Dragon Boat West

With the completion of the 2006 Alcan Dragon Boat Festival, how did you like the overall racing format/competition/marshalling?

If possilble, if you complain about something about the racing, please provide some constructive feedback/suggestion. This will help us better, next year....

BTW: No one is complaining about the Gemini's? What gives?

Thanks

marshalling - very efficient...we were not waiting around for a long time. Races should not be over 30 minutes ahead of schedule though.

set up - even though the tents were a tight fight, it was far more easier to find friends from other teams and meet new people. Excellent to have it closer to marshalling!

racing - There were so many great teams in Rec A and B I would like to see another division. The Comp races were amazing, but the Comp B re-race I suspect caused some delays sunday that lasted to mid-evening. The announcer needs to shut up for the next Guts and Glory as the teams could not hear him, it was not his job to line up the boats and the crowd was getting very frustrated. Any chance of getting more specialty cups again for saturday afternoon? Sandbagging needs to be stopped, the race times in the lower division tell the story without naming names.

other - loved the old awards ceremony at Plaza of Nations...its just not the same anymore. Maybe the delay was a factor in that. Again and again, people ask for stands for the spectators...with racers, coaches, family and friends all watching it would be much nicer to get some seating for all day viewing.

beer garden - well the same old debauchery!

1.  Marshalling - the rules set out before the weekend started state that teams need to be in the marshalling area 20 minutes before race time.  Running ahead of schedule 30 minutes obviously throws that rule out the window.
2.  Tent area was nice and close to marshalling - great improvement even if it was tight quarters.  It was also nice to be close to the vendors.
3.  Port-a-Potties shouldn't be taken away from any area between Saturday and Sunday.  There were two rows back by the vendors on Saturday, but, only one row on Sunday.
4.  The Army should NOT start tearing down the tents while teams are still racing.  We were still racing when this started.  Tearing down of the tents on Sunday just shouldn't happen until after 5 PM.  This year it was 3:45.
5.  Beer garden  :lol:

not enough food vendors.  Where'd they all go?  Is McDonald's too close or something?

Tents:  great location but way too tight.  No walking room.  How many times did you have to say 'excuse me' and try to squeeze between people (mind you squeezing between some buff bods is not all that bad).  There was ample room to spread out the tents, hopefully will be noted for next year.

Porta-potties:  needed a few more but it was nice having them right at the marshalling area, and some smelled so pine fresh  :lol:

Too bad there were not any portable sinks like last year, boy did they come in handy.

Races:  in general pretty good.  Kudos to Kerry and the rest of the volunteers. 

Boats:  Which again is the slow gemini?  Oh yea, whichever one Paddleboy loose's in  :shock:

Pros - quality and depth of competition, incredibly well matched finals in many cases, well run at a boat/marshalling/start etc level, location of tents, great response on posting time, nice people, Guts and Glory (what more do you have to say).

Cons - really, really could use spectator stands, the announcer (and music) at the start of Guts and Glory (we were not the only boat yelling "shut up" at him), the usual handful of sandbag teams (as mentioned, no need to name names - you can figure it out yourselves), wish it was only 616s, cramped quarters in the tent village. Most of all... having cars broken into in the "secure, event passes only" parking lot SUCKED.

Overall - it was a great experience. racing against that kind of competition is amazing. We'll be back next year again, and the year after. A favorite race for sure.

while that announcer was quite annoying most of the time, i have to give him kudos for actually being enthusiastic unlike a certain announcer at richmond last year. :lol:
i liked the tent set up, it was nice and cozy, and made mad dashes back to the tent easier when you forgot something (less distance to travel). I do think that having 2 sections of tent/team would be great though, as its hard to fit 22+ people and their gear into one section comfortably.  as secret weapon said, there was ample space, put in more tents.  marshalling was good.  on time for the most part, and being ahead of schedule is better than behind.  leaves more time in the beer garden at the end :lol: 8)

Porta-Potties......get them cleaned out more frequently.  Several ended up being locked up and out of service....I'm guessing because they were at capacity?  Yuck!!  Toilet paper re-fills are always a challenge, but gotta be more on top of that.

Spectator stands would be a nice touch.....can't expect people to just stand all day.  Viewing of the finish line was somewhat limited and can only be seen from certain vantage points.  During the finals, people were stacked 6 deep in the only areas where you can actually see the finish line.  Maybe move the finish line next year for better viewing by the entire seawall.

Marshalling announcer in the Racer's Village.  Can't hear if you're stationed in the back furthest from the speakers.  Could be a potential problem if the races are off-schedule.  Maybe run speakers to the opposite side of camp next year.

Otherwise, a very well run race.  Great job.

Gotta agree w/ the spectator stands comment. the closest spots to watch the race were head on as the boats came in. But I cant think of an easy solution to that problem.

I dont remember much from the beer garden, but that just means it was perfect in every way.

not much to complain about, I had a friggin blast this year.

 :lol: some of the "sandbagging"  were results of accidental crashes....aka unintentional.

As for the potties:  I'm happy with whoever put in the fragrance.

This is for the Organizers, Volunteers, and everyone involved with running the ALCAN DB Event this year - GREAT JOB!!! 

Also a hand should go out to all the teams and paddlers that participated as they made it fun to attend. 

I have to agree with everyone’s comments about the bathroom situation, the announcer being a royal pain at the start of the Guts and Glory race (what was with the techno music blaring at the start?) and having stands for the spectators to watch and cheer. 

Again - great job and kudos to everyone involved in making it a great festival to attend.  I know Sudden Impact will be forgoing Portland next year and returning to the great competition that ALCAN has to offer.   

 :D It was my first Alcan and I LOVED IT! Our team took 1st in the Recreational F Division, which was more than we ever expected, especially going into our second year as a team! See you next year, if not sooner  :lol:

The only negative thing was the short supply of TP and fresh Porter Johns!

On behalf of the Pirates...Watch out Pirates about!!! AARRRRGGGHHHH!!!

I will say for the most part the whole event was well run. The only negative comment I have, and of course it has nothing to do with the racing side of things, is the high cost of the booze in the beer garden. It seems that prices keep jumping up every year. We are now paying the same as you would in a bar for crying out loud! I thought the purpose of a beer garden was to keep the cost of a well deserved alcoholic beverage reasonable so that you can buy all your fellow teammates/paddlers a bevy. But all in all it was well run Puppy! You rock man!

i had a fellow paddler buy me a beer...  (thanks again Bern!), and i bought a fellow paddler an alcoholic beverage (wine)...  of course, after downing a significant amount of booze on a VERY empty stomach, i wasn't thinking much about the prices..  :lol:

If you would stop buy Colossus Beer, then you would think the price of beer is resonable...speaking of which, where is my beer? Did you buy your team any beer?

This was my first festival and I'm proud to say I'mm hooked for life.
 I agree with most comments posted above especially the ones about the potties
 I brought my own t.p. on the Sunday. 
 Keep your eye on THE EYE.
 

The geminis suck.

Yeah - the retrofit makes some people more comfortable. But I've still got bruises on the outside of my leg from the damn pipe (and moving the seat without somehow taking into account how people would brace seems silly to say the least).

Next year can't we just go all 6-16? Or maybe get some BUKs?

as a visiting paddler, the ONLY bad thing i have to day about the alcan tournament is the piece of $#!# geminis.  the were horrible before the retrofit and even worse after.  i wanted to attach a basketball backboard to those damn pipes running down the side of the boat.  what an embarassment.  HOWEVER, all of the boats equally sucked which was actually good for racing.  the gemini'\s actually provided a more fair race than the 6x16s since it seemed the boats in lanes 4 and 5 which much newer and lighter than the boats in the outer lanes.  the difference in appearance alone told us the boats were not evenly matched.

You know Puppy they do deserve a reward considering how well they placed in just their 2nd year! But no I did not as I will wait until after Kelowna to reward them. They have already met a lot of my expectations and I believe they will even meet or beat some more before Kelowna. BTW I do owe you a brewski... its just a matter of when and where! LOL