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Dragon Boat Canada


IDBF


Canoe Kayak Canada

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[DiggerPig]

First off - Richard you did an awesome job - so if anyone (I don't think thats that case anymore) has a problem PM me as any negative comments seems unfair and unjust as he's volunteered two years in a row to come out and give us his time, sweat, and effort. 

Second - I am making a list of all the comment and will definitely be submitting a list to for our post-regatta meeting when we break down the entire event and try and improve. 

Finally - please, please, please keep in mind that the dock crews and I think this applies to the bulk of small to medium size regatta, work their ass off on the docks and for consistency they stay there the entire day.  The dock crew consisted of all my personal friends and co-workers.  I also had my 12 year old son (second year he's come out - wants to Dragon Boat soooo bad.  He'll be someone to watch for FCRCC!) working on the docks.  Despite some serious sun burn today the people i talked to said that for the most part, the had a lot of fun an all the teams were friendly and great to deal with.  They also said that they enjoyed the experience and thats despite almost 12 hours in the sun (they started at 07:30 hrs).  Some ... and I stress some teams frustrated with the day seem to voice their anger to wards the volunteers (dock crew)!?!  Next time please come up to the dragon boat committee and yell at us - not them.

I wasn't going to put in the final paragraph because I didn't want to deflect any blame off of us (dragon boat committee). Make no mistake - it was a gong show is some areas and great in others.  As I've posted earlier we will fix it! 

I do appreciate all the posts!  Really thanks for being understanding.  I've already talked with "Coach of little people" and we've already got working on next year to improve. 

Now does anyone have a crane I can borrow?  I've got this Big Ass TV stuck in my doorway! 

[kryssee]

I take back my previous comments about the starter..ya, we had one bad delay at the start..but that's llife, i suppose! Thanks for spending 12 hours in the blistering heat for us! I apologize for offending you, Richard!

[rightarm]

that really bothers me that some people would have been taking out their frustration on the dock volunteers... we see this all too often at the festivals, its not right.

[coach_of_little_people]

Hey everyone, I'm actually glad to see that there are people on both sides of the argument b/c this is the best way to learn! You look at all the comments (positive and constructive), decide which ones are valid vs just plain complaining or ridiculous, learn from them, and prepare for it next time this might occur.

I'll admit that I also referred to some of the races as a "Gong show" to imply that you're never going to be sure what is going to happen, so do you best to prepare. After seeing some of the collisions, I tried to prepare my team for either a collision or going off course and that's the best you can do...for the rest, you do your best to adapt to the situation and still be competitive! Again, as long as no one was seriously hurt, it was a great experience (collisions, disputes, heat, freshwater, boats, lanes) and all in one festival...great bang for the buck!!!

Hands down to Diggerpig and the FVDBF for admitting that they made a mistake or two b/c many other festivals that I've been to have just left a sour taste in people's mouths...it's over and let's all move on! Stop being angry and acknowledge that everyone did their best at the moment of the situation.

Regarding the gi-normous screen, I think that you should keep it in your backyard and invite us all over for a big party...or a movie...or a big game of X-Box's NHL 2006!

[Keen Man]

The big screen was great... it would have been even better if it also had been used to communicate with the paddlers.... Notifications of what races were marshalling, what teams wre up next to marshall, or even what teams were required for a re-race would have been great uses of the screen and may have helped speed things up... or at least alleviate some of the stress...

[coach_of_little_people]

Hey Keen Man, even though the screen was awesome, it would be difficult to place up all that information on one screen, but I completely agree with your idea. Maybe a rotating list every 5 minutes?

One of the festivals I was at had a PA system every 50 - 100 feet to alert paddlers of upcoming races, present races, and past races.

Another festival had a tent of voluteers at the entrance/exit of the paddlers village to check that only paddlers entered and for information for teams. This worked well b/c then the main marshallers tent wasn't swamped with questions, disputes, or just angry people.

[Lethal Weapon]

Hey Digger Pig!
The Volunteers did an awesome job, I was scrambling for the nearest shade when I wasn't racing and felt bad for the volunteers on the docks.
Except for the delay, the festival went smoothly and on schedule in the morning,
The only thing I would bring up would be to shorten the Mizz dragon boat as it was a bit long (but enjoyable unless you were wearing a size 12 polyster dress with a wig  and full make up on,.,,,,) and just have 2 or 3 go on a  a time.
And the beer hall was a suprising bust! The heat didn't help and the lack of a DJ was the kiss of death. Too bad you guys can't convince them to have an open tent one......After all aren'tDBers responsible drinking adults.....
Great work once again and looking forward to next year.

[paddleboy]

oops 

[grifter]

I agree with almost everything said here, good and bad.  The festival side was great (big screen, and team baskets....listen up Alcan!), the racing needed a few things improved.  Maybe the race course should be pushed out to deeper water, so wave chop and lane bias would be diminished.  All in all, I enjoyed myself.  Promise to turn down the heat next year and I'm sure to return.

[Scaly]

Scaly Justice has a great time at the festival - the video screen was great, as was the complimentary flat of water and fruit basket. 

The volunteers did a great job. Thanks to the organizers! 

We had no problems hearing the race marshall from shore (but did get frustrated when we had to back it up from the start line for each race - but that wind was stronger than we've seen at Alcan).

The narrow lanes got your adrenaline pumping because you constantly heard the teams next to you throughout the race!  It made it tough to hear your own calls in the boat - but that made the races that much more exciting.

The only glitch we saw was the delay in the afternoon races and not knowing when our race was actually running (so we had to check back often) (and the video screen people not knowing either, and dropping the live feed because they couldn't run commentary).

Some tents / awnings over the marshalling area would be awesome!

We must have had Barney for our second seeding race - we had an awesome race, but only improved our time over our (lousy) first race time by 4 seconds.

Here are the results of the Rec B Final and a finish line photo.

[Rossifumi]

Harrison feedback

First off great venue/location.  Too bad bout the Mosquitos tho.

Cramming in 4 races, survival + gaypride day was perhaps optimistic.
If you want to keep the extra stuff around, consider a 3 race format.

Alternatively, think up some creative ideas to attract more teams.  You're not far off from holding a Victoria size event which would be very commendable and a benefit to westcoast racing (ie we do need more larger sized events)

Race Direction:
I don't mind asking to maybe take extra care in your start line/finish line setups and landmarking's.
Consistent lane assignments
Water officials taking care to line boats up in their lanes.
Chase boats out there for all races

The big screen tv, well there's nothing more to say about that except don't lose it.

Having a break in the middle of the day was awesome.  Really.  But don't let it get away and run off schedule.

[Secret Weapon]

I was going to leave this one alone but come on people, yes the festival was a bit harry at times but the best way to proceed is with constructive criticism and not bashing the festival organizers and volunteers as they did try to do their best.  I'm surprised at some of the comments here.  It's a beautiful venue and I saw smiles on many that day, sure it ran a little long (actually too long) but things to learn from and improve on for next year.  After visiting both Vernon and Harrison this year I'm just thankfull the parties involved put these festivals together for all of us to enjoy.  It's so nice to paddle in clean water and boy what a view.  Hey did you see the Red Bull girls????

[DiggerPig]

Vernon had Red Bull Girls?!? Ok where did I put that list ... 

[paddleboy]

 Rec A consolation apparantly got the comp A gold medals.... Take very good care of them while you hold onto them for me and remember ....don't scratch them please ...lol . j/k

 If you can't get the medals back I'll gladly take a red bull girl in exchange 

[Garbage Miles]

Here are my thoughts ... very similar to what was posted before. 

1. Lane bias like Kelowna - possibly unavoidable, but lane 6 was definitely very fast
2. Changing rules - race grid changed to add womens team into mixed division and final grid lane assignments changed
3. Boats not going into pre-assigned lanes - Need chase boats to get boats in proper lanes
4. Start and finish angles seemed different
5. Took too long to line up boats - extra set of starter buoys will help
6. No checking for wristbands - maybe not necessary for fun festival
7. Delays - Are 4 races too much for 50 teams?  Without delay, it may be possible.
8. Boat conditions - Try and make it as fair as possible.  If Barney is used, it should be in lane 6.
9. Dock setup - Only one dock, so it takes a long time to load and unload boats.  The dock can't support too much weight, so all boats were fully unloaded before next race's teams were able to get on.
10. Collisions - Try for wider lanes.  In the case of Roli collisions, maybe every team was intentionally trying to collide with intent of injury, perhaps being paid out by some Eastern DB teams.  What a conspiracy that would be.  Or maybe they just wanted to hit paddleboy.  I did hear that the final race was re-run a few times when Roli was hit twice on the left side.

Other than that, the good things were it was a nice venue, volunteers were friendly, and the big screen TV worked well. And of course, it's great that the organizers listen to the paddlers for feedback.