with Lynsey and Jen putting in a strong final leg to bring the team home in record time.

Lisa and Eleri paddling strongly in their first leg.

November 30 2004
Well done to the girls who paddled in the OC1 time trials this week, especially those who had never been on an OC1 before. Some fast times were posted, which is fantastic to see so early in the season. Results can be found here