I was recovering from a surgery and could not run for a while and asked friends what else i could do. Was recruited by a crazy bunch of ladies for a charity team racing to raise awareness in SE China for Susan G Komen. Paddled for about a month and the coach asked ladies to raise hands on who has ever had other boating experience and --- yup, was the only dumb woman to raise my hand and get voluntold to learn steering. LOL that was 2015-16. The dragon bug bit me and I have paddled and helmed ever since.

We have 41 teams on our beach who have learned all over. So, there's a bit of variation! Stop paddling can be "Easy all, " or 'Let it run' followed by "hold the boat " or 'Check the boat', occasionally followed by "Hard Check!!" or "Hold Hard!" or "Stop the darn boat!! with descriptive language. LOL Sideways hold is hold for drift. Keeping the boat steady is "brace the boat" or "paddles flat on the water" for newbies. in SE China stopping was "Ho, Teng!" and i struggled to stop calling it when I moved home to LA.

I have not capsized or collided as a steer, but I had one other inexperienced steer bring their dragons head over my left rear and nearly hit my bench 10 in a 2k. luckily my drummer made eye contact to me and gestured to look behind me, and I literally caught the head with my right hand, swung it back off my boat and kept going. I sorta call it my Matrix moment lol. Shows that the communication and eye contact between a solid caller and steer is EVERYTHING in those crazy 2k turns! As a paddler I also was in row 10 during an IDBF 2k, when another boat did the same thing-- lost their control of turn and the head came into the rear of boat. there was a very brief stop to get the boats apart and then the racing resumed. I have witnessed capsizes and capsized myself as an OC1 paddler. In races, as a steer you need to listen to the chase boats and maintain safety. There is judgement on whether it is best to paddle slowly and try to separate boats that contacted then continue if not capsized. All the races I have seen the chase boats come quickly to help count paddlers, right the boat or gently push the boat to shore- often with paddlers holding on for a free gentle push to shoreline. The most essential is to ask if there are nonswimmers ahead of launch, so they are paired with a swimmer in event of capsize. If everyone knows who cannot swim, they are mentally prepared to look after that person. Counting off to ensure that everyone is above water and not trapped under the capsized boat is also important.

So, our local waterway does not allow belt packs as safety PFDs. All paddlers in our bay must use US Coastguard approved , non inflatable (level II-III is it?) life vests. Some of the races we attend allow belt packs and therefore a handful use them- but they also are hard to fly with as the canisters are often stopped at security.

I am LisaAnn from Los Angeles. Checking back in and always looking for more to learn-- took the course on the old software last year. Hoping to do the Steering 2 but need that official steer test first?? Been at steering since 2016- In locations around Europe, US, and SE China.