What an Epic 3 Days!
Training with Oscar!
By Ian Kingon

The alarm went off and I dragged myself out of bed . . . the Big O was on his way to Dubai and I was collecting him. As usual, he announced himself loudly as my phone beeped ominously while I was still brushing my teeth, “I am here, where are you??” A mad scramble later down Sheikh Zayed Road before finding him at Dubai International Airport and then finally all 6’4” of his large frame is squashed into my seemingly overly small Jeep and the 3 days had begun.

Paddling in from Mina Seyahi

He marvels at the continued development that seems to have sprung up since his last visit to Dubai where he placed a narrow second to Dawid Mocke in the inaugural Dubai Shamaal race. I am taking him to familiar territory – the Le Meridien Mina Seyahi. They hosted the Shamaal in November last year and have kindly taken up the challenge of looking after Oscar for 3 nights, where he is treated as a full VIP, thanks to Mike Scully, the hotel GM and a strong supporter of paddling in the region. It is also the venue for the training sessions and the Epic Chase Series and was described by Mike Wiseman as “the most plush training venue for any athlete”.Oscar is here on a flying visit between China and Germany with a scant 4 days spent back at home in Durban with his family. But the four days promise to be busy. We have four 2 hour training sessions and the second Epic Chase Series. Because of the ridiculously high midday temperatures, these sessions are limited to 6 – 8am in the morning and 5 – 7pm in the afternoon. As he arrived at 4:35am, I graciously allow him a few hours kip before getting him up – if you have ever noticed how he always whistles gaily whenever, and I mean whenever, you knock on his door – it kind of says “Hey I’ve been up for hours waiting for you!” no matter how little sleep he has had?

Group lesson on the beach with Oscar

We co-ordinate with Roderick, the hotel F&B manager, and Christina, the Barasti Restaurant manager, collect skis for myself and Oscar. Sort through the Forward Stroke DVDs and some spares that he bought from the factory in China and we are pretty much set for the first afternoon session. Sessions are around 1 hour theory and followed by 1 hour on the water – which usually translated to 1.5 hours on the water. The soft drinks are laid out, DVD connected and we are ready to go. Just add paddlers for the right mix! Richard Howes was later heard to say: “As for the venue, when can it become our paddling home? Epic beers . . . are excellent!”

The turbulence from a single
Big O stroke

The first session is largely booked by paddlers from Murray and Roberts and they drift in dusty and tired from building Dubai at such a frenetic pace – 6 days a week with little let up save the release of paddling on the Arabian Gulf. However, it isn’t long before their stresses are forgotten and they are engrossed in Oscar’s “Back to Basics” lecture that more often than not highlights common mistakes that we all make. Ed Menzies summed up the sessions by saying: “Oscar concentrated on the key technical issue which was full blade in the water, drive with legs, rotate, don’t bend pulling arm & get the blade out of the water. Keep pushing arm at the same height through-out the stroke, no matter what height it was when u started your stroke.” Re-iterating the “back to basics” theme, Mike says “Oscar demonstrated that for all the talk about paddling technique it comes down to some very simple principles, use your body and legs not arms and shoulders.” But the really great things is that he lays it out so logically that even though you may have been doing the wrong thing for years, you immediately recognize the wisdom of what he is saying and understand the “why”.

Soft drinks and water before

But adding water into the equation seems to be pretty similar for all of us listening to Oscar. We can rotate the shoulders, use the legs, keep our arms straights, but the moment we dip the paddle into the water, the old habits surface and we start pulling with the biceps. Oscar perseveres though and before long we are all much improved according to the Big O. We paddle back around from the Marina as a group and a challenge goes out for a 200m sprint using our new found techniques. Oscar agrees saying he will paddle only on one side much to all of our chagrin. We sprint off, forgetting everything but to beat the one armed Oscar, but he powers past us at the last minute, grinning victoriously, but much to our combined relief, using both arms and paddling hard. Maybe we didn’t exactly forget everything.

Followed by some pretty
amazing seafood canapes

We beach, parched but bubbling with new found enthusiasm and slightly aching stomach muscles from the new improved stroke. A quick shower, then canapés and Epic beers and a gathering of the Court of Chalupsky to discuss technique, manufacturers, the APP and pretty much anything else. I sneak off for some sleep and the last sound I hear is the booming laugh of King Oscar reverberating around the Barasti Bar.
And finally the world famous
Epic brew . . . It is an early start with a 5am wake up call and a 6am training session. Still bleary eyed, I knock on Oscar’s door at 5:45am and the first thing I hear is that cheerful, “are you only up now” whistle! I know that he is full of bravado though as I got a text at some ridiculous hour from some other paddlers asking if Oscar ever gets tired.We have two last minute cancellations that mean the morning session is a dedicated affair with Christo Tromp, who took all of the accompanying photos and myself getting a lesson in Oscar’s 4 rules of downwind paddling:

1. Remember where you are going!
2. Keep an eye on your competition.
3. Keep checking your GPS.
4. Concentrate on your quadrant.

An agent's prerogative - a private with
Oscar on the runs

It was a complete blast to spend a decent amount of time with a paddler of Oscar’s talent – especially when he is so prepared to share his “secrets” of downwind paddling. Christo and I were pretty stoked with the cancellations. Then a siesta during the day before we all headed down for the second Epic Chase Series . . . hot, sticky and sure to be hotly contested. It is a pursuit style race, with the slower paddlers starting off first and then the field followed at 1 minutes intervals until Oscar started 6 minutes later. In his usual competitive style, he looked to milk any available bumps, talk his way through the field and paddle like a demon to win the race on elapsed time, but also very nearly beat everyone to the beach over a 6km course. “The Chase race was a hoot, Guff and I have never paddled so hard, the fact that Guff was prepared to take the lead (even for 10secs) was a sight not to be missed.”, said Rich Howes. “With Oscar bearing down on us it was all go, and what did Oscar say when he came in after us, ‘you boys have stuffed up your handicaps’.” He is a competitive sod, isn’t he?

Official race results from the Epic Chase Series - Race 2

Everyone was happy to get out of the heat and into the appropriately named “Chill Bar” at the Barasti for more bitterly cold Epic beers and a further round of the Court of Chalupsky who seems to be well versed in politics, finance, ski manufacture, entertainment, the commodities market and other topics too far wide ranging to mention here. Again, as embarrassing as it is, I used the excuse of needing to get the kids to bed to head off early enough to get a few hours sleep . . . I do not whistle after 2 hours of sleep, which is as rumour has it how much sleep the red giant got.

Adam, the journo, ended up
doing more than writing

Finally, Friday - an early morning whistle as per normal, even if it was slightly out of tune, and the last two sessions. Both Christo and I attended all of the four sessions, supposedly as I was the hosting agent and Christo was the official photographer – but I swear each session just got better. Anyone who purchased skis from Epic Dubai had the sessions and DVDs sponsored by yours truly, but even those that had to pay for their sessions were like stoked grommets. Richard put it rather eloquently when he said “I enjoyed the practical paddling session and nice that Oscar can still be passionate and personal after all these years, can’t see Tiger Woods being that attentive.” It speaks volumes that one of the journalists, Adam, that came down to interview Oscar ended up inthe class learning the basics of surfski paddling. In the end though, it all boils down to the paddlers’ perception of value for money for the sessions. Ed reckons: “It was the best US$100 fix that I’ve ever had! Every one of us who attended his session now undoubtedly knows why Oscar is the best!”What more can be said?

Discussing "Back to Basics"

Warm water, happy student

New found stroke technique

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