Dragon Boat West

Hello all.

Well now that the Kelowna Dragon Boat Festival is behind us this usually signifies the end of another season for the majority of the local teams. I am aware that there is the San Fran races in a couple more weeks. Most of us are just going to be checking in on this site for updates no doubt to find out how the representatives of our area have done. But for the rest of us plans are probably under way for year end wrap up parties! Whoo hooo!  :drink:

So were there any surprises? Were there any disappointments? Or did the way things turned out throughout the season seem the way they should have been? Any team surprise you? Any team disappoint you? Please explain.

I will start off by saying was it me or were there a lot more festivals to choose from this year compared to years past? Does this pose a problem for teams when planning for next season? Does having too many choices put a wrench in a team's plan or does it simply want to make them race more? Sure we train as a team for between 6 and 8 months on a regular basis so why not race as much as you can, right? But does having so many choices, some of which occur on the same weekend, water down the competition? It seems that at some festivals there is really 1 or 2 strong teams and then a bunch of other teams that are more comparable to each other. But not all. RTA, Harrison and Kelowna Festivals for example (I am only referring to these three because I was there for them) had excellent teams in pretty well all finals with no clear obvious winner above them all. But at the Taiwanese festival there was FCRCC and then the rest of us. FCRCC is the best of them all. I am sure FCRCC had no doubt about where they would end up and I am sure those of us that were there were hoping to beat the crew that was there but that was not to be. So it turned out to be a close race for 2nd place in the top final.

Shouldn't all organizers try to work around each other's schedules so not to pose a scheduling conflict? Or is that more work than it seems? I am not an organizer so I am just asking.

Anyway congrats to all crews this past year. I hope you all had fun and you are all satisfied with the results you've achieved this year. If not there is always next year. And you can never start too soon to plan!

Paddles up!   :Cheers:

I took a giant step back from the dragonboat community this year and only did a little bit of racing but my opinions on some of the questions you are posing haven't changed since last year (and the year before that...?).

Are there more festivals?  Well sure... Seattle is definitely new, and I don't recall seeing any festival fall off the map.  The bigger question is are there too many?  has the local dragonboat scene been saturated?  Sure probably.  This sport has a capacity and it may have been reached.  Or it may be time to come up with a new way of structuring the local scene of this sport.  But rather than getting into a whole debate of recreational paddlers versus competitive paddlers versus elite paddlers, clubs versus teams, yada yada yada.... lets look at the positive here:

Too many festivals to choose from? awesome!  This means that teams have a wealth of choices for their racing needs (and their racing dollars).  This is a win for paddlers... it gives us the opportunity to decide for ourselves what festival is the better bang for our buck, and go with it.  It puts pressure on festival organizers to put on the best possible event... because they know they'll lose teams to their competition.  Its cyclical really... there may be too many festivals now.  but with a shortage of teams and/or a shortage of paddlers, sooner or later some of the festivals will fall off the radar... OR perhaps they won't, but will focus more on a "niche" market of teams.

Should organizers look at each others schedules?  I suppose thats a topic for debate, but then I guess the obvious question is:  "Who would benefit from organizers cooperating with each other?"
Does the paddler benefit?  Not necessarily.  I say this for two reasons:  1) Very few teams have the finances (or sponsorship) to do more than a couple of festivals per season; 2) If festivals are more spread out and teams are evenly distributing themselves between them, there is less chance of attaining a mass of competition in any given one.
Does the organizer benefit?  Maybe.  Probably not.  Look back a couple of years to Richmond and Harrison.  Richmond had some issues, a lot of teams went to Harrison, which also subsequently had issues.  Regardless, both on the same day for a couple of years, both had enough teams to run... if those organizers had cooperated, would the teams who chose to go to Harrison instead of richmond changed their mind and done richmond as well? Doubtful.  Could SOME organizers work together, possibly to a greater end? (league, etc) sure!  But to date the logistics of something like that have obviously been prohibitive enough that it isn't happening

Of course having said that, its never a bad thing to get more organized... but who is that up to?  In a system like we have right now, its up to individual teams and/or clubs to organize themselves.  You mentioned FCRCC... obviously they are in a class all by themselves competing on a much different stage than the vast majority of teams in this region, but they still follow some basic principles... which include setting goals for their crew(s) and organizing themselves accordingly.  I remember 2 years ago being at one of their meetings where they were looking ahead 2-3 years at where they wanted to be... does the average rec team do that? no... it probably wouldn't make sense.  How teams go about making their decisions and organizing themselves really depends on their membership. 

I think we're going to see a lot more teams combining and cooperating for part of the season, or sometimes taking a hiatus for a year while venturing forward combined with another crew.  My former crew certainly went down that road, and I've seen a number of similar examples... and all these extra festivals will probably encourage that more, either out of necessity (crews with a lack of paddlers) or just because as you suggest, people want to race more.


Anyway, my back and shoulders are significantly out of proportion so i think its time to do some outrigger.  Ciao for now!

I missed every single festival this year...    but I might make a surprise appearance at a festival or two next year.   :Hi:

WHEW! There have been a ton of events to participate in this year. One more to go....San Fran! I tried to go to all of them but will only manage to do 14... :(...I need a sugar daddy! Does this make me a paddle slut?

Here is my recap of the year so far:

Favourite festival.....Whistler and Arizona
Least favourite........Alcan - gotta love paddling in that crap!
Most improved.........Harrison - hands down
Most expensive........Arizona, but San Fran will probably top this
Most bizarre............Navy Chicken Run
Most potential.........Seattle
Biggest regrets........not attending Vernon and Paddle for Kids
Best beer garden.....Nanaimo

Thanks to all the festival organizers for 2008! There were lots of opportunities to paddle and I enjoyed every one of them. Also, thanks to all the teams that invited me to paddle with them this year, including the Starbucks Waverunners and the Mana Wahines! Love you all!  :D

 I have competed (womens) in seven festivals this year, with San Fran #8 in a couple of weeks. I also manage and compete on a recreational mixed team. I like the diversity of races now available, and that most of the festivals are truly paddler focused. The Okanagan DB season is much shorter (May to September so we have to practice that much harder -  :lol:), demographically older with mostly female paddlers, and most if not all of the teams must fundraise or pay out of pocket for all travel expenses. We look to either the coast or Alberta for festivals and great competition.
     
Highlights: :D
Harrison and Vernon – very well organized and kudos to the big guy (you know who you are!) for keeping it fun and entertaining for newbies and experienced paddlers alike!
Banff – very well organized, terrific location, great after party, great bling, needs more DB vendors (hey, we like to shop, too!),  overall great inaugural event. Loved the 1000m and backwards races!
Cultus Lake – great one day race for women’s teams organized by two great women's teams– inspirational, great food (real angus burgers and corn!), terrific competition without all the testosterone (sorry, guys!)  :P
Kelowna - Watching the powerhouse teams race in the finals at KDBF – you inspire the rest of us sitting in the beer garden, cheering you on!
San Fran – the experience will be worth the investment!
Areas of improvement: :(
Shuswap – great location and consistent great weather makes this a great kick-off festival – but needs a stronger presence and focus on Dragon –boating… contact WatersEdge! Need real bling instead of ribbons ;o)
Kelowna – for the price of admission, where’s the value add? No entertainment in the Beer Garden this year, inconsistent communication to the callers/steersmen/managers, race times were all over the map, you dropped the Saturday night entertainment for the teams from last year… and you wonder why the numbers are down? (and yes, I am a registered event planner).

Future festivals:
Looking forward to Seattle, Whistler and sorting through the GVA offerings – suggestions most welcome!

See you on the water!    8))

That so makes you a paddle slut!!  I'm so jealous!