Dragon Boat West

Beijing 27 April 2007
 
I have paddled for several years in Victoria but am not sure what the following actually means to the sport...could someone enlighten me?

"I am pleased to inform all paddlers that the IDBF were admitted to Membership of the GAISF (General Association of International Sports Federations) by a vote of 38 for and 33 against to give a majority vote of 50% for the IDBF.  The required Yes vote was 50% + 1 vote (36).  The Yes vote came despite a strong objection from the ICF (International Canoe Federation).
 
The IDBF is now a fully accepted member of the international sports family, on an equal footing with the ICF and we look forward to developing our sport for all those who wish to take part in it.
 
Mike Haslam
IDBF Executive President."

it means we're recognized as a real sport now (by this body), whereas before we weren't at all.

that's great news.  IDBF and ICF have been butting heads for a long time.  go IDBF!

dboat represent.  from what i understand the IDBF was never officially recognized as the governing body for dragonboat.  that's because dboat was still considered a flatwater sport which falls technically under the ICF definition of a "canoe"... yes the technicality and mumble jumble.  the olympic commitees also acknowledges ICF as the governing body for dboat and not IDBF. :wtf:

none the less this sport is growing everyday and it would be awesome to see it in the olympics someday.  i believe they are demonstrating it in beijing for the upcoming summer olympics... woohoo!

Interestingly enough, dragon boating WILL be a demonstration sport at the 2007 BC Seniors Games.  I plan on going...I think GRPC will try to enter a couple of boats, at least one being competitive.  Should be fun!

Ain't dead yet, though practices seem to be designed to fulfill the alternative.

hmmmm...can someone please explain the direct responsibilities/what GAISF governs?  on their site it was a bit...technical,

does this now mean that ICF will have to take DB off as one of it's disciplines officially?

Really?
Seems to me that (given that the ICF was recognized and that the ICF claimed to be the governing body for dragonboat) we were recognized before this and this all this does is recognize the IDBF.

"Interestingly enough, dragon boating WILL be a demonstration sport at the 2007 BC Seniors Games.  I plan on going...I think GRPC will try to enter a couple of boats, at least one being competitive.  Should be fun!"

Are they opening up the age category for this demonstration event as I believe one has to be at least 55yrs to participate in these games.

Maybe they won't I.D. you  :lol:

Well, I think it really means dragon boaters won't have to worry about playing second fiddle to purist flatties or whitewater paddlers in the ICF. Not that this was a real issue but there are at least some flatties who think of dragon boating as the "dark side" of paddling sports.  :D

As to whether this will make any difference to competitive dragon boat racing, that depends entirely on your view of the competency of the IDBF (or DBC) and whether you might actually be losing out by not having a closer association with flatwater. I am pretty sure it will make zero difference to recreational racers.

you summed it up right there.  it makes no difference who recognizes this sport unless that body is willing to position it and advocate for it appropriately.  Just one look at that split vote will tell you how much weight the sport fed consortium plans to give to the IDBF.  In the current international sport paradigm, dboat will likely always lose out to other forms of paddling becuase single person / small crew paddling is easier to accommodate / fund / endorse.  And it doesn't help that paddling in general is not a "good spectator sport".  Then again neither is golf so what do I know??

But what you're saying about association with flatwater... I think i'd have a hard time separating the two.  I'm merely a rec paddler so its hard for me to gauge, but it seems like most highly competitive paddlers locally (eg. fcrcc) are also training and racing in OC1/OC6/C1/K1, etc.  does one gain the ability to paddle at an internationally competitive level in dragonboat without exposure / experience in those other disciplines?

Yes , Dragon boating has been put in as a demonstration sport for this years seniors games, Paddlers have to be over 55 years of age to enter and have to be registered with the BC seniors games society
tthey are split into Zones or regions  Zone 3 is from abbottsford east to hope , and the contact person for the wanted dragonboat team is [email protected] mauger  and is looking for interested paddlers

apparently so, although i'm sure you'd have to train your behind off, and you'd be fairly lop-sided in terms of body geometry.  also, many competitive teams will do time trials in oc1, so some familiarity is necessary. 
in most cases, learning to paddle the small sprint boats greatly increases the learning ability overall, as there are aspects of the stroke whose effects are multiplied ten-fold in small boat compared to just paddling in a dragonboat, eg the catch.  if you don't have a good, strong catch and solid water behind your blade in a C1 and you then try to put your weight on the blade through the stroke, you're likely to fall in. 

It means IDBF can now try to be an Olympic sport.  IOC only rcognizes those sports that are part of GAISF.  It is unlikely in our lifetime for DB to be an Olympic sport, bash away if you wish but if IOC drops baseball why would they take a sport that has a team even larger than a baseball team, not likely.

On the plus side, it should mean that officiating and such will be standardized.  We can hope, at least, for this in our lifetime.