Our team was able to enjoy a wonderful fall evening earlier this month.  No-one knew what we were going to do, and so we were told to only be ready to leave the office at 4:45PM and bring clothes that you would wear to work out in (or go swimming...or both).  So that evening we arrived at the Washington Canoe Club for a little team building and celebration. This club, even though it's officially located on National Park Service land, pre-dates the creation of the National Park Service so the club is given certain clauses that allow it to act somewhat independently from NPS restrictions... like having a membership organization run the club on NPS land.  See more about the club - https://www.washingtoncanoeclub.org/

When we gathered around our coach, we were given instructions on how to paddle as a team using outrigger canoes.  Outrigger canoes are the ones that have an arm on one side to make it more stable. Given everyone's inexperience with competitive canoeing, the extra stability was appreciated.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outrigger_boat

We were then separated into four teams of four with an anchor guide in the back of each boat to provide instructions, reminders and verbal lashings if our oars were pulled in such a manner to accidentally soak our instructor.  To win with the fastest boat, it doesn't matter who is the strongest, lightest or who has the most experience. The way to win is to have everyone row the oar in unison. 10 rows on one side and the same pace and length then like synchronized swimmers, pulling the oars out and repeating the 10 strokes on the other side, without losing our rhythm.  The photo of the winning team is captured here.

Afterward, we were given an opportunity to relax, enjoy some music, barbeque and discuss our future goals and dreams.  Be on the lookout for the dreams we created and how we are working on transferring them from our magic wand wish list into the real world...