Rage Christmas special

Admittedly it was a tad windy and a bit of sunshine would've been nice, but nothing was going to stand in the way of Rage and our end of year festivities...

Warm up involved a clumsy team run/waddle up to the end of the dock area and back in Santa suits, green elf outfits, various reindeer accessories and the audible ringing of dangling bells.

On their return, our unsuspecting team mates received an announcement: there was to be a regular set of drills dished out for the first half of training, followed by a 'Rage Christmas special'....

Some technique work and a few of our regular exercises to start...before our first targets were summoned:

"Alright Jam, up the back you go..." 
Jam (like a kid in trouble): "What....why???" ...
"You're helming...!!"  (Yup, that's right...come on down, baby!!! Haha!!)
And "Richard Marfiak...stand up...you're coaching!"
Rich: "Whaaaat??"

And so, with these two champs, our Rage Christmas special kicked off, and the standards were set. Jam was a star student at the helm (coolly doing the job like a pro in his bare feet and signature smile), while Rich carried out his coaching duties with the style and charisma we knew he would deliver :)

Next up, Amit made his way to the back with a Santa beard on his face – though after being advised that as a helm he may 'want to be able to see where he was going', the beard came off. Parts of the helming lesson seemed lost in translation for a while ("pull" was interpreted as "push", "right foot" was left foot etc...but after Jen's initial series of minor heart attacks as helm supervisor, all settled and Amit did a stellar job :) 

Meanwhile at the front, Connie the elf used her paddle as a walking/standing stick for balance (as Vic also clutched on to her life jacket from behind). Her teacher persona ensured she was heard. All her good little Rage students were very cooperative. And with that, another pair of Ragers survived their Christmas initiation :)

Next!! Andrew Gaydon (tallest helm of the day) and Fernando (joker of the year).

Andrew was great at taking instructions, and seemed pretty relaxed at the back of the boat. Cool as a cucumber...not much further instruction needed really (see below)!

Meanwhile, Fernando enjoyed his rise to power at the front of the boat: "okay team...100%...until 1 o'clock!!!" (about an hour and a half away!) To be fair though, he showed no favouritism towards himself: "Fernando, twist!!" :D  And apart from his entertainment value, Fernando was also quite encouraging throughout the half boat/full boat exercise :)