The 26 athletes are hoping big things lie ahead for them and are using the camp to improve their team skills and prepare for the second leg of the Grand Prix series which starts on Friday.

National Elite Development manager David Foureur, who competed on Lake Wendouree in the 1985 national sprint titles said learning team skills was crucial to future success.

He explained that while it is easy for paddlers to practise by themselves it is difficult to get opportunities to meet other paddlers and practise for team races.

He said the camp would become even more important now since the announcement that there would be under-23 world championships every year from 2013.

17-year-olds Charlie Copeland and Shannon Reynolds are two of the athletes and both were excited about what they could learn from the camp.

Copeland performed well at the Junior World Championships in Germany in July last year and is now ranked 13th in the world.

He said the camp would help him improve as he aims to win an open age final at the Nationals in March.

“I’m just really focused on getting faster,” he said.

“I also want to build on my team boat skills and a make a few more friends because when you don’t have a partner (to compete with) you can jump in a boat with them.”

While Copeland has set the ambitious goal of making it to the 2016 Rio Olympic games, Reynolds said she had decided not to put a time frame on her Olympic debut.

Reynolds, who dominated the under-18 girls category at the first Grand Prix at Champion Lakes in Western Australia, said she was just focussed on the camp, this weekend’s regatta and the Nationals in March.

“I’m just looking forward to training hard with all the girls and learning more about team boat skills,” she said.

Six coaches will oversee the camp.