Dragon Boat West

Well now that we've seen some great competition at  a few local venues I think it's fair to say that the top contenders locally are FCRCC and Pacific Reach.  Both teams have been very consistant with their times in each festival/regatta.  Followed by Roli, Subaru, Success and the up and coming Ruckus (good on ya guys  :clap: ).  

What does anyone know about the Island teams?  Gorging and GRPC????  Rumours are floating that they are not serious this year... I say that's  :BS: .  Can anyone confirm their status???  I expect to see them in the 'A' Final.

I'm really impressed with Swordfish, they've really picked up and should be interesting to watch. Then there's the always dangerous Portland teams...
Of course, now that Toronto and Alcan are not on the same weekend, it's possible for a team of "Eastern Experts" to come to Alcan and skool us.

It'll be fun watching Gorging, Success and FCRCC mixed duke it out as always.  It's like throwing 3 big wrestlers into a tiny room, winner takes all.

Don't forget PR and Kai! Now the room has gotten realllly smaller! :lol:
Also if there is a 9 way Collision Swordfish may come in first!*........(*thats if and only if Subaru is in the finals as well..... :lol: ) GO SLABBY

Gorging isn't going to be a threat this year....they're not training hard as the last couple of years....

Why aren't you including ROLI1 and PR in there Spiff?  Now that ROLI 1 has the best strokes they've ever had. msn(u)

I did but edited it.  I included PR and Subey as well as hoping Roli too.  Being a superstitious twat I don't like to jinx anything. First 3 are simply the ones we already know about that's all.

And I agree Roli has a great stroke up front, Tim's awesome up there.  So was Tim last year.  Seems to be something with the name Tim.

Tim sure has a sweet stroke off the tee. Did you know he got a new driver?

We're all talking about Comp teams, and that's great.

So let me just change things around a tad bit! Who's got what it takes to top if off in the Rec divisions? There are a lot of teams that are drastically improving this year. What about Juniors? Are these Hamber teens gonna take it away again this year?

All you predicters out there, please do some predicting!  :D

OK.. I'll bite.

The line between a low Comp/High Rec team this year has become a little hazy as of late. Swordfish and Ruckus have been doing exceptionally well this year. Both of them have beat teams that were in the Competitive Division last year.

However with Swordfish, although they have placed 4th overall in both the FCRCC & ABDF regattas, I am skeptical that it wasn't more their luck than their paddling ablities that got them that far. I'll say that I would rank them high this year.. but not that high.

Ruckus, I would put in the same category as FODB. They are a recreational team that can pull off competitive numbers. If there was a Coach of the Year award, I would consider their coach to be in the running.

Which brings us to FODB. They lost a couple of their big guys but only missed out of the A Final last weekend by less than a second (edged out by Ruckus). They won't be as strong as last year, but I doubt they'll let other teams pass them too easily.

Grandragons... probably the most respected team on the Creek. Definately shows us, whipper-snappers, that the world doesn't end after 40.

I'd think those teams would be placing high in the low Comp/high Rec spots. Other Rec teams I would consider to watch are...

Team Masala looked strong on the water during their practices, going head-to-head with FODB... so their performance at last weeks regatta surprised me. I thought they would've done better.

Eye of the Dragon have always had my respect. They have always been consistently been there with other the high Rec teams and giving them a good race.

The Drunk's. I haven't seen much of them this year. They got some good muscle in their engine room and should be able to hold a position in High Rec.

TCC Carrib Dragoneers only practice once a week yet they can compete with other teams that practice twice-a-week. Must be their whip-cracking coach. It's amazing though, since I hear he doesn't know how to operate a coachboat...

Team LifeScan did well in their Regatta session. Don't think they will come close to their Comp A performance in Kelowna last year though... but the potential to come low Comp is there.

Just Dragon Along seems to be coming along ok and could prove to be an up-and-coming team. Although their relative lack of experience and size may limit how high they place. Since none of them have even hit their 20's yet they have a lot of time to develop.

The names Team Storm, BC Hydro, TD Lightning, United, Dragon Hearts Team Ultimate (what used to be one of the Nokia teams) and VO2Max have been around for a while now and have been always been somewhere in the top half of the Rec Division. Although they don't look as aggressive as before, they should do ok.

Of course, we can't forget about the so-called B teams (Alpha Blue, Outback, Roli II) either. Althought they may not be quite there with their big brother team, they can still pull good water and will definately place in Low Comp/High Rec.

Junior-wise, Hamber has always been a strong presence in the Junior Division. And with the Eagles not looking as dominant in the ADBF Regatta as previous year, this may be Hamber's year to shine.

Of course you can never count the Eagles out. Just because they are not as strong as the previous Laoyam Eagles teams they can still stick it to the Junior Division. And although thier performance in the regatta was... interesting to watch, I think that once they gain more confidence in their steering they should provide us with an exciting Junior championship final.

On an aside... The Synergy teams... with 6 teams, they seem to be this decade's version of the Nokia teams of the 90's. I think at least one of them should win something...

Luck is part of racing Bro! But you need some paddling ability to make the finals of any race event. (they all don't get in by hoping other teams crash or lose control or use strategically placed animal torpedos.. :roll: )
In defense of the Fish they have beaten other higher rec and comp teams cleanly (without the use of animal torpedos) and considering they were REC B  last year they have put up some good numbers so I wish to rule out the total Luck factor as a reason for their mild success and yes they are with the big boys but are just happy to be there! :P  Nuff said!

I've never ever seen someone defend their team such as this one.
Take a valium Lethal.....you got to take the criticisms...with the compliments.

Sheesh.....

Well said Chaos......You've forgotten to mention X-Calibre,  Phat Phish,  Scotia,  Power CC Dragons,  Scaly Justice,  Mac CC Dragons,  I-Capsize, CCW,  Richmond Centre Dragoneers,  Oardeal,  just to name a few.....then there's Vortex,  Team Uproar,  Celestial Dragons.....

Anyone think Lethal has calmed down yet?  Well I've always agreed Defence will win you games.

OHMMMMMMMM.............. :wink:
I like my fishies......be nice to fishies.......
I listen to Guido about calming down cause he's the calmest dude I know! :wink:  :wink:  (say say no more!)

The following is a list of teams participating in the Alcan Festival.  I have bolded those teams that to my limited knowledge should place in the Competitive Division...
I know there's only 26 Bolded Team Names... I can't for the life of me think of that last team to make the 27 Comp Teams... maybe I missed something...

Abreast and Beyond
Abreast in a Boat - Barnet
Abreast of Life
Abreast on Falsey Creek
Absolut Sake: Shaken
Absolut Sake: Stirred
Absolute Dragons - been corrected.. they're not Adrenaline from the Island..
Air Canada Jet Start
Alpha Dragons Blue
Alpha Dragons Red
Army Dragon Forces
AUS ABREAST
Beyond Survial
BLG Smokin Dragons
Blu by U
BMO Liquid Assets
Burnaby Tsunami
Busting with Life
C.C. Riders
CAC Bananaboat
Canadian Construction Women
Canadian International College
Capital Iron Dragons
Cathay Pacific Paddlers
CBC Wave Catchers
Central Cruizers
CIBC Dragons
CNS Insurance RRRaming Speed
Concord Flying Dragons Too
Concord Pacific Flying Dragons
Conquering Waves I
Conquering Waves II
Deep Cove Catch 22
Draggin' Butt
Dragon Hearts Team Dragonfly
Dragon Hearts Team Ultimate
Dragons Abreast Australia
Dragon's Breath
Dragon's Edge
Drunk'n Dragons Blue
Drunk'n Dragons Green
Drunk'n Dragons Yellow
Elephant & Castle Booze Cruise
eyeofthedragon
False Creek Grandragons
False Creek Masters Women
FCRCC Mixed Sponsored by CIBC
Fresh Off the Dragonboat
Gift of Life
Golder Water Warriors
Gorge Rowing and Paddling
Gorging Dragons
Grandragons Too
Gung Haggis Fat Choy
GVRD 44 Cheeks
Hampton Woods
Here there be dragons
HEX
Hydro Power Dragons
iCAPSIZE iCAPTURE crew
Ismaili Volunteer Racing
JET-Ai
Just Dragon Along
Kai Ikaika
KDBC Blazing Paddles
Kryptic Storm
Laoyam Eagles
Los Angeles Killer Guppies
Los Angeles Racing Dragons
Lotus Sports Club Mixed
Lotus Sports Club Mixed II
Macdonald Realty MacDragons
Mercedes-Benz Silver Arrows
Missabittatitti
Nester's Navy
North Shore Sirens
Northern Spirit
Nothin' Dragon Seniors
Nothin' Dragon Sr. Challengers
O2P
OarDeal
OC United Dragons
Pacific Reach
Paddlin the Wong way
Pemberton Bald Eagles
Pemberton Spirit
PH&N Horny Goats
Phat Phish Racing
Philippine Youth Rowing Society
Portland Fire Dragons
PowerBar CC Dragons
Powerful Wet Chickens
Prospera Team X-Calibre
Ready, JET, Go!
Richmond Centre Dragoneers
Rogers Team Vortex
ROLI Canada I
ROLI Canada II
Saints Preserve Us
San Francisco BAD Dragons
San Francisco Dragon Warriors
Scaly Justice
Scotiabank Dragons
SFU Dragon Bytes
Shibumi
Specialty Subaru Legacy
Specialty Subaru Outback
Splash Test Dragons
Starbucks Coffee
Starbucks Waverunners
SunDragonsPlus
Survivor SAKE
Swordfish
Sync or Swim - Portland
Synergy Dregoons
Synergy Pirates
Synergy Ship Disturbers
Synergy Yellow Submarine
TCC Carib Dragoneers
TD Lightning
TDBA - Destiny Dragons
Team LifeScan
Team Masala
TEAM MOMENTUM
Team Ruckus
Team Sauder
Team STORM
Team SUCCESS
Team United
Team Up Roar
The Strength Within
UTStarcom Celestial Dragon
VanCity Thunder
VO2 Max
Wasabi POWER Surge
Wasabi Premier Mixed
Wasabi Warriors
Wasabi Women

Well, for one thing... the Philippine Youth Rowing Society are not coming to Alcan anymore.  Otherwise, they would easily be up there with the comp crews.  

These would be my other guess:
- Air Canada Jet Start (just had a relatively strong finish in the MCC 250m Regatta)
- TDBA Destiny Dragons (has always been a reasonably strong team in the past - maybe I'm wrong...)
- Vo2 Max
- Scotia


Is this list updated?  What happened to Xtreme Reach and Absolute Adrenaline from Vic??

absolute dragons are from san franscisco and are competing at alcan. (http://www.absolutedragons.com/)

as for absolut adrenaline, they declined alcan, but opted to compete this year at the gorge sprints, nanaimo, vancouver island, victoria and kelowna.  

perhaps next year, they will make it to alcan and/or richmond.

as for xtreme reach, they also declined alcan, but also opted to do gorge sprints, nanaimo, richmond, vancouver island, victoria and kelowna.  (http://members.shaw.ca/xtremereach/home.html)

hopes this helps.

VO2 max did race with comp/rec A on saterday am races at the regatta, and they didn't do all that bad either.

hmmm...i'd agree with all of your choices except Absolute Adrenaline isn't  going to be there.
As for dark horses I'd put drunken Blue and Carib in that category

Race grid is out on the ADBF site

http://www.adbf.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=downloads.listbycat&catid=5

Interesting!

We had it up on here around midnight last night and have been analyzing it since then... we've even got an excel scorecard that adds up the points and times for the Saturday races...

So... judging by the seeds, the top teams in each pool are in lane 5...

Pool A
FCRCC Mixed Sponsored by CIBC
Kai Ikaika
Gorge Rowing and Paddling
Gorging Dragons
Alpha Dragons Red
Swordfish

Pool B
Pacific Reach
Team SUCCESS
Wasabi Premier Mixed
Capital Iron Dragons
Fresh Off the Dragonboat
Specialty Subaru Outback


Pool C
ROLI Canada I
Pemberton Bald Eagles
Specialty Subaru Legacy
Team Ruckus
False Creek Masters Women
Dragon Hearts Team Ultimate

Seems to be pretty evenly spread out...

I would add Eye of the Dragon to the list of teams to make it into competitive. They were Comp C last year and look equally as strong this year. They're among the best of all those strong Rec A teams that are now blended into Comp.

They've always had my respect too.

I'm not so sure that the teams for the competitive division are spread evenly across the three pools. FCRCC, Gorging Dragons, and Kai Ikaika, 3 teams that have all in past years taken home hardware, are all in Pool A. If only 3 teams from each pool advance to the Comp A final, then it seems like the Pool A participants will have a tougher go at it than those in other pools.

Welcome back to the forum WahinePaddler. I believe everyone is expecting Gorging to be weaker than last year as per the rumor that they are now a "beer drinking" team. Unfortunately we won't know how much beer they drank till the weekend.

Any scoop on whether The Rock will be coming up to Alcan this year? I'm pretty sure all the women up here are dying to know.

That's not quite true.  If you take a look at the comp semis:

Race 65 consists of teams from:
Pool A - 1st, 4th and 7th
Pool B - 2nd, 5th and 8th
Pool C - 3rd, 6th and 9th

Race 66:
Pool A - 2nd, 5th and 8th
Pool B - 3rd, 6th and 9th
Pool C - 1st, 4th and 7th

Race 67:
Pool A - 3rd, 6th and 9th
Pool B - 1st, 4th and 7th
Pool C - 2nd, 5th and 8th

The top three teams from each of the above races will race in the Comp A final.  Potentially, though highly unlikely, all Pool A teams could end up in Comp A.

I'm really looking forward to this weekend!  This is what we've all been training so hard for...Best of luck to everyone and good races all around!