Dragon Boat West

Hey, I replaced the crappy camera with another crappy camera.  But enjoy the pix from Saturday.

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Salt Spring Dragon Boat Club versus Riptide

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Salt Spring Dragon Boat Club

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Ready, Jet, GO!

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Ampco Grafix False Creek Mixed

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Naluwan

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Scaly Justice

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Race Face

are there rules about what kind of paddles you're allowed to use in the flag catching boats?

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Blame it on the colour-blind Flag Catcher (by coming in last in a flag catching heat due to non-numbered flags) - Ampco Grafix False Creek Mixed

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Catching peanuts is easier than catching flags - Elephant & Castle Booze Cruise

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You have been shunned from the cult, Backward Rowing - Gung Haggis Fat Choy

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Drinking is much easier than paddling - Splash Test Dragons

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What!?! Two pieces of ID? - Synergy Rice Rockets

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Where's the beer bong? We left it in Calgary? - Draco Stealth

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My kind of fluid motion. - Fluid Motion

^that's synergy rice rockets not legacy

What's the difference, both teams didn't make it to the beer gardens today.   :whistle:

I made the assumption that the VITDBR (by CCCDBA - Chinese Cultural Centre Dragon Boat Association) were using modified IDBF and DBC rules.  The Race's paddles seem to be IDBF sized paddles, none being over 51".  No one was using outrigger canoe paddles, if that's what you are asking. 

The difference between this festival and others I have been to are:
a) crew members wearing PFD does not seem to be mandatory,
b) they allow traffic right in the races, for example, barrel races with Aquabuses nearly ramming into dragon boats,
c) race schedules are not posted on their website and
d) the VITDBR and Taiwan Fest 2007 don't seem to be associated with one another, with the exception of real estate.
Then again, this is a 29-boat festival with a rather low festival fee and free beer tickets to paddlers.

anyone noticed the delays in racing today?!  i hated the boat/ship that was parked in the middle of the race course today.  what a jack a$$ to say the least...  of all the places he could have anchored his boat he had to pick the middle of the creek in front of science world!

the guy had his whole family sitting on deck eating lunch while all the boats lined up waiting for him to move boat.  very inconsiderate.  if this happens again tommorow i hope someone from DBA call the coast guard or police to have him/her removed.

Not likely, though somebody in a dark zodiac did board his vessel, and was re-orientated.  All those other boats were moored on the north-east end of False Creek, which probably means that VITDBR organizers did not pay for those spots during the weekend.  Much like how construction companies pay for parking along a street so they can have it clear of cars.  Even in Victoria and Alcan, organizers are able to keep traffic away from the races.  A lot more hectic for safety boats, a few delays, but it keeps the festival fees low.

re: paddles
i was thinking more along the lines of C1 paddles...

re: boat parked
I was out Friday afternoon and was wondering if that'd be moved...   you'd think the festival organizers (on the dragonboat side) would have scouted out the course and done something about that before hand/asked the guy politely to relocate off to the side a bit.

any footage from the races today?  specifically False Creek grabbing the wrong flag?  i'm sure i'll hear the full story tomorrow at practice, but i wouldn't mind seeing it.

Not the footage your looking for , but i have splashtest dragons in the barrell race and gung haggiss missing the flag  on my u tube page ,, http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=piratepaddler

you'd probably tear something pretty important if you used a c1 blade in a race, even a short one, they aren't meant to be used sitting down, nor at a typical dragonboat rate,

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False Creek Mixed

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Team Storm in Taiwanese Teak Dragon Boat

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Synergy What the Fred? and Dr'Agonize

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Team Storm with Scaly Justice and Dogwood Nothin Dragon Seniors

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Team Storm and Dogwood Nothin Dragon Seniors

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Eh! Team

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Team Storm helps Draco Stealth

Curse of the flag.  Saturday, False Creek Mixed mistook Team Storm's flag which gave FCRCC a time penalty and Team Storm a first place finish.  Sunday, Team Storm missed the flag in a race-off with False Creek, placing TS in Consolation D Final.  I think the flags are hexed.  :(

Great Festival!  This is one of the fun ones to look forward to next year, seeing paddlers wearing different shirts and guesing who they are paddling for ! Blending of teams and individuals makes for a great bonding experience for all .I loved  those Gung Haggiss hats :dance: i tried all w/end to plunder one but to no avale ,,
 Thanks also to Splash Test Dragons for their great friendship and hospitality. Next up Kelowna , see you all there.

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After Ampco Graphix False Creek Mixed, I guess the real race is the battle for second place.

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First time for me at this festival.  Ran well with the limited number of volunteers.  Too bad there was traffic in False Creek during the races. Near collisions with Aquabus makes for some harried races.  The safety boat, who doubled as starter official and marine traffic patrol boat, did a good job. The safety boat would ask if the boats were ready, which they were not a few times, and would quickly give the release teather command and go.  This left a few heats with boats pointed in the wrong direction.  Again, for the most part, it ran rather well.

What I really didn't like was the through traffic of paddlers' village to everyone in TaiwanFest.  I did not feel confident bringing anything to the festival, which included my wallet!

Which brings me to my second point.  Also I am hoping the beer garden was run by TaiwanFest rather than CCC Dragon Boat Association, because that place was bleeding cash.  3 security guards that did not let anyone in without two pieces of ID (cool, except they turned away a grand masters team and by my guesstimate, about 2/3 of all dragon boaters who were above the age of 30).  They also had 1 cashier and 3 bartenders.  Assuming they are making $10 per hour, that is $1,120 for both days.  Most beer served was that awful Taiwanese light beer.  On Saturday, I think they sold 30 beer tickets and on Sunday, I guess they sold 50 beer tickets . . . this is a very liberal of estimate.  So, they sold $480 worth of tickets.  I am hoping they made up for the lack of revenue during the day through audience members of the Saturday night headliners, the boy-band, JUMP!; however, I doubt it since most of the people lining up seemed to be way under 19.

For me, what made it particularly funny was on Saturday, I thought it was the VIP area.  It was only Sunday afternoon, they thought they would put up a beer garden sign, and even that was in English only (doesn't help if most people there were for TaiwanFest).

There wasn't an area where dragon boaters could congregate after the races.  In comparable festivals, this was usually the beer garden or entertainment stage area. I am not even sure if there was an awards ceremony held on the stage. 

As I said, overall, the race component worked well for the most part.  It was the land component I disliked greatly.  As a paddler, I felt like a red-headed stepchild to TaiwanFest.   Not enough room for tents of all the team.  Unsecured paddlers' village. Public toilets and loading zone when through paddlers' village.  Comparing to Nanaimo and Victoria, where they used pre-marshalling in the paddlers' village and escorted through the entertainment area to the docks, we had to go through the shops.  In future, I would only go back to this regatta if they keep their festival fees low ($550).

On behalf of Draco Sports Club, I want to thank the event organizers & volunteers for another well-run and fun set of races.

And of course we have to thank all of the athletes who came to our aid and helped fill our severely undermanned (and underwomaned?) boat.  I know I'm going to forget some names here, but the team members came from FCRCC, Fluid Motion, Elephant & Castle, Fresh Salty Lemon Squeezings (I know that's not what they're called, but these people have a different name all the time  :P), Scaly Justice, Team Storm & probably more.  Hmm, I think almost everybody must have paddled, drummed or caught a flag for our boat.  At times we had so much help that we had to turn folks away.   :(  Thanks to all of you for your patience and efforts taken to save our bacon.

Thanks also to Gung Haggis for their hospitality at Doolin's.  Good food, good beers and good times!

I want to second what wanker said!! I too am from Draco and we are sooooooo grateful for all the support ALL the teams gave to us.  The 7 of us who travelled from Calgary just wanted to paddle and we certainly got to do that!!  That is one of the things I love about this festival, you get to paddle in a lot of different races. 

As for the Beer Gardens we tried to help out there!!!  If they only sold 30 tickets on Saturday, it must have been to us.  I know between the 7 of us we drank more than 30 non-Taiwanese beer.  We even got asked to leave as they were closing down (granted it was at 6:00 pm but we did stay till the end!!)

Thanks again to all of you who made us feel welcome and helped us get out on the water!! 

Great to hook up with you guys again!  Hope to see you next year

Definately a good time, Wanker :)  We'll see you guys around soon!

Glad to have been of help!

Always a pleasure!!  It was fun paddling with you guys...since you took the shirts of one of your backs, for me, I'll be sure to bring it with me to other festivals where Draco lurks, just in case you may need a spare!!!

I too would like to thank all that helped out!  It was a great weekend!!
Thanks again everyone! :P

Anyone seen the final results posted anywhere? I don't see it on the DBA website.

CCCDBA did not run the beer garden TaiwanFest did.  =)

Thank you all for attending the festival! Hope to see you all again next year!

Results are out.

http://www.dragonboatassociation.ca/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=23&Itemid=2 (http://www.dragonboatassociation.ca/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=23&Itemid=2)

Re: Vancouver International Taiwanese Dragon Boat Races 2007
From: [email protected]
Wed 9/05/07 3:56 PM

Thanks for your comments.  We did do a lot of the things you mentioned but it seems that the Port Authority in Vancouver even though permits were given to us to run the races would not move or ticket the boats in question.  We had contacted the authority Thursday and Friday nights to say that boats were in the navigable channel and that they would not move.

The authority (Coast Guard and Vancouver Police) told us that they could do very little.  Whereas in Victoria, the RCMP and the Harbour Patrol took immediate action if a boat was in the course.  The water taxis were all informed about the event but some drivers did not take extra caution as they approached the docks and course. We requested a lot more space for the paddlers than what was provided.  DBA was totally shocked to see that such a small space was provided for the paddlers.  The reason was that the city would not allow the Festival to close off the bicycle pathway.

Usually the dragon boat area is part of the festival.  You are also right about more coordination with TaiwanFest.  We had talked to them about incorporating the advertisement of dragon boat racing in their promotion but none of this occurred in their radio ads and newspaper ads.  I will have to re-emphasize to TaiwanFest about the promotion of the dragon boat event.  We tried to get as many volunteers as possible but have found that the Labour Day Weekend is a tough one to attract volunteers.  However, we try to make a better effort next year.

I will pass on your suggestions to the starters, marshals, and festival organizers.

Again thanks for your comments,
Wing

Re: Vancouver International Taiwanese Dragon Boat Races 2007
To: [email protected]
Tue 9/04/07 7:06 PM

I just wanted to write to you today to say, "thanks," for a wonderful two days of competition.  My team enjoyed the competition, although we were thrown-off our game with the flag-catching.  More practice for next year.

Of the on-water problems:

    * Clear of traffic during the race, either by chase boat or to pay the harbour authority.  Harbour authority would be expensive, but the chase boat would have greatly helped with kayakers and water taxis.
    * Land-side started.  This would allow the chase boat to do more safety stuff, and they wouldn't have the engine to drown the racing crews.
    * If no land-side starter, then starter boat MUST clearly find out if boats are ready.  In several Saturday races, boats were pointed by 30 to 45 degrees away from the course.  Steerspeople called out not ready, and the races still went ahead.
    * Safety boats for all events, including barrel races.  Too many close calls with non-race boats -- even more so than Victoria.

Of the dock problems:

    * Needing more volunteers.
    * Talk to water taxi drivers and management beforehand to get them to agree to dock master authority.  Too many near collisions from the barrel races because of it.
    * Checking pfds.  A few lapses in pfds happened on Saturday.

Of marshalling:

    * It would be easier to tie in the PA system of TaiwanFest to the dragon boat races so they can call crews.
    * More volunteers - to do escorting of crews to the docks.  They would carry a sign and hopefully the spectators would move aside for the teams.

Of paddlers' village:

    * What is the point of the wrist bands if paddlers village is not secured?  Having volunteers guard the entrances to the village.  Not having the toilets and unloading pathways to the festival go right through paddlers village.  Too many things can go missing when you have such openness.
    * More room for paddlers.  There was not enough room for all the teams to put up their tents.

Of spectators / TaiwanFest:

    * Open up the area so that spectators can see the dragon boat races in between sets of Taiwanese entertainment.
    * Have the MC of the races be bilingual so that Mandarin-speaking spectators can understand what is going on.
    * More friendlier staff in the beer garden.  Yes, two pieces of ID is the law, but really, grand master team being turned away because they were afraid to leave their wallets and purses in an unsecured paddlers' village.  Also, from the beer garden, you were not really able to see the races nor the main stage.   I spoke to staff there, and they said this year and last year it was dead.
    * More connection between the races and the festival.  My family came to TaiwanFest and did not know that there were dragon boat races happening behind the main stage.

I hope this e-mail helps.