I’m just curious what’s your best “worst” steering story? I feel like so often I am going to fall in! Have any of you had that happen? What about other scary stories that maybe now you can look back on and laugh about? I’m in the mood for some entertaining stories!

Tickets to our second virtual summit are now on sale! When you click the link to purchase, you'll see two options, one for November 7 and one for November 8. 𝗦𝗨𝗠𝗠𝗜𝗧 𝗡𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗠𝗕𝗘𝗥 𝟳 - $𝟮𝟬 The Summit itself runs from 10:30am - 6pm on November 7. Sessions will be between 45-60 minutes long, on a variety of topics. We have an absolute LEGEND coming to give the keynote (we'll be announcing who very soon), the amazing @Anne Baker will lead us through a movement session that you can refer to again and again, and we'll have plenty of opportunities to connect and network too. The tentative schedule looks like this: 10:30a - 11:45a: Keynote + Opening Session 12:00p – 1:00p: Mobility with Anne Baker 1:00p –1:30p SNACK BREAK 1:30p – 2:30p: Defining and managing club roles (coaches, managers, captains, steers, etc.) 2:45p – 3:30p: Running on-water practice plans + drills 3:30p – 4:00p: SNACK/WALK BREAK 4:00p – 4:45p: Off-water/winter training planning and strategy 5:00p – 6:00p: Wrap-up + Open Q+A 𝗩𝗜𝗣 𝗕𝗢𝗡𝗨𝗦 𝗦𝗘𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗡𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗠𝗕𝗘𝗥 𝟴 - $𝟮𝟱 We've also added a separate, bonus session on November 8, which will be a working session designed primarily for coaches and steers. We'll dive deep into how to plan your practices, how to structure your racing season, what skill drills you can use to support your goals (and bust team boredom if they're doing the same drills over and over) and more. (11am – 2pm Eastern.) Your VIP ticket also includes access to a follow-up review session (date TBD) where you can bring the questions that come up when you're refining your training plan, and get our feedback on your finished practice plans and strategy. Drop your questions below. Otherwise, go get your tickets and then head over to the calendar tab to add each session to your personal calendar.

A paddler in her 70s once told me, half-jokingly, that Senior D stood for "Senior Dead." At the time, there was no Senior D category, but there were PLENTY of 70+ folks still paddling hard and vying for spots on Senior C crews. Now that's changed, with the International Dragon Boat Federation (IDBF) officially creating a Senior D class. But you may not know how this came to be—and it wasn't easy. In 2017 Canadian Ruth Bedell decided that if she wanted to stay competitive in the sport, rather than be relegated to paddling recreationally, she'd have to create a Senior D class herself. The first hurdle was assembling a team. So she put an ad in her paper, which somehow made the front page, and ended up with 60 interested women aged 68 and older. Now that Ruth had the paddlers, she needed a racing division. So she kept going... and in 2022 her efforts were rewarded with a Senior D division at the Canadian National Championships. But that still wasn't enough... Ruth wanted to see this racing class at the top level. So she kept pushing. 2024 saw the class introduced at the Canadian-American (CanAm) Championships, 2025 at the Pan American (PanAm) Championships, and now finally, the racing class has been adopted by the IDBF. Think you can't change the world. Be like Ruth. And if you think there's no place for you in this sport because you're getting too old... think again. You can now keep racing well into your 70s and 80s WITHOUT having to compete for a seat or the podium against a younger crowd. Curious - does this new worldwide adoption of a Senior D class change your own plans or how your club operates?

It's been quite a week! Share a GIF of how your week's gone, what you feel like now, what makes you laugh hysterically, whatever.

Hey folks - please give a big HURRAH to @Taffie Lynn Butters and @Cindy Cheong who are diving into the Level 1 Steering course. Those of you who have been doing this a while, what are 3 tips you'd share with them?