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Dragon Boat Canada


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Canoe Kayak Canada

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[Dan Hebert]

It was great racing Eye of the Dragon in Victoria. I can't remember...are we going to have the opportunity for a re-match in Kelowna?

We aren't going to Kelowna this year, we're trying Portland! It should be fun. But we always look forward to racing you, it's what Nestor calls a Blu-Eyed race

Congratulations to Dragon Hearts Magnum and Ultimate on their 1st and 3rd placements. 

I've enjoyed watching Magnum and Ultimate get so much faster. Way to go. 

[ditchddragon]

A good read, IMHO

“So, what did you do Sept 14-15th weekend?�Many may have gardened,
walked the dog, went swimming or did something else relaxing.
For most of us it included the caveat “...and tried to keep cool.�
Yes, it was a hot weekend, but for members of the Navy Dragon
Anchors dragon boat team, it was a bit longer and hotter than usual.
Our weekend started on Friday morning beside the Inner
Harbour, assembling nearly 90 military modular tents. The
effort was to build the “Paddlers’ Village,� a refuge for participating
teams in the Canada Dry Victoria Dragon Boat Festival. The beauty
of the inner harbour belied the hot, dusty, dry conditions
as temperatures hovered near 30 degrees and those lofty ocean
breezes seemed too few and far between. By mid-afternoon,the
village was complete and our thirsty crew stopped to take
in the harbour views from the newly constructed beverage garden,
another important part ofthe festival. Race day began early in the
morning on Aug. 14. As is typical, it was a busy day for all of the
teams as well as festival organizers and volunteers. The normally
spacious and quiet Wharf Street pier was magically transformed
into a furious beehive of paddlers, volunteers and onlookers, at
times seemingly packed shoulder to shoulder. This normally sedate
area was awash with the sights and sounds of more than 2,000
participants plus several thousand spectators. In among the organised chaos,
concessions and vendors offered a tantalizing array of local and
international cuisine, the mouthwatering smells wafting over the
crowds. Temperatures were high even before the first race began.
Athletes and spectators were constantly reminded to keep hydrated
and seek shade when possible. Throughout the morning and
into the afternoon, each of the 82 teams met their competition.
Each team was pitted against four others in a battle for the
best placements and fastest times. Despite the heat of the day, the
mood in the marshalling area was festive, generally filled with goodnatured
banter between rivals. Some teams joked or sang team
chants, others stood quietly and tried to focus on their next race,
but everyone enjoyed themselves. The navy team once again distinguished
itself as the only team to march and sing to and from
the boats. Giant crowds gladly parted for the team, offering
words of encouragement and cheers for the defending champions
of the festival. The first race heats of the day began to unfold over the 500
metre race course. Although races generally lasted less than twoand-
a-half minutes, each heat was challenged by changing water conditions, harbour and air traffic
and the occasional Coho Ferry run, sometimes leaving teams onboard the dragon boats for
thirty minutes or more as temperatures climbed. The navy faced some tough
competition in both races on Saturday. The outcome of each
race was difficult to predict and no one was completely certain
until results were officially posted. The team’s first place finish
in both heats, along with some of the fastest times of the day,
helped put them in contention for the top division medals on
Sunday. Sunday’s weather would also prove to be a challenge for many
teams as the temperature once again reached 30 degrees before
noon, especially over the asphalt parking lot in the Paddler’s Village.
Competition between teams became more serious as closer
matched teams were pitted against each other for placement
in the semi-finals. The morning race, the navy team’s third of the
weekend, had them racing against old rivals and new challengers in
what would be their most dramatic race of the weekend.
The crew was in direct competition with the Gorging Dragons,
a local team well known as serious competitors and medallists in
world class competitions. Three other teams, all with great race
times, rounded out the pack. In one of the closest heats of
the weekend, for the first time in the team’s ten-year history, Navy
Dragon Anchors edged out the Gorging Dragons by a mere two
one hundredths of a second to take the win.
That first place win guaranteed the navy a solid place in the final
Platinum race and a shot at the gold medal.
As the tension built throughout the afternoon, the team waited
for the final race of the day. As each of the five finalists moved
into their assigned lanes, “game faces� were on. The only relief for
jitters and nerves came with the starter’s horn.
A brief moment for some, a lifetime for others, all five
boats blasted across the finish line two minutes later. As with
all races, there can be only one winner and that honour went
to Vancouver’s Dragon Hearts Magnum.
Gorging Dragons finished second, Dragon Hearts Ultimate,
one of Magnum’s sister teams, took third, while Navy Dragon Anchors and Xtreme Reach
rounded out the pack at fourth and fifth places.
With the excitement of the races still fresh in everyone’s
mind, the competitors made their way to the medal ceremonies
after hugs and handshakes were exchanged.
As the festival ceremonies concluded, the Paddler’s Village,
buzzing with activity only two hours earlier, began to empty
out, leaving the skeleton shapes of modular tents behind. Within
three hours it was a ghost town, the odd folding chair or other lost
item left behind as a testament to a weekend of hard wins and
harder losses. It was a long, hot weekend and
one for the record books – at leastmfor the Navy Dragon Anchors
and local weathermen. Next stop: Portland, Oregon.

[boatbutt]

sigh...

[NFW]

A good read, IMHO

...
As the tension built throughout the afternoon, the team waited
for the final race of the day. As each of the five finalists moved
into their assigned lanes, “game faces� were on. The only relief for
jitters and nerves came with the starter’s horn.
A brief moment for some, a lifetime for others, all five
boats blasted across the finish line two minutes later. As with
all races, there can be only one winner and that honour went
to Vancouver’s Dragon Hearts Magnum.
Gorging Dragons finished second, Dragon Hearts Ultimate,
one of Magnum’s sister teams, took third, while Navy Dragon Anchors and Xtreme Reach
rounded out the pack at fourth and fifth places.
With the excitement of the races still fresh in everyone’s
mind, the competitors made their way to the medal ceremonies
after hugs and handshakes were exchanged.
As the festival ceremonies concluded, the Paddler’s Village,
buzzing with activity only two hours earlier, began to empty
out, leaving the skeleton shapes of modular tents behind. Within
three hours it was a ghost town, the odd folding chair or other lost
item left behind as a testament to a weekend of hard wins and
harder losses. It was a long, hot weekend and
one for the record books – at leastmfor the Navy Dragon Anchors
and local weathermen. Next stop: Portland, Oregon.

A good read indeed! Thanks for sharing 

[LittleSchrodinger]

Looking around there's a lot more articles and blog posts about this festival than I thought. There's quite a few good reads by the islanders.

[sternword]

Sorry I have to take off the rose-tinted sunglasses view I see in many of your comments,  and cast a critical eye on the festival, otherwise things will never change for the better.
The marshall and other volunteers did a good job - but - many things didn't work this festival. Here are a few.....
Heard about 4.40pm Sunday in the men's urinal, paddlers village "This is ridiculous, what the hell are they doing changing the schedule around 10 minutes before the race?" "What have they done?" I said. "They have switched the Platinum final,  due after the Grand Dragons Challenge, to be the next race,  don't they know that the elite teams have warmup routines, and seating confirmation to run through?" "they have stolen that time away from us, I have hardly got 20 seconds to come down here to have a p#$$" !, "up until now this has been the worst run festival I have been at this year,  this makes it the worst ever!"  , and off he ran, a very angry man, to his Platinum final.
Suggestion #1  don't go swapping races around 10 minutes before they are due to start.
Heard the day after the race from another competitor " As usual the beer garden was half full of spectators, and no room left for most of the teams to get a table for their team" "we took one look inside the gate and said to hell with it, and left".
Suggestion #2  make the beer garden paddlers only.   Allow  teams to reserve a table for a $20 deposit refundable in drink tickets when they come in.
The computer glitches - In the absence of any official explanation or apology, this is the version a bunch of us in the beer garden came up to interprete what we saw - There was a computer glitch on saturday that caused an incorrect Sunday race Schedule to be posted on the website.  After this caused the phones at VDBF to ring off the hook, they realised their mistake, and  posted the correct schedule by mid-Saturday evening.  Unfortunately, something went wrong on Sunday morning that caused printouts of the prior incorrect schedule to be posted on the official notice boards. By the time the shouting to officials about these wrong schedules started, the first and second race's boats were loaded, and the third race team was standing on the dock. Everyone was hoping we were now getting off to an early start for the day, but no - instead of printing out the correct schedules , everyone was recalled, and a further hour wasted - then the correct scheduled appeared. Then everything started again an hour+ late.
Suggestion #3 get your act together with the computer processes,  this looks like the result of a one-man-band in operation.  Get a second pair of eyes VERIFYING
information produced and printed before it is posted on the website or the notice boards. Do trial run throughs, of the computer processes,  in advance of the festival, with
a backup to the 'expert' doing the work - to verify it is all running correctly.
Heard out on the water around noon Sunday - a quantity of grumbling and cursing by eight boat loads of dragonboaters left out to fry in the sun's glare for over an hour, at
the pre-race assembly spot, while first the Coho came in,  then the water-taxi ballet took place.
Suggestion #4 If you know the Coho and the water-taxi ballet are happening - Don't sent out 8 boatloads of paddlers to fry for over an hour! Hold them on the dock in the
shade!
Suggestion #5 if you lose an hour in the morning due to computer glitches - the things to cancel are the non-dragonboat events like the water-taxi ballet for a start. I couldn't believe we were left out to roast on the water while that nonsense took priority.
The Seeding -  just to confirm what has been mentioned in earlier messages,  too many elite teams racing together at the start, left some elite teams too low placed to
get into the final rounds they should have been in. Some of the qualifing rounds had no elite teams seeded in, so the teams in them, obtained too many 1st and 2nds, so
leaving them to be humiliated in the finals against elites. Some paddlers I talked who had finalized way too high for their abilities, were very bitter over this. Seeding was
especially bad this year.
There is a big difference between VDBF and the Nanaimo festival,  at Nanaimo it is all about the paddlers having an enjoyable event, at Victoria, it is all about a) providing
a spectacle for tourists b)satisfying sponsors c)running the event d) making sure the vendors and beer garden make money  e) not upsetting the council by asking them to
keep water taxis, whale watchers and all the other small boat traffic out of the area of the harbour where the event takes place f) meeting charity targets -  the paddlers enjoying the event, comes after all these things -  I sometimes wonder if we are just regarded as a resource to make items a) through f) happen ! 
Suggestion #6  write a Vision Statement for the festival - where ensuring paddlers have an enjoyable and safe event is item #1. and everything else comes after that.  That
way a decent sized paddlers village, the ability to sit down with your team and have a drink in the beer garden, and officials taking care about how long you are left waiting
around would be addressed.

[vicpaddler]

Just a FYI, the water ballet is something that is scheduled regularly and can't just be told not to happen. It would be like telling the Coho that they can't run the weekend of the festival. Yes it is inconvienent but it is part of running a festival in a working harbour.

The beer gardens were the best they have been in Victoria. None of the platinum teams had to wait in huge lineups to get in like in years past. The music was much better than before. The city of Victoria places limits on the size of the beer gardens and there is nothing the organizers can go about that.

At the chance of starting a bit of a controversy, I have to comment on some of the on water officiating. There were several instances of blantant wake riding that were not called by the water marshals. (One in a platinum semi) This can easily have a huge effect on times and placement and needs to be addressed to ensure even and fair racing in the future.

[Bambi]

A couple of suggestions for the organizers of this festival:

1) Build time around the Coho's schedule (which are predefined on their website) into your race grid so you don't fall behind when it comes in and out of the harbour
2) Same thing for the water taxi event on the Sunday
3) Find a couple of hotel sponsors that will offer discounted group rates for out-of-town teams
4) Get more training for your officials both on land (race grid, finish line) and on water

One of the key factors to a successful event is how well planned the event is. When you know certain things are going to happen, build it into your schedule. There's no point scheduling a race at 10:30 when you know the Coho is going to leave the harbour at that time. Put in a blank heat in your grid so that you'll have a 12 minutes buffer. Even if you run ahead or behind, you know you're going to lose the buffer when the ferry does come in or pulls out.

...my two cents...

[selltile]

very sensible--Victoria--Hire this woman!