Thursday night, June 17th, the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team was filmed for French TV. France 3 does a knowledge network type show that emphasizes humankind's relationship with the sea. Dragon boats have paddled over the sea for over a millenia – hence the reason a documentary on Dragon Boats is one of the 3 shows they are shooting while in BC.
The False Creek Women's Team was filmed while paddling from about 5:30 to 6:30. When we arrived at 6:30 – they were still out on the water. The Gung Haggis team was mainly interested in trying out the new team shirts. Based on my creative ideas, designed by Gloria Leung of Snow Leopard Productions, hand silk screened by Griffin House, on shirts from GAIA Ultimate. They are INCREDIBLE!
Our shirts are a shiny mandarin red with black collars with inside stretch panels under the arms. Over the left breast is the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon head logo, with four Gold chinese coins in a vertical row. On the back there are 3 vertical rows of Gold coins with the Gung Haggis logo in the middle… very eye-catching.
Oh… the practice. When some of the FC Women got off the boat and finished debriefing, I talked with Patricia Bigonzi, whom I had coached in 99, 2000, and 2001 on Spirit of Vancouver (SFX) and Civil Serpents, as well as Shelly Campbell, whom I had paddled with in 2001 on the GM/Roli.com team. They said the filming went well but the wake from the boat kept coming against the boat hitting the sides and splashing them. Okay… so I warned our team about getting wet.
It really is a great honour to be chosen as one of the subjects for the documentary. We are a recreational team dedicated to multiculturalism, fun and inclusivity. Some of the paddlers have commitment issues – but it's natural for Life's issues to get in the way of dragon boating… for myself and co-coach Bob Brinson – Dragon Boatin IS our lives… and Life gets in the way of dragon boating – which we could do 24/7.
Having Andrea Dillon driving the coach boat was a treat. Andrea is one of the most inspiring coaches I have seen in practice. She gave good directions to our team. And she had a little fun with us on the way back in – asking Right backs and Front lefts to paddle only… then opposites, then people with hats, people without hats… married people only, then people living with somebody… Rookie paddler David Hume remarked, “She sure is nosy about people's personal lives!” All in good fun!