Dragon Boat West

Can someone from FODB tell me if a long standing team member who shows up to most practices and is dedicated to FODB has ever sat out a race to a stronger ringer paddler.  Since you swap out paddlers for festivals do you sit out a dedicated paddler because they are the weaker than the ringer.  Tough decision I'd think.  Just curious.

interesting question/topic.

Are you referring to the left engine room stroke paddler (for example) who mysteriously wasn't there at White Rock and was replaced by a stronger paddler from SUBARU?

Sorry Secret.. your homework is wrong.  I don't think you'll get an answer to your question. To my best knowledge, FODB has never used ringer paddlers (The tall asian fellow doesn't count as a ringer since he didn't turn in his FODB citizenship when he joined Subaru).

Just trying to read minds but I'm guessing you're referring to Zeph's comment about swapping out paddlers for festivals. From my research, FODB has a rotating roster of paddlers where about roughly 15 paddlers will paddle for the entire season and another 10 will only paddle through part of the season. It works out that they can field an entire team for a season since they have a large pool of paddlers.

I am aware that there are teams that will "parachute" paddlers into key races, however FODB isn't one of them...

Good to know FODB doesn't sit out the regular crew like some teams.  Rumour has it False Creek is finalizing it's roster this week and is pulling in some heavy weights (flaties included) from all over to pick from the best of the best.  Guess it helps when your Olympic coach has connections.  :shock:

Chaos is right, I'll answer your Q straight since I coach them.  No ringers, it goes against the social grain.  We don't really run like other comp teams either, with selection, trials, cuts, teams etc..

One of the easiest ways to push your club to the top is to hold 2 teams and select the best from each to field an A crew. But we don't even do that either.  it's really like any other team you show up, you paddle.

When you're dealing with top teams like the FC one you just mentioned, if it's true they do that, well they certainly have a right to.  I wouldn't label it as a bad thing either.  I suspect it runs a little like this, you show up, you bust your butt, and if you aren't good enough... well tough luck!

Under construction......... :lol:

Guido's referring to a silly rookie mistake I made at the beginning of my coaching years, old news, you learn and move on.

If you still have issues with something 5 years old, please feel fee to discuss it with me in person.   If you like, I can pass on some important feedback to you if you like, this is a matter for private discussion however.  You can PM me about what it's concerning, and I think you'll need to hear it.

Under construction............ :lol:

Hi Guido,

Hey man, life's too short and Dboat's too fun to be spent hating.  Just know that when you coached Roli, I always gave you my unwavering support.  Maybe I should have been more vocal about that so you knew.

I know I always p***ed you off by not following your rules to a T when you worked DZ, heh, sorry.

Under construction............ :lol:

Secret Weapon, what made you think Fodb might of used ringers in the first place?  

That's so off the wall, you could have asked "Does Zeph wear pink skirts?" and that would have made more sense.  (j/k Ze.)

moving on from guido's and spaceman's personal discussion  :wink:  :wink:  :wink:

i think zeph's last post really made people think we bring in ringers (heck i had to read it twice to figure out what he was talking about...lol).  like coach (aka spaceman) says, we field a boat of more than the needed 20 paddlers as i don't think we've ever had 2 festivals in the same year that consisted of the same people.  as one of our coaches thing is to make sure everyone gets to paddle.  it doesn't matter if the race is the beginning or the finals, everyone gets to race.  with that in mind, we somehow make it to the comp division for the past 2 years in most of the festivals we enter....funny how most of us on the team think we are a rec team... :lol:  :lol:  :lol:

btw secret, do you paddle for any teams? if so, which one?

I thought Nook was FODB's coach.

due to the ever changing racing environment on the water, we have conducted many internal audits on behavior stemming from the word "coach".   In order to keep our efforts in the competitive recreational level, the definition of "coach" has been reestablished with "Nook".  

Therefore, with the aid of learned experiences and failures, Nook is not our "coach".   As a team, we are our own coaches for we teach ourselves whenever we fall, and carry ourselves whenever we are crippled.

pOOppy pOOpy, yes I do paddle.  I've paddled for about 8 years now mainly on comp. level teams.  I'm out on the water alot but I can't say with who... it's a secret just like my name  :shhh: .

...and yes Zeph's post confused me about who races on FODB.  I think it's clear now for everybody.

don'tcha just love this guy?  he does little to satiate one's curiosity about FODB.  instead he raises more questions and head scratching.  but anything the Poop, Zeph or I write will always be on topic though cuz we're FODBers.  Sift through our compositions and you'll find useful info.

I'm pretty sure we're a rec team.  I remember voting for such earlier this year.  We registered for rec at WR as well.  Didn't get it though.    


Uhmmm......what happened to Guido's posts?

more confused now. saw Nook in the coach boat during your practice today. who is Spaceman Spiff?

Hi Photog,

Nice to hear from you again.  I met you once out on the water.
(Any clues yet?  You're getting warmmm............)

Will the real Zeph please stand up?  You'd make an excellant career politician with that labryinth-like intellectual double speak.

oh . . . "met once" is an understatement. lol.
always with the subterfuge . . . .

heh heh, long time no see, what have you been up to, are you still paddling?

Photog & Spiff... There's a reason why there's a PM feature on this site.

Er.....Chaos....why didn't you PM them and show them how perhaps they don't know how to use it?
And don't forget to let Nook know as well...... :roll:

yeah, no kidding CHAOS... why didn't you PM them?   some "people" of sub-par intellect require not just a verbal and written explanation of detailed instructions, but also a thorough display of how the scenario is to be acted out.  

It is obvious that "Spiff"'s obvious lack of grey matter in the cranium has taken a further dive as my words continue to dazzle and hypnotize his ongoing bewilderment of advanced English.

Ha!  ya see.  This guy is deep.  Look for him on the water.  He's the FODBer trying to get other teams' attention.  Hollering is his current strategy.  Anymore questions about FODB?  Zephy wants to write more.

Zephy: No insults on this particular forum, please.  Otherwise, you'll get moderated and your profound message will be lost.

chris: it must be the water that I ingested during that challenge of hydro superiority last sunday.   I'm sure there were traces of radioactive material that has now spurred the activation of some "homo-superior" genes within me.

chaos, pm?  sure np.  Thought you guys were always trying to find ways to encourage discussion on these boards, I was just saying a simple hello that's all.

Zeph, you're killing me!   :rofl:

Spiff: I know you like it...

u r all CRAZY on FODB   :lol:

wanna join, poohbear?

Yes. Everyone join FODB.  we'll eat McDonalds in between races.  what other team let's you do that?  mmmmmm......double cheeseburger specials....being rec is a good thing.  Somebody ask Captain Poop Deck (by far the craziest on the boat) how many double cheeseburgers he can eat.  Poop, you're not staying out of this one.

I know I heard that the Team Captain took pictures with strangers in White Rock, becuase some silly girl dared him.  :lol: Hhahahahhahahahahhahaha

hmmm.....who could that silly person be that dared him   :roll:  :roll:  :roll:

btw, are we on topic or are we going to get yelled at soon?   :D  :D  :D

don't we need an extra girl on our team?

oh don't worry zeph, we can always put you in a skirt.  You'll pass under their radar   :wink:

btw thanks for that wet willy, I think my ears are rotting inside out.

I'm beginning to think that Spiff is beginning to have infatuations of me..

no probs for the wet willy, I knew you'd like it

Zeph wear a SKIRT, kewl I'd like to see that 8) DAMN

.....and its brought back to life!!!!!    so zeph, tell me all about FODB.  you've been trying to get me to join for a while now, convince me!   after KS, you've got a tough job ahead of you.  ;)

haha this is funny, I'll butt in and give you every reason in the world to be the turncoat.

Zeph gives great backrubs.  You also get to chew on his Coronal Mass Ejections, fun!  I hear tell he also whispers sweet nothings into your ear during races no less.  Apparently he's also very gentle.  Hows that?

As the Brits like to say, show up, and he'll give you a free 'jolly good rogering!' as well!

colossus: in regards to spaceman's comment above, you can obviously tell that he's a repeat customer of mine.   Unfortunately for "him" (I'll leave it to your imagination as to why I put that in quotes), I still charge "him" more than my regular rate.  

Back on topic, though... FODB is a very interesting team that knows how to have fun and at the same time knows when to buckle down to be serious.  

Read back to my previous posts about race "predictions" (all the way back to last year's taiwanese festivals).   I've thoroughly ENJOYED reading everyone's "predictions" about team rankings and placings for each regatta and race, ESPECIALLY the ones after my comments.  Needless to say, I think that our results (including JDA) speaks a lot about our competitive spirit and the abilities of our coach.

Noone (but me) vouched for JDA for last year's Taiwanese festival, yet look at how far they've come in TWO years (last year being their debut junior year).   People took my regatta predictions for a joke, and look at what FODB did this year.

FODB had 2 practices a week, with about a 50-60% attendance record up until the Alcan regatta.   Not only that, but we had to recruit new paddlers just about a week before Alcan.   I'm not trying to say that we're the world's most talented team; we just enjoy every aspect of dragonboating.

To us, it's not about "winning at all costs", nor is it about "we must win our division or else..".   We have fun during our warm ups, we joke (with generous amounts of vulgarity at times) a lot both on and off the water, and we just go out fighting in the end.

Our team has grown up a lot, not only as individual paddlers learning to improve their skill, but as teammates supporting one another.   This team has no problem filling in any empty voids left behind by paddlers who've left, and even internally, politics within the team has been handled and resolved in a very mature and respectful manner where we can all say that we all resolved it TOGETHER.

Oh yes, and Team Synergy, Ruckus and BAD can tell you that we love waterfights!   We don't discriminate at who gets splashed... anytime.. anywhere on the water.