LOTUS Sports Club Bill Alley Dragon Boat Regatta:

The Lotus Regatta went well, the rain held off, but it
was still a bit chilly and the sun didn't show.
Typical racing in May. There were 16 teams racing. Bob
Gung Haggis coach Brinson was there coaching 
WOW: Women On Water from Ft. Langley BC.

Four of our Gung Haggis paddlers showed up and I found 
them spots to paddle with the Save-On Voyageurs from
Chilliwack. They were coached by Manfred who is the
president of the Fraser Valley Dragon Boat
Association, who invited us to come paddle in the
inaugural Harrison Lake dragon boat Festival on July
16.  I have known Manfred and the Fraser Valley
paddlers since 2001.  They are a friendly bunch of
people and were very happy to welcome our paddlers, as
they are a brand new team of rookies and were short
paddlers.

Bob's team WOW - won their first race and looked very
good. They later went on to win the Women's Race at
the end of the day.

Our 4 paddlers on Save-On Voyageurs won their first
race too.  Dan and Ernest sat out the first race and
we watched from the beach with Manfred.  Dan and
Ernest learned a lot as we talked about race
preparation, and what goes on during a race.  Manfred
shared how the Save-On team had only had about 8
practices and he was very pleased with their
performance. 

The team surprised themselves and  and went on to the
Finals... very good for a team of rookies.  They
really valued the experience of Kristine and Joe, plus
the enthusiasm and muscles of our own rookies Dan and
Ernest.  Daming also showed up around 12, and was able
to watch the races.

Lots of good enthusiasm and fun today.  Can't wait to
share it all with everybody for our next practices. 
Our first race as a team will be the Alcan Dragon Boat 
Festival regatta on June 5th. From about 12 noon to 4pm. 
More details including race times tba.

8th Annual Lotus Sports Club / Bill Alley Memorial Dragon Boat Regatta

May 21st 2005

Barnet Marine Park

Burnaby, B.C

http://www.lotussports.com/events.cfm

This is a small but real friendly
race. The water is clean and the competition is friendly. One of my
favorite races because the people at Lotus Sports Club are so friendly.
Lotus is the group that started the Golden Spike Races in Port Moody on
Canada Day – but moved the races due to safety concerns with power boat
traffic / sand bars and a paddle wheeler.

June 11/12

Portland-Kaoshung Dragon Boat Race

Portland Oregon

http://www.rosefestival.org/dragonboats.html

This is the race with the infamous
“barge” Taiwanese boats – they seat 16 people and you have to “grab” a
flag. These boats are not the sleeker Taiwanese Racing boats that came
to Vancouver in 2003 which seat 18 paddlers, and are made of Alaskan
cedar. Be prepared for the boat NOT to move much on the start. Go slow
and long for the entire race. This event is run with the Portland Rose
Festival. Portland is a “city of gardens” – famous for its Rose
Gardens, Japanese Gardens and incredible Chinese Classical Gardens
built in 2001 – puts Vancouver's to shame!

July 4th

Washington Dragon Boat Festival

Commencement Bay

Tacoma, Washington

http://www.washingtondragonboat.us/

This event is hosted by the Tacoma
Dragon Boat Association – another of my favorite teams. A great group
of people which hosted the world's first Dragon Boat barrel races last
year, and subsequently replicated at the Vancouver International
Taiwanese Dragon Boat races in Hong Kong teak boats. TDBA owns their
own BUK boats. This race includes FIRE WORKS at the end of the
evening… be prepared for lots of American Rah Rah!

July 16th

Kent Cornucopia Days dragon boat races

Lake Meridien

Kent, Washington

http://www.kcdays.com/Event-DB.htm

Lovely park setting – just a few
hours drive south of the border. In 2001, the festival used BUK boats,
so that both FC Women and Wasabi could race in them before going to the
World Championships in Philly. This event collects some of the top
teams in Portland, Seattle and Vancouver. More Vancouver teams have
been discovering it each year. This event includes an outdoor buffet
dinner. Make sure you stay in town on Saturday night to go to the
Cornucopia Days Festival in downtown Kent Wa. Cool medals too!

July 16th

1st Annual Fraser Valley Dragon Boat Festival

Harrison Hot Springs

http://www.fraservalleydragonboatclub.com

This could be fun… Fraser Valley
dragon boaters have wanted to host their own race on Harrison Lake for
a few years. The wind could whip up, like it does in the Okanagan – but
the Fraser Valley boaters want to brave the chop. The Harrison Festival
of the Arts is a great cultural festival to tie in with. Fraser Valley
paddlers are a good friendly bunch too!

July 23/24

1st Vernon Dragon Boat Festival

Kalamalka Lake

Vernon, BC

http://www.vernondragonboat.com/

Lake Kalamalka is one of the most
beautiful lakes I have ever paddled on. It is very clean with a great
beach! I've wanted to see a dragon boat race here for the past two
years. It's being organized by the same people who organize the Calgary
races. This is a good event to get the Kelowna teams paddling earlier.
Kal Lake is colder than Okanagan because it is deeper, and fed by snow
pack. It doesn't get swimable until late June. No Ogopogo to worry
about.

August 5/7th

Calgary Dragon Boat Festival

Glenmore Resevoir

Calgary Alberta

http://www.calgarydragonboat.com/

Clean water, an Olympic quality race
course – what more could you ask for? Lots of teams really like
Calgary. This race will also attract the paddlers from Edmonton,
Regina, Kelowna, Lethbridge and Winnipeg.

There are many reasons why the Dragon Boat Canada race-offs are held in Calgary.

August 6/7th

Portland Dragon Boat Races

Sellwood Park,

Portland Oregon

http://www.dragonsports.org/

This is the site of the infamous
T-bone collision between LA Racing Dragons and Gung Haggis Fat Choy in
2003. This is a lovely park setting and a very friendly environment.
Lots of paddler swapping went on in 2003 – hence LARD had a boat
containing V02 Max paddlers with a steersperson from Pink Phoenix and
Gung Haggis had paddlers from Wasabi, and Zamboanga. If you have an
extra day for travel, drive out to the Oregon Coast for your ride home.
Great beaches + the famous Haystack Rock monolith.

September 10th

Penticton Dragon Boat Festival

Okanagan Lake

Penticton, BC

http://www.prcc.bc.ca/dragonboat/festivals.php

Another lovely park and beach setting
on the south shores of Lake Okanagan, and right beside a casino! About
24 teams last year. I paddled with Tacoma DBA, and we had the fastest
time, until the wind blew up and the races were post-poned before being
cancelled. Good fun alternate choice if you can't get into the Kelowna
DBF. Great chance to visit Canada's only pocket desert near Oosooyoos
too!.

Hello paddlers,

Very good 3rd practice on Sunday April 24th.  I coached as Bob
Brinson had to be in White Rock, to help provide dragon boat barrel
racing for the Semiahoo Days Festival.

Sunday's practice focussed on technique building.  After the
previous practice many people asked for more specific paddle
instruction before and during the practice.  This was accomplished
by providing dryland instruction on how to use the paddle, as well as
on-water exercises to help develop paddle technique.

Additionally I introduced several exercises to help increase timing and
working together.  This was done by increasing the stroke rate
from 70 strokes a minute to about 90, back down to 70, down to 50 and
longer, then back up.  People had to keep their eyes on the lead
strokes, as well as my hand, as we changed the rate.

Another exercise we did to increase technique was what I call “draw
water exercise”  We paddle off to the side of the boat, so we can
actually watch the effect our paddle has moving through the
water.  If the paddle is not very deep, then it moves more water
on the surface, sucking air into the vortex behind it.  If the
paddle is deep enough so that only the shaft is moving on the surface
of the water – then we get the most effective use of our motion, and
eliminating any unecessary white water.

To familiarize people with the “Start” calles and sequence, we
initially did running starts while paddling.  This also helped to
work through transitions in rate without tiring us out from starting at
a dead stop each time.  We later did full starts building up from
a single stroke, to 6 strokes only, 12 strokes, then 16 and upwards.

We also switched sides twice during the practice to work out both sides
during the practice.  This helps build body symetry, gives the
body a rest inbetween, and allows us to practice more.

NEXT SUNDAY's PRACTICE
2pm at the DBA/MATCON warehouse.
Please arrive earlier, as practice begins at 2pm.
Come at 1:45 to sign forms ask questions, give checks, say hi to everybody….


May 7th Team Social
We are having a team social at Doolin's Irish Pub
please arrive by 6pm – 6:30pm
$15 gets you Irish Stew, Lambshank + pint of Guinness
vegetarians please contact me for alternate menu.
Bring your friends!

We will show videos of last year's team in a dragon boat documentary
show globally on French television + the CBC TV performance special
“Gung Haggis Fat Choy”

May 7th is also Kilts Night at Doolins'
Wear a kilt and get a free pint of Guinness




3 in 1 Paddlers' Party

Tanya and I have decided to move the party to June 5th, Sunday.  This clears the LONG WEEKEND for EVERYBODY.
June 4/5 is Alcan Dragon boat festival regatta weekend.  So we do have to RACE on Sunday afternoon.
Then we celebrate by dancing and partying, just like a warm-up to the real thing for June 18/19 for the FESTIVAL.

Cheers to everybody.
See you on Sunday.

Todd
604-987-7124

Gung Haggis dragon boat team April 17th practice review + more


Good challenging practice last Sunday – to get us going and see what we
can do – consider it as setting our base piece.  Every thing is up
from here on. You can really see how well people are learning to paddle
better, and to work together as a group. Very noticable differences
between the start of the practice and the end. Good job by Bob to lead
us through the exercises and paddle lessons to help us improve.

Great to have Bob Brinson coaching with us.  He as raced since
1991, and coached many teams at novice and recreation levels –
achieving many medals with the top Seniors and Breast Cancer dragon
boat teams.

Craig Brown commented that he sees great potential in this team, and is
excited by it. On Sunday we had 14 people paddling – Only 7 people had
paddled before which means for 7 people it was only their 1st or 2nd
time ever in a dragon boat.  We have 5 more paddlers coming out
with lots of racing and paddling experience – so expect the boat to
“jump” when they climb aboard and put their paddles in the water.

Craig is currently paddling with the Jericho Paddling club and vying to
be on one of their top outrigger teams this summer. He has paddled at
the local competitive level for dragon boats since 2001. It is a great
opportunity to have him be part of the Gung Haggis team and family for
2005.

A few things:

1) Please send me your shirt sizes
to confirm what I can give you for your team uniform. I have ordered 35
dry fit shirts + addition cotton shirts to use as fundraisers,
promotions, cheering squad etc.

2) Please give or send me a cheque for $130 ($110 for students). Please make it out to Gung Haggis. This confirms your spot on the team.

3) 1 boat or 2 boats? There
is enough “interest” to run 2 boats. This is wonderful, as it is my
vision to have enough people to run two teams side by side for mini
races, and to help develop both experienced and beginner paddlers. But
in order for this to happen, I need paddler committments and $ to enter
teams.

4) Next Sunday – practice is at 2pm.
The address of the MATCON warehouse is 215 West 1st avenue at the foot
of Cook St. Just West of Olympic Fitness.   Parking available
on the West 1st Ave. or in the gravel parking lot North of Columbia St.
– just drive to the North end, park your car near the sea wall, and
walk Westwards along the seawall to the next gate.

5) We are organizing the Pre-festival Paddler's Party.
$10 wrist band gets the wearer one free drink at Doolin's, The Cellar
or the Roxy. Tanya is working with me on this one. We get to keep $10
from each wrist band sold – but we will donate 50% proceeds to help
develop and support a junior dragon boat program for ADBF.

6) May 7th is a team social at Doolin's Irish Pub.
Details are in the works – but expect: $15 dinner special – Irish Stew
+ lamb shank + pint of Guinness Beer. watch on video – the French
documentary on dragon boating filmed for the Thalassa program –
featuring our 2004 team. watch on video – the CBC TV Leo Award
nominated performance special “Gung Haggis Fat Choy” – featuring
cross-cultural musical performances by “The Paper Boys, Silk Road
Music, George Sapounidis, Brave Waves + the origins of Robbie Burns
Day, Chinese New Year and Gung Haggis Fat Choy: Toddish McWong's Robbie
Burns Chinese New Year Dinner.

7) Ideas are open for apres-practice activities. This can include food, drinks, picnic, swimming, jacuzzi, health food or beer.

Cheers to all!
Todd Wong
604-987-7124