Dragon Boat West

It seems there's lots of good out of town teams this year giving the local teams a run for their money. The Comp finals will be interesting.

Some unranked out-of-town mixed teams were strong in the seating races such as Air Canada Jetstart from Toronto, Topmade Fusion from Calgary, Precision Impossible from Victoria and DCH from New York. Some comp teams ended up in rec and some rec teams are in comp. The split between comp and rec is a mess.

So... whats new!

I just want to know ....Is the race grid out for Sunday!

The grid is posted on ADBF.  Interesting, looks like some 'A' final teams will end up in Comp B due to the new style race grid.  Wonder who's brilliant idea that was???

You can find the aforementioned Race grid here (http://www.adbf.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=downloads.listbycat&catid=5)

I do agree that this new advancement format seems rather odd... It doesn't really give a team much room for errors. For example, Team Ruckus had a horrible first race and now they're racing with the Novices. Masters of D'Zone had a bad second race and now they have to race against FCRCC and Pac Reach to make it into the Comp A Finals.

Also, did any steers people notice some "strange" water in lanes 1,2 and 3 in the afternoon? There's been off-water discussions that the new little "island" on the south shore of False Creek may be affecting the way the water currents are behaving when the tide is changing. Apparently these "strange water currents" makes it a bit more hairy when steering through these waters than in the other lanes. Just some off water conversations that I overheard.

It would make sense that the new south shore would cause some tidal current changes.  In particular, it is not a gradual slope, but a sharp slope into the existing basin.  This would cause water current drag along the edge and refraction/reflection of waves; however, it would only be a factor in the early morning. Around noon, the tide was slack; therefore not cause any troubles.

I am curious to know if any other teams had their races affected by water taxi wake.
Our crew was in a couple of races in which we got bounced around quite nicely by the
wake of passing water taxis. What's up with that????
I would love to see the starter be a bit more aware of other boat traffic on the creek
ie don't start a race until all the boat wake has subsided.

 apparantly the person who designed the race grid is also a paddler with the masters ............ doh ! :doh:

Not possible to wait for traffic to stop before commencing the races.  There will always be traffic in one form or another.  To close off the east end of False Creek for two days would be very difficult, economically and politically.  Realistically, may I suggest you compare it to the Victoria Dragon Boat Festival, where a 110 vehicle ferry comes into the race course with sea planes zipping in and out.

pictures of LIQUID SUNSHINE

By a Hair (CBC Wavecatchers (2) take Team Storm (3) with Synergy Gunshow (7) in background)
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m92/gingersnaps1969/Alcan%20Dragon%20Boat%20Fest%202007/100_3865.jpg)

Finish of a race
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m92/gingersnaps1969/Alcan%20Dragon%20Boat%20Fest%202007/100_3833.jpg)

Backswipe
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m92/gingersnaps1969/Alcan%20Dragon%20Boat%20Fest%202007/100_3825.jpg)

Don't we look like pros
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m92/gingersnaps1969/Alcan%20Dragon%20Boat%20Fest%202007/100_3791.jpg)

Head Count
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m92/gingersnaps1969/Alcan%20Dragon%20Boat%20Fest%202007/100_3790.jpg)

Single File Please
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m92/gingersnaps1969/Alcan%20Dragon%20Boat%20Fest%202007/100_3786.jpg)

Race Officials
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m92/gingersnaps1969/Alcan%20Dragon%20Boat%20Fest%202007/100_3784.jpg)

Real Hair Dedication (Flying Dragons)
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m92/gingersnaps1969/Alcan%20Dragon%20Boat%20Fest%202007/100_3804.jpg)

Do I really have to warm up? (Riptide)
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m92/gingersnaps1969/Alcan%20Dragon%20Boat%20Fest%202007/100_3781.jpg)

Happy to be finished
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m92/gingersnaps1969/Alcan%20Dragon%20Boat%20Fest%202007/100_3860.jpg)

ssSteamed Heat
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m92/gingersnaps1969/Alcan%20Dragon%20Boat%20Fest%202007/100_3856.jpg)

False Creek
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m92/gingersnaps1969/Alcan%20Dragon%20Boat%20Fest%202007/100_3854.jpg)

BAD (Bay Area Dragons)
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m92/gingersnaps1969/Alcan%20Dragon%20Boat%20Fest%202007/100_3850_edited.jpg)

Huh?
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m92/gingersnaps1969/Alcan%20Dragon%20Boat%20Fest%202007/100_3818.jpg)

Rain Rain Go Away (Sakeccino)
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m92/gingersnaps1969/Alcan%20Dragon%20Boat%20Fest%202007/100_3815.jpg)

Out of Towners (DCH Dragon Boat Club - New York)
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m92/gingersnaps1969/Alcan%20Dragon%20Boat%20Fest%202007/100_3812.jpg)
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m92/gingersnaps1969/Alcan%20Dragon%20Boat%20Fest%202007/100_3810.jpg)

He Man (Swordfish)
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m92/gingersnaps1969/Alcan%20Dragon%20Boat%20Fest%202007/100_3807.jpg)

Reach for the Sky (TD Lightning)
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m92/gingersnaps1969/Alcan%20Dragon%20Boat%20Fest%202007/100_3806.jpg)

Xtreme Stare (Xtreme Reach)
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m92/gingersnaps1969/Alcan%20Dragon%20Boat%20Fest%202007/100_3800.jpg)

Navy Dragon Anchors in disguise
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m92/gingersnaps1969/Alcan%20Dragon%20Boat%20Fest%202007/100_3799.jpg)

Lost? (Flying Dragons)
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m92/gingersnaps1969/Alcan%20Dragon%20Boat%20Fest%202007/100_3805.jpg)

How wet was it, really?
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m92/gingersnaps1969/Alcan%20Dragon%20Boat%20Fest%202007/100_3789.jpg)

The Spirit of Alcan
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m92/gingersnaps1969/Alcan%20Dragon%20Boat%20Fest%202007/100_3841.jpg)

I actually don't have any major problems with the race grid. Just that it's pretty different than previous years where you can screw up short of finishing last and still have a chance to do well. It's not so forgiving this year. It makes every race count so those teams that aren't ready in the mornings are pretty much out of luck. Then again, that's why they call this racing and why everyone has practices.

What I didn't bring up was the seedings for the races. With the race grids, they designed around the seedings of the teams entered so that they finish roughly where the teams should be (a team that's ranked top spot, should come close to the top spot and a team seeded 50 should come around that level). The race grids are built around advancements to achieve a result close to the seedings. Now, if the rankers don't seed a team properly, then the race grid would be drastically affected by this. Alcan's probably the only festival that asks for paddler feedback regarding rankings of teams from the community. The organizers don't really have the bandwidth to rank each and every team that enters this festival to allow for perfect seeding and advancements. If we really have problems with how some teams were ranked, some of the onus should fall on us as a community for not answering that call when they put that request for rankers. If you didn't submit a ranking to alcanranker, then you shouldn't be complaining about the seeding.. and by extension the grid itself.

I honestly think that no matter what they do, they won't please everyone, especially with over 100 team's advancements to take account for.

Anyways, good racing today everyone and good luck to you all tomorrow.

LOL I just hate stroking in the Gemini boats.  That damn drum is up in my face...

What gives? This was the most frustrating Alcan ever....race grid...delays on the water...it used to run so well.

I agree, not to mention the amount of boats crashing into one another! I mean the drift was bad but there were a lot of sloppy mistakes. Very frusterating for sure.

i thought it was ok actually.... didnt have a problem with anything except the guts and glory not starting until 7pm.   

Some unofficial results from Sunday.

Cathay Pacific Competitive A Championship
Please send PM if you have COMP A results.
1. 1:56.060 FCRCC A
2. 2:00.880 Gorging Dragons
3. 2:01.300 Portland Paddling Club
4. FCRCC B
5. Masters of DZone
6. W3Media.com
7. Pemberton Bald Eagles (2 second time penalty)
8. DCH New York

Gaia Competitive B Championship - Gemini
1. 2:06.640 Pacific Reach
2. 2:10.220 Dragonauts
3. 2:10.260 Laoyam Eagles (Adult Division)
4. 2:10.670 Sudden Impact
5. 2:11.090 Air Canada Jetstart
6. 2:11.170 Lotus Sports Club Mixed
7. 2:12.840 Edgewater DWW
8. 2:13.430 RGL

Red Rain Competitive C Championship - BUK
1. 2:05.500 Los Angeles Racing Dragons - Black
2. 2:06.330 San Francisco BAD Dragons 1
3. 2:06.400 VO2 Max
4. 2:07.910 Synergy Legacy
5. 2:08.980 Wasabi Mixed
6. 2:09.880 Precision Impossible
7. 2:10.360 Fresh Off the Dragonboat
8. 2:13.400 Blu By U - Nanaimo

Granville Island Brewing Competitive D Championship - Gemini
1. 2:10.290 Calgary Race Club
2. 2:13.880 Swordfish
3. 2:15.360 Pacific Reach 2
4. 2:15.770 Topmade Fusion
5. 2:16.270 Killer Guppies
6. 2:16.600 Scotiabank Dragons
7. 2:17.390 TCC Dragoneers
8. 2:21.390 Los Angeles Racing Dragons - Red

Edgewater Recreational A Championship - BUK
1. 2:10.980 Just Dragon Along
2. 2:11.330 Eye of the Dragon
3. 2:12.880 XTREME REACH
4. 2:13.220 Finding BMO
5. 2:14.020 Absolute Sake Shaken
6. 2:14.330 ssSteam Heat
7. 2:15.400 Team Lifescan
8. 2:15.460 AeroDragons

Concord Pacific Recreational B Championships - BuK
1. 2:11.12 SuperSlim Phat Phising Racing
2. 2:13.90 Team Storm
3. 2:13.94 Concord Pacific Flying Dragons
4. 2:15.12 PCL Centurions
5. 2:15.26 RaceFace
6. 2:16.77 Shibumi
7. 2:17.36 Synergy Gunshow
8. 2:18.98 Team Vortex

24 Hours Recreational D Championship - BUK
1. 2:27.120 Scaly Justice
2. 2:27.490 CNS Insurance RRRamming Speed
3. 2:28.180 Dragon's Breath
4. 2:30.920 Pirates
5. 2:31.910 Ritchie Bros. Auctionauts
6. 2:33.110 Apalala
7. 2:34.150 The Strength Within
8. 2:34.700 UA Power Dragons

Novice A Championship - BUK
1. 2:10.950 SunDragons
2. 2:15.710 Anniemaniacs
3. 2:17.150 Team Ruckus
4. 2:23.190 Gift of Life
5. 2:28.010 CC Dragons
6. 2:28.160 Northern Spirit
7. 2:29.980 Business Objects
8. 2:31.220 O2P

Novice B Championship - BUK
1. 2:37.940 Draggin' Riders
2. 2:40.150 Conquering Waves
3. 2:42.730 Richmond Centre Dragoneers
4. 2:45.210 The Eh Team
5. 2:53.660 Nothin' Dragon Sr. Challengers
6. 3:07.650 Off Balance

Scotiabank Breast Cancer Trophy Race - Gemini
1. 2:38.660 Wasabi Team SOAR
2. 2:42.660 Abreast in the Cove
3. 2:51.450 Abreast with FORT-itude
4. 2:56.160 Abreast - Deas Divas
5. 2:57.240 Abreast in Barnet
6. 3:00.180 Sunshine Dragons Abreast
7. 3:05.240 Abreast on the Creek
8. 3:22.300 Abreast - Staying Abreast

Rogers Junior A Championship - BUK
1. 2:05.230 Laoyam Eagles
2. 2:05.570 Lincoln Mustangs
3. 2:10.090 Wasabi Kraken
4. 2:12.190 Eric Hamber Eternal Dragons
5. 2:13.290 Laoyam Falcons
6. 2:16.150 Synergy Adelicious
7. 2:16.740 Aquarockets

General Motors Open Division Championship - BUK
1. 1:56.980 AMPCO GRAFIX - FCRCC A
2. 1:57.920 Outrigger Ohana
3. 1:58.060 Portland Paddling Club
4. 2:02.120 AMPCO GRAFIX - FCRCC B
5. 2:02.950 Laoyam Raptors
6. 2:03.470 HKDBF-NY/DCH NSX
7. 2:04.120 Pacific Reach
8. 2:09.360 Wet and Woozy

W3Media Womens Championship - BUK
1. 2:11.090 False Creek Women
2. 2:15.110 Wasabi Team Huge
3. 2:15.810 Wasabi POWERSurge
4. 2:15.950 Wet and Wonderful
5. 2:18.460 Dragon Ladies
6. 2:27.150 Northern Spirit
7. 2:27.170 Long Beach Women

Guts and Glory - Gemini
1. Calgary Race Club
2. Air Canada Jetstart
3. Dragonauts
4. Sudden Impact
5. Edgewater Casino's DWW
6. Los Angeles Racing Dragons Black
7. RGL

Guts and Glory - BUK
1. AMPCO GRAFIX - FCRCC Mixed A
2. Pemberton Bald Eagles
3. Master of D'Zone
4. AMPCO GRAFIX - FCRCC Mixed B
5. Pacific Reach
6. W3Media.com
7. HKDBF-NY/DCH NSX
8. Portland Paddling Club

I liked this one better than previous ones I have been at.

First, no admission fees allowed people I know to cheer me on.  Feels good to have community people around.  Having the large screen in the stage area brought the focus back on racing, instead of the countless entertainers they had in previous years that had very little to do with the sport. 

Second, the tents.  It was frustrating not knowing if we would be getting tents, but that is beyond the control of the festival.  Unless we want the fees to go up dramatically, I think this was acceptable.  The racers' village security was a lot left to be desired, as a lot of unauthorized people still floated in and out the area.

Third, the race officials.  They seemed to know what was going on.  No real foul-ups at the docks.  The races went ahead of schedule, but I think that is better than behind schedule.  Results from Saturday were posted fairly late (in comparison to Sunday where results were posted within a short period of time after each race).    I am also glad I have not had the chance to test the medical emergency services!

Fourth, the equipment.  God, the paddles they were lending out were in fairly bad shape.  Some of the pfd's were at least newer, and did not have that smell to it.  Luckily our team uses our own paddles (as should you all, for bare minimum, the right size paddle).  The boats themselves were good.  BuK, I liked. Gemini, I still have friction burn from the metal pipe installed along the gunwale.

Fifth, the grid.  With what I have seen, the grid seemed to have worked.  Out of town teams are hard to gauge as they sometimes do not come with their team, but rather a core with loaner paddlers, or they change their traditional name to a "traveling team" name; therefore, destroying any way of seeding them properly.  We could change it, but I challenge anyone out there to create a better system.

Sixth, the friendliness.  This has little to do with the volunteers and race officials.  As usual, Kerry did a wonderful job of getting us going.  His insight with a lot of teams from experience shows (in comparison to lacklustre traffic controllers in other sports I have been in).  It may seem dumb, but in comparison to Victoria & Nanaimo, paddlers did not seem to congratulate one another as much, very few paddlers arches . . . just less rah-rah kind of stuff. 

Seventh, the rain.  Something uncontrollable, but it sucked.  On Sunday, it was overcast.

I meant to put this in the Sunday Alcan thread.

Team Vortex after Rec B Championship Final
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m92/gingersnaps1969/Alcan%20Dragon%20Boat%20Fest%202007/100_4064.jpg)

Rec B Championship Final
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m92/gingersnaps1969/Alcan%20Dragon%20Boat%20Fest%202007/100_4065.jpg)

Comp A Final snapshot
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m92/gingersnaps1969/Alcan%20Dragon%20Boat%20Fest%202007/100_4105.jpg)

Gorging Dragons after their last race
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m92/gingersnaps1969/Alcan%20Dragon%20Boat%20Fest%202007/100_4108.jpg)

Sights on the shore - peddlers of caffeine
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m92/gingersnaps1969/Alcan%20Dragon%20Boat%20Fest%202007/100_4063.jpg)

Why I paddle? For hardware and beer.
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m92/gingersnaps1969/Alcan%20Dragon%20Boat%20Fest%202007/100_4114.jpg)

I found the race grid this year interesting. AS Chaos put it , it is up to us as a DB community to help and offer insight on the out of town teams as it is true they can greatly affect the outcome and rankings. I like the new advancement scheme as it kept the strong teams together and offered an opportunity to teams with a tough first race to advance to the comp round in their second race. Case in point. Sudden impact, who despite a 3rd place showing in their first race, came back with an impressive victory in the their second heat and made it to the comp round where they advanced to Comp B. In the old way if u came second or third in your first race you were basically screwed as the next heat would have a top 16 ranked team (or winning seeded team) in that heat. This way with all the winning teams in the first round grouped together and advanced to the comp semis , a team that finishes second now face another second or third place team (that made of had a tough draw) and give them an opportunity to get a first and the valuable points it gives. Having a wide spread in a heat does not indicate that the rankings were off. Many factors come into play (wake from the faster boats, Being in a gem )-: ,having a crappy race are also factors. I think the times in all the comp to higher rec divisions was well seeded  and the races pretty close. No matter how good u are in the pre-regattas meet jack S**T when it comes to race day. Whom ever executes their race plan flawlessy will come out on top. It was a bit of a shocker that the NY/DC and top made from Calgary were not ranked but like Backward rowing mentioned, no one knows what kind of team they will bring when they are travelling.
All that aside it was a good festival (free is GREAT!) Good food this year . crappy weather but it could have been a lot worse! and I liked the big screen (when I finally saw it)
I'll post some pics up later tomorrow but I know Photog was snapping most of Sunday and will be the man!
Also I like to add the races ran very smoothly considering the amount of drift and collisions we had this time around
(most involved te BUKS...) I like the even playing field created by having BUKS and Gems (though all BUKS would be cool!)

See u all in Nanaimo or Harrison next!

Seeding is only for preliminary heats, after the first two heats, all the top teams will advance to their respective competitive level. If your crew is relying on seeding to advance or hope to have a less competitive heat then your crew will be eliminated eventually.

For Out of town teams TopMade, JETSTART, Portland Paddling Club, WASABI and NY-DCH typically has competed well wherever they travel to. Most of those crews are large enough to bring their own people and rarely borrow paddlers unless they are sending multiple crews.

Anybody have the results?  I don't see them posted yet.

Most of them are listed at the bottom of page one of this topic.  Still missing Comp A and Comp C results however.

i saw in the 24 newspaper they posted all the top 3 results of each division.  so i assume that is official?!  i am kind of baffled by the results...  why did it take so long for them to release it?  and a lot of my teammates thought we would medal for sure... *bleh*

can anyone post the results from the 24 paper?

Thanks, I should have reviewed page 1 more carefully.

http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/

to download today's 24 http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/pdf/cover.pdf

Page 18 and 19 has the top 3 for several divisions. Page 3 has a summary of Alcan.

He may be ridiculously good looking... but not quite false creek.   :lol:

Comp A was not posted due to a protest being filed by the Master's of D'Zone.  Apparently lane 1, Pemberton Bald Eagles, was in their lane riding wash.  Not sure what the outcome was.  Any updates???

Congratulations to Miss Kamini Jain and her crews!!!  Well done for all crew members of FCRCC :clap:

Well, this was my first Alcan, and I thought it was a great festival!  Puppy is the finest Marshall in the history of the sport!

My one gripe has nothing to do with the officials, weather, or competition: Air Canada lost one of our coach's bags, and it just happened to be the one big bag containing the entire team's paddles!  It's still missing in action :(

A HUGE THANK YOU TO LARD, who loaned us their paddles for one of our early races!

4th Place FCRCC B (2:01 and change), 5th Masters of D'Zone (2:03 and change), 6th W3Media (2:06 I believe), 7th Permberton (2:08 after penalty), 8th DCH (2:08)...don't have the times in front of me.

Pemberton was assigned a 2 second penalty which moved them to 7th place (they were 6th). 

DCH was racing as exhibition in Comp A, as they requested prior to the race that they were going to kneel (not allowed in festivals that follow IDBF rules).  They came 8th in either case so not sure the kneeling helped them that much.

As for the rankings, out of the top 8 teams to make Competitive only Pacific Reach did not make Comp A (won Comp B, tough semi final).  For the next 8 teams, most of them made Comp B, a few did not but overall what the rankers had as the top 32 teams were the top 32 teams.

For those that do not like the rankings, then I suggest you try doing them one year.  It is not as easy as you think and it takes an alot of time to do it.  You should be thanking the rankers (7 of them in total) for their hard work.  In case some of you think the rankers is a closed group who sit around drinking coffee and seeing who they can screw up you are dead wrong.  We had rankers from Vancouver, Victoria, and beyond this year in addition we had an excellent cross section of paddlers and coaches (all were paddlers and there were 3 coaches).

For those teams that questioned where they were ranked, I stand by the rankers as you ended up generally where the rankers had placed.  You know who you are  :D.

Until next year, happy racing whereever your next event is.

Some Random shots at the ferstival.
There were event photographers there so I did not want to infringe but managed to snap a few anyways...enjoy

(http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b79/Lethal_Weapon/Alcan2007/KV7D0392Large.jpg)
Comp A Final
(http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b79/Lethal_Weapon/Alcan2007/KV7D0069Large.jpg)
Lots of close races
(http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b79/Lethal_Weapon/Alcan2007/KV7D0144Large.jpg)
Not usually a good sign when the steers falls down....because....
(http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b79/Lethal_Weapon/Alcan2007/KV7D0147Large.jpg)
this happens!
(http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b79/Lethal_Weapon/Alcan2007/KV7D0148Large.jpg)
Luckily no one was injured except for the Dragon's head
(http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b79/Lethal_Weapon/Alcan2007/KV7D0089Large.jpg)
The Masked Man returns!
(http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b79/Lethal_Weapon/Alcan2007/KV7D0141Large.jpg)
Focus!
(http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b79/Lethal_Weapon/Alcan2007/KV7D0128Large.jpg)
He'll have a lot more up later I am sure! Da Man!
(http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b79/Lethal_Weapon/Alcan2007/KV7D0084Large.jpg)
Awesome job Water'd Edge! and Great Boats
(http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b79/Lethal_Weapon/Alcan2007/KV7D0109Large.jpg)
Like no other Venue....

On Sunday, our team had a totally different experience from whoever wrote this:

"Third, the race officials.  They seemed to know what was going on.  No real foul-ups at the docks.  The races went ahead of schedule, but I think that is better than behind schedule."

Our team was in the mixed division guts & glory, scheduled to start at 6PM.  Several of our team members had to make the 9PM ferry to the Island, so needed to be back at the dock by about 7:30.  The race officials were aware that, yet the officials, both on and off the water, were totally disorganized with this race.  I've never seen such a gong show - after finally being marshalled down to the docks an hour behind schedule, the official on the water had the teams lined up in completely the wrong order.  By 7:20, the race officials still didn't have the teams lined up properly.  We had no choice but to return to the dock.  It was very disappointing for us.  

On top of that, one the event security guards went berserk while we were waiting in the marshalling area and caused an injury to one of my team members.  All of the sudden this security guard starts having a screaming and yelling tantrum, apparently over the way his co-workers were handling a situation involving an alleged theif.  In the midst of screaming and yelling, he threw his radio on the ground, ripped his security shirt off, and ended up in a scuffle with security and the police.  His flying radio hit one of our stroke people in the ankle and broke into pieces which then hit several other team members.  Our stroke had to go to the first aid tent for treatment on her ankle, all of this minutes before the already very late race was supposed to start.  Some of the race officials/management were nearby when ths happened, but didn't seem to be very interested in taking charge of the situation.

So, my feedback to race organizers is this: (1) find a better security contractor next year; (2) if you're going to have so many races in on the last day, including finals in 'specialty' divisions such as juniors, gender races, etc., plan your race schedule better and take into account potential delays, so that teams from the Island can actually make it home on Sunday night; (3) get some race officials that know how to keep things organized and in control, both on and off the water.

Your are welcome, drachenboot.  the pleasure was ours!

It's always great to see everyone up in Vancouver - as usual, great racing.  great venue - a few delays, but that's not a big deal.  it's always nice to be in a city where people actually know what dragon boating is.

i found the bracketing system a bit odd, but hey, i can't imagine how difficult it is to put the brackets together.

Please take no offense, but the gemini boats seem to be one GIANT mistake compounded into a worse mistake.  They were horrible as 11-row boats, and worse as 10-row retro-fitted boats.  for me, i would have preferred buk and 6/16s and the race boats.  i thought the old banana boats we had in Long Beach were horrible...

Overall, a great race!  Now, if you could only make the weather cooperate (we left 87 degree F weather in Los Angeles)....  :D  best joke by race announcer - "what comes after 2 days of rain in vancouver?"  Answer: "Monday".

i hope you all can make it down to our long beach race!

 I have to agree ....security looked as if they got totally carried away .What was the big deal because some poor homeless guy tried to steal some empty plastic bottles...... The guy has no money and its survival for him .The security should have just given him some of the bottles and he would of disappeared happy but no they had to make a big deal of it and take the guy down with force and then bring the police in ...OMG !!

 It wasn't the fault of the Alcan people who apparantly actually said it was ok for him to take some ,as he is always down there collecting bottles , but it was the fault of the security guard losing it and he was not aware that it was ok for the homeless guy to take some .

 The one security guard w/ the blackish shirt on..shorter guy should be fired as he was even losing it with other security guys and making threats and the bigger guy had to warn him .Seemed maybe the litle guy had some serious inner issues going on and was not able to control himself under stress ....pretty sad .

 

That is actually the Open final.
Thanks for the photos!

A couple clarifications regarding Sunday's incident of the homeless man at DZ and security:

1. Two  festival security guards chased down the homeless guy from Racer's Village for reasons still unknown to us

2. Security grabbed and restrained the guy at DradonZone's stairs which caused a commotion and a third security guy who witnessed this incident lost it (as you all saw), ripped off his shirt screaming that he quit, and ripped off and threw his radio and hit a paddler with it

3. Witnessing this, Water's Edge staff took control and contacted the police because:
a) the way the homeless man was being restrained by the security guards did not seem warranted. No other streetpeople who were down by DragonZone collecting empties (and there were many) had been approached or restrained by security all weekend. (besides this guy is a regular at DragonZone)
b) a paddler was injured and the situation had potential for escalating

At this point Water's Edge stepped out of the equation and allowed the police to do their job while the First aid attendants looked after the injured paddler

To follow up the Festival was contacted to report the festival's security guards actions and we personally checked in with the injured paddler (who said she would be fine aside from some bruising)

Various pictures from my camera...

Steers persons in action :)
(http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/2319/img4423xk8.jpg)
Crossing the finish line
(http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/9826/img4546og9.jpg)

(http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/1773/img4556gv5.jpg)

(http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/4344/img4532kk1.jpg)

Guts and Glory

The drummer leans into the turn ...
(http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/2570/img4601uu3.jpg)
... and so does the steer's!
(http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/9881/img4603di4.jpg)
A whole lot of boats.
(http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/1669/img4609br8.jpg)
Crossing the finish line...
(http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/595/img4615wq0.jpg)

(http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/234/img4617vz0.jpg)

Afterwards...
(http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/8436/img4630pz2.jpg)

honestly, i thought the event went very smoothly.  i think we all have to give some credit and a big thank you to the organizers (especially puppy who was quick to respond to the security incident as he was in the process of lining up the teams for G&G).  due to that unfortunate event towards the end of the race (which was the cause of the delay) it may have affected your perception of the entire race.  but the race officials were actually VERY organized.  most races were either on schedule or ahead of schedule.  in many cases they were marshalling crazy early.

it's too bad we had to run so late for the G&G but it's not the fault of the Alcan race co-ordinators or the volunteers.  they did an exceptional job controlling things on and off the water.  saftey and security always comes first before racing.  it could have been much worse.

In reply to glowing ice, the G&G race was already at least 30 minutes behind schedule when the secuirty incident occurred.  While that incident seems to have contributed to the delay, it was not the only cause for the delay.  And, as I mentioned above, the marshall on the water added to the problem by setting up the boatds in the wrong order.  We sat in our boat on the water for about 15 minutes, while the marshals tried to sort things out on the water, before we realized that the race still wasn't ging to start anytime soon and we returned to the dock.

Hey Islander, why don't you sign up for the job then?  I'm sure it pays mucho cash-ola, remember most of these people volunteer their time.

Better yet why don't you keep you and your comments on the Island where they belong!  I can't believe you'd complain like that over a little hiccup in the schedule of the weekends events.

Hat's off to all of those who volunteered and help organize/run this years festival.  Your time and effort are greatly appreciated.

Next stop, Vernon!  Poor little town won't know what hit them!

I was out steering for five teams this weekend (8 races total) plus racing with my own team (caller - different perspective for sure! ), so I had a fair amount of experience with the onshore and water marshaling.

The onshore marshaling was great - Puppy did a great job as usual and minimized the amount of time a team spent marshaled while helping to keep the races on time.  Quite the change from 5 or 6 years ago where a team could spend a hour in marshaling before racing.

For the most part the water marshaling and starter did a fantastic job given the wide range in experience for the boat crews.  I did notice a few issues though:

• Boat 8 had a really hard time hearing the starter.  Mostly it was due to trying to hear the calls over the noise coming from other boats.  I'm not sure what the solution is - place a wireless set of speakers on the north shore or crank up the volume and issue earplugs for lanes 1 & 2.
• Sunday afternoon was really bad for drifting at the start line.  One problem I saw here was the water marshals were calling the teams up to the start line way too early and the boats were badly out of position by the time the starter started to call the teams up to the line.  If the drift is bad, wait until the finish line is ready to go and then call the boats up to the marshaling line.  Make it quick and get them started before the teams drift out of position.
• This point is more of a complaint against some teams.  There are teams that like to hang back at the start line until the last moment.  While the starter repeatedly calls them to the line, all of the other boats have drifted across the line or out of their lane.  Personally, I think Kim was being too lenient with these teams.  Give them one warning and if they don't bring it up, start the race.  After a couple of incidents where a team has started 1/2 a boat length back, most teams will be a little more prompt in bringing it up to the line.
• Of course, if the starter does get stricter about boats lagging, there are going to be more protests.  Put a video camera at the start line so any protest can be verified against the actual incident.

I liked having paddlers village on the north side of the festival.  It gave us more room and we weren't tripping over each other.  The walk to the marshaling area wasn't an issue either.


Secret Weapon - I don't think your comment is really necessary.  Islander was simply making observations about what they encounter and when you're having to worry about a lengthy trip home that includes a scheduled ferry, any lengthy delays become a problem. And yes, most of the people involved are volunteers although I believe the Water's Edge staff are paid.

The Guts & Glory race at past festivals has had issues as well.  Last year (I believe) the race started with the teams taking the course counter-clockwise instead of clockwise.  I'm not sure why these problems keep cropping up, but it certainly does take away from the race.

Otherwise - a big thank-you to all of the volunteers and Water's Edge staff for putting on another excellent festival.

StraightLine

 the really sad part was the fact it cut into some quality beer garden time and to make up for the loss of time Calgary had their beer bong going ......it moved like 4 beers into you in a matter of seconds ......woohoo !! Beware of that nasty thing in Calgary .... :Cheers:

Let's not start this Vancouver vs. Island thing again.  Keep it polite and constructive.

The delay obviously caused problems for people but many of us have dealt with delays in the past and it should be no surprise to us that it may happen at Alcan (even with the organizer's best efforts).  Despite the criticism, I hope that you would agree, most paddlers appreciate the time and effort put in by the organizers and volunteers.  Thanks guys!

what a stupid, ignorant, and immature comment to make.  
just because one person's opinion varies from yours doesn't make them any more wrong than you are right.  while you may live here and don't have to worry about catching the last ferry so you can get back home so you can go to work the next day, many others do/did.  the world doesn't involve around you, and the delays may not have affected you and your team/your plans for the evening, but they sure as hell affected others'.  
grow up.

to islander:
it was great racing you guys in the final, and sucks that you had to take off because of the delays.  i'm not sure which one you are, and you probably don't know who i am, but i know several of your mustached compadres.  we look forward to racing you guys again in calgary!

To Islander, Glowing Ice and Secret Weapon.....

We thank you for your comments...and we realize the delay has inconvenienced some teams. We do apologize for this but please know that Water's Edge does endeavor to race all teams on schedule - fairly and safely.

Things did occur late Sunday, that was unintentional and we will be having a team debriefing to solve these issues.

On a whole, every festival we work at, some issues do creep up and we do our best to mitigate these issues before they happen.  However, some do sting us….The biggest challenge this year was the number of entries. 165+ teams….  Water’s Edge is here to make the racing experience not only competitively, but fun, safe and equitable.

Let's not continue this thread/topic any further...we can take it off line and we can PM with each other.....there's no winner here, if we continue to complain...rather, let's just fix it ....

Thanks everyone....We appreciate your understanding and hope to see all at the next races....

 ok ...enough already .........next topic ...paddler party !! .......who went and please give a report

My apologies to Islander, I got a little heated as I know many of those involved in organizing this elaborate event and I know how much time, effort and stress is on their shoulders.  Again to everyone sorry for blowing my top.   :(

the real paddler party was in the beer garden....   beer bong, break dancers, ass-smacking with paddles, and a wrestling match.

how you feeling this morning, Puppy?  :lol:   did you enjoy your brief period of weightlessness as you flew through the air?   :D 8))

Many of us endure frozen fingers, stiff joints, wrenched muscles and sores in places that no one wants to know about...all for our love of this sport. I am sure that a few glitches here and there are something we can 'suck it up' for, especially since most of us have not contributed to what is a truely awesome venue.

Hats off to the organizers and volunteers! It is obvious that they endure far more than we do...for the same reason as the rest of us.

I issue a challenge Alcan 'regulars' to take a moment to ask how they can help for next year. I am sure that you wouldn't be asked to donate a kidney or anything, and many hands make light work.

If anybody out there (puppy) can point us to the 'how can I help out for next year' line please do so.

the beer garden was a blast.  went in downed 4 beers, followed up with another beer... then one of the guys on FCRCC men's gave me half a cup of hard liquor (whiskey i believe) and that was the end of me...

colossus tackling puppy and judo flipping him was really cool too!  luckily VO2 didn't break out the lube.   :D

Secret Weapon

hey we all blow our tops and sunday had a lot of them. The crew and volunteers had a very long weekend by the looks and sounds of it and some people are just not built to handle a lot of stress. thats why it has to be a team effort the same as it is in the boats, so should it be with the organizers. However the whole community is a team too and rather than be super critical (no finger pointing intended) we need to work together.

One thing that seemed to be a theme was the lack of volunteers, obviously the weather kept most away but i'd say recruiting was likely difficult and many people, paddlers included need to step up and pitch in during such large festivals. Even if it is for one race.

OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I'm still trying to find my lower extremities.

Yes, hold Colossus down for me, so I can beat him...

Taking into consideration that with so many teams/paddlers during the 2-day event, overall the festival went pretty well, in my opinion.  

It is unfortunate that the G&G was delayed but the organizers and volunteers worked very hard before, during, and after the races to try to make things run as smoothly as possible.  I doubt there will ever be a perfect event when everyone is satisfied.  With such a large event it can be difficult to have everything go perfectly, and sometimes things go wrong.  When things do go wrong, everyone tries to scramble and improvise to fix the problem.

At the same time, when things don't go according to plan and it affects a team, every person on that team can feel frustrated and discouraged.  Especially when you add in the pressure of catching a ride home, father's day dinner plans, or just plain tired from a long day.  Islander, I'm guessing your team was disappointed and frustrated with the situation, but I hope you had a good experience this weekend overall.  You provided some great competition this weekend.

"Thank you's" go to all of the organizers and volunteers (from the race director to the dock volunteers - you know who you are) who put so much time and energy in running Alcan.  It's very much appreciated.

For all racers...great job in competing.

For the security guys....well, i didn't see it so no comment from me (except maybe less energy drink samples?).

For the homeless person...I think Puppy has offered you free rent at his place for a year.

Good luck to all teams during the upcoming races.

Kudos to the organizers this year; the dock and marshalling went as well as could be expected. I do wonder whether the festival was attempting too much by running TWO G and G races, though.

Setting up that race must be quite the challenge since it is only setup once a year, giving organizers little chance to practice, or evaluate different approaches. The 250/500 metre races are a known entity, which the DB community is quite familiar with.
The 2000 metre GG is another beast. Staggered starts, 16 boats, an oval course, different lane(!) buoys, different timing, marshalling eligible teams with little notice.... That's gotta be a challenge. I'm impressed that they attempt to put it on at all.

It is also a thing of beauty to watch, photograph and video. :)  Camera lenses hungry for blood (or collisions...)

But 7pm is WAY too late to stage what should be the highlite spectator race of the weekend. Unfortunately it was too late for me and I had to leave without seeing the final GG. It would have been even later had the festival not run as smoothly as it did. I can understand the frustration of the Island teams needing to catch the 9:00pm boat. Lower Mainland teams would be frustrated if the Victoria races continued late.

I'm wondering how the women paddlers felt about racing 2 back to back GG races. I mean really... Just how crazy is that???

Oh yeah, could it be modified so that the crews have to do 2 turns by science world? That's the best part of the race for the spectators, and it's great to see it up close and personal from the seawall... Either start/end it from the cambie bridge, or (even better) make it a 2500 meter event starting at cambie and finishing at science ball (he-he-he...) Give the spectators what they want, cuz I might only be a spectator at that race. (I was sidelined with a herniated disc the only year my current team qualified for it. grrr.)

PS Maybe the festival could do something to appease the homeless binners, such as dumping all the trash in a binner-friendly area for them to scavenger through. Keeps the binners from scurrying around racers village while helping them recycle for their next meal... And might prevent incidents with the rent-a-cops. Dunno.

I recognize the volunteers have a tough job and I definitely applaud their efforts.  We wouldn't be able to race without them!  

Apology accepted Secret Weapon.  Thanks to Colossus, puppy, subzero etc. for your constructive comments.  

As someone who has visited this website lots before (but not posted a message until today), I understood that it's common to use this website as a forum to provide feedback on events.  I also understand that some of the race organizers earn wages/profits from the Alcan event.  That's why I directed the feedback points in my original post to the race organizers.  

See you on the water!

thats not something you want to admit to on a public forum with the ladies reading, now is it?  :lol:

1)Lane 8 –  the speaker’s  on the other side of the creek seemed to be faint. There was also an echo which bounced from the starter’s tent. Last year the race officials used the mega phones to relay what the starter announced.

2)Lanyards/security.
The lanyards this year were made out of compressed metal flakes and some of the clips were really badly made. Racer passes were all over the place. I’d like to thank the security guard frantically scanning for passes and rapidly stamping those who lost their racer’s pass

3)Supporting our community,
Though out the weekend, I’ve heard numerous teams calling my team a “farm team”. Farm team or not, Give every young old or new team a chance to develop their identity, their own potential, before you start categorizing/branding them

Elephant and Castle Booze Cruise has unconditionally supported RaceFace from our year as a junior till now, as a young adults team. During Alcan, we have received consistent encouragement, advice, feedback and nothing more or less but support from the members of E&C booze Cruise. At Alcan, we stood on our own, created our idenity , raced our own races, paddled our potential. Give Both Teams, E&C and RaceFace a little more credit.

The rewards of supporting a developing team are indescribable. Acting as a “mother ship” you experience the ups and downs (all mother’s can relate) seeing the “child ship” grow up. I’d like to see more teams support potential younger generation teams.

Of all the Alcan's that I've been to, "post Plaza era", i'll say this one I felt was the best. With so many teams and people in general you'll never be able to please everyone but, at least in my experience, the marshalling was the best i've ever had there, and of course as usual puppy was at his finest, the focus of the festival was back on the racing with the enterntainment as compliment, which is excellent, and contributed to by the best decision ever... free admission.  Thank you to the folks who finally made this possible, i know it eats into the bottom line, but end of the day, i can personally say i saw tons of people i know at the races this weekend who wouldn't have paid to come in the past, and got to experience what the races were about, which is the only way we'll grow this sport in the future.

Other thoughts.  Competition was excellent, particularly in the mid comp range.  every year the competition seems to get just a bit tougher. now if only we can get some of these mid-range teams working together to provide a little more cmpetition to the big boys and girls!!

Dock volunteers were excellent.  Sometimes you get some with ego issues, etc, but this year again in my experience, nothing like that.  The volunteer who was working dock #7 on sunday was great, I forget her name, but she was quick, effecient, and fun.  What mroe can you ask for?

The big screen TV continues to be a must, I'm glad alcan picked up on this, and hope it continues in the future. 

I think everything else has been said.

The only thing i'll point out which i haven't read thus far is a functinoal PA system in the paddlers village.  Not sure what happened this year, but most of the time you couldn't hear the marshalling calls... and we were in tent 12, ie fairly close to the racers info tent, so... that's a problem.  not a huge one, but something that will hopefully be addressed for next year

Overall, great job!

Sorry to change topics but does anyone know where I can find the full race results from the weekend?

if anywhere, they should be up on the alcan web site

...not posted yet.

They will be posted in the next few days.

Dragon boat festival dates in general are known months in advance, leaving paddlers adequate time to make arrangements to attend these festivals.Some of the members of my crew have in the past scheduled vacation days for the Monday(or the whole week in
some cases) following race weekend. I know this option may not be available to everyone, but if you can manage to do so is will greatly reduce the stress of having to
catch the last plane or ferry out that night after the final race.

A great big thank you to all race organizers and volunteers for all your work over the past weekend.

 

After all is said and done, what with the tides, winds, pleasure boats, barges, and assorted collisions etc, it was a great Alcan. Even the medals looked like beer bottles. I think all dragonboaters owe a great deal to the organizers and the volunteers. They moved in extra docks, the electronics were adequate (did anyone not make their marshalling due to poor communications?), the boats were clean and fast and for the most part well handled, and the site was clean and organized. So, a great big round of applause to  Alcan, Waters Edge, the Armed Forces, and all their staff and associates ( Jackie, Kerry, Greg and Louise, Brad, Andrew, Darby, Kat, Jake,Andrew,Leah, Starter Kim, Wendy and a cast of thousands too long to mention here). FCRCC sent their dragonboats and coach boats down the creek to help out and kudos to those volunteers that moved the boats, drums, paddles and life jackets back and forth. The festival ain't easy guys. It is one heck of a lot of work, and most of the people mentioned above both paddle, manage, and coach dragonboaters. So when you sit down at your computer and write about what you percieve as delays and terrible injustices to you and your team, think just a moment about what goes into these festivals. Work, work and then some more work. Thanks to everyone involved.

(Guts and Glory Footage) 
        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fguRybks_uY
(Women Comp B final)
        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1UZ3GFwV6k

CTV was at the Alcan festival on Saturday.

go to: 

http://www.vancouvertelevision.com/streamnews.jsp?id=/news/streaming_news.htm

Choose:  “View Streaming Newscast” then click Saturday.  You can move the cursor to the 12  minute mark where the spot begins.  They were talking to TCC.

As always... Alcan was incredible.

Fun racing, great competition, good people, fantastic venue.

FWIW... some analysis (just one paddler's opinion):

Pros - fantastic competition (the races on Sunday were great as always), great organization, great venue, the big screen TV, the general sense of "community".

Cons - the Geminis (good god those boats need to be discarded/destroyed), the weather, no marketplace (why not?).

Things to Improve - the quality of the beer at the beer garden was pretty damn weak, would have been cool to have had real-time result displays like you see at the World's, the VIP tent area should be moved somewhere that interupts traffic flow a bit less.

At the end of the day (a statement I'm growing to hate), it's IMHO the one "must do" race in North America.

Nice work all.

Enough with the kudos to Water's Edge, officials and volunteers already ... ok, just a few more ... boring specifics from us newbies.

Dock crew excellent, helpful ... and took care of our pregnant drummer (yes, we had 23 people and two drums on board). Mucho appreciated.

Water crew and Starter Kim were supportive when my steering "skills" couldn't compete with the media boat's wake on the way out and we took on 10 inches of water in 10 seconds. They rallied extra bailers and personal support ... we cruised from below the surface to the start line in no time. Mucho appreciated.

Officials were great about sorting out our first "meeting" with SunDragons as they bounced betwen lane 5 and 7 in Heat 21 ... officials honoured our request to ensure no DQ's as we figured a Gemini and an away team combo means steering just happens. Mucho appreciated. (I hope they'll come back because they are good, sincere competitors. I believe those earlier photos of the team "heading north" across the course is them, too. Ouch.)

Volunteers ... I would trust your five-foot, amazon-hearted volunteer at the racer's village gate with my life ... if anyone badgeless did get past her, they were probably already marked for death. They stepped up when the crowds swelled. If there's a recognition event for them post-festival next year, couldn't a sample of us wait on them or help out with that for a few hours? Mucho appreciated.

Echoing meowzers sentiments a bit, whether a youth team, a brand new team, or an away team, they should be encouraged to participate ... we're all hosts of the sport (cue violins) ... so when we're 40 years older and The Eh Team VII is full, we'll have someone to watch and cheer. As a two-year-old, we've greatly appreciated the support and advice we get at the festivals.

See you in Richmond ... kooky event or not (see 'Richmond' thread), it's a nice new facility and right on our doorstep, literally ... while most of River Road closes it's doors to paddlers, y'all are welcome to park in our back yard.

Just wish more Novice, D and C teams dished the dirt here ...

Some more Championship results added on 1st page.  Thanks to everyone who contributed with results.

an interesting "stat" that was pointed out to me earlier is that all of the local teams in the comp A final paddle out of/are members of FCRCC.  says a lot about the calibre of the coaching available to members, and the programs runnning there.  I think this is also a subtle challenge towards some of the more competitive teams paddling out of lotus, pogue, and DZ to step it up a notch and claim some of that Comp A "limelight" as well.  ;)

Ahem Colossus
Don't you coach teams out of DZ?

Back to the complaints about this years Alcan. For those interested in getting involved you need only to contact Ann Phelps at ADBF and apply to work with them. Or you can Apply to work with Waters Edge. both via the websites.

As well it should be noted that the wonderful volunteers were a mix of junior paddlers, adult paddlers (and always the same faces) and a few previous years volunteers.

perhaps local teams could mandate themselves to provide volunteer support during festivals. I don't  think it is a big deal to contact organizers ahead of time and offer two to three bodies in between races...

I didn't find the grid much of a problem, except that it seemed that they did not zigzag the ranked teams into it.  For example, the 16 first race first place finishers were put in the semifinals this way according to their rankings from the saturday races:

1,5,9,13
2,6,10,14
3,7,11,15
4,8,12,16

which theoretically made the overall heats different in strength.  The usual way to theoretically even out the heats would have been to do the following:

1,8,9,16
2,7,10,15
3,6,11,14
4,5,12,13

yes i do, and given some of the struggles we/they had throughout the year (and even that withstanding), i think they did incredibly well.  they really pulled together as a team both on and off the water.  all-in-all, i'm really proud of them and what they've accomplished.

If you look at the race numbers the evens numbered races are together and the odds are together... this is so that each team has one race in a Gem and one in a BuK... that held true for all Saturday races if you raced a Gemini in the AM you raced a BuK in the afternoon and vice versa.

Really?  We ended up in Gemini's the entire weekend including the G&G.  We never got to set foot in a BuK.  Maybe next year.

Yes, we also ended up in a Gemini in all races except 1 (including the G & G)  We made it work cuz what else are you gonna do?  However, it would have been nice to have had 2 and 2 ratio!

Many teams ended up in Gemini only until the final or G&G.

I guess I was lucky...3 out of 4 races in BuK's :D

If you raced in a Gemini on Saturday morning you should have raced in a Buk in the afternoon.  There were some special cases, for example the 16 winners all raced in Geminis in the afternoon.  Not much can be done with this as there were not enough competitive races on the Saturday to get them to race in a each type...we try to get everyone in each boat, sometimes it does not workout (all the rec teams should have either been in a Gemini/Buk or Buk/Buk races on Saturday).

Both our teams had a BUK on Saturday morning and then Gemini's the rest of the time.  The only other time we got a BUK was open division finals and G&G, but just for the regular races, 1 BUK and 3 Gemini's.

Alcan has the best competition on the west coast.  A lot of top-calibre out of town teams help make this race what it is.  For COMP A-D, 53% of the teams were from out of town.  Thanks to all the crews from Calgary, Toronto, NY, LA, SF, Portland, Pemberton, Seattle, Vancouver Island and Interior BC for supporting this race and making it exciting.

COMP A
4/8 were out of town

COMP B
4/8 were out of town

COMP C
5/8 were out of town

COMP D
4/8 were out of town

REC A
3/8 were out of town

DCH NY surprised many.  It was impressive watching DCH demonstrate high-kneel.  I think they're racing in Asia, and wanted to use Alcan as practice for the Asian races.  Did anyone catch this on video?

Lincoln Mustangs from SF was also exciting to watch.  They nearly took top spot from Laoyam Eagles in the Junior division. 

The race grid seemed to work well.  Each division had very exciting and close races.  There were maybe 1 or 2 races where the top finisher seemed out of place.  Schedule delays do occur.  Gorging and Portland had to forfeit because the G&G was running way behind.

Too bad it wasn't sunny.  That would've made the weekend perfect.  I wonder which out of town team brought the rain with them.   :D

Out of towners makes it a more exciting event IMO. We should do more to bring more eastern crews over.


DCH did better than most thought they would. I saw the A final and it didn't look like the high-kneel helped them, it actually slowed their boat down quite a bit. I would guess they lost 2-3 secs.  They are going to Asia either this year or the following year.


If we could get more out of town juniors to the event, it would be make ALCAN the premeir event in North America.

Race Grid worked in most part, scheduling of the G&G needs to be relooked. Now if we can only do something about the weather.

Absolutely, they nearly upset.
Photo finish in Junior A Final...

(http://images110.fotki.com/v572/photos/1/1094215/5067101/_L9O9662-vi.jpg)
Lane 5 - Laoyam Eagles
Lane 4 - Lincoln Mustangs

(http://images23.fotki.com/v763/photos/1/1094215/5067101/_L9O9667-vi.jpg)
Look at the difference between Lincoln Mustangs and 3rd place...

I thought the people in Vancouver put on a fantastic weekend, very impressive especially considering the 173 teams involved (about 3500 paddlers).  Given the scale and complexity of the operation, it is very difficult to complain about an event that ran essentially on time (other than the G&G), with very few hiccups.
The Geminis are crappy boats to paddle in, but we raced in them 4 out of 5 races and won our comp final and the G&G race in a Gem, despite never having been in one previously, so I guess the disadvantage was the same for everybody.
Can't wait to return to False Creek next year!  Thanks to all the organizers and volunteers and a special shout out to Puppy and Jason for stepping up and steering for CRC.

no matter how often you paddle in the Geminis, you'll forever be hating them.  there is no such thing as "getting used to them".  they're a great boat to level the playing field.   :?

G &G

i think the delays were, womens beforehand contained many paddlers for mixed, then the whole teams being carded for worlds in calgary, plus the queen of diamonds coming back to port.

Either they cut some specialty races or lower the maximum number of teams... that is if you want the sunday races to end early...

i think the early marshalling was due to pa system going down repeatedely in racers village.

actually, they can keep the specialty races, just move the women's 2000 to saturday afternoon instead of right before the GG.  that way, they'll not be exhausted from doing two 2000m races in a row.

How about actually having a G&G race all weekend, prior to Alcan......or after Alcan.....

You must admit, the G&G does have it's own racing appeal......

the G&G this year didn't have the music blasting at the start line.  i remember in 2006 they pumped up the crowd and the paddlers by turning up the dance music full blast.  that was awesome.  none the less, i love the G&G... always a great finish to a wonderful festival.

Changing the date to a different weekend makes it very unlikely the out of town teams will be able to participate. 

This was the first time they practiced the high-kneel in a competition.  I believe they are preparing for an HK race coming up.

you were just too "in the zone".  we could clearly hear the dance music from the beer garden ;)

:Cheers: yeah yeah... don't remind me.  while everyone was getting sloshed in the beer garden i was still on the water paddling.  they even sold out of vera burgers by the time i got there.

which also reminds me... why did they take down the awards presentation stage before all the medals and awards were handed out?  not that it was a big deal but it would have been nice to do an award ceremony for the top comp teams too.

When will we see the complete results?

hey Puppy..........  :lol:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsS4D5RekqE

Yo' dude...that was only round 1......

puppy,from the looks of things it wouldn't matter what round it was he still had you.
it's all in the leverage.

you like that, eh Puppy?  :lol:

That's nothing like real sumo wrestling.  However, we do appreciate the lack of oversized diapers.

when you least expect it......  revenge will be mine.....8))

who said anything about sumo wrestling? 

I look forward to it kerry....    i can see it now, i'll be out in a k1, and you'll swamp me with some coach boat wake.     ....and NOT stop to help me.  :?

I would rather you be in a C1, before I swamp you with my dingy.

I'm putting off learning C1 until after September, so the K1 will have to do.  ;)

bad idea, treat your boys nicer or they'll give out on you,


so...high kneel style is legal in Alcan now?

no luke its not, they got a dq, it was only for them to practice the style.
Colussus I COMPLETELY AGREE with having the womens g&G on saturday, maybe then they can race in BUK's instead of firewood.

I think this individual post should be made a "puppy tribute" sticky.  over 180 views so far.  8))

Results are posted now.

Teams are not allowed to do high kneel for Alcan.  In this case, an exception was made because DCH wanted to prepare for Asia.  They got permission from Water's Edge, and notified all other comp A teams.  I guess since they were in an outside lane, nobody really minded.  If you look at the results, DCH was ranked as 'DNQ - Did not qualify' and they did not have a final time.

Alright, I have a burning question to ask and was just wondering if I could get an opinion...

My team was in Lane 7 in the finals and doing pretty well when out of nowhere boat 8 physically hits us (as I've heard has happened a lot throughout the day), but it didn't stop there. We were pushed into lane 6 where we hit boat 6, got back on track and again boat 8 cut across our lane, broke off our dragonhead, cut across lanes 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, went in between boats 1 and 2 and finished the race. They were told to hold their boat many-a-time but kept going. My question is: why was there no restart to the race/ boat 8 not disqualified? More than one boat was affected in this case, and I saw restarts in races that had problems that weren't as bad as ours. Comments?

Restarts will generally only be called if something happens within the first 50m of the race - the festival rules spells out the conditions for a restart.  This happened to one of the teams I was steering.  Boat 3 turned into boat 4 almost immediately after the start and broke the head of one of the new BuKs.  Since it happened within the first 50m, the race was called and restarted.

I believe the incident you're referring to occurred during the Rec A Consolation race?  I was drumming in lane 4 and saw some of the collision(s).  I'm pretty sure it occurred after the first set of buoys which is past 50m, so no restart was called.  I could hear the repeated calls for boat 8 to hold and at the very least I think the steers person should be banned from future Water's Edge events because he/she was completely ignoring the water marshals instructions.

StraightLine

Yeah, lets say I saw that happy in the Rec A consolation. Was shocked to something that extreme by Boat 8 and yet they don't hold their boat. Can't believe organizers wouldn't see that and have another race.

Just as Straightline explained (he should be an official man!) that incident in question did occur after the point of no return, or the 50m mark. However I for the life of me can't understand why that team's captain or drummer didn't call the crew to stop paddling rather than go all the way down the course all over the place! I was at the finish line when that incident occured and I could hear it from my position that it was repeatedly asked to hold the boat but yet it did not. I think whoever that was should be severely dealt with. I did not realize that it ended up coming into contact with another boat causing damage. I think that crew should consider coming forward and offering to pay for the damaged tail or head. Just my opinion of course but really with all the damage that occured this past weekend you would think crews would treat the boats assigned to them as one of their own!

hmm... team imbalance's race heat was severely screwed up.  i was watching from the shoreline as the collisions happened.  perhaps the 50m rule is more strictly enforced this year? 

last year i remember in the comp B finals, Scotia's dragon head fell off on the start and dragged through the water for the duration of the race.  they never signal to stop the race or indicate there was a problem.  in the end all teams paddled to the finish line... only to find out Scotia contested it after getting off the docks.  all teams in the comp b final had to redo the entire race... bleh!

so with that said technically speaking perhaps you guys could have contested it for a re-race.  just some food for thought for future races.

Hmm, interesting. Yes, the hit happened JUST before we hit the first set of buoys or so. That's rather unfortunate seeing as how we were doing so well.


Yeah, that was us alright. As for the steersperson being banned, apparently he was laughing throughout the whole fiasco, thus I wholeheartedly agree; it was very unsportsmanlike!

I remember the Comp B final re-race last year as well; by the time they called a re-race, 1/2 the teams from Comp B had already left (which is why I thought they might re-race us on the spot), but after we protested for a re-race, the only consolation we got was that boat 8 got a time penalty- hardly a consolation at all.


contrary to the tip of the tongue, we're Team INbanlance, not IMbalance. ;)

 :upsidehead: doh! my bad!  :upsidehead:

Anyone know how many boats were damaged in the course of the festival?

FYI, re-races after the "point of no return" are allowed at the discretion of the race referees.  This is from the official rules and regulations:

From Section 9:

9.1.4 If, in the opinion of a Race Referee, an outside boat interferes with a boat racing on course and this interference would affect the standings in the race, the Race Referee can order the race to be rerun.
9.1.5 It shall be considered a Foul when, after the race has commenced, any competitor by his paddle, boat or person comes in contact with the paddle, boat or person of another competitor; or deliberately steers into another boat -- whether such boat is or is not on its correct course and lane -- unless such contact is so slight as to not interfere with the race, in the Referee's estimation. Note: close proximity to another boat is not a foul (i.e., if they are perceived to be in your “lane”.)
9.1.6 In the event of a Foul or an impending collision or any other infraction of the rules during a race, a Race Referee shall be empowered to:
(a) instruct crews to stop paddling; continuation of the race and resumption of paddling by the affected crews will be at the discretion of the Referee; this option may be used in the event of an impending collision, for example
(b) penalize the offending team(s) with a time penalty that can be added to their heat time or added to their next heat
(c) disqualify the offending team(s) -- in which case the crews must cease paddling and not complete the race – yet allow the rest of the race to continue uninterrupted at his or her discretion in spite of the disqualification
(d) stop the race and, at his or her discretion, disqualify the offending crew; teams other than any which have been disqualified shall then be directed back to the Start Line to start the race over

From Section 10:

10.3 Re-Race Rules
10.3.1 At the Official’s discretion, a re-race may be ordered when:
(a) There is a False Start called by the Starter, or
(b) There is clearly a collision within the first 50 meters of the race, or
(c) There is equipment breakage, other than paddle, within the first 50 meters of the race
There will absolutely be no grounds for re-races once all boats have passed the 50 meter mark, except one that is initiated by Officials under extraordinary circumstances.


Note the words "extraordinary circumstances".  Everyone should read and understand the rules before racing.  Just my $0.02.

When you have to run 106 races in 2 days, it is safe to say that "extraordinary circumstances" would be limited to meteorites striking boats, or the Science World ball rolling into False Creek...