Dragon Boat West

That was a  beautiful weekend in SF....couildn't beat the wonderful weather they got.....

To help out the Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Dragon Boat Festival, could you provide some feedback about this weekend's races?

IE: Did you like the race grid?
    Was the racing fair and equitable?
    What would you change?
    How was the water officials?
    Did you like the marshalling?
    What would you do to improve this festival?
    How was the racer's village?
   
PS Please provide constructive feedback.....


Thanks

This post is from BerkeleyMax:
That was a great event! Congratulations to all of the organizers and volunteers for running a very smooth event. Despite some delays in the mornings, (the SF Fog had to make an appearance), the races proceeded smoothly and pretty much on time!

Kerry asked us to provide some feedback, and (if I may):

Kerry is one fabulous dock master! Can we keep him? (tell me he hasn't crossed the border yet?) Can you tell me where we grow more people like him? (wait, I must still have some epithelials on my hand where he shook it?! - oh right, perhaps that would be C-A-N-A-D-A  I really appreciated the extra (postive) energy he created at the docks, and how that pumped people up for the race and made the event even more special (and inspired people to listen to him!)

Julie at marshaling was fabulous as usual, and who's the new guy with the pink hair?

I don't remember if we had the PA system in the paddler's village last year, but I really appreciated it this year. So much easier than running down to the dock all the time to see how the schedule's going (and from now on we can just set our clocks by the races!)

a few things that could be improved upon (just a few!)
PA System - I know some teams right near the speakers thought they were too loud, but we were just a tent over, and we could barely hear the announcements. Perhaps a different layout, or different speakers. Maybe we just need our own speaker. Also, there were several areas in the viewing area (east of the BIG tree and west of the grandstand), where the announcements were almost inaudible given all of the other noise going on. A few more speakers to serve those areas would be appreciated (didn't hear much during the breast cancer memorial)... and I know the background music during races and awards is sometimes cute and ironic, but... during the awards i couldn't hear the announcements over the music... and well.. enough said.

and apropos of the event, and not of racing:
recycling - perhaps distinct, dedicated recycling bins next to each trashcan? I've been to some events in SF where they get a sponsor to cover (most of) the costs of printing cardboard boxes with a small round hole in the top.

parking control - there was a lot of street parking available near the paddler's parking lot, and people were getting confused about parking in those spots or following the directions of the parking control people. maybe parking control should block off those spots in the morning, or go ahead and let people fill the spots.

portapotties - definitely more hand washing facilities this year... but still ran out of water and TP. Perhaps some hand sanitizer would help to augment the water.  (at Long Beach they had dispensers inside the portas). The water didn't last long at all...


Great Event and Thanks Again. Y'all Canadians and Canadiens keep coming down to visit, ya hear?

Great event!!
Will definately be back.
Could turn into a real major event, but...

1 - for it to be truly major, I think you all need to allow more teams. Think Alcan.
2 - only one complaint... the mixed masters. Deciding medals based on heat times just isn't right in any case - but especially not in this one. Let people race head to head for medals or don't offer the division.

Beyond that - brilliant.
Hans, you pulled off a great event.
Kerry, you rock (as always).
Thanks to everyone!

Hey Guys! I think most of Jetstart is back in Toronto by now and we just wanted to let you know what a great time we had this weekend.

This was our first time out at Treasure Island and we were amazed at how much "bigger" the festival felt there than at Lake Merced. It's a great place to watch all the racing.The competition, the entertainment and the market place were all first-rate. San Fran is really maturing into a major festival.

If we had one minor gripe, it would be the lane markers. Although with the tide and the wind, it can be tough to get them out there and keep them where you want them, a few more would be a great thing.

Otherwise, hats off to Hans and all the organisers and a special thanks to Kerry for the Loonies! Congratulations to DWW, Wassabi, Dragon Warriors and LARD on a fantastic A-final. We've never paddled so hard in our lives!

Great weekend of racing for sure.

My ladies (Sistership) had an awesome time and were amazed by how well they were treated by their host team.  That is one aspect that I think all festivals could learn from is the host team concept, it really makes you feel welcome.

Puppy did an awesome job as usual with the marshalling (think he got the job doing that in Portland as well now).  Julie did a great job pre-marshaling the teams as well.

Only real negative thing is there is no beer gardens, (although most teams brought their own post race celebration beverages).  There could be some more bleachers on the other side of the big tree for spectators.

Over all a well put together festival and very paddler oriented.

Oh yeah

Puppy next festival I think you should wear the same outfit that we saw in the hotel lobby,  you know the bum-less chaps.

Photos of the festival taken from the roof of the hanger. Courtesy of Chuck Chen and William Woo.

http://cdba.org/PHP-Nuke/modules/Gallery/album02

The only major problem was the use of time as a tie breaker.  This was especially a problem in the afternoon as the wind picked up.  If you were in a later heat, you were at a big disadvantage compared to earlier heats. 

I definitely don't want to see Puppy in bumless chaps. 

Horrible race!  I think more champagne was required from a certain Puppy.  8))

Thanks for the love.

From a local team member with family and friends watching from the shore:

Few complaints from family (who REALLY cared about the racing results) about the announcer who wouldn't always announce which team was in which lane until the race was majority over, if at all.  So just a small request to remind announcers to state which team is in which lane at the start of the race - and perhaps even which lane is which (1, closest to shore etc.)  My family wanted to know who to cheer for and doesn't recognize drummers or uniforms.

Great race overall!  I had such a GREAT time and already can't wait for next year!!

ok...I have 1 more thing other than the missing beer garden .Please....Please find better music to play over the PA ...OMG it was bad. You need something that will pump up the mood in the teams and something thats alot more up to date . Kelowna had good music ...maybe check what they were playing on the PA

 Ok just 1 more thing.....Move the PA system back away from the tents because it was deafening to those who tents were in front of it and caused some teams to unplug them to save their ear drums .Better though out placement would be much appreciated