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Dragon Boat Canada


IDBF


Canoe Kayak Canada

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[puppy]

Hi everyone,

By far, this was one of the more interesting Dragon Boat Festivals in recent memory.

As Water's Edge, we care about the races and we want your feedback/suggestions. The only way we get better, is we ask you for your insights.

We ask that you not only vote, but to provide us your thoughts/suggestions/feedback.

Without them, we can't make this the best race in North America.

[Kai Paddler]

I think that each year there is better and better competition ... as you know the comp A finals for the open and mixed were very close ... I think that using a dock at the starting point like they did at Toronto's world club crew would help with alignment and give each team an equal chance.  When you are talking about inches in the photo finish, it might be a good idea to be more precise at the start.  I love the new format and all the competition you bring to the race in Vancouver ... thanks for all the hard work.

[rightarm]

I'm going with Awesome!  Like i was saying in the other thread, i think this has been one of the best alcan's i've attended, and despite the occasional hiccup here and there (which are unavoidable with an event of this scale), was incredibly enjoyable and my hats off to waters edge and the festival organizers for pulling off a great show!  And of course the volunteers.

One suggestion, which may already happen and I've just been too wrapped up in my own racing to notice ... I believe last year in San Francisco (Puppy, you can probably comment on this?)  that they held a volunteers challenge.  I really like the idea of, perhaps on the Saturday after the races for the day have wrapped up, that volunteers who aren't on teams but would like to get a chance to have a "fun race" could go out on boats and some of the teams could help steer and call for them, work the docks, etc, as a volunteer recognition event.  I know on the sunday it would be too difficult to pull off because of the awards, G&G's, etc, but i bet if you asked a lot of the volunteers who were present on the weekend, they would love the chance to try it out.

Again great event, kudos to everyone involved.  I know that a lot of local paddlers had criticisms posted in another thread of the event and it was suggested more of them could get involved in the planning and implementation of the event to help... perhaps someone from the organizing committee could post up a little more information on how people can get involved, who to contact, etc etc.

[paddlerbutt]

The festival overall and new race grid were great.  It would be nice if there was a way to have the G&G a little bit earlier.  (Maybe start morning races earlier?)  Most of Portland Paddling had to drive home Sunday night- had to scratch the race and let another team race in their spot. 

[James Cole]

Burn the Geminis!

[PaddleFunk]

For the most part I think the event was really well run!  Congrats to the whole Water's Edge Crew...

I know this has more to do with the nature of racing and a predetermined system for determining placings which at the top end of things worked very well and as a format I think should be kept.

Unfortunately do to some on water antics by some teams that shall remain nameless being penalized for their action and correctly so they managed to steal what should have been some novice paddler's first metal.   

To add insult to injury (in this case litterally as I understand on of these nameless boats not heeding on water officials did cause injury to a paddler on another boat) these boats once again playing stupid games with teams they should have no problem beating caused a false start.  Hardly something that would be considered sporting or fair.   

Apologies for the rant but my point is that I believe that as a sport we need to find a more appropriate way to deal with this on-water foolishness in a fashion that is more in line with creating a deterant.  End their festival, exclude them from the possibility of metaling regardless of placement, let them qualify where they should place and then put them in the consolation in that class.  I know it can be claimed that the likelihood of the novices who finished 4 5 and 6 wouldn't have lost to the teams that where in the Rec. 'D' reconciliation but at least it would have been competitive for the people who we are welcoming to the sport.

I don't know the answer but I would like to have those who we entrust with these issues think about how to more appropriately deal with these offenders without penalizing others for their misdeeds.




 I believe that teams that take part in such activities and from what I understand caused an injury to another paddler because of their desire to win at all cost should be dealt with on sunday they ended up spoiling the event for some new paddlers who should have had their first taste of hardware and a great experience to talk about walk away with a bitter taste in their mouths when in their final race after a weekend of being told that they will be racing against teams of their own caliber they get blown out of the water and that is after they once again play silly games and create a false start.

[Swordfish]

?

Anyway, only real beef I have is the lack of speakers at the back of the racer's village.  I had to constantly ask the volunteers at the Information tent to check on which races were being marshalled.  Awesome job as usual...you can tell which races are run by Water's Edge and which ones aren't.

[kwu]

It was hard to hear anything in lanes 6, 7, and 8 on Sunday. I don't know if the speakers weren't hooked up or turned up on the other side of the starter, but it was very quiet.

Pre-marshalling and marshalling was good. The racers village was far but there was plenty of space, but some of the speakers weren't working, couldn't hear which races were being marshalled sometimes.

[Monk]

It seems to me that having ample manpower is the key to making it better. (This year it seemed a bit skinny)  It might be an idea to ask attending teams to pony up to the bar and commit the services of a some of their members for some of the simple stuff ahead of time. (Help with end of day equipment cleanup/organization is a good example).  I can't see how anyone would object to that.

[Martini]

Overall I will go with awesome. Had a great time, thought the event was well organized. We always knew when our next race was, who we were racing against, when to marshall, etc. Food, vendors, washrooms, all good. Room for improvement, Guts and Glory was very disorganized. Our team almost missed out because we were initially told we were not going to be in it. At the last minute we were being called to the marshalling area. We literally had to get people back from the parking lot. Luckily we were able to track everyone down in time. Medal ceremonies need some work also. I prefer to see one medal ceremony after all the races are finished. Again we had to scramble to get our team together for the medal ceremony because no one seemed to know when it was going to happen. Finally, it would be nice if we were all racing in BUK's.

Note to Puppy - thanks for all your help and encouragement over the weekend. You were awesome as always! Please give CRC's thanks to Jason also. Appreciate the helps guys.

[KarenRobertsPDX]

The race grid was, by far, the most bizarre I've ever seen.  In general the race organizers don't seem to be taking into account how far a few of the "mighty" teams of the past have fallen and still give them lane 4 for their first heat.

It seemed unfair to the "novice" teams to segregate them from the rest of the group after only one heat on Saturday and also unfair to the "recreational" teams to have the first placer's from the heat one taken out and given sacred status.  Because of that first heat at least one first place finisher was given better lane position for the rest of the weekend than other "recreational" teams who had consistently performed better than them.  No need to hand it on a silver platter to the competitive teams - they need to earn it just as much as the rest of the teams. 

Please find a grid and stick to it.  Teams need to be able to count on some kind of consistency in what they are paying for in a race weekend.

The race organization in general was excellent.

[Colossus]

The race grid was, by far, the most bizarre I've ever seen.  In general the race organizers don't seem to be taking into account how far a few of the "mighty" teams of the past have fallen and still give them lane 4 for their first heat.

It seemed unfair to the "novice" teams to segregate them from the rest of the group after only one heat on Saturday and also unfair to the "recreational" teams to have the first placer's from the heat one taken out and given sacred status.  Because of that first heat at least one first place finisher was given better lane position for the rest of the weekend than other "recreational" teams who had consistently performed better than them.  No need to hand it on a silver platter to the competitive teams - they need to earn it just as much as the rest of the teams. 

Please find a grid and stick to it.  Teams need to be able to count on some kind of consistency in what they are paying for in a race weekend.

The race organization in general was excellent.

So, if they have a flawed grid that they're using but come across one that works MUCH better (albeit in different circumstances), you're of the opinion that they should stick with that flawed grid and not see if the other one works much better?  there is a reason we have had all these advances in society since the stone age...   WE TRIED NEW THINGS!!!  if they were an improvement, we kept them.  if they didn't work, they got junked.  ever think that that is what is going on with the race grid?  as has been said previously in the other thread, its HARD to properly rank 160+ teams properly and have everything 100% "fair" for everyone.  the grid worked well, in my opinion, better than previous years.  it definately required you to be in top form for every race, but that is what racing is about, and thats what practices are for. 
the comp teams weren't handed anything on a silver platter.  they had to fight for every race just like everyone else.  lane 4 did not always win, lanes 3 and 5 did not always come in 2nd and 3rd. 

and to sum up, i'll issue you the same challenge that has been issued before:  come up with "the perfect grid" for this many teams and hand it over to alcan for next year so that there will be no complaining. 

[glowing_ice]

the grid was pretty fair in assessing the skill levels and spectrum of teams out there.  it's never going to be 100% accurate or fair since there are so many unknown factors to account for.

just to note... the novice and rec teams are not the only ones who had it tough.  if you looked at the second race for the top comp teams on saturday (especially the one with FCRCC B team), it was STACKED.  the competition was tough and the races were intense.

luck will play a factor in how you will advance on the grid, but obviously in the end it all comes down to performance and doing what needs to be done on the water.

[wanker]

This was my first Alcan festival, so I am only able to compare to multiple seasons worth of other festivals from year's past (Calgary, Lethbridge, Kelowna, Vancouver Taiwanese festival, etc).

Considering the amount of teams, I think this was a very well-run festival overall.  The marshalling was done efficiently and it is quite nice to see the majority of the races run on time (if not slightly ahead of schedule).  This is one of the most important items to address, IMO.  Having paddled in festivals where races ran up to two hours late I have seen how that can create havoc with making sure paddlers are ready to paddle for the next race, sufficiently, watered and rested.  I sympathize with those who were involved in the G&G races, but by the time those were going on, I had already downed a few beers, so frankly, I didn't care all that much.  

In this year's Alcan, having been on a boat that raced in lane 8 on several occasions, I can agree that the team in lane 8 is at a disadvantage because of the delay in hearing the starter calls and even the horn.  My knees are also bruised up a little from those rails in the Geminis.  It would be nice to have multiple sets of matched boats, but I recognize the cost and am happy that there are at least enough boats for two sets of races.  Again, better than some other festivals I've paddled in.

It might have been nice to have more speakers in the cattleyard-esque racer's tent area, but a proactive team manager/coach/paddler can simply walk down a few meters to the north side of Science World and figure out in fairly short order where the races were at.  Not a huge deal, but room for slight improvement I suppose.

Also, great job in getting the results posted quickly after the races.  It makes it much easier for team members to coordinate arrival for their next race.

Thank you, volunteers, for your time and efforts.  It was a great weekend!  Now if you could just do something about the water quality.  

[grifter]

I agree with Colossus. (Ya, I can't believe it either )  I think the grid was the best I've seen it. There was really no possibility for any team, Comp A's especially, to slack off the first day...ok, maybe the first race, but not the rest.  Letting these teams duke it out amongst themselves made for better racing all around.  Although, some race advancements may have been a little lopsided (FCRCC-A, MoDZ, Pac Reach, and Edgewater all in one Sunday morning heat) it meant that hard racing was demanded by everyone in the heat in order to make it into their intended divisions.  That's what racing should be. 

Thank you for making the festival free, and having that big screen.  Now if it could have been facing the Racer's village (or maybe a second screen?) even better.  Bleachers would have been nice along the north shore.  Racer's Village was nice and spacious, and marshalling was well timed. 
Bravo all around to the people who thought up this grid, the rankers, Water's Edge, volunteers, marshalls and racers who put up with pretty terrible weather.

One question, how were the entrants to G&G determined?  Usually it's been top 18 (all Comp A & B + top 2 Comp C), but Calgary Race was Comp D Champs.  Did they change the rules? or did other teams drop out?