The Sydney Outrigger Canoe Club Inc. (SOCCI) is made up of a group of enthusiastic and more-or-less talented outrigger canoe paddlers based on the northern side of Sydney's magnificent harbour. Formed in 1989, SOCCI was the first outrigger canoe club in New South Wales.
SOCCI caters for paddlers of all levels of talent and aspiration but it is true that we are proud of our competitive history. Our Open Women's crew were the 1995 National marathon champions and are past winners of the Hamilton Cup. At the '97 Nationals they won bronze medals in each of the 500m sprint, the 1000m sprint and the 18km marathon events. Our male paddlers have yet to quite match the girl's successes but got a step closer at the '97 Nationals, making the final of the Open Men's 1500m sprint and placing a creditable 6th in the 22km marathon. With a solid 29th at their first attempt at Molokai in '96 the SOCCI men are building a core of experienced and capable paddlers.
SOCCi is one of the premier clubs in the country with SOCCI taking out the State Championships and the State Title for 1999 season
SOCCI has big plans for the future and sees a great future for outrigger canoeing in Sydney. The harbour provides an enviable and safe training environment, while the close proximity of the "Heads" gives us easy access the open ocean for rough water training and for wave-hunting expeditions on Sydney's surf beaches.
If you'd like to join SOCCI, or would like further information about the club, click here for contact information.
SOCCI is based at Balmoral, a beautiful, sheltered beach on Sydney's Middle Harbour. It's a fantastic location, offering long flat-water training sessions inland towards Lane Cove, open-ocean training out through the "Heads", or long tourist paddles up the main harbour towards the Sydney Opera House and under the Sydney Harbour Bridge. A very popular weekend haunt for local (and not-so-local) residents, Balmoral has plenty of coffee shops for post-training relaxation and the broad, grassy lawns are perfect for games of touch football. It's a nice place to be.
The boats can be found at the far eastern edge of the beach, next to the Navy base's fence. For new paddlers the best time to come down and give outrigger paddling a go is on Sunday mornings at 9 a.m. but it is best to call first. These sessions are put on specially for novice paddlers and we try to make sure that there are plenty of experienced paddlers and coaches on hand to make your first paddle an enjoyable learning experience. We also run regular 3-week novice programs which are an excellent way to be introduced to all aspects of this fabulous sport.
(The phone numbers listed below are all local Sydney numbers - Country Code is 61, Area Code is 02.)
| President: | Cameron Read | 0409 656 918 |
| Vice-President: | Jo McCorkindale | n/a |
| Secretary: | Maria Heritage | |
| Treasurer: | Mike Hargis | 0416 074 763 |
| Race Director: | Megan Read | 0414 274 396 |
| Committee Members: | Kathleen Lukunic | (h) n/a |
| Nigel Randall | (h) n/a | |
Committee meetings are held on the first Monday of every month at 7.00pm at Mosman Returned Services Club, 131 Military Road, Mosman. All club members are welcome to attend.
| Men's Coach: | TBC | TBC |
| Women's Coach: | Gavin Douglas | tbc |