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Dragon Boat Canada


IDBF


Canoe Kayak Canada

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[islander]

On Sunday, our team had a totally different experience from whoever wrote this:

"Third, the race officials.  They seemed to know what was going on.  No real foul-ups at the docks.  The races went ahead of schedule, but I think that is better than behind schedule."

Our team was in the mixed division guts & glory, scheduled to start at 6PM.  Several of our team members had to make the 9PM ferry to the Island, so needed to be back at the dock by about 7:30.  The race officials were aware that, yet the officials, both on and off the water, were totally disorganized with this race.  I've never seen such a gong show - after finally being marshalled down to the docks an hour behind schedule, the official on the water had the teams lined up in completely the wrong order.  By 7:20, the race officials still didn't have the teams lined up properly.  We had no choice but to return to the dock.  It was very disappointing for us.  

On top of that, one the event security guards went berserk while we were waiting in the marshalling area and caused an injury to one of my team members.  All of the sudden this security guard starts having a screaming and yelling tantrum, apparently over the way his co-workers were handling a situation involving an alleged theif.  In the midst of screaming and yelling, he threw his radio on the ground, ripped his security shirt off, and ended up in a scuffle with security and the police.  His flying radio hit one of our stroke people in the ankle and broke into pieces which then hit several other team members.  Our stroke had to go to the first aid tent for treatment on her ankle, all of this minutes before the already very late race was supposed to start.  Some of the race officials/management were nearby when ths happened, but didn't seem to be very interested in taking charge of the situation.

So, my feedback to race organizers is this: (1) find a better security contractor next year; (2) if you're going to have so many races in on the last day, including finals in 'specialty' divisions such as juniors, gender races, etc., plan your race schedule better and take into account potential delays, so that teams from the Island can actually make it home on Sunday night; (3) get some race officials that know how to keep things organized and in control, both on and off the water.

[LARDCore]

Well, this was my first Alcan, and I thought it was a great festival!  Puppy is the finest Marshall in the history of the sport!

My one gripe has nothing to do with the officials, weather, or competition: Air Canada lost one of our coach's bags, and it just happened to be the one big bag containing the entire team's paddles!  It's still missing in action

A HUGE THANK YOU TO LARD, who loaned us their paddles for one of our early races!

Your are welcome, drachenboot.  the pleasure was ours!

It's always great to see everyone up in Vancouver - as usual, great racing.  great venue - a few delays, but that's not a big deal.  it's always nice to be in a city where people actually know what dragon boating is.

i found the bracketing system a bit odd, but hey, i can't imagine how difficult it is to put the brackets together.

Please take no offense, but the gemini boats seem to be one GIANT mistake compounded into a worse mistake.  They were horrible as 11-row boats, and worse as 10-row retro-fitted boats.  for me, i would have preferred buk and 6/16s and the race boats.  i thought the old banana boats we had in Long Beach were horrible...

Overall, a great race!  Now, if you could only make the weather cooperate (we left 87 degree F weather in Los Angeles)....    best joke by race announcer - "what comes after 2 days of rain in vancouver?"  Answer: "Monday".

i hope you all can make it down to our long beach race!

[paddleboy]

 I have to agree ....security looked as if they got totally carried away .What was the big deal because some poor homeless guy tried to steal some empty plastic bottles...... The guy has no money and its survival for him .The security should have just given him some of the bottles and he would of disappeared happy but no they had to make a big deal of it and take the guy down with force and then bring the police in ...OMG !!

 It wasn't the fault of the Alcan people who apparantly actually said it was ok for him to take some ,as he is always down there collecting bottles , but it was the fault of the security guard losing it and he was not aware that it was ok for the homeless guy to take some .

 The one security guard w/ the blackish shirt on..shorter guy should be fired as he was even losing it with other security guys and making threats and the bigger guy had to warn him .Seemed maybe the litle guy had some serious inner issues going on and was not able to control himself under stress ....pretty sad .

 

[VAT18]

4th Place FCRCC B (2:01 and change), 5th Masters of D'Zone (2:03 and change), 6th W3Media (2:06 I believe), 7th Permberton (2:08 after penalty), 8th DCH (2:08)...don't have the times in front of me.

Pemberton was assigned a 2 second penalty which moved them to 7th place (they were 6th). 

DCH was racing as exhibition in Comp A, as they requested prior to the race that they were going to kneel (not allowed in festivals that follow IDBF rules).  They came 8th in either case so not sure the kneeling helped them that much.

---DCH qualified for the A final, but they probably would have done better if they didn't kneel, as their prior heat finishing times indicated------

As for the rankings, out of the top 8 teams to make Competitive only Pacific Reach did not make Comp A (won Comp B, tough semi final).  For the next 8 teams, most of them made Comp B, a few did not but overall what the rankers had as the top 32 teams were the top 32 teams.

------Rankings are just for entertainment and typically aren't real indicators of ability outside of the top 3 crews----------

For those that do not like the rankings, then I suggest you try doing them one year.  It is not as easy as you think and it takes an alot of time to do it.  You should be thanking the rankers (7 of them in total) for their hard work.  In case some of you think the rankers is a closed group who sit around drinking coffee and seeing who they can screw up you are dead wrong.  We had rankers from Vancouver, Victoria, and beyond this year in addition we had an excellent cross section of paddlers and coaches (all were paddlers and there were 3 coaches).

--no thanks, so far rankers are doing good job, hard to factor in out of towners who hadn't race here in a while----

For those teams that questioned where they were ranked, I stand by the rankers as you ended up generally where the rankers had placed.  You know who you are  .

---AGREED- racing head to head will always produce accurate rankings---

Until next year, happy racing whereever your next event is.

[Colossus]

Some Random shots at the ferstival.
There were event photographers there so I did not want to infringe but managed to snap a few anyways...enjoy


Comp A Final

That is actually the Open final.
Thanks for the photos!

[Waters Edge]

A couple clarifications regarding Sunday's incident of the homeless man at DZ and security:

1. Two  festival security guards chased down the homeless guy from Racer's Village for reasons still unknown to us

2. Security grabbed and restrained the guy at DradonZone's stairs which caused a commotion and a third security guy who witnessed this incident lost it (as you all saw), ripped off his shirt screaming that he quit, and ripped off and threw his radio and hit a paddler with it

3. Witnessing this, Water's Edge staff took control and contacted the police because:
a) the way the homeless man was being restrained by the security guards did not seem warranted. No other streetpeople who were down by DragonZone collecting empties (and there were many) had been approached or restrained by security all weekend. (besides this guy is a regular at DragonZone)
b) a paddler was injured and the situation had potential for escalating

At this point Water's Edge stepped out of the equation and allowed the police to do their job while the First aid attendants looked after the injured paddler

To follow up the Festival was contacted to report the festival's security guards actions and we personally checked in with the injured paddler (who said she would be fine aside from some bruising)

[BlueStreak]

Various pictures from my camera...

Steers persons in action

Crossing the finish line






Guts and Glory

The drummer leans into the turn ...

... and so does the steer's!

A whole lot of boats.

Crossing the finish line...




Afterwards...

[glowing_ice]

So, my feedback to race organizers is this: (1) find a better security contractor next year; (2) if you're going to have so many races in on the last day, including finals in 'specialty' divisions such as juniors, gender races, etc., plan your race schedule better and take into account potential delays, so that teams from the Island can actually make it home on Sunday night; (3) get some race officials that know how to keep things organized and in control, both on and off the water.

honestly, i thought the event went very smoothly.  i think we all have to give some credit and a big thank you to the organizers (especially puppy who was quick to respond to the security incident as he was in the process of lining up the teams for G&G).  due to that unfortunate event towards the end of the race (which was the cause of the delay) it may have affected your perception of the entire race.  but the race officials were actually VERY organized.  most races were either on schedule or ahead of schedule.  in many cases they were marshalling crazy early.

it's too bad we had to run so late for the G&G but it's not the fault of the Alcan race co-ordinators or the volunteers.  they did an exceptional job controlling things on and off the water.  saftey and security always comes first before racing.  it could have been much worse.

[islander]

In reply to glowing ice, the G&G race was already at least 30 minutes behind schedule when the secuirty incident occurred.  While that incident seems to have contributed to the delay, it was not the only cause for the delay.  And, as I mentioned above, the marshall on the water added to the problem by setting up the boatds in the wrong order.  We sat in our boat on the water for about 15 minutes, while the marshals tried to sort things out on the water, before we realized that the race still wasn't ging to start anytime soon and we returned to the dock.

[Secret Weapon]

Hey Islander, why don't you sign up for the job then?  I'm sure it pays mucho cash-ola, remember most of these people volunteer their time.

Better yet why don't you keep you and your comments on the Island where they belong!  I can't believe you'd complain like that over a little hiccup in the schedule of the weekends events.

Hat's off to all of those who volunteered and help organize/run this years festival.  Your time and effort are greatly appreciated.

Next stop, Vernon!  Poor little town won't know what hit them!

[StraightLine]

I was out steering for five teams this weekend (8 races total) plus racing with my own team (caller - different perspective for sure! ), so I had a fair amount of experience with the onshore and water marshaling.

The onshore marshaling was great - Puppy did a great job as usual and minimized the amount of time a team spent marshaled while helping to keep the races on time.  Quite the change from 5 or 6 years ago where a team could spend a hour in marshaling before racing.

For the most part the water marshaling and starter did a fantastic job given the wide range in experience for the boat crews.  I did notice a few issues though:

• Boat 8 had a really hard time hearing the starter.  Mostly it was due to trying to hear the calls over the noise coming from other boats.  I'm not sure what the solution is - place a wireless set of speakers on the north shore or crank up the volume and issue earplugs for lanes 1 & 2.
• Sunday afternoon was really bad for drifting at the start line.  One problem I saw here was the water marshals were calling the teams up to the start line way too early and the boats were badly out of position by the time the starter started to call the teams up to the line.  If the drift is bad, wait until the finish line is ready to go and then call the boats up to the marshaling line.  Make it quick and get them started before the teams drift out of position.
• This point is more of a complaint against some teams.  There are teams that like to hang back at the start line until the last moment.  While the starter repeatedly calls them to the line, all of the other boats have drifted across the line or out of their lane.  Personally, I think Kim was being too lenient with these teams.  Give them one warning and if they don't bring it up, start the race.  After a couple of incidents where a team has started 1/2 a boat length back, most teams will be a little more prompt in bringing it up to the line.
• Of course, if the starter does get stricter about boats lagging, there are going to be more protests.  Put a video camera at the start line so any protest can be verified against the actual incident.

I liked having paddlers village on the north side of the festival.  It gave us more room and we weren't tripping over each other.  The walk to the marshaling area wasn't an issue either.

Hey Islander, why don't you sign up for the job then?  I'm sure it pays mucho cash-ola!  Better yet why don't you keep you and your comments on the Island where they belong!

Secret Weapon - I don't think your comment is really necessary.  Islander was simply making observations about what they encounter and when you're having to worry about a lengthy trip home that includes a scheduled ferry, any lengthy delays become a problem. And yes, most of the people involved are volunteers although I believe the Water's Edge staff are paid.

The Guts & Glory race at past festivals has had issues as well.  Last year (I believe) the race started with the teams taking the course counter-clockwise instead of clockwise.  I'm not sure why these problems keep cropping up, but it certainly does take away from the race.

Otherwise - a big thank-you to all of the volunteers and Water's Edge staff for putting on another excellent festival.

StraightLine

[paddleboy]

So, my feedback to race organizers is this: (1) find a better security contractor next year; (2) if you're going to have so many races in on the last day, including finals in 'specialty' divisions such as juniors, gender races, etc., plan your race schedule better and take into account potential delays, so that teams from the Island can actually make it home on Sunday night; (3) get some race officials that know how to keep things organized and in control, both on and off the water.

honestly, i thought the event went very smoothly.  i think we all have to give some credit and a big thank you to the organizers (especially puppy who was quick to respond to the security incident as he was in the process of lining up the teams for G&G).  due to that unfortunate event towards the end of the race (which was the cause of the delay) it may have affected your perception of the entire race.  but the race officials were actually VERY organized.  most races were either on schedule or ahead of schedule.  in many cases they were marshalling crazy early.

it's too bad we had to run so late for the G&G but it's not the fault of the Alcan race co-ordinators or the volunteers.  they did an exceptional job controlling things on and off the water.  saftey and security always comes first before racing.  it could have been much worse.

 the really sad part was the fact it cut into some quality beer garden time and to make up for the loss of time Calgary had their beer bong going ......it moved like 4 beers into you in a matter of seconds ......woohoo !! Beware of that nasty thing in Calgary ....

[Ronnie]

Let's not start this Vancouver vs. Island thing again.  Keep it polite and constructive.

The delay obviously caused problems for people but many of us have dealt with delays in the past and it should be no surprise to us that it may happen at Alcan (even with the organizer's best efforts).  Despite the criticism, I hope that you would agree, most paddlers appreciate the time and effort put in by the organizers and volunteers.  Thanks guys!

[Colossus]

Hey Islander, why don't you sign up for the job then?  I'm sure it pays mucho cash-ola, remember most of these people volunteer their time.

Better yet why don't you keep you and your comments on the Island where they belong!  I can't believe you'd complain like that over a little hiccup in the schedule of the weekends events.

what a stupid, ignorant, and immature comment to make.  
just because one person's opinion varies from yours doesn't make them any more wrong than you are right.  while you may live here and don't have to worry about catching the last ferry so you can get back home so you can go to work the next day, many others do/did.  the world doesn't involve around you, and the delays may not have affected you and your team/your plans for the evening, but they sure as hell affected others'.  
grow up.

to islander:
it was great racing you guys in the final, and sucks that you had to take off because of the delays.  i'm not sure which one you are, and you probably don't know who i am, but i know several of your mustached compadres.  we look forward to racing you guys again in calgary!

[puppy]

To Islander, Glowing Ice and Secret Weapon.....

We thank you for your comments...and we realize the delay has inconvenienced some teams. We do apologize for this but please know that Water's Edge does endeavor to race all teams on schedule - fairly and safely.

Things did occur late Sunday, that was unintentional and we will be having a team debriefing to solve these issues.

On a whole, every festival we work at, some issues do creep up and we do our best to mitigate these issues before they happen.  However, some do sting us….The biggest challenge this year was the number of entries. 165+ teams….  Water’s Edge is here to make the racing experience not only competitively, but fun, safe and equitable.

Let's not continue this thread/topic any further...we can take it off line and we can PM with each other.....there's no winner here, if we continue to complain...rather, let's just fix it ....

Thanks everyone....We appreciate your understanding and hope to see all at the next races....