Dragon Boat West

Comp Final

1. Eye of the Dragon
2. Sudden Impact
3. Just Dragon Along
4. Phat Phish

Eye of the Dragon had the fastest times in every round throughout the day.


Comp Consolation

1. Elephant & Castle
1. Red Fusion

The other two teams in the Comp Consolation left because of the delays so it was just E&C and Red Fusion. It was the funniest race I've ever seen. Both teams lilly-dipped down the course, some paddlers were back-paddling, and they had fun entertaining the crowd with the slowest Comp Consolation race ever. Hysterical. I give them both first-place.

Please keep this thread to race results, use the other thread for feedback on the logistics.
 

Best race of the day:

Since two teams dropped out and everyone needed some fun, E&C made a deal with Red Fusion to paddle hard to the 250 line and then everyone had to turn around and paddle backwards...which took forever to get to the finish!......the E&C drummer had this inflatable dragon under her belly that was looking a bit violated :)

Thanks to both teams for a great race! We had no idea why you guys stopped at the 250, fearing another re-race!!! It was a great laugh to ease off some tension!

I'm glad everyone enjoyed that. We didn't do this to make a mockery of the races, but to blow off some steam and have some fun. Our position has always been that we're there to race hard and have fun, and delays or no delays, we were going to do that. And everyone needed a good laugh by then too.

RB: I can guarantee there was no lily-dipping involved. Full race sprint to 250, and then turned around and back paddled all the way to the finish. Back paddling 250m isn't easy at all. I know if we weren't concentrating so hard on the back paddling timing, we would have called a power series. We're in it to compete, fun race or not.

Big thanks to Red Fusion for being such great sports about it, we had a big group discussion with them in marshelling to figure out what we all wanted to do for the race. This was their idea as much as it was ours.

I agree about the comments about this race.  We were marshalling onto the dock when some one yelled out ... "Their paddling backwards" ... Everyone broke out in laughter ... I see some future in fun races like this ... to think E&C and Red Fusion could have created a new addition to our sport.  :lol:

It was an amazing race from the start! We were head to head the whole way through! By the time the we hit the half way markers, I was wondering if we were actually going to turn around in our seats to paddle backwards. But right after a power, I heard, "LET IT RUN!" I knew then that both teams were going to go through with it.

Big thanks to Elephant & Castle! We had a total blast. It was a great way to de-stress after shivering in the rain for so long. I think we were able to lift some spirits with that race. Laughs all around!

Hey Puppy

How does crow taste given that you told Sudden Impact that all the teams from Vancouver were going to take the medals home?

;)

Crow??? What's up with that?I guess you were one of the teams that didn't race in the Barnster.Would you race the Tour de France with 2 wagon wheels and a 2 by 4 and say you have a chance to win?

You know 3 of the 4 teams in the finals were Vancouver based teams and it could have ended up a sweep. But kudos are due to all participants. If Splash Test Dragons only shaved 4 - 1/1000's of a second in their semi Sudden would have been in the B final instead.  I have never seen race results in DB racing that included 1000's of a second to differentiate the winners. Whooa! Did anyone take any digital photos of the race results? If so please post them.

So once again well done to all crews!

So many if's.......Sudden Impact put forward their Blue crew, largely folks who are new to dragon boating since March.  They were augmented with some Black crew men ( as there just don't seem to be that many men in Chilliwack who want to work that hard :-)  I suspect that if asked, there was nobody more surprised to be in the Comp "A" final than this crew,  However, they have great coaching, have had great support form the more experienced paddlers on this team and they have huge heart.  Despite the fact that folks want to float the "what if" balloon, this crew fought and prevailed.  It's sour grapes to have said "if only".  We've all been thru close calls and races won or lost races on the shortest of margins.  Don't try to take away an experience of a lifetime with conjecture.  Besides....Sudden Impact has a silver medal to prove that there were 2 other teams beaten in that heat.  Sometimes you just have to suck it up....

It's easy to state all the things that went awry with this event.  Still, there were many people who gave their time so that apx 1,060 people could spend a day in arguably the most beautiful venue in BC.  Sudden Impact wishes to say thanks to all those who gave countless hours to host the event.  We'll be back....

Yes, Yes....we sure tried....2 out of 3 isn't bad....some how you got away from us...

I have a video clip from the Comp a consolation final, can someone please tell me how to get it on this posting ?  This must be the most funniest thing i have ever seen at a DB festival and feel that we should share it with the entire DB community. 

Results from the women's comp A final:

1.  Mana Wahine
2.  Dragon Ladies
3.  Twist and Shout
4.  WOW

Congratulations gals!!  It was a pleasure racing with you!   :D

Me thinks you would be doing the same thing if you were the one on the short end of the stick.  :lol: I am referring to all the lousy things mentioned throughout another tread about the Harrison races that made a good final race not as close as it could have been.  :x If you paid attention to the posted times all 4 boats in that final were less than a second of each other, I believe, in any of their previous 3 races in terms of best times. Just accept that sometimes equipment does play a bloody factor in getting a better result. I am starting to get annoyed with those of you who think its sour grapes. It is not.  :? I would personally set up a re-race with 4 comparable boats (IE brand new BUK's) and then lets see who wins and what the margin from first to 4th will be. But it will never happen regrettably. Trust me I know when a crew has no business being where they were if they happened to fall into a division where they don't belong. I am not suggesting any of that happened for that final. What you will note though is that some crews definitely improved over even a short period of time or compared to last year. And perhaps maybe 1 or more of the crews in that final race surprised people. This is what I think may have happened there and trust me some will say its not a surprise. It was the crew's desire to be as good as they can be. Yes perhaps a kudos should be sent out to each team in that final. In particular I always knew Eye of the Dragon was going to be there. I even pegged SI Blue to be either there but definitely no less than top 8. JDA same thing. Phat on the other hand had a goal of being in the top 8 and definitely did that. So that is that. Have a nice day!  :)

If they didn't love us so much and made us re-race all our peliminary races Bernman who knows what could have happened!
 :P
No worries!
There were many close races and we know u guys are just another "Fish" in the pond!
Congrats to Dan and the Eye as well! Always tough even when they have a bad day!
I think the top 4 teams that day made the finals at harrison, Just save the energy for your next kick at the can, there is a lot more racing to come!

post it on you tube if you dont have your own server  :)

yeah get that up on youtube, this i gotta see!

i think i managed to figure out the you tube deal here it is

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QR5kCqkWXio

 :lol:

Seems like the most appropriate end to the day  :lol:

Thanks for posting that, coach! haha Too funny.

The first time I'm put as "stroke" and it's for the backwards paddle and I'm seated in the absolute last seat haha Good times.  Was a pleasure racing with you guys in Comp division backwards, E & C!  This is going on my Facebook  8))

Nice transition!!!   Good on yah all.....wish I would have seen it with my own two eyes..... :lol:

I just watched that on you tube, and that is priceless.  Not all will appreciate it, but if everyone was in agreement.. then why not end the Regatta in such a unique way!? :lol:  Good job!

that's awesome!  :lol:

I agree, both teams' got the transitions down. Did they practice that hard? :D

Whoa, I was merely chiding puppy about his boasting and in an oblique way, tipping my hat to Sudden Impact.  Given that they were in the final shows they must have done something right to get there and race the good race. :clap:

Having paddled in a Barny & Co. boat at several festivals now, I empathise with your frustration and disappointment.  We will all put this behind us and move on to the next race were we will catch the good break (and not of the paddle kind) to race the good race.

thanks for posting that up rick
haha
that race really made my day, even though i got ridiculously wet from that, hahaha

Are there any actual times posted anywhere?

I laughed... made it worth sticking around to the end. I actually had a great day all around anyway though... but I still laughed. Congratulations to everyone that enjoyed the day, winners and "losers" both  :shock:

Final Results posted here
http://www.fraservalleydragonboatclub.com/documents/FVDBC%20Regatta%202007%20Race%20Results.pdf