Here is a quick movie of The Mandurah Classic Ocean Paddle, a 14km downhill run from the Dawseville Cut to Seashells Resort in Mandurah. 105 paddlers, ocean skis, surf skis, plastics, kayaks, outrigger canoes. SW wind at 15 knots and a 1m swell… downhill fun!
The presentation and BBQ was by the pool overlooking the Beach at Seashells Resort… very nice.
It’s no Rambo spectacular but I hope you enjoy it.
I just came across this great huli drill on YouTube posted by the Oceanside OCC. It’s very good and a handy reminder as we go into our OC6 season.
I dug up this footage (apologies for the quality) of Karel Jr and the boys playing and flying the ama in Hawaii in a lightweight Mirage. Looks like heaps of fun and a bit tricky!
Does anyone have any favourite OC1 surfing spots? The best one I’ve come across so far is a sandbar break just off the estuary mouth in Mandurah Western Australia. It’s long and it’s clean, the ride is up to 500m long and you can sit on the one wave for over 1min 30sec. Here is some footage of the break. Where is your favourite spot?
Karel Tresnak Snr was originally from Czechoslovakia where he was a 2 time White Water World Champion and competed in the 1972 Munich Olympics. Karel and his team mates formed a company TGT and made their own canoes.
Karel Snr - Slalom
Karel Snr - Slalom
In the 80’s Karel immigrated with his family to Hawaii and started his company Karel’s Fibreglass and began specialising in custom work on powerboats and making ocean kayaks such as the CUDA, CUDA TANDEM, RODEO, SEA HORSE, and STEALTH.
80's Ocean Kayaks
Karel Snr and his STEALTH. Love the headband!
Karel Snr formed Outrigger Connection and began to manufacture OC1 canoes in 1991. Since then Outrigger Connection designs have always been on the cutting edge in design and technology used in construction, and a lot of the ideas and innovations used in all OC1 design today were developed by Karel and Outrigger Connection. Karel was the first to construct lightweight canoes using aerospace technologies like vacuum bagging and advanced composites like Kevlar, S glass, graphite and epoxy resins. Other innovations include the first to use aluminium iakos, foot well drains, sliding seats, integrated foam seats in to the hull and a lot more.
In the coming weeks I’ll post more chapters outlining more of these innovations and developments in OC1 designs by Outrigger Connection starting in the 90’s with Outrigger Connection’s first OC1 the “OUTRIGGER 27” followed by the CUDA 21 and the first use of OC1’s in team selection in Hawaii.
Karel Snr on the OUTRIGGER 27 in '91
I can’t say it’s not a Mirage because it is, it’s a folding Mirage! With the legality issues of OC6 trailers here in Australia a hot topic at the moment Peter and I put our heads together to see what we could come up with.
With our previous experience in 2 & 3 piece Mirage construction for export we saw that a two piece Mirage would solve the overhang problem, but we wanted to go one step further and make it easy for clubs to put the canoe together and rig it.
Why not just hinge the join so the rear piece can fold up and sit on top of the forward section for safe storage and transportation? So that’s exactly what we did. Clarkie from the Inland Outriggers wanted a new 2 piece Mirage so I pitched the idea to him and he said go for it. And here it is Hot out of the mould, Clarkie’s new folding Mirage!
To add strength to the hinges Pete inserted 2 large stainless steel plates into the iako spreaders, the stainless steel hinges are then screwed into these plates. There is no load on the hinges when the canoe is rigged and the rear section is bolted into position, nor when the canoe is folded and strapped down for transport. The only time the hinges are under load is when the canoe is being folded. Once on the ground the canoe can easily be unfolded and bolted together by 2 people in 5 mins.
When folded and placed on a shorter trailer (Clarkies building one) we’ve calculated the distance from the tow ball to the rear of the trailer will be about 9.6m. The canoes will need to be transported on the trailer the right way up though.
Clarkie will be taking delivery of his folding Mirage in early December and heading down to the National Titles at Coffs Harbour with it in tow so if you’re there make sure to check it out.
Peter and I hope that this could be one solution to the trailer legality issues facing clubs, let me know what you think?
Cheers
Barts
For all you Sandgropers, if you’ve been thinking about updating or getting a new OC1 or OC2 here is your big chance. There is a container arriving in Perth from Hong Kong in December and if you get your order in before the end of November you can get a brand new canoe for same price as everyone pays on the east coast but you wont have to pay for the expensive freight (or the damage) to get it transported over to the west. It arrives in Perth straight from the factory.
Don’t miss out on this great opportunity. Get your orders in now.
Outrigger canoes is what we are all about.
Here you’ll find all the information about Outrigger Connection’s products, accessories and other services we offer. Using the blog part of the site I will be making postings on anything and everything to do with outrigger canoeing, paddling in the ocean or anything I can share with everyone to promote our sport and make it more fun for everyone. I hope you will all post comments and also share your experiences and love of the sport as well. You can subscribe to the site and get email updates when something new is added by clicking the “Subscribe” button on the right. If you are really tech savvy you can subscribe to the RSS feed and can also follow me on Facebook and Twitter. You can also share any of the posts here by using the “Share this” link on the bottom of the page.
The first piece of news is to welcome aboard Andy Wheatley and Manda Ozolins from Paddles who are the new East Coast dealer for Outrigger Connections OC1 & OC2 products. You can find their contact details on the OC1/OC2 Canoes page. I’ll be looking after the west coast and Andy will be covering the east coast. They have a new shop opening soon so make sure you check it out.
So have a look around and let me know what you think.
Cheers
Barts
I get a real kick out of doing these. This Mirage was done for a club pitching a sponsorship deal to Cadbury Chocolates, unfortunetley it didn’t come off because I would have loved to seen this paddling around, it looks so cool. I even designed it with the Cadbury logo embossed into the brown gelcoat chocolate nose of the canoe and ama.
The rest of the canoe, the wrapping, was going to be done in purple gelcoat and the white parts in vinyl lettering and the silver foil was going to done using special reflective silver vinyl. The effect was to make the canoe look like a it was a big chocolate bar with the wrapping being torn off.
If you want to check out some other canoe designs visit the “Free Canoe Graphics” page. I really enjoy coming up with these designs and is something I do for free to help clubs get a sponsorship proposal over the line. But as with the chocolate Mirage sometimes they don’t make it onto the water and sometimes they do. If you’ve got a good idea for a canoe design let me know, post your idea/comment here.
By adopting the following practices, you will ensure your OC1 or OC2 is always in great condition and performing to it’s fullest potential. You will also have a canoe that will last longer, look better and (when the time comes to upgrade) will have a greater resale value.
Please Remember that today’s OC1 and OC2 canoes are hi-tech racing equipment designed for high performance in the open ocean. They were not built to with stand the pounding given out in the surf or shore breaks.
If you have any good tips on caring for your OC1 or OC2, like your favourite polish please post it here and share it.
