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Dragon Boat Canada


IDBF


Canoe Kayak Canada

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[DBWTim]

Now that the final festival in the Lower Mainland is done, let's provide some feedback about this weekend's racing for the Taiwanese Dragon Boat Festival?

IE: Did you like the race grid?
    Was the racing fair and equitable?
    What would you change?
    How was the water officials?
    Did you like the marshalling?
    What would you do to improve this festival?

Please provide constructive feedback.....


Thanks

[Colossus]

i think overall, it ran quite smoothly with few hiccups.  so few in fact that i didn't notice any myself.  only real "problems" were the pleasure craft running through the course every now and then, and one of the boats leaking (i know that boats shouldn't take on water on their own by just sitting in them). 

[blizzy]

i think overall, it ran quite smoothly with few hiccups.  so few in fact that i didn't notice any myself.  only real "problems" were the pleasure craft running through the course every now and then, and one of the boats leaking (i know that boats shouldn't take on water on their own by just sitting in them). 

Was it your team that yelled "our boat is leaking!!" when the starter asked if there was a problem?

[brainiac]

A few little delays but things ran pretty much on time. Certainly much better than last year. The intimate venue continues to be a big positive for me. I thought the volunteers were friendly and efficient. And who can complain about free beer?

[mustbecrazy]

Great volunteers, great venue, altho' yukky False Creek water is always a turn off.  Still it was big fun and competitive racing despite a 36 team field.  This isn't really a complaint as I know it's just the luck of the draw...however, last year our team have 4 races in teak boats before a flag catcher final.  This year, we had 4 races in a flag catcher and only 1 in a teak.  It would be nice to have more of a balance.  Silver bling was our reward and we can't complain about that at all!!!  Too bad there was no final "swag" to go with the bling as there was last year!

[BernMan]

Overall I thought the races ran smoothly. I was particularly impressed with the fact that when they did run a bit behind they quickly made that up. The only thing I would recommend is to get one more chase boat/safety boat out there near the finish line. Then that boat can keep a lookout to catch/stop/warn any of the pleasure craft boaters who are totally oblivious to the simple fact that there is a race going on so that they don't cut into the race path. I swear some of those on pleasure boats didn't keep a proper lookout as to where they were heading down the creek. How can they not see all the buoys out on the water? Or the flags that were at the finish line and not realize "hey I think there is something going on here?"

As for having good racing with comparable competition I thought the teams were fairly spread out as far as where they should finish off in the grand scheme of things. I thought pretty well all teams that ended up where they did in the various divisions deserved to be there. One thing though that I noticed was that there was a lot of paddler swapping or lending among some of the teams at the races. Although most of that occurred with teams in the lower divisions. I don't recall any of the higher ranked teams, IE: A or B division teams that borrowed paddlers from other teams during the weekend. At least not to my knowledge.

And of course on the festival side of things the food was fantastic! The dim sum and the various foods that I knew of were very tasty!

Congrats to all teams out this past weekend!

[Darwin]

My one bit of feedback is somehow to broadcast the fact that there was a new race grid out.  I stuck with the one from Aug. 30 and didn't realize until Sunday afternoon that there had been a new one printed out on Sept. 3.  Posting up a notice by the results and announcing over the loudspeakers would have been nice.

Another minor thing is that the walkway to the spectator zone was cluttered.  Part of it was because quite a few people were watching the final (that's good) but also because 2 teams set themselves down right in a major pathway.  False Creek was on the stone walkway (a little further back) - but my main issue was that there was a team who planted their tent right in the middle of the main walkway to the prime viewing spots.  When I opted to avoid the tent and duck under the "CAUTION" tape, I was quickly shuffled out and had to make my way through the rocky outcropping instead.  I noticed a pregnant woman doing the same too, which was very bad.

In general though, extremely well-run festival.  My paddlers tended to enjoyed the atmosphere of this race more than the Alcan extravaganza.

[puppy]

Here is my constructive feedback:

1) There should be a racers official tent who tells guest and paddlers who is racing, where race results are, and any other administration stuff. There was allot of people asking questions and it was hard to find race information.  

2) Award medals to the 2nd and 3rd place teams in the Men's and Women's Division.

3) Disply/show race results for the fun races (BlindFold, Noguard and Barrel Races)....possible even awarding some "fun" prize or see point 11.

4) Junior Division, award them something (doesn't matter what it is, just something)....

5) GET RIDE OF THE RIBBONS...they look cheesy...give the entire team a Plaque our cup,should be good enough....found ribbons lying on the floor, after the festival was over.  

6) Awarding teams BEER is not a good idea. I don't think you want to promote drinking.... Beer should not be one of the prizes. In addition, the liability issue that may come out of this, may not be good. Have the beer company provide something else as a prize. (BTW, what if a junior team won, would they get BEER???)

7) Middle lane markers are required, so that teams can steer in a straight line. It was hard to see the flags at the finish line.

8) At one point, two separate heats were left on the starting blocks for at least 25 minutes...in the SUN.....they should have communicated better with the teams on the delay.

9) Separate the FUN Races, from the Sat and Sun racing....place the fun races on the Monday or put the fun races at the end of everday....some teams were too POOPED to do the "real" racing and the "fun" races all in the same day.

10) Because you set the precedence from last year, with all the "BLING BLING" prizes, there was some questions, what were the "BLING BLING" prizes this year? This can be very dangerous....you want to hold a great festival, but you don't want this festival all about the "TOP" teams.  Keep the "fun festival" format and acknowledge all teams, as best as you can....

11) Interesting way to welcome the teams, with a fruit basket.. not sure how everyone felt about it.

IE: Medals to GROUP A, B, C, D  (1st, 2nd and 3rd medals).... (Only Group A, 1st place should get a perpetuating cup)

     Upper consolation winner (Perpetuating Cup)
     Middle consolation winner (Perpetuating Cup)
     Lower consolation winner (Perpetuating Cup)
     Junior consolation winner (Perpetuating Cup)
     Fun races (one cup, with winners time and race format) (ie 2006 BlindFold 2:13:33 False Creek Racing Canoe Club
                                                                                       2006 Noguard 2:11:34 Strathcona Dangerous When Wet
                                                                                       2006 Barrel Race 2:44:15 Draco Dragon Boat Team

[Splasher]

Here is my constructive feedback:

1) There should be a racers official tent who tells guest and paddlers who is racing, where race results are, and any other administration stuff. There was allot of people asking questions and it was hard to find race information. 

2) Award medals to the 2nd and 3rd place teams in the Men's and Women's Division.

3) Disply/show race results for the fun races (BlindFold, Noguard and Barrel Races)....possible even awarding some "fun" prize or see point 11.

4) Junior Division, award them something (doesn't matter what it is, just something)....

5) GET RIDE OF THE RIBBONS...they look cheesy...give the entire team a Plaque our cup,should be good enough....found ribbons lying on the floor, after the festival was over. 

6) Awarding teams BEER is not a good idea. I don't think you want to promote drinking.... Beer should not be one of the prizes. In addition, the liability issue that may come out of this, may not be good. Have the beer company provide something else as a prize. (BTW, what if a junior team won, would they get BEER???)

7) Middle lane markers are required, so that teams can steer in a straight line. It was hard to see the flags at the finish line.

8) At one point, two separate heats were left on the starting blocks for at least 25 minutes...in the SUN.....they should have communicated better with the teams on the delay.

9) Separate the FUN Races, from the Sat and Sun racing....place the fun races on the Monday or put the fun races at the end of everday....some teams were too POOPED to do the "real" racing and the "fun" races all in the same day.

10) Because you set the precedence from last year, with all the "BLING BLING" prizes, there was some questions, what were the "BLING BLING" prizes this year? This can be very dangerous....you want to hold a great festival, but you don't want this festival all about the "TOP" teams.  Keep the "fun festival" format and acknowledge all teams, as best as you can....

11) Interesting way to welcome the teams, with a fruit basket.. not sure how everyone felt about it.

IE: Medals to GROUP A, B, C, D  (1st, 2nd and 3rd medals).... (Only Group A, 1st place should get a perpetuating cup)

     Upper consolation winner (Perpetuating Cup)
     Middle consolation winner (Perpetuating Cup)
     Lower consolation winner (Perpetuating Cup)
     Junior consolation winner (Perpetuating Cup)
     Fun races (one cup, with winners time and race format) (ie 2006 BlindFold 2:13:33 False Creek Racing Canoe Club
                                                                                       2006 Noguard 2:11:34 Strathcona Dangerous When Wet
                                                                                       2006 Barrel Race 2:44:15 Draco Dragon Boat Team

LOL, a Jr team did win a division I believe. I think it was a team from synergy in the D division.

[BernMan]

6) Awarding teams BEER is not a good idea. I don't think you want to promote drinking.... Beer should not be one of the prizes. In addition, the liability issue that may come out of this, may not be good. Have the beer company provide something else as a prize. (BTW, what if a junior team won, would they get BEER???)

Hey puppy. The beer was not actually an award from what I understand. I believe it was for all teams that entered into the races. All teams would receive 25 beer tickets. It was like a thank you of sorts. I personally did not have a problem with the beer. I also think it was a good way to soak someone up at the end of the day by shaking those cans up good!  Especially after being soaked by a nice bucket of cold water what could be better than a nice soaking of beer. Right???  Although maybe the order should have been beer first and then ice cold water to wash the smell away. Oh well there's always next year....

[gunghaggis]

I heard some interesting critiques for the weekend:

Another Chase/safety boat is important.  The DBA boat cannot handle the extra weight, it got swamped and had to be rescued on Sunday afternoon.

Leaking boats:
The boats need to be in the water for at least 2 weeks, so that they can be properly suited for racing.  Wooden boats absorb the water, and the wood expands, creating water-tight boats.  Some of the boats were only put into the water a few days before the festival.  This is not acceptable to have leaky boats,  not ready for use.

More dock volunteers - there was a definite deficit of dock crew.  Francis is doing a good job, but he needs help.  Race Director Richard Mah was there helping too.  It is much harder for teams to volunteer their paddlers, when we have 5 races in a day.  It would have been great if teams that didn't have enough paddlers to enter, could come to volunteer, or be part of a paddler pool.

More audio speakers throughout the Racer's village area, down to the far southwest end.   The South West end had a great view of the finish line - but no speakers, and no grand stand for spectators.  When I was on the DBA/ Race committee, it was originally the view of the Taiwanese Cultural Festival that the audience would watch from the steps of the loggers dock - but this is not practical, as most people want to watch from the shoreline.

We had good positive feedback about the race commentators.  On Saturday, Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre provided the race commentors.  The emphasis was to keep it fun, make jokes, and involve a community organization.  On Saturday, race commentators were people from the dragon boat community, who had a lot of first hand knowledge about the sport, as well as the teams and individuals involved.  Special Thanks to Kim Tomkins and Ian Paul who joined me for race commentary.

The dragon boat race is growing slowly.  There were 36 team, up from 28 in 2003.  It is now attracting more attention outside the Lower Mainland.  Calgary showed up again.  And while Tacoma skipped because of US Nationals, The Phillipines Youth Rowing Society came back to Vancouver to try this race out.  More out or town teams will make this festival interesting particularly because of the Long Weekend for travelling.

With more teams, there is more competition for medals.  The races could easily have supported 3 medals each, in 6 divisions.  As well as medals for 1st place in each of the FUN races.

Paddler swapping.  It has been known in the past that paddler swapping was allowed because the emphasis of this race is FUN.  paddler swapping should be allowed to a maximum of 16 paddlers.  If you don't have 18 paddlers for your team - then paddle with the minimum allowed - otherwise it penalizes the teams that have brought 18 paddlers.  A team is defined by who you brought on your roster. 

About the beer.  I believe it was a "sponsored" thing to help promote Taiwan brand beer.  This was the Taiwanese Cultural Festival anyways.  Lots of Taiwanese culture and entertainment.  A lot of paddlers probably wouldn't know the difference about Taiwanese dragon boats and that Taiwan has a distinct and separate history from China, if it wasn't for this festival.  A special thanks for the Taiwanese Cultural Festival in bringing over the six Taiwanese dragon boats as a gift from the government and peoples of Taiwan, to the people and city of Vancouver.

Teams also need to keep their perspective.  This is a FUN festival with FUN races.  It's not the IDBF, Worlds, or regional championships.  Protesting a FUN race is not in the spirit of things.  We really need to be thankful that Vancouver can host another major race event and cultural festival in the dragon boat season.

There were a number of other snags.  I suggest to people to send their suggestsions to DBA. 
I am not on DBA anymore - so please don't send to me.  Send to Richard or Wing.

[puppy]

6) Awarding teams BEER is not a good idea. I don't think you want to promote drinking.... Beer should not be one of the prizes. In addition, the liability issue that may come out of this, may not be good. Have the beer company provide something else as a prize. (BTW, what if a junior team won, would they get BEER???)

Hey puppy. The beer was not actually an award from what I understand. I believe it was for all teams that entered into the races. All teams would receive 25 beer tickets. It was like a thank you of sorts. I personally did not have a problem with the beer. I also think it was a good way to soak someone up at the end of the day by shaking those cans up good!  Especially after being soaked by a nice bucket of cold water what could be better than a nice soaking of beer. Right???  Although maybe the order should have been beer first and then ice cold water to wash the smell away. Oh well there's always next year....

To stand corrected, I could be wrong, but the beer was an award for the 2nd place team in Group A, B, C and D...and in addition free beer for each paddler.

I guess giving beer out freely should not be included in the sport....if teams want a drink, let them go to the beer tent on their own...

But I acknowledge and respect your viewpoint too....

[Swordfish]

My only problem is the poor starving children...will somebody feed this kid?!  It's pretty sad to see children begging for food

[mo]

please feed starving children before they run off and "make girls cry".

[clm10k]

It's not the IDBF, Worlds, or regional championships.  Protesting a FUN race is not in the spirit of things.

i dont think its relevant whether its a fun race at the taiwanese festival or a race at the club crew level.  if a team has a valid reason for protesting a race, so be it.   yes, i realize that this weekend's race isnt on par with alcan in terms of competitiveness but i would still like the race to be fair.   this is a fun festival yes, but there is still pride and medals etc. on the line.

also, i would imagine the race organizers would want fair races as well too seeing their reputations are at stake. 


btw.. i had a great weekend.  very big thank you to dba and everyone else involved!!  great job!!