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Dragon Boat Canada


IDBF


Canoe Kayak Canada

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[Mike]

From my understanding, and I don't know how true it is, the dragon dollars are meant for the festival to know how much each vendor has sold.  I believe they take a percentage of sales and therefore must exchange dragon dollars back to real currency.

Correct me if I'm completely wrong?

[paddlecwazy]

I do believe you are correct.

Given the vagaries of Vancouver weather, most vendors would not want to commit to a fixed rate for their rental for the weekend.  If it rains and only racers show up for the festival then they could run the risk of having a large loss for the weekend after paying staff and rent. If the festival charges a very low flat rent to encourage vendors, then they have to recoup that money from somewhere (i.e. from us in race registration fees)

This way the vendor's rent is variable based on sales, and the festival organisers can keep them honest by having them cash in their dragon dollars for real money, less the appropriate percentage for rent.

It's not the best arrangement for us paddlers (though it may keep our registration cost down), but without it there may not be any vendors at all.

[BernMan]

Perhaps Bernman can shed some light on the real reason to the delay of the G&G. I'm assuming like me, most missed the chase boat impromptu huli drill  . Must have been a crowd pleaser!

It was the departure of one of the false creek 4 hour cruise boats heading out I would think. It meant having us take down the start line and the 125 meter line so that they don't get their engine caught up into it. As for the impromptu huli drill nothing to talk about there. But really nothing to worry about either.

[nakano]

Perhaps Bernman can shed some light on the real reason to the delay of the G&G. I'm assuming like me, most missed the chase boat impromptu huli drill  . Must have been a crowd pleaser!

It was the departure of one of the false creek 4 hour cruise boats heading out I would think. It meant having us take down the start line and the 125 meter line so that they don't get their engine caught up into it. As for the impromptu huli drill nothing to talk about there. But really nothing to worry about either.

Dude...that could have been an expensive swim, but thank goodness everything was ok!

Once again, Congrats on your teams performance! 

[BernMan]

Last call for festival comments. Thanks to all who have given their comments to date. If others have been sitting on the fence thinking about what to say now is your chance to do so. All comments will be discussed with the race management crew for racing related comments. Comments about the festival side of things including racers village will be forwarded to the appropriate individuals. Thanks again all for your feedback!

[Monk]

The ranking system for qualifiers could be improved i.e. 'differentials' as a tie breaker. Its flawed, but I won't pollute the thread with that discussion.

[richard]

We would like to know if all the teams got their 20-year anniversary pins and how they were handed out, because we didn't hear any announcements.  They should have been handed out with the team package pick-up.  How can we get ours now?
 
The festival souvenir tent could offer more variety in their merchandise, eg. db-themed water bottles, pins, visors, gloves, etc.
 
How about a water hose to rinse off after racing?   

[gunghaggis]

There are 160+ teams at RTA DBF - so there are huge differentials between the top and bottom teams.  Why are they racing against each other?  so the top seeded Comp A & B teams can cakewalk to the finish, and the Rec E & F teams can allow themselves to finish the race behind everybody else by 2 minutes?  I have raced on both comp and novice teams.  It's no challenge always expected to come first, and it's no fun being blown away at the start and being left behind at the finish.

The Sunday morning semi-finals for Rec C/D/E were very weird.  If you finish 2nd, 4th or 6th - you go to a consolation round.  No more top 3 go to medal round, bottom three go to consolation.  Imagine that teams coming 3rd or 5th were REALLY HAPPY, because they didn't come 4th or 6th to go into a consolation.

If a top team has a bad race, or (heaven forbids) "sandbags" to get into a lower division... then innocent teams get bumped up above their abilities.  (okay - this year's races were based on times instead of placement, but you get the drift).

If the teams are being ranked anyways for seeding... divide the groupings into at Top, Middle and a Bottom - based on perceived abilities, then seed them for their race heats within these groupings. (similar to the old Comp, Recreation and Novice categories).

This way, teams will have closer races in the Saturday seeding races.  Instead presently, you see the Lower Rec teams struggling not to come last in 3 races, before being placed with teams matching their own abilities for Sunday afternoon.  Issues have always been about "festivals being fun" with close races, and identifying and discouraging sandbaggers.

But what about out-of-town teams that get placed in the wrong initial grouping? 
Run the Saturday afternoon races as repechage between the bottom finishes of TOP 1/3, and top finishers of MIDDLE 1/3 etc.  This way everything gets sorted out.  Chances of a novice team ending up in Comp, or a Comp in Novice is low.  Stick the unknown teams in the middle, and they will get washed upwards or downwards.

As the races stand now.  Middle lane always wins on Saturday and usually Sunday morning.  Very boring.
The more teams race against each other, the more rivalries will form... and the more race tactics will come to play if you are neck and neck with a team beside you.  Pretty hard for a brand new novice team to form a rivalry with comp teams on the Saturday.  Present system keeps all the lower rec teams isolated from each other until Sunday final.

Comp A, B, C, D and Rec A bound teams don't have to worry much because all the top 5 divisions are medal races.  This means all the other divisions are discriminated against because they are not "special enough."  These are timeless arguments about how many medals, ribbons or consolation plaques should be given.

I say this:  Try to keep the teams close for approximate abilities, and keep the races fair!