One of the things I have tried to do for my office is come up with things that people can do together outside of the office with the hope of building a more cohesive team. I have started encouraging folks to meet at the JR Rockers sports bar on Friday's after work for drinks and socializing. Unfortunately the response hasn't been too strong but those that have participated have had a great time. My boss is a big supporter of these efforts. She was born in the Alaska outback and is a member of an Eskimo tribe. One of the things that her people did was use canoes to gather food. She wanted to learn how to paddle as a way to get in touch with her heritage. I mentioned that I would like to try to put together a Kayak trip and she suggested we try 6 person canoeing since some people would feel safer than on a 1 or 2 person Kayak. I contacted the Pearl Harbor Canoe team and found out they had some of their canoes on Hickam. I set it up for Wednesday 14 Nov 07 and sent it out to the office to see who was interested. Originally we had 8 people sign up. 2 people had to back out due to appointments and medical issues which left us with 6, perfect for a 6 person canoe. Wednesday morning I road my bike to the harbor. My boss and one of my co-workers was waiting for me when i got there but none of the rest were there. We waited for several minutes then decided to give up on the rest of them and give it a try. Howard, the keeper of the canoes, gave us a brief instruction on proper paddle technique and the commands. We set the canoe in the water and gave it a try. At first we had Darlene, my boss, in the front, then me and Paul in the middle seats and Howard in back steering. We tried that for a little bit then Howard rearranged us putting me in the front. I enjoyed being in the front because the front paddler sets the pace and the paddlers in the rear match his cadence. I have a hard time following others rhythm so it was great getting to set mine. We would paddle several strokes on one side of the canoe then we would switch to the other. We toured the Hickam Harbor. At one point a sea turtle poked his head out of the water. I got excited and stopped paddling to point it out, throwing our rhythm way off. We paddled around for a little more than an hour. By the end I could feel our rhythm had greatly improved. It was also a very good workout. Everyone who participated had a great time. When we got back to work, we found out that two of the people who didn't show had forgotten all about it and one had a hot project. It is definitely something I will try to do again. I plan on taking my sister out there next week when she comes for a visit. I can't believe some people don't try to take advantage of opportunities like this to get out of the office for a couple of hours and explore some of the Hawaiian culture.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
6-Person Outrigger Canoe
One of the things I have tried to do for my office is come up with things that people can do together outside of the office with the hope of building a more cohesive team. I have started encouraging folks to meet at the JR Rockers sports bar on Friday's after work for drinks and socializing. Unfortunately the response hasn't been too strong but those that have participated have had a great time. My boss is a big supporter of these efforts. She was born in the Alaska outback and is a member of an Eskimo tribe. One of the things that her people did was use canoes to gather food. She wanted to learn how to paddle as a way to get in touch with her heritage. I mentioned that I would like to try to put together a Kayak trip and she suggested we try 6 person canoeing since some people would feel safer than on a 1 or 2 person Kayak. I contacted the Pearl Harbor Canoe team and found out they had some of their canoes on Hickam. I set it up for Wednesday 14 Nov 07 and sent it out to the office to see who was interested. Originally we had 8 people sign up. 2 people had to back out due to appointments and medical issues which left us with 6, perfect for a 6 person canoe. Wednesday morning I road my bike to the harbor. My boss and one of my co-workers was waiting for me when i got there but none of the rest were there. We waited for several minutes then decided to give up on the rest of them and give it a try. Howard, the keeper of the canoes, gave us a brief instruction on proper paddle technique and the commands. We set the canoe in the water and gave it a try. At first we had Darlene, my boss, in the front, then me and Paul in the middle seats and Howard in back steering. We tried that for a little bit then Howard rearranged us putting me in the front. I enjoyed being in the front because the front paddler sets the pace and the paddlers in the rear match his cadence. I have a hard time following others rhythm so it was great getting to set mine. We would paddle several strokes on one side of the canoe then we would switch to the other. We toured the Hickam Harbor. At one point a sea turtle poked his head out of the water. I got excited and stopped paddling to point it out, throwing our rhythm way off. We paddled around for a little more than an hour. By the end I could feel our rhythm had greatly improved. It was also a very good workout. Everyone who participated had a great time. When we got back to work, we found out that two of the people who didn't show had forgotten all about it and one had a hot project. It is definitely something I will try to do again. I plan on taking my sister out there next week when she comes for a visit. I can't believe some people don't try to take advantage of opportunities like this to get out of the office for a couple of hours and explore some of the Hawaiian culture.
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