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Dragon Boat Canada


IDBF


Canoe Kayak Canada

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[ConfusedAsian]

Good
5. VIP boat and photographers boat speeding down race course created big wake for teams heading towards start line.  This was dangerous.  A new team could have gone under.

I totally agree about that our boat almost got flooded by one of the army boat, coming back into the dock.

[paddleboy]

1 of the problems with getting other teams from out of province to race here is the cost .The Alcan is a very expensive festival and add to that travel costs .Go back east and you can find just as good of races for 1/2 the cost plus alot more of them and the competition in some cases is better .

 The other problem is our gemini's ....... why would a team want to spend all that money and come here to race in a boat that is known to be difficult if you have not trained in them before . How many out of town teams did you see win that had never been in a gemini ? I don't think any won . If your an out of town team you want to have a level playing field . Buk's ,SRS ,foundation,6-16 ,etc are a piece of cake compared to a gemini .

 my 2 cents ...........

[turtle_turtle]

Alcan was awesome. Great weather, both days. The rain on Saturday made things interesting, and the blistering heat on Sunday allowed us to play in the sun inbetween races and marshalling.

The "festival" part of it was okay, not very many events going on. But we all came for the "race" part of it. The races were incredible. Comp Division was definitely exciting to watch, was very difficult to see which teams would have won since most of the teams were so evenly matched. Saw some new teams make it into the comp Division and high Rec Divisions. Congrats to those teams.

Guts and Glory was poorly run. I'm sorry to say. I'm sure there were circumstances backstage, but we had to wait a long time in the heat for the race to start. Safety was compromised, yes, I know many of commented on that. Definitely surprised they decided to restart the race, all the paddlers were exhausted, I'm sure. Overall, it was still quite entertaining and I was satisfied.

[Ronnie]

4. Need an announcer who can pronounce all the teams, and know something about the sport.

Is this the same guy who MC'd the award ceremony!?!  I thought it was kind of offensive when he messed up the word "Ismaili" over, over and over again.

[VanCity Thunder]

Loading and unloading at the dock takes too long for each race.  Should have another loading docking next year.

[dto]

My 2 bits worth ...  in no particular order ...

Moturismo, Bernman & others have it nailed ... most things were done right ... mostly better than last year, too.

(BTW B-man: you sure light up when a camera's in range, don'cha?  See Roli G&G shot in Lethal's mesgs.  Focus, boyo, focus!!  Like yer bud B, 2 seats back ... wotta take-no-prisoners stare that is!!!   )

The new Pool system & advancement-into-Semis method is a great improvement!!
 
- group everyone into 3 pools
- run each pool in consecutive heats (6, here, over about an hour span for each), Sat AM then PM
- set it up so everyone gets one heat each in 6/16 & Gemini
- then determine Sun Semi placings by "points for finish position, with tie-breaks on time-delta from pool average" (I'm guessing it was pool average?)
- mix the pools in the Semis so that no two same-ranked teams are in the same Semi (e.g., 9th from C, 8th B, 7th A, 6th C, etc.)

Brilliant!  Neatly wipes out effects of the Tide, & the Gemini-vs-6/16 speed differences.  And makes it imperative that everyone always race hard, since the time deltas are the tie-breaker for any finish-point draws.

Kudos to whoever thought it up!  

Victoria - are you listening??  Same thing there would be great.

I assume Water's Edge will use much the same method for Kelowna?

Still needs careful seeding of the heats, tho - but that seemed to be the case, this time, IMHO.

Didn't like that they again put the top-ranked team in the "favoured" lane - the middle - with lower rankings progressively outwards, rather than a random draw (at least for the Semis & Finals).  That's always seemed to me to be a bit unfair - but then again, the results this year have a lot more "outside lane" winners & top-placers.

I'm not sure, but I think they also tried to make sure a given boat (esp. the 6/16s) was not used in the same lane for 2 pool races in a row.  The Geminis are not too bad, but there ARE some noticable diffs in the 6/16s (and mucho THANKS to whoever decided not to inlcude DZ's Barney the Purple Pig in the boats used)!!

They DO need better speakers for the crowd, & in the Race Village.

LOVE the idea of refundable D-dollars, or paddler-dollars.

I had heard a rumour a month or so ago that a temporary loading dock was going to be set up in the NE corner of FC, close to the Race Village.  Didn't happen, obviously - but would be a great idea next year (if it's even possible).

Wonder why they didn't setup race loading at the dock at the East end of the Plaza (where some of the Dinner boats hang out)?  That's MUCH closer to the Race Village.

Also had heard that a spectator's g-stand was going to be set up, along the N side Seawall (one of the old Indy stands?).  Would have made a lot of sense!  Next year?

The squatter boats have GOT to go!  Did anyone else run into stinky sewage from some boat(s) in there!  YEEECCHHH!

G&G .... hmmm, better make that a separate mesg!  I was in one of the boats that got T-boned (2 or 3 times!).  So boy, do I have a story to tell ...

[VanCity Thunder]

Anyone know what's the "Tail Race"

[schnip]

Anyone know what's the "Tail Race"

For each Recreational Category

There are three Semifinals
Top 3 go into Champsionship
Next 3 go into Consolation
Next 3 go into Tail Race

Which splits up each final race for each recreational category into
9 teams in Championship
9 teams in Consolation
9 teams in Tail Race

[Rossifumi]

On the subject of Dragon dollars, they should be refundable to paddlers.  If they were, I would fill my pockets on Friday night and fill my belly all weekend without going through frustration and resentment over the present ordeal of staying nourished.

ATMs breakdown, dragon dollar sales people go on breaks and cause long lines, causing a frustrating challenge between races and whatnot.  Having to buy dragon dollars to buy a beer ticket to buy a beer was enough to make me drink somewhere else.

Could there be refundable PADDLERS DOLLARS, in recognition that we have all worked hard, paid good money, often travelled at considerable expense and generally committed substantial parts of our lives to getting a team to ALCAN so there can be a festival?  One kiosk, in paddlers village, and you need to show your registration card to buy and use them and to refund leftover on Sunday afternoon.  I know that if my DD were refundable I would have bought much more at the festival.

I guess I should write this to adbf, but I have a feeling they'll see it.  Any thoughts?

I seriously doubt this would ever happen as it takes away one of the primary reasons for having those 'dollars' in the first place.  Besides the security benefits for vendors on site, this type of currency generally promotes spending.  Most people don't know how much they'll need, and they don't want to always keep lining up to exchange money so they'll generally over-buy the # of dragon dollars they need.

Now you say you would fill your pockets and belly if they were refundable, but I honestly don't believe that at all.  If you don't mind me saying, it sounds like an 'unrealistic' justification for the end result you really want.  You don't want to be burned.  Not, Gee, I want to eat and spend more.
 

[Photog]

imho, it would be chaotic for 1000+ people to line up at the end of Alcan to get their 2 or 3 bucks back. And it's also not a good idea for the dragon dollar tents to have a large float sitting around for refunds.

[junkie]

where's jing du?  im a little curious as to what he/she thinks of this event esp when compared to an eastern festival.   thx.    

[estrella]

Personally, overall the festival was run well.  My main issue, (I think someone touched on it earlier) is the distance between the Racer's Village and the festival.  I understand that they wanted to have all the things for the visitors a little closer to the finish line...but having to run from the Village, through the crowds and stands, to the docks was a bit much.  As well, the announcements of the races need to be a little louder.

But they did well to keep the races on schedule.  I still don't feel comfortable with the boats racing into Science World and coming so close to the edges of the water...but I suppose it's the best situation for viewing the races, which is how the festival makes the money.  

Amusing was the row of porto-potties in between the stands and the dock...everytime you ran past (particularly on the second day) you had to hold your breath!  It must be some kind of bio-hazard to have so many of them in one row!  j/k...

Overall though, I've always liked Alcan...it's always the most fun out of all the local festivals...and the most organized.

[Guido]

but I suppose it's the best situation for viewing the races, which is how the festival makes the money.  

Amusing was the row of porto-potties in between the stands and the dock...everytime you ran past (particularly on the second day) you had to hold your breath!  It must be some kind of bio-hazard to have so many of them in one row!  j/k...

CIDBFS has NEVER made money....if they did...it may have only been 1 or 2 years .....The Festival in Vancouver is NOT A MONEY MAKER....it's always losing money.

The "Festival" is what is draining the funds from the "Race" side.  How is it that a small festival like Kelowna and Victoria and the few other smaller ones have nice Bayliners and Grady Whites and Boston Whalers as chase boats....and Vancouver....a bigger venue....can't have proper OFFICIALS BOATS.  If in the guts and glory race....there'd been a collision....you think those rinky dinky boats that these officals were using would have been able to rescue anyone?....ha....they weren't even equipped with ladders to rescue people out of the water.  Ask the General Manager of this festival if she's ever paddled in a dragon boat and if she's ever been concerned about the safety of a paddler.  She's the one that has taken on the responsibility of providing these safety boats for these races....did anyone notice that inflatable that was sitting behind the marshalling section all weekend?....notice how dilapidated it was?....and THAT was suppose to be an OFFICIALS BOAT......

Oh yea....and the porta-potties.....did anyone count how many were at Racer's Village?....I think they had something like maybe....what...less than 20?......and there were what...137 tents....with about what 22 occupants at least per tent?....wow..if my math is correct...that's about what?....3014 people?.....ok....let's add about 90 coaches.....so that's now...3104 people....right?....well....if you went all the way to the SW corner of the site above the docks....those were the cleanest toilets....because.....who wanted to trek all the way over to there to use them?????  My bladder would have exploded by that time.

I know I know....bitch bitch bitch....what can I say......maybe Turtle Turtle should write all my scripts.....

[Lethal Weapon]

If in the guts and glory race....there'd been a collision....you think those rinky dinky boats that these officals were using would have been able to rescue anyone?....ha....they weren't even equipped with ladders to rescue people out of the water.

I (Shudder...) have to agree with Guido on this one. As a devout non swimmer and general lump of lead in the water, I am concerned about the safety of the paddlers on the water. If someone had been injured in the race then if would have been difficult to get them in those boats to get to shore. I . personnlay have been rescued by a boat that did not have any system (a ladder would have been nice) to get people on board from the water and you should have seen the scratches and bruises on me when they tried to haul my heavy ass out of the water into their boat. (looong story.... ) Better escort and safety boats should be a consideration for any large festival as a safety issue!
ALSO maybe someone should have told those nice Army gentlemen in their boats not to Power down the course between races as the wake nearly flipped a few geminis....DOH!

[The Legend Killer]

My main issue, (I think someone touched on it earlier) is the distance between the Racer's Village and the festival.  I understand that they wanted to have all the things for the visitors a little closer to the finish line...but having to run from the Village, through the crowds and stands, to the docks was a bit much.

I also heard that the sponsors wanted Racer's Village where it was so that all the paddler's would have to go through the Marketplace before and after each race, encouraging impulse buying.