Wind on False Creek makes white capped waves for dragon boat practice

 

We had a wonderful practice tonight….
Paddlers said it was one of the best.
The sun was out… the wind was up, whitecaps in False Creek – YIKES!

All
our paddlers rose to the challenge.  Waves hit the sides of the boat,
and sometimes came in.  People got wet… some the wettest ever at a
practice.  But it was a great practice.  20 paddlers in a Gemini boat.  We started with a warm-up paddle to Cambie St. Bridge.  We did a 500m race piece to prepare for the May 19th Bill Alley memorial dragon boat regatta organized by the Lotus Sports Club.

We raced practice starts with a team that was
Rec B last year… And we stayed right with them for a start.  After the start we were about 6 to 10 feet behind. This was the closest we had been to them all Spring… up to now, they usually left us way behind. And we had 3 newbie paddlers + 3 rookies on the boat!  Last
year we were Rec E.  We want to be Rec B this year… and we are well on
our way.

After the race pieces we looked at correcting things that needed improving such as our timing, and technique.  We did some speed drills, some small group work, then worked on our starts. 

We have a good dedicated core crew who come every practice on Tuesday 6pm, and Sunday 1pm.
Some of the paddlers have been with us 3 years.  Our drummer/steers will have her 5th year with us.  Ex-paddlers still come to race with us.  It's good to have friends.

Last
year we raced 9 dragon boat race + 2 voyageur canoe races.  We love to
race… and we travelled to Seattle, Victoria, Vernon, Cultus Lake, and
Burnaby.  We raced in teak, 6-16, and Gemini boats, Dynasty boats in
Vernon, Millenium boats in Victoria, and Taiwanese Cedar boats in
Vancouver.

And we love to eat… We
have a Tuesday Night Food Club after practice.  Each week we try to go to a different restaurant.  Usually we go out for Chinese food… we like Foo's Ho Ho and Hon's Won Ton House in Chinatown… Sometimes we go to Congee House on Broadway and Main St.  But tonight we went the The Clubhouse Japanese restaurant, and were promptly greeted by the manager Karen.  She remembered us from last year and welcomed us back. 

Join the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat food and social club.

Todd Wong
coach and clan chieftain
gunghaggis @ yahoo dot ca
778-846-7090

Gung Haggis Fat Choy reported on Dr. Fred Bass' new blog

Over the last few years, the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner has caught the
attention of many of our city councillors and mayors, past and
present.  Dr. Fred Bass,
former city councillor and 2008 mayoral hopeful came to our 2007
dinner, sitting with Anne Roberts, also a former city councillor on the
previous council.  Also attending this year's dinner were current
mayor Sam Sullivan, current councillors Heather Deal, Peter Ladner and
Suzanne Anton, and former councillor Ellen Woodsworth.

I have gotten to know Fred over the past year and we discovered many
connections through health interests, library connections, exercise,
and city issues such as saving Joy Kogawa House.  Fred's
enthusiasm for fitness and preventative healthcare is expressed through
his fondness for bicycling.  He even came out this summer to try
dragon boat paddling and was a very enthusiastic novice.

Fred now has a blog and on January 30th, he wrote:

“On January 28, I had the good fortune to attend Gung Haggis Fat
Choy–China meets Scotland and vice versa. Under the skilled and
persistent leadership of Todd Wong, this event has turned into one
of Vancouver's most wonderful multi-cultural celebrations.

There was music, Chinese classical performed eloquently by Silk
Road, Western opera sung gracefully by Heather Pawsey, American
pop belted out by Leora Cashe, classic bagpipe and Chinese pop classics.
In traditional Robbie Burns celebration style, the gathering did
a reasonable number of Scottish sing-alongs. However, the ultimate
musical experience for me was Joe McDonald's performance of rap
in full Scottish brogue!

There was laughter. Whether during the music, the speeches, or
the appreciations, people proved themselves to be in good humour.
To see a multi-ethnic crowd so enjoying themselves was to honour
one of Vancouver’s greatest strengths—our multi-culturalism.

Not only is this sharing of cultures and identities vital to the
life of our city, it is a key strength in our economic development.
Research has shown that an important factor in the growth of research
and development businesses is the presence of a high proportion
of immigrants in the population. Furthermore, knowledge-based industries
have employees who want an interesting and vital community to live
in, and the many cultures of Vancouver provide this…

This event, at $75 a plate, was a
fund-raiser for a number of worthy causes: Save Kogawa House, Asian
Canadian Writer's Workshop, and the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dragon Boat
Team. The driving force in Gung Haggis is Todd Wong.   I had
the good fortune to serve as a novice under Todd Wong’s captainship in
a multicultural dragon boat crew. He was patient, knowledgeable,
reasonably demanding and always in good humour.

Check out more of what Dr. Fred Bass thought about the 2007 Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner at
www.drfredbass.ca

Burns fete looks to east By BOB MACKIN, 24 HOURS

Who says there's no free lunch?
Full Story

Haggis, Scotland's national dish, was served yesterday to all
comers at Simon Fraser University's Robbie Burns Day celebration on
Burnaby Mountain.

Scotland's national poet, born Jan. 25, 1759, inspires annual
ceremonies worldwide with pipers, dancers and the traditional Address
to a Haggis ritual. SFU's had a unique made- in-B.C. flavour, thanks to
Todd Wong.

Wong's 10th annual Gung Haggis Fat Choy banquet, celebrating
Burns and the coming Chinese lunar New Year, is Sunday at Chinatown's
Floata restaurant. Yesterday's second annual Gung Haggis Fat Choy
Highland Games featured human curling and dragon cart races.

“The first solitudes of Vancouver and B.C. were not English
and French, they were Scottish and Chinese,” said Wong, a
fifth-generation Chinese-Canadian and proud kilt-wearer known as
“Toddish McWong” at this time of year.

Media Alert for January 25th: CBC Radio “On The Coast”, Ming Pao and 24 Hours

Happy Robbie Burns Day… 
4pm CBC Radio 690AM interview with Priya Ramu, host of “On The Coast”

Ming Pao will have an interview
with me today by reporter Eric Chan.  I met up with Eric yesterday
at the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Park in Chinatown.  Eric asked some good
questions about how I felt Chinese and Caucasian relationships were
doing.

“Much better than 100 years ago,” I informed him. 
“In 1907, the Anti-Asiatic league rioted in Chinatown smashing windows
and breaking property.  There used to be lots of animosity between
Chinese and Scots, especially after the murder of Janet Smith, a
Scottish nanny, when the Chinese house boy Wong Foon Sing was
wrongfully accused but later aquitted.

“Today, Chinese and Scots have gotten over their differences, getting married and having Scottish-Chinese-Canadian babies.

“Is this kind of gimicky?” Chan challenged me.

“No…”
I laughed, “Gung Haggis Fat Choy is not gimicky.  It is naturally
occuring, and I am finding it all over the place.  Silk Road Music
creates world fusion music… not gimicky.  Orchid Ensemble works
with Flamenco Mozaico… very incredible!  A book launch for “All
Mixed Up” literary creations by writers who are sometimes half-Asian,
and half-Celtic.  This is occuring naturally.  Vancouver is
Canada's leading city for inter-racial marriages.”

Today, January 25th is Robbie Burns Day.

It's
going to be another busy day.  The SFU Gung Haggis Fat Choy
Festival begins at 10:30am with Human Curling, 11:30 with Dragon Cart
Racing, 12:30 Opening Ceremonies, 1:15 Haggis Eating, 1:30 More Dragon
Cart racing and awards at 2:30pm.

Somewhere between calling play
by play for the Dragon Cart races and emceeing for the Official
ceremonies, I will be interviewed by Bob Mackin of 24 Hours, and film a
pod cast interview with “Guts McTavish” the Scottish puppet with big white eyebrows.

At 4:00pm, I will be down at the CBC Radio studios for a live radio interview with “On The Coast” host Priya Ramu
who will be co-hosting Gung Haggis Fat Choy on January 28th with
me.  A special kilt was made for Priya, and we will check out this
“kilt fitting.”  Margaret Gallagher will also appear on the
show.  She is a special literary performer for GHFC, as she will
be reading a poem she wrote for the chap book “All Mixed Up” – literary
contributions by Hapa (Half-Asian) writers,

Then for 6pm… I
will be attending the Burns Supper for the Burns Club of Vancouver, at
the Terminal City Club.  I am to give the “Address to a Haggis.”