West Coast Paddler Out East... Part IAs some people on this board know... I decided to go to Toronto before joining up with Roli in New York. I had arranged to meet up with a friend who also paddles and he asked me if I was interested in seeing how an East Coast regatta looks like with them in St Catharines on the 24th. After arriving in Toronto at 1am in the morning I went to grab a quick bite to eat with friends before turning in for the day. I ended up hanging out with them till about 5am in the morning and had a half hour nap before waking up at 6am to get ready for my trip to St Catharines. My friend picked me up with two other paddlers and drove down. I think I must've fell in and out of sleep during the ride down. Once we got there, we got parking and found the rest of the team at the team site. A breast cancer team was holding a breakfast fundraiser so we went there for breakfast. For $5 we got breakfast (two sausages, scambled eggs, bagel, fruit juice, fruit, yogurt, breakfast bar) and a bunch of other stuff.
The race site was pretty good since it was on an actual rowing course. Since it was on a proper rowing course, the lane markers were permanent so there was very little set up. Apparently during big rowing events they turn off the dam upstream to produce calm water for the rowers. Unfortunately this wasn't a big rowing event so there was a current that created a Lane 1 bias throughout the day. Race format was a 3 race day with the times for the first 2 heats determining your seeding for the final. For the final heat, the #1 seeded team gets assigned Lane 5 with the lowest seeded in Lane 1. This works on paper so you have close races in the final...
Team sites were placed along the raceway similar to what it's like during the Alcan and FCRCC Regattas so you could see the race from your tent. Only thing was that some of the bushes grew too high so at some places you had to stand up to look over them. Also it was grass covered so you could sit on the race without a mat. Unfortunately there was no beer garden but that didn't stop teams from bringing their own beer.
Races were done in GWN BuK boats. Much roomier Gemini's.. much much more room. I think it's more comfy because of the leg clearance under the seats so you can extend your legs. Also the seats are further apart but that topic's been beaten to death already. You seem to be sitting closer to the water too since there wasn't much space between the top of the gunnel and the waterline once the boat is fully loaded. I even noticed getting wash coming over the gunnels during races.
The race was slightly delayed in the morning when one of the dragon boats flipped at the end of their race while doing a turn to the docks. Thought it was pretty funny seeing the bottom of a dragonboat floating up on the water and a couple people bobbing up and down by it. Also, I saw one drummer fall in the water trying to unload.
The team I paddled for, The Black Pearl, were a pretty relaxed team and I learned never to fall asleep at their tent. Apparently when you're asleep, you're open game to whatever they feel like doing to you. Didn't happen to me but one of the guys ended up getting his nails painted.. toes and fingers... all while he was passed out. I was only a spare since they already had a full team and I didn't really want to take someone elses spot but I ended up racing in their second race.
There was probably like a 4 hour wait between the 1st and 2nd race and another 2 hours between the 2nd and 3rd. By the end of the day the Black Pearl ended up 3rd overall in what seemed to be a very tight Championship final.
I've got some pictures up that you can look at online. Try
http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4286128353. It's an ImageStation account so you will need to register as a member to see the album.
I would like to thank Black Pearl for giving me the opportunity to paddle with them. It was a pleasure.
St Catharine's Dragon Boat Festival+'s
great view of the race course
nice boats
friendly crews
-'s
long waits between races
strong lane bias in Lane 1
no beer garden[/list:u]
