Gung Haggis Fat Choy winning Bronze medal at Taiwanese Cultural Festival – photo Carson Au
Category Archives: Gung Haggis dragon boat team information
Taiwanese Dragon Boat races… Gung Haggis wins BRONZE medal!
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Congratulations everybody!!!
Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team won our first medal this year –
Bronze in Division D. Results are on www.dragonboatwest.net with
pictures taken by Ray Shum (former summer relief GH paddler).
Our team was pretty stoked seeing the BEE-YOU-TI-FUL medals from SF, that Kristine brought to show us at Wednesday's practice.
On Saturday morning we were easily bumped into the lower half by much
better teams. Then in the afternoon, we were easily leading the
entire pack with a good steady rate that felt a strong surge with every
stroke…. when suddenly we discovered we were heading towards the #5
flag instead of #6 flag. From my left stroke position I shouted
at our drummer Deb, to tell our steers to go for the BLUE flag!!!
No lane markers, and the flag colours changed lanes with each
race. A Blue flag is really hard to see against a blue sky on
blue water…. We turned hard to grab our flag – but missed and
we had to draw left, but the brand new spare paddler grabbed the flag
to pass up to our flag grabber. Bad move… only the flag grabber
can officially grab the flag. We were disqualified. The
blue flag sat on the dock for all of Sunday, after I recommended
changes.
FUN RACES:
We did a blindfold race right after our Saturday morning race – but
were short 3 paddlers that had to go race with Tacoma's team, as they
were short of the minimum paddlers and needed to make sure they ended
up in the upper division (they came 4th in Division A) Blindfold
race was tough, lots of waiting, and paddle clashing – a good exercise
in sitting up, feeling the surge of the boat, and paying attention.
We also signed up for a slalom and barrel race, but due to barge and
tugboat activity, our slalom race was delayed. We spent about an
hour standing on the dock – when we could have done our barrel
race!!!! When we finally finished our slalom race (I missed the
last buoy – FYI so Dave doesn't take all the miss-steering heat), they
LOST our slalom race time, inviting us to redo it at 1pm on
Sunday. BUMMER! Team Success – the top team of the
festival, did a slalom race after us, and got pretty hung up on the
course… so we probably still ended up with a better time.
SUNDAY
We redeemed ourselves on Sunday… a good morning race put us in the
medal final… and we did a very good slalom race. We still had
to wait 20 minutes while they adjusted the flags to straighten them
out… (they actually ended up worse in line….)
We also did men's and women's races with Tacoma and Calgary – blending
3 styles together was challenging – especially for the men…
Women seemed to have no problem at all, and were only 43/100ths of
a second out of 3rd place and 2.20 seconds off from 2nd place.
DIVISION D FINAL
The Div D medal final race was a good tough race. We were lane 1,
and Canadianzed Asian-Canadians aka CAC Banana Boat were in lane
2. We went head to head all the way down the course… we were
steady but a little ragged… it was a very tight race to the finish…
We couldn't tell if we had placed 3rd or 4th.
It was a photo finish for 1st and 2nd place… + a deliberation over
what to do… as #6 grabbed #5's flag… results were delayed for 45
minutes… Final results determined that Boats #5 and #6 were
disqualified for grabbing the wrong flags… Gung Haggis came third by
44/100 second- at a time of 2:48.50…. legitimately as other
boats were behind us.
We had good rapport with the Tacoma and Calgary group. I have
raced with the Tacoma group since 2001 when we first did mens and
womens teams together, and twice in 2002 for Gold overall at Seattle
and Kent WA. So we plan to do more races and functions together
with Tacoma including their barrel racing events, plus a very special
invitation for Seattle's Sea Festival 100 year old rowing regatta – set
for May 2006.
Altogether lots of fun, with paddler friends from Tacoma, Calgary, Chilliwack and throughout Vancouver.
Plus… fun at the Roxy Cabaret nightclub for our paddler's party afterwards!
Cheers, and congratulations to everybody again,
Todd
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
Race 33 Men's Race – Teak
1. 2:07.15 Team SUCCESS
2. 2:12.48 TD Lightning
3. 2:13.68 Hex Powered by Scotia
4. 2:14.78 Phat Carib
5. 2:20.08 Braveheart Warriors Gung Haggis
6. 2:21.68 Fraser Valley DBC Men's
Race 34 Women's Race – Flag Catcher
1. 2:44.39 Team SUCCESS
2. 2:51.99 Fraser Valley DBC Women
3. 2:53.36 Scotia Powered by Hex
4. 2:54.16 TD Lightning
5. 2:54.19 Mulan Warriors Gung Haggis
6. 2:57.22 Hot Knots
Race 35 Lower Consolation – Teak
1. 2:35.83 Draco Sports Club
2. 2:40.03 JET-Ai
3. 2:41.43 Chilliwack Thunder Strokers
4. 2:42.86 Naluwan
5. 2:53.16 Dragon Stew
Race 36 Group D Final – Flag Catcher
1. 2:45.17 Synergy Souljas
2. 2:45.47 Splash Test Dragons
3. 2:48.50 Gung Haggis Fat Choy
4. 2:49.34 CAC Banana Boat
5. DQ The EH Team
6. DQ (WOW) Women on Water
Race 37 Mid Consolation – Teak
1. 2:30.17 Hydro Power Dragons
2. 2:40.77 Strathcona Youth Dragons
3. 2:41.54 Rogers Wireless Team Vortex
4. 2:42.24 Central Cruizers
5. 2:57.14 Saints Preserve Us
Race 38 Group C Final – Flag Catcher
1. 2:44.23 Synergy Yellow Submarine
2. 2:44.50 Synergy Ship Disturbers
3. 2:45.10 Ready Jet Go
4. 2:49.33 CBC Wave Catchers
5. 2:51.43 Pirates
6. 2:55.66 Nothin' Dragon Seniors
Race 39 Upper Consolation – Teak
1. 2:25.13 Just Dragon Along
2. 2:31.30 RGL United
3. 2:31.70 Team Hex
4. 2:36.20 Hot Knots
Race 40 Group B Final – Flag Catcher
1. 2:36.54 Phat Phish Racing
2. 2:40.01 Scotiabank Dragons
3. 2:40.02 Elephant & Castle Booze Cruise
4. 2:41.04 Synergy J-Speed
5. 2:43.74 TD Lightning
6. 2:47.07 Dr'agonize
Race 41 Group A Final – Flag Catcher
1. 2:25.78 Team SUCCESS
2. 2:32.31 Easy Peezy Lemon Squeezy
3. 2:34.51 Sudden Impact
4. 2:41.25 Tacoma DBA
5. 2:42.55 Synergy Dregoons
6. 2:43.18 TCC Carib Dragoneers
Taiwanese Cultural Festival & Dragon Boat Races – Cheer the Gung Haggis Fat Choy team!
Hi everybody...
Come cheer the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team
at the Taiwanese Cultural Festival and Dragon Boat Races!
Gung Haggis dragon boat team is meeting at Plaza of Nations
9am
Tacoma's Destiny Dragons will arrive soon, and we also
want to secure a spot for their tent too!
Bob, Dave and myself will meet there earlier to set up
the tent - some extra help will be appreciated. 8:45?
Dave - park your car with the tent underneath Plaza of
Nations - we'll designated your Blazer as the team
car.
PARKING:
pay parking at Plaza of Nations probably $12 for the
day. also around BC Place - but it can be expensive
FREE parking... along Expo/Pacific Blvd - Carrall St
in Chinatown underneath the overpass - along Quebec
St. and FREE Parking with Shuttle at City lot at
Ontario and 1st Ave. (what we used for Dragon Zone
practices)
or... just take the SKYTRAIN to STADIUM station.
ARRIVAL:
Team arrival 9am
Festival opens at 10am
You should have no problem getting on site at 8am.
Later, and they will stop you unless you have your
pass. Tell them you are meeting your team and you
have to race right away!!!!
Our tent will be set up in the West area of Plaza of
Nations - just south of Pier Restaurant (former
Mavericks - former Unicorn) - it is immediately West
of the Loggers Dock.
FOOD:
Please bring lots of water for yourself, and a little
bit of extra snack food to share. It will be an
informal buffet as we have usually done. I think this
will work best without having to do too much planning.
There are food stalls available - but they usually
have long line-ups. But it's still good and
adventurous. T&T market is usually pretty good and a
short walk as well. My usual race day food intake is
juice smoothies, granola bars, lots of bananas and
other fruit.
RACES:
Please expect to be on race site 9am to 5pm each day.
We will adjust the times as we need to. There are
many fun races throughout the day, as I have entered
our team in the NOGARD, Blindfold, Barrel and Slalom
Races.
RACE PASSES:
I have them...
red wristbands... they get you in. you need them to
paddle.
I have extra day passes for your friends and family.
We are asking for a $5 donation for the team - if they
have kids... or are students... make a discount.
PARTY TICKETS for The Roxy
Doors Open 7pm
I have them...
available on site for the Weekend.
$5 - for tix: includes admission, free drink
$10 all the above + cowbody hat (limited supply)
Todd
604-240-7090
Gung Haggis paddlers win Gold medal with Concorde Pacific Flying Dragons in San Francisco
Gung Haggis paddlers win Gold medal with Concorde Pacific Flying Dragons in San Francisco
Congratulations to Dan Seto, Pam Huey and Kristine
Shum – who all went down to San Francisco and are
coming back with Gold Medals in the Rec divsion. It
was a tight race with only 29/100ths second behind
them for silver medal and 42/100ths second behind them
for bronze medal.
The team raced 4 races each on Saturday. 2 mixed
races, + visiting team + Men's and Women's races – but
only 2 X on Sunday for Mixed Semi-final + medal round
finals. Flying Dragons combined with Calgary Paddling Club for Men's and Women's races.
This weekend:
Taiwanese Dragon Boat Races
Sunday Night Dragon Boat Rodeo Party @ The Roxy!!!
Cheers, Todd
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Below is Kristine's report:
Hi Todd and Bob. Great news…we won gold in REC A
Division. We were behind, but caught up at the
halfway mark and surged ahead of CCSF near the end.
1. Concord Pacific Flyer Dragons – 2:24:28
2. CCSF 1 (City College of San Fran) – 2:24:57
3. Castaways (Portland) – 2:25:10
4. Vancity Thunder – 2:28:05
5. Extreme Currents (Kamloops) – 2:28:24
6 Killer Guppies Blue (LA) – 2:36:02 (I think.
Couldn't quite read my writing on a serviette.)
Didn't do so well in the Men's, Women's and Visiting
Team Cup race — in tough against Roli and Subaru.
For results, visit
http://sfdragonboat.com
Sunday Gung Haggis Dragonboat team practice
We've moved our dragonboat practice to 12 noon for Sunday, August
21. This is to accomodate a Sunday afternoon bbq/picnic following
practice as one of our paddlers Ashleigh is moving to Montreal for a
year-long job placement.
We meet 12 noon at DBA/MATCON docks – 215 West 1st Ave. @ Cook St. – just West of Columbia St. Park on 1st.
Our dragon boat practices are lots of fun – good combination of
experience and rookie enthusiasm. Bring a dish to share for the
picnic afterwards.
You can reach me on my cell phone
604-240-7090
Todd Wong
Gung Haggis dragon boat team practice – Sunday with Taiwanese boats
Good practice on Sunday, as we practiced starts and turns.
We have a wonderful group of people. They commented on our last
social outing to see the Vancouver Symphony at Deer Lake, they are
thinking of which races they want to enter next year, and they each
tell me, that if we can stick together next year, we should
really improve.
I keep saying this is the BEST Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team
we've ever had. We haven't won a medal yet… but we have raced
in medal finals for Alcan Dragon Boat Festival and the Fraser Valley
DBF. It's great to have a dragon boat team where people are
friendly towards each other, and don't place their personal egos above
the needs of the team. I say this in comparision to other teams I
have known and raced with. But all teams are built differently,
and serve different purposes. Some serve as stepping stones to
competing at higher performance levels, some serve as singles meeting
places, Gung Haggis Fat Choy serves as an expression of
multiculturalism in action!
Issues of race and culture often creep into our social and practice
conversations. Last week we talked about the upcoming Taiwanese
Dragon Boat Race, and how it helps to affirm a separate culture for the
Taiwanese government and people, as they are entrenched in a One China
debate constantly with the People's Republic of China. We
discussed this openly with one of our paddlers born in Northern China,
while never visited Taiwan, he firmly believes that the two countries
should be united.
No nasty arguements between people – just expressions of beliefs, and
agreements to disagree. Imagine if the world's polital powers
actually worked this way. Imagine if we could put all the
politicians in dragon boats. Omigod! They would have to
learn to work as a team! And NOT just for personal glory and medals…
Some of us are also paddling on another team going to race in San
Francisco. We have commented on the different paddling styles on
different teams, and the need to blend in with each team's style –
otherwise philosophical clashes will occur. Gee, just like real
life ideological wars. Which style works best? I always
think the style should suit the team's strengths and weaknesses,
instead of trying to make the team fit the style. Sort of like
psychotherapy…. build the methods around the individual's belief
structures, instead of interpreting the belief strucutures to the
psychological theories.
We practice on Sundays at 1:30pm to 3:30pm and Wednesdays from 6 to 7:45pm at 215 West 1st Ave.
more later….
Gung Haggis dragon boat team Sunday practice with Taiwanese Dragon boat
Good practice on Sunday afternoon with the Taiwanese Dragon Boat.
We had special guests Andrew Yan and Linda Chiu, race organizers for the San Francisco Dragon Boat Races, who
were in town for a wedding and were interested in taking a look at
these ornately carved dragon boats – especially built for flag-grabbing
finishes. Andrew and Linda revealed that Taipei is a sister city
for San Francisco, so I encouraged them to approach the Taiwanese
consulate for dragon boat donations, since the Taiwanese govt has so
far donated 6 boats to the City of Vancouver, at a value of $30,000 each.
We started off with a warm up and race piece, with Andrew as a guest
steersperson – giving him a chance to experience the Taiwanese boats
and get a real feel for them. Next we headed up offshore to David
Lam Park and demonstrated our 180 degree barrel racing turns. We
did four turns! Natalie and I were lead strokes, and we put in
Dave Samis as our steers – thankfully relieving Andrew as he did not
know what we were getting him into.
After this, Dave took us into Alder Bay behind Granville Island to the
dock used by False Creek Racing Canoe Club. We saw a number of
outrigger canoes out on the water, both solo and 6 person canoes.
We stretched our legs for a short walkabout, went to the water
fountain, the FCRCC outrigger shed, then checked out a contemporary
totem pole carved by our friend Eric Neighbour who guided our dragon
boat head carving experience.
We did another race piece back to the Cambie St. Bridge before taking
the boat back to the DBA dock. Good debrief, the team is a pretty
happy group and pleased with their performance. Linda
excitedly phoned her SF Dragon Warrior friends about the Taiwanese
dragon boat practice, and I talked with both Jeannie and Leslie who had
both really enjoyed the paddler's party that we hosted after the Alcan
db races. Then I took Andrew and Linda to Mario's Gelato for a
special treat. Peggy, our occaisional lead stroke and Bear Kilts
sponsor rep joined us.
Gung Haggis dragon boat team update & future events
Congratulations on a great Wednesday practice
in the infamous “teak” dragon boats. Very historically significant – as
these boats are the ones that started dragon boat racing in 1986, when
they were donated by the Hong Kong Tourism Bureau for Expo 86… and
the rest is history… oh – and lovingly restored by Bob Brinson!
Saturday Night…
Kilt night at Doolin's Irish Pub
Wear a kilt and recieve a free pint of Guiness Beer
I have an extra kilt – be the first to reply…
Natalie… can you find your York House kilt?
dinner starts at 6:30…. fireworks afterwards???
Sunday practice – 1:30pm August 7th.
215 West 1st Ave. DBA dock
We will have special guests from San Francisco. Race organizers Andrew
Yan and Linda Chiu. Linda really enjoyed our Sunday night party with
her team Dragon Warriors when she was here to paddle Alcan.
And finally…
Congratulations to Dan Seto for
organizing a GREAT BBQ at Spanish Banks last Sunday on the Long
Weekend. Wonderful kudos to Keng and Gerard for helping out and minding
the bbq. It was a wonderful way to socialize and have some fun. I am
grateful to have a team full of wonderful people who have been
developing as friends… and for me not to have to organize
something…
…And I loved the dogs… really I did!
So much food… too stuffed to play frisbee…
Pick a date for kayaking… how about next Tuesday or Monday? 2 for 1 coupons… regular price is $33 for 2 hours for a single, $48 for a double.
Next BBQ?
Friday August 12th – Deer Lake
with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra….
This is a great picnic site. I will get there early to reserve a spot.
Bring food to share… bring an extra blanket as it gets cool in the
evening
Todd Wong admiring his “almost finished dragon head carving”
Bagpipe inspired horns and hockey stick inspired back spines – A Chinese-Scottish-Canadian dragon head.
Our Sea Vancouver carving tent on Maritime Point – photo Eric Neighbour www.klorker.com