Dragon Boat West

As a rookie to my team, what r some of the unspoken rules of the water?

ie , politely listening to my coach tell me about his groin injury and not cracking an obscene comment

thanks

BMD

rofl, man, i did not see that one coming.  :lol:
i hope he/she wasn't sitting in the drummer seat and you weren't starring at his/her groin at the time.  :lol:

:rofl:  :lol:  :rofl:  :lol:  :rofl:  :lol:  :rofl:  :lol:  :rofl:

Is this who I think it is???

It really depends on the team.  Usually with Rec team's it's ok to make cracks, hit on other paddlers, question their manhood... You're in close proximity to these people for at least 3-4 hours a week. On some Competitive teams however, during practice it could be "STFU and paddle!" but in general it's pretty much open season on smart-ass remarks.


Well.. let's see... how many coaches out there in the Creek that has recently had a "groin" injury?

I can only think of one.  But it wasn't a groin, it was more of a quadricep pull. Definately showing his age, considering that he injured himself during a warmup. I think this stallion should be put out to pasture...


Nah.. his coaching style is less drummer seat and more steering and barking out commands.

Would that Stallion be Italian??

Since we're on the topics of etiquette on the water... what do people think about picking and asking for races?

When do you think there's too many teams in a race? I'm just wondering since it's about that time of year where you're going to start to see packs of dragonboats racing down the Creek.

Last night, there was a race of... oh... about 12 or so dragonboats tearing down the Creek towards Cambie Street bridge and basically teams that weren't involved had to get out of the way of the race. Teams that were following that rule to go around the Creek in a counter-clockwise direction, were running head-on towards oncoming teams during that race.

*correction*
Was informed by Tiger & Lethal Weapon that there were only 10 boats... I still think I counted 12 though...

12 teams?? I'm a rookie as well so take my opinions with a grain of salt, but i think that on non-event days/nights like that teams should realize that they aren't the only teams out there, nor the only users out there (ie rowers, outrigger paddlers, other recreational users, etc) and those others are not expecting a full fledged race to be coming at them... at least with something like ADBF they kind of have an inkling that its coming, so it certainly doesn't seem very courteous to them OR other teams to be having a huge race like that... 2,3,4 teams seems OK to me, but it really shouldn't get bigger than that IMHO.

Our coach told us that 3 years ago a rowing shell was not going counter clockwise down the creek as they should have, were facing backwards and ran right into a DB that was resting (not moving).

Have there ever been any real crashes, or just near misses ?

Aren't retired Stallions usually put out to Stud?... :lol:
(Thats if they were "winners" in there racing career.... :lol: )
JUST KIDDING!
I have nick named the team I paddle on as Team Darwin-ian, where we pick races with Rec C & D teams so we can destroy them! BWAHAHAHAHA
Survival of the strongest!
Sad but true......at my age and Amazing paddling ability a win is a win

Apparently the high school rowing team had cut directly across the Creek and rammed straight into a stationary dragon boat on the opposite side who were facing the right way.  All they did was come by and ask if everyone was alright...no apology, nothing.  

Someone needs to teach these rich kids a lesson...hope they sue the living hell out of them. I believe some of those paddlers did get hurt.  This kind of stuff shouldn't be happening on the Creek.  

On another occasion, I heard a 2-team crew was sitting stationary on the Creek side by side, ready to do a race piece, and a rowing team thought it'd be fun and DELIBERATELY cut right down the middle between them instead of being courteous and going beside them.  

Some of these rowers just have no sense of discipline on the waters.

yeah that's a little extreme dude.  you're also stereotyping those rowers to have been rich kids. I had two good friends in highschool who did their rowing training at false creek, and they were by no means rich.

regardless, all users of the water need to be aware and respectul of each other.  hopefully our group and theirs can work together to sort this out

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the crew I believe were from St. Georges...if their parents have $$ to send them there, yeah, I'd say they're rich.  

Hey, if I got hit by a rower's paddle, got hurt and it was their fault...I'd take them up to court.  I mean, comon, they didn't even have the courtesy to apologize for their own mistake.  Mind you, I was not on this boat...I just heard about it from people I knew on the boat.

I'm not saying all rowers act the way these teams have, but if it happened 3 years ago, and it happened 2 weeks ago, when's it going to end?

I agree, regardless, everyone has to respect everyone else on the Creek, but if no one says anything or does anything about something like this, it's not going to go away anytime soon.

I also wish the coaches in their little wake creating coachboats would slow down  as well. Those little suckers make a mean wake especially for the Gemini's
 :twisted:
Other than that I agree they should show some respect as I know the DB steers are always watching out for them

Hmmm ..sounds to me the dog, I mean seal , no dog ...dogseal ....whatever .......should be released again but aimed at the newbie rowers

I got pwned by a coachboat while I was on a marathon canoe. I was so close to tipping. The wake was at least a foot high, and it hit us at the last minute on our side. For those of you who use the marathon canoes, you know how disastruous that can be.

i nearly went to St. Georges.  and i am FAR from being rich.  i was offered a full scholarship there.

Course, then there was the OC6 that got flipped by a stationary dragonboat...

The dragonboat was stopped and the oc6 was comming up fast, the outrigger on the oc6 caugh the tail of the dragon boat behind the steers and flipped the boat. dumping the oc6 paddlers..... course, that's all i saw.. heard alot of swearing tho, and the DB team looked like they were juniors.

Huli drill is good for you and we all need to face the challenge every now and then .  :lol:

Hey everyone.

I read through these last few posts and I believe you are talking about my team unless another team also was victimised. I was coaching Tuesday night about 2 or maybe 3 weeks ago. A team of 8 rowers did exactly what you are all talking about. We were facing east on the south side of the creek and we had just done a race piece so we were talking about it. Then out of nowhere we had barely enough time to even warn the team of rowers that they were heading straight for us. They did stop rowing but their momentum carried them forward and right into the back half of the left side of our DB. And yes the last 2 paddlers did get hit with an oar but it apparently wasn't anything too serious. I immediately jumped to the back to take a look and I was shown nothing more than an abrasion. Then their coach on a coach boat did in fact come over to ask if anyone was hurt and if anyone needed a quick ride out to the land to get assistance. And he also appologized. He was quite a ways back and therefore was unable to see it in time. Now it is possible that if some of you know my team then you should also know that the majority of them are ESL students at Columbia College. Most have at least basic understanding of the English language but maybe they were unable to explain the full details. But I do coach 2 teams and I could be wrong about which team this happened to as I coach them both on the same night. It was a strange night indeed though as there seemed to be a lot of mayhem going on.

With respect to the OC6 that flipped I too witnessed that and that was definitely when I was coaching my ESL team. We were very near where this happened and I will have to say it was the DB steersperson who screwed up there partially and the OC6. Both were smack in the middle of the creek and things like that are surely bound to happen. Yes there was a lot of swearing and I even offered them assistance knowing full well they didn't need it as we all practice huli drills at some point of our outrigger paddling days. And I think it may have been a junior team but I did not know who they were or who their coach was.

All I wanted to say is that we all seem to agree that we should all respect the rules of the "water". Stick to the shore side on a counter clock wise rotation and that does in fact seem to happen. But you have to also understand that there are newbies out there learning how to control their boats and mishaps are bound to happen. Don't you all remember your first few times out on any boat?

So lets not start slamming anyone and just enjoy the awesome (yet disgusting water quality!) beauty that False Creek provides to all of us on various boats. And I am not suggesting that those damn squatters should be there. In fact I hope they get their boats sink or go down in flames like a few years ago near the Cambie Street bridge. Or even get towed out to junk yards. But that is for another topic I read somewhere else on this site! LOL

Apparently a six-man scull T-boned a dragonboat on the Creek again tonight... pretty sure the scull had to be towed and the rowers went for a swim.

Anyone got the details on this latest incident?

saw the rowers in the coach boat heading back towing the scull. Didn't see the DB that involved though

Hearing all these incidents on the water kind of make me cringe.  Sure there are lots of newbies (rowers) out there on the water these days we should give them the time and space to practice so they can learn to keep their sculls straight.  As most of us have seen, rowers have their backs toward us when they are going forward.  I am not sure if they rely on the coach boat to tell them to keep left or right.  It is common sense; if they can’t see us there is a higher chance of them hitting a stationary OC or dragon boat.  

I do recall during the theory portion of the steering accreditation the steerspersons have to be aware of all that goes on in the water. How is it that they allow a rowboat to sneak up behind, or come right at them, and not do anything about it?  Do they not see that if they are coming closer, and that they should give the commands “PADDLES UP! TAKE IT AWAY!”  What on earth are the steersperson’s doing?  Your job isn’t just to stand there, look pretty and keep the boat straight!  You are responsible for the safety of your crew and the boat!

Even if the coach was talking to the team or reviewing the last piece they did, I don’t feel that it would be rude to give the commands to get the hell away to avoid a collision.  They would understand.

Maybe I come out of this as a little too sensitive of the issue; it is just that I don’t want to eventually hear of a collision where there was a serious injury, or fatality!  I am not intending to place blame or to slam anyone.   We are all out there to enjoy what is offered out there on False Creek.  Safety comes first!

i agree with that.  it really irks me when i see boats stationary, and the steers is sitting down in the back of the boat.  ESPECIALLY when there are other boats in the area.

At the beginning of each season when we're briefing the new paddlers (and refreshing the memory of the returning paddlers) about common commands, how to load/unload the boat, et cetera, one thing is always made clear to them.  The coach is in charge of the practice and the steersperson is in charge of the boat.  If the steersperson calls a command that overrides the coach, the team follows the direction of the steersperson.



I'm not sure that it is possible to be "too sensitive" on the subject.  Safety is paramount and we all have to share the waterway.  It would be unfortunate if additional restrictions were placed upon the various organizations utilizing False Creek.

It may be that FCRCC, DragonZone, and the DBA need to look at putting a "patrol boat" out during practices to keep an eye on the various dragon boat teams and ensure that everyone is operating in a safe manner.

StraightLine