Thanks to moturismo for bringing this to my attention...
I know it's a month late but FCRCC has finally put up their minutes from the AGM. Here's the excerpt from the minutes relating to dragon boat...
DB report:
*** Thanks to Lela for handling all the administrative work for the dragon boat members. Thank you to the team managers that kept their contact info current and followed up with requested information. Let’s keep this up for the new season!
1. New Dragon Boat Fees: number of teams remained relatively the same. Saw a reduction in revenue. Teams were able to pay for the services they utilized without having to pay for ones they did not use.
Accounting for the drop in revenue: there are new teams to FCRCC and hopefully they have found themselves a new home. There were some teams that no longer exist and a trend that started a few years ago seems to have picked up speed – lots of teams have merged to become more competitive.
2. New lights and batteries policy: FCRCC got new lights for the dragon boats and teams were responsible for bringing their own batteries – worked out VERY WELL so this will be status quo.
3. New Dragon Boats – Geminis: Purchased these boats to bring FCRCC to IDBF standards. These are the types of boats they are racing internationally. Feedback has been mixed.
Thanks to Brad for setting up the practice schedule so everyone had an equal chance with both types of boats.
Pros:
- Boats are lighter and easier to transport from dry to wet and vice versa
- Boats are shorter which makes them easier to store over the winter
- Teams like racing in them cause they are lighter
- “How To…” list from Brad
Cons:
- Smaller, people are cramped during practice.
- Tippier
- Lack adequate foot bracing
- Underside of the seats is sharp and has caused injury. *FCRCC will look into modifying the seats to prevent injury
4. FCRCC Spring Regatta 2004: Mother’s Day… successful event - we had 32 teams. BIG thanks to Dragon Zone for the use of their facilities, Leah and Simona from Alcan DBF for the crew marshalling. Last but not least, you may have seen our website; there was a HUGE list of volunteers that made this event possible and successful (FCRCC News May 12th). To name a few; Greg Lam (Barry’s brother) and Moe for setting up the race course on Saturday, Brad Howie and Tony Pawlett for helping with the equipment, and Greg Lamb from Alcan DBF for his guidance.
Regatta raised $3900, which went back to the general FCRCC pool.
5. FCRCC DB Team Racing Results 2004: very successful racing for all of our teams.
Results will be posted on
www.fcrcc.com website
Highlights:
Alcan 2004: saw Canada take the Festival back from the US. FCRCC has 100% participation from our dragon boat teams. 75% of our members made it past the semis and into the finals.
International racing: Dragon Ladies went to Portland in June and finished 8th overall in the Women’s division. Pacific Reach went to Montreal and finished 5th overall in the Premier Mixed division. Alpha Dragons and the FCRCC Grandragons went to Kent and finished in the top half of the field. Roli Dragons went to New York and placed 2nd in their mixed division final. Team United went to Long Beach, California and finished 3rd in their mixed division final.
Upcoming races: Kelowna (Sept 18-19), San Francisco (Sept 25-26)
Montreal – National race off: FCRCC is sending 4 teams – 2 women’s teams: Open and Masters, 1 men’s team: Open and 1 mixed team. They are racing for the right to represent Canada in the World Championships in Germany 2005. Let’s give them a hand and wish them well!
6. Looking to DB Season 2005
Registration:
- Dragon boat member fees will stay the same for 2004/2005. Juniors and Seniors will have their discount.
- Grandfather clause: implemented 2003 and will continue. Teams that want to keep their practice slots will need to provide a signed dragon boat practice contract and a cheques for 50% of practice fees at the first registration.
- Steering accreditation: DB Teams need to confirm their steerspeople at registration and determine whether they need to be retested. Information as to who to contact and process will be provided at time of sign up
- FCRCC Spring Regatta 2005: teams to complete registration form and pay 50% of entry fee. Have until 2 weeks prior to the regatta to withdraw. There will be a monetary penalty if teams withdraw after the 2-week deadline. Regatta is very popular and there are teams on a waiting list.
FCRCC Spring Regatta 2005:
- New race at the end of regatta: Mother of all Races – 3 kms top 8 teams to compete. Top prize is free entry into 2006 Regatta.
- Establish Athlete’s fund – money raised from regatta will go towards offsetting expenses for the FCRCC Women’s and Men’s dragon boat teams for international travel.
FCRCC Sprint Series 2005 (inaugural):
- Series of races: once a month on a Sunday afternoon – approx. 22-24 teams. 2 teams racing at a time knock out to accumulate points. 250/500-meter course. Begins in March and runs to September with a final race to crown the top winner. Final race will be invitation only for teams that have accumulated the most points throughout the series to crown the winner. Cash prize value tbd.The last bit regarding the Sprint Series caused a "choke on coffee" moment in the office for me since we've had some discussion on this before on and off the DragonBoatWest... and it sounds strangely similar to Toronto's Summer Sizzler. If the stuff they're proposing if for real and with the 2006 Club Crew qualifiers in Calgary... we've got an interesting 2005 season to look forward to. Anyone know more about this?
