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Did you know that Simon Fraser was American? 200 years ago he reached the mouth of the Fraser River

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It's the 200th Anniversary of Simon Fraser's reaching the mouth of the Fraser River.

200 years ago, there where no white settlers in Vancouver's Lower Mainland.  Captain Cook met Chief Maquinna at Nootka in 1778.  And in 1792, Captain Vancouver met the Spanish Commissioner Quadra in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  Alexander Mackenzie was the first to travel overland across Canada, reaching the mouth of the Mackenzie River in 1793, missing meeting Captain Vancouver by six weeks according to local Bella Bella First Nations people.

It wasn't until 1808, that Simon Fraser undertook an exploration for the North West Company to explore the area south of Mackenzie's journeys.  Fraser had been an apprentice at age sixteen with the North West Company then later became a clerk for the company at Athabasca.

“Simon Fraser was born to Loyalist parents who fled to Canada after the American Revolution.” is what I routinely told tourists at Simon Fraser University, where I worked as a tour guide in the early 1990's.  It was at SFU, where I first wore a kilt when tour guides were asked to help out with the annual Robbie Burns Day ceremonies at SFU.  It's a strange tradition, because it's all adopted because of Fraser's parent's Scottish heritage.  Simon Fraser the explorer never ever set foot in Scotland.  But the university, which began in 1967, adopted the Fraser clan shield and even it's motto “Je suis pret” which is French for “I am ready.”  Supposedly, the Frasers came to Scotland originally from France, with the name “Frasier” which means “strawberry.”  This would explain why there are strawberries on both the Fraser Clan and SFU shields.

The Ancient Fraser Hunting tartan, or Fraser of Lovat tartan was the first kilt I ever wore.

We have adopted the modern Fraser hunting tartan for the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team, and we will celebrate tonight for Kilts Night, at Doolin's Irish Pub in downtown Vancouver.  Wear a kilt on the 1st Thursday of each month, and receive a pint of Guinness beer.

We will raise a toast to Simon Fraser, the explorer, tonight!

Vancouver Sun's Stephen Hum has written some very informative articles about Fraser's voyage.

An amazing feat
Vancouver Sun,  Canada – 2 Jul 2008
Two hundred years ago today, at about 3:30 pm, a large dugout canoe carrying the explorer Simon Fraser, Jules Quesnel, John Stuart and 19 other hardy men …

Celebrations remind us that Canada is bound by ties greater than …
Vancouver Sun,  Canada – 28 Jun 2008
July 2 marks the 200th anniversary of Simon Fraser's arrival in 1808 at what's now Vancouver during an astonishing journey of exploration down the …

Globe & Mail creates new Canadian literary canon that includes Joy Kogawa's Obasan and SKY Lee's Disappearing Moon Cafe,

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Joy Kogawa, Michael Ondaatje are considered part of a new Canadian literary canon

Reading the Globe  Mail on Canada Day morning should be a tradition.  

Except for all the other FREE Canada Day activities and events that are happening out there, and you have to get out early to beat the crowds or to find parking.

Canadians are proud of their authors, it helps us define who we are, as well as our history and our psyche.  It also adds “Canadian content” to our newspapers and media stories.

The Globe and Mail's John Adams explains that “Thirty years ago dozens of scholars, critics, authors and publishing
types gathered for four days in Calgary for what was billed as the
National Conference on the Canadian Novel…. We enlisted a panel of five – three women, two men, from across the
country, all well-read in Canadian literature and deeply knowledgeable
of its history. Each was asked to come up with his or her own Top 10
annotated list of Canadian English-language fiction titles.”

Upon reading the list of authors and titles, the first thing that struck me was the inclusion of authors of ethnic diversity.  30 years ago we didn't really have authors of colour considered as important for Canadian fiction.  Joy Kogawa's Obasan came out in 1981, and really lead the way for the acceptance of Asian-Canadian literature.  Michael Ondaatje's In the Skin of a Lion, came out in 1987.  I was surprised by the inclusion of SKY Lee's Disappearing Moon Cafe (1990), because Wayson Choy's The Jade Peony (1995) is usually cited and lauded but it was missing on these lists.  But for me, I couldn't put Disappearing Moon Cafe down, once I had started.  It took me several starts to get into The Jade Peony, and it wasn't until I was on the Vancouver Public Library's inaugural One Book One Vancouver committee that had chosen The Jade Peony as it's inaugural choice, that I actually finished reading it.

Check out the list:

Taking a shot at a new canon http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080701.wcanonadams01/BNStory/Entertainment/home

Of particular interest

The Disappearing Moon Café (1990)

Sky Lee

This novel about four generations of a Chinese family in Vancouver is an amazing evocation of Sophocles-like angst and sturm und drang.

Obasan (1981) is selected twice

Joy Kogawa

This novel broaches the difficult topic of the internment of
Japanese Canadians during the Second World War. My students were
profoundly moved by the way the lyrical prose personalized the
political agenda.

Anne of Green Gables (1908) is selected 3 times

Lucy Maud Montgomery

By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept (1945) is selected 3 times

Elizabeth Smart

The Stone Angel (1964) is selected 3 times

Margaret Laurence

Lives of Girls and Women: A Novel (1971) is selected 3 times

Alice Munro

Readers have long argued whether this is a novel or a collection of
short stories. Whatever it is, it's an uncanny portrait of the artist
as a young Souwesto girl.

Beautiful Losers (1966) is selected twice

Leonard Cohen

Margaret Atwood is named twice but for different books

Michael Ondaatje is named twice for different books.

Canada Day 2008: Fireworks from Lion's Gate Bridge + Chinatown Celebrations

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Canada Day is winding down.  I saw simultaneously watched fireworks at Vancouver's Coal Harbour, and West Vancouver's Ambleside Park.  Okay… it's tough to do while driving South across Lion's Gate Bridge, and alternating looking left to Coal Harbour, and right to Ambleside.

There were a few people standing on the bridge on either side watching the fireworks.  Lucky people.  Not so lucky were the crowds of people walking North on Denman St. towards Coal Harbour.  I guess they had been sitting at English Bay waiting for fireworks there, before realizing that fireworks were over at Coal Harbour.  Same for the hordes of people I saw walking away from Vanier Park and Kitsilano Beach, as I drove West on Cornwall Ave.

Still, it was a nice close to a busy Canada Day that had started in Kitsilano with Canada Day Eve.  My friends Leanne, Judy and myself had watched the twilight settle over English Bay.  Canada Day morning, Judy was off to Canada Place to help staff a display booth for the Chinese Canadian Military Museum with Lt. Col. Howe Lee. 

I attended the 3rd annual Head Tax Protest Walk organized by the Head Tax Families Society, as well as the traditional Canada Day celebrations at Chinese Cultural Centre courtyard, organized by the Chinese Benevolent Association.  I had previously planned to also visit Canada Place and the North Vancouver Canada Day celebrations at Waterfront Park, but had to pass because I had to attend a wedding reception for my friends Gloria and Mark in the afternoon.

Leanne, was able to visit Canada Place, and made it back to Chinese Cultural Centre to see the Lion Dance in the courtyard join us all for lunch at New Town bakery, after the Head Tax Protest march through Chinatown…. 

More later….

Hapa Canada Day Eve!

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Canada Day Eve is one of the greatest celebration events not celebrated…


Hapa-Canadian “Standing on Guard for Thee”! original drawing by Jeff Chiba Stearns

Why don't we have a midnight countdown to celebrate our country's birthday?  Okay, there are fireworks celebrations at the end of Canada Day, but everybody has to go to work the next morning.  Aren't holidays better celebrated when you can stay up late the night before, then sleep in?

Last night, I met up with two friends, Leanne Riding and Judy Maxwell.  When I introduced them, it took only a few minutes before one of them said “Are you hapa?”

And this was in a darkened room!

If people think that “Canadian Identity”is a conundrum, try to define being Hapa.  It's a Hawaiian term that is now more commonly used to define mixed race Asian-Canadians and Asian-Americans.

My friend John Endo Greenaway writes this:

“Some people don’t like the term hapa, given its somewhat
derogatory roots, but many mixed Asian-Canadians/Amercians have
embraced it, although it has yet to enter the mainstream vocabulary.
But whatever term you want to use, hapas are here to stay. With a 90% intermarriage rate (give or take) Japanese Canadians are producing hapa children at a prodigious rate. Attend a Japanese Canadian gathering or event and chances are you’ll see hapa everywhere, ranging in age from infants to mid-thirties.”


http://www.canadiannikkei.ca/blog/what-is-hapa/

So…. back to Canada Day Eve….

With my two Hapa friends, we start talking about our “Hapa radars”, that intuitive sense that immediately lets us know when we think that somebody we've never met before is Hapa.  We talk about the reactions that people have to them, when people realize they are neither Asian nor Caucasian, but both.  We talk about the first time when I realized they were Hapa.

We go down to Kitsilano Beach, finding a secluded spot, watch dusk settle in because we just missed the sunset after 10pm.  We talk more about Hapa-ness… the beingness of Hapa, about our Hapa friends, our Hapa cousins, Hapa nieces and nephews.

We talk about Hapa friends like Jeff Chiba Stearns who is an animator, and created the Hapa short animation film “What Are You Anyways?” We talk about Brandy Lien-Worrall who is the editor of “All Mixed Up“an anthology chap book of Hapa poetry.

Maxwell and Riding… two very un-Asian sounding names.  But they
chatted on about how easy they can be mistaken for Asian or Caucasians
in different settings.  Both are very active in the Asian-Canadian
community.  Judy is presently a researcher for the Chinese Canadian
Military Museum, and has done many academic and conference
presentations because of her research on the Chinese disaspora and
migration patterns.  Leanne has been studying Asian-Canadian history
and is now active as co-president of Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop
and the Asian Canadian Organization, which started as a student
initiated project at UBC.

But both have family histories that
are rooted in the racial turmoils of our country.  Judy's
great-grandfather was a Member of Parliament that had pushed for the
Chinese Head Tax and Exclusion Act, while Leanne's grandparents and great-grandparents had been interned during WW2 because they were of Japanese
ancestry.

They name me a “Honourary Hapa,” because of the community building work I do such as Gung Haggis Fat Choy, which they both totally love, and attended earlier this year, back in January.  They both made fun of me, because I couldn't initially remember where they were sitting in the room of 430 people, even though one of the them was sitting at the head table with me along with the Vancouver.

And then it dawns on me.  Being Canadian is being Hapa… and being Hapa is being Canadian.  Canada celebrates it's cultural diversity, and nowhere is that diversity better celebrated than in the mixed race DNA enhanced ethnicities of it's peoples… even better if it all rolled up in one.

With BC celebrating it's 150th Anniversary this year in 2008, we are reminded that Simon Fraser came down the “Fraser River” with a crew of Metis (French-First Nations mix), and BC's first Governor James Douglas was born in the Caribbean nation of Guyana of mixed Scottish and Creole bloodlines.  BC's history is Hapa…. and most people don't even realize it.

So… sitting on English Bay… (Somewhere there must be an original First Nations Name that can be chosen as a “rename”) we toasted to Canada's birthday eve, and our Hapa-ness.  And in our lively and wonderful conversations (which later moved to a Kitsilano area apartment), we had so much fun, we forgot to do a countdown to midnight until it was long past.

Here are some Hapa websites:

The Hapa Project

Eurasian Nation

MAVIN Foundation

Hapas.com

Meditating Bunny
Home page of Jeff Chiba Stearns, whose short animated film What Are You Anyways? deals with growing up hapa.

Halvsie
“For, by and about Half Japanese”

Geist Magazine celebrates Canada Day

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Geist Magazine sent me a Canada Day Greeting via e-mail.

They have pulled all sorts of Canadiana type articles from their back catalogue.  In typical Canadian style, much of the humour is self-deprecating.  Is this how we define ourselves as Canadians?  At least we have a sense of humour… is how we can always be grateful that we are not Americans.  Waitaminit… Aren't most of the great American comics really Canadian?  Jim Carey, Dan Akroyd, William Shatner,

Here's a few of the highlights from GEIST:

http://www.geist.com/featured/canada-day


A Canadian Etiology

Christopher Gudgeon

How Do I Know I’m Canadian?
1. When I go to a party with people from another country, no one expects me to be interesting.
2. I know all the words to my national anthem, except the French ones, and the tune is not that hard.

The Honorary Canadian Awards: A Modest Proposal

Christopher Gudgeon

It is proposed that: in the interest of fostering better understanding of the Canadian identity throughout the world,
The Geist Foundation sponsor the Honorary Canadian Awards Program (HOCAP) by identifying and rewarding non-citizens who “act in a manner befitting a Canadian.”

Chiquita Canáda

Stephen Osborne

Last
month we had a visit from Eliz­abeth Anderson, who hails from
Min­neapolis, Minnesota, where she is a graduate student at the state
univer­sity. Her field of study is Canada, and she also writes about
Canada for Utne Reader. We wanted immediately to know what there is about Canada that might constitute an object of study.

Kitsilano Showboat has great summer show line up with lots of cultural diversity

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I saw a bagpiper playing beside Cornwall Ave. by the Kitsilano Showboat on Tuesday evening. 

I walked back to discover there were Scottish dancers from the Stave Falls Scottish Dancers from Mission BC.  Imagine my surprise to find a dancer with both Japanese and Scottish heritage.

It was fun to watch the dancing.  There was a sword dance, country dances, and even some vaudeville numbers.  It's always amusing to watch the little  ones dancing and trying to keep in time.  The older dancers are much more competent and doing well for a non-competitive dance group, so you know they genuinely are dancing for the love of the activity.

After the show I talked with Barry Leinbach, executive for the Kitsilano Showboat Society.  Barry was MCing the event as he is taking over from his mother Bea Leinbach who has helmed the Kitsilano Showboat for decades.  Beatrice Leinbach has volunteered her time to this venerable Vancouver summer cultural institution for over 60 years, and has recived the Order of BC and the Order of Canada.

I used to watch the shows at the Kitsilano Showboat when I was a young child in the '60's, when my parents would bring our family down to Kitsilano Beach.  It was always amazing watching the performers on stage, wiht the ocean and mountains in the background.

The Showboat season only started on Monday.  Thank goodness the weather has been good.

On Tuesday, The Vancouver Firefighters Band performed with firefighter/opera singer Andy Greenwood.  But sadly I was unable to attend.  Andy has been a friend of my girlfriend's parents for the last few years.  It's amazing what you can find when you walk around in your neighborhood.

Check for upcoming FREE shows starting at 7pm
There are lots of ethnic cultural groups performing and even some surprises!
www.kitsilanoshowboat.com

Great Action photos of Gung Haggis dragon boat team in action!

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Great Action shots of Gung Haggis dragon boat team by Ray Shum of Tempest Photo.

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Drummer Keng Graal urges on the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team in the Rec C Championships. Keng brings so much passion and
enthusiasm to the team. You'd never know that off the boat she is a
60ish Biology instructor at Columbia College. – photo courtesy Ray Shum

A great way for improvement is watching yourself and your team in photos and video.  We were fortunate that Ray Shum took some great pictures of the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team on the weekend at the Rio Tinto Alcan Dragon Boat Festival

Ray Shum loves dragon boats, and taking pictures of them in action.  He used to paddle on VO2 Max, and I can proudly say I taught him to be a paddle slut in 2002, when we hopped in a car and drove down to Kent WA for races.  We found two teams needing paddlers, and we both came home with medals and great new friends.  I paddled for Gold with Tacoma DBA in the top division, the Ray paddled for Silver with Portland's Multnohmah Canoe Club.

Check out Ray's website Tempest Photo

Check out his other great dragon boat photos from the 2008 Rio Tinto Alcan Dragon Boat Festival at:
http://www.bcphotoforum.com/tempest/062208_rtadbf_D300_1/

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Here's a great shot of Gung Haggis team at the start.  YOu can see the boat starting to plane, as we move into our faster “up” strokes.  Our drummer Keng used to drum for CC Riders, but she has paddling with us since summer '05, now she is back on the drummer seat.  Our lead right stroke is Gayle, a dragon boat veteran of 17 years.  This is her first year with Gung Haggis.  We love her, and have nicknamed her “The Goddess.”  Hillary is in 2nd right seat.  Last year was her rookie year and she has greatly improved  this year – just look at her muscles!

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I LOVE this picture of Gung Haggis in the middle of the race.  You can see the rotation and the reach… varying heights and athletic
abilities… but everybody moving together and learning slightly
forward to plant the paddle.  You can just “feel the power” as they are
about to finish the reach, enter and PULL!

We've worked hard to improve our timing, and merge different paddling styles together.  For this Rec C Championship race, only four of our right side paddlers were on the team last year, Hillary (2), Stephen M (4), Jim (5) and Steven (7) and four on the left.  Colleen (3) and Marion (10) are rookies, while Gayle (1), Tony (6), Richard (8) and Paulette (9) are veterans who joined us from other teams.

Some of our regular paddlers decided to opt out of Alcan, but we talked them back into it when some other teams needed help.  We loaned Jonas to GVRD who raced against us to come 2nd and win a silver medal.  Wendy, Ashleigh and Leanne paddled on G.Force Winds in the Women's division, coached and organized by our lead stroke Gayle.

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It's tradition, our steersman always wears a kilt!  Rory Dunn is another of the veteran dragon boaters who joined our team from the CC Dragons.  I've known Rory and the group for many years, and it was great to have them bring their experience to our team.  This weekend was the first time Rory had ever worn a kilt before, and he enjoyed it immensely.  He even put up with the female paddlers trying to lift his kilt with their paddles. 

Next up, we will have to get a snazzy stitched logo to sew onto the backs of our Personal Floatation Devices (PFD's), just like the GVRD 44 Cheeks team beside us.  Interesting note, I used to coach GVRD in 2003 and 2004.  Their drummer/coach is my good friend James who was my steering mentor on my first dragon boat team The Headliners back from 1993-95.

Vancouver Dragon Boat Festival and Todd Wong on Novus TV

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There were lots of media camera crews at the Rio Tinto Alcan Dragon Boat Festival last weekend in Vancouver, June 21st & 22nd.

Heather Bissonette was there from Novus TV, which broadcasts in Yaletown, False Creek and Burnaby.  I first met her a few years ago through Ricepaper Magazine.  She came to volunteer for the 2006 Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner event…

She went to BCIT school of broadcast journalism.  And we have re-connected.

Heather interviewed me about dragon boats, and the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team… and why we wear kilts!

Check out this yout tube video from Novus TV 
 

Gung Haggis dragon boat team races in Rec C Final – our best ever showing!

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Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team competed at the 20th Anniversary Rio Tinto Alcan Dragon Boat Festival on June 21, 22. 

This was the team's 7th year under the name Gung Haggis Fat Choy.

This was the best finish ever by the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat
team.  We competed hard in the REC C medal Championships.  previously,
Gung Haggis has been in the D, and E divisions.

This team showed a lot of maturity in its paddling focus, and it's
conduct.  And it showed a lot of its fun side by the addition of more
kilts into the line-up and carrying the Scottish flag as we walked from
Racer's Village to the Marshalling area.

Special congratulations to:
Stephen for captaining
Keng -for drumming
Gayle, Tzhe for lead stroke
Hillary, Alissa, Joanne, Jane, Joy, Marion, Colleen, Paulette, Jim,
Steve B, Steven W., Devon, Michael, Rich, Tony, Joe, Raphael, Gerry,
Gerard, Don, Todd – for paddling hard
Rory for steering

This team shows a lot of depth as we “loaned” non-Alcan roster paddlers
to other teams.  Thanks to this paddlers who weren't expecting to race
at Alcan, they were able to help out other teams.

Leanne, Wendy and Ashleigh paddled with Gayle Gordon's “G.Force Winds”
in the Women's division coming in 5th, to the Women's Rec A Finals…
the team's best Alcan finish ever.

Jonas was a late add-on to the GVRD 44 Cheeks, and they beat us in Rec C, as Jonas gets a silver medal.

with Jonas winning a medal as a late addition to the GVRD team.

Thank you to our supporters who came to cheer us on.  Stuart, Deb, Julie, Debbie, Ryan, Dan, Natalie, and so many more!!!!

Congratulations everybody!!!!

Todd

ps… Now who is up for a one day race in Kent WA (Seattle)
July 12, Saturday.   4 races in a day… if you make the final.  $20 each.

Dragon Boat friendships at Vancouver festival run deep, hard and long

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Dragon Boat friendships at Vancouver Festival run deep, hard and long


Todd Wong and Deb Martin wear team shirts with tartan kilts, making the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team very easy to spot! photo 2005 archives.

The Gung Haggis dragon boat team paddlers are quickly discovering that by wearing a kilt with their team shirt, paddlers  and tourists are asking to take a picture with them.  Okay… we are a bit of a novelty in the paddling fashion world.

Our red team shirts emblazoned with lucky gold coins “Fat Choy”, which means “prosperity”, is easily identifiable and encourages other paddlers to yell at them “Go Gung Haggis!”  or “Where's Todd?”

As I was walking back to the tents from the marshalling area, I bumped into friends from San Francisco Linda and Andrew who not only organize one of the top clubs in Dragon Warriors, but they also organize the San Francisco Dragon Boat Festival held on Treasure Island in the middle of San Francisco Bay.  It attracts some of the best teams on West Coast, and there is a healthy but friendly rivalry between San Francisco and Vancouver teams.  In 2005, I invited Dragon Warriors to our post-Alcan Festival party, and their paddlers loved it.  Later that summer, I also invited Andrew and Linda out on a Taiwanese dragon boat during a practice for the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team, and gave them one of our team shirts.  They really love our shirts.  Linda said it's one of their favorites.

While I was chatting with Andrew and Linda, somebody tried to surprise me with a kiss on the neck… but I flinched.  Oops… it is Grace Morissette, my first dragon boat coach from the 1993 Headliners team when we won the inaugural Novice Cup.  Grace is paddling with the Lotus Sports Club and they surprisingly won their first race of the day, pushing them into the Competitive Divisions.  I give her a hug later… and also have a good chat with her husband Doug Mancell.

Jim McArthur is also a Lotus Sports Club stalwart.  He paddled in the first Vancouver dragon boat races at Expo 86.  Whenever Jim comes by to say hi, I unfailingly introduce him to the team, as an honourary Gung Haggis Friend.

“Where's Todd?” can often be a question asked by the team, as not only am I busy coaching the Killarney Cougar Dragons junior team, but I can often be waylaid by too many spontaneous conversations with the many dragon boat friends I know.

After all our races were done today, I was hailed by Heather Bissonette, who was doing video interviews for Nova Television.  Heather volunteered for the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner event a couple of years ago, and asked me for a reference letter when she applied for the BCIT Journalism program.

“You know the drill,” she said as we started an interview about why I was combining kilts with dragon boats.

“It's about multiculturalism.  We really do celebrate diversity in Vancouver.  People recognize Canada's historical beginnings of English and French – but in BC, I say the pioneer origins are Scottish and Chinese.  The Scots came from the Far East across the Atlantic, and the Chinese came from the Far West across the Pacific.  They met here in BC, and originally didn't like each other… but soon they started dating and having kids.  This is BC's heritage and its' future.  Dragon boat racing is a way to have fun and share our cultures.”

Soon I am chatting with Daniel of One-Apparel, the team uniform sponsor for the Rio Tinto Alcan Dragon Boat Festival.  We bought this year's team shirts from Daniel, and he loves the design we put on it.  I suggest that he have a display of all the team jerseys who are his clients.  He asks for one of ours.  I have recommended teams such as Portland's Wasabi Paddling Club to him.  And when Linda and Andrew of San Francisco's Dragon Warriors admired my team jersey, they dropped in on Daniel and One-Apparel.

Back in the Racers' Village. I bumped into Phillip Chau, who is now coaching Edgewater Casino Without Warning.  Back in 2000, he captained the Nokia Dragons, and I was the drummer.  I also inadvertently ended up doing some coaching duties for the team too when Coach Leah Nagano was unable to coach us when the team switched practice dates.  We won gold for Rec B.  At this festival we are sharing a paddler for the Without Warning Men's team and the Gung Haggis Mixed Team, Tony, formerly of the Phillipine PYROS team whom I originally met in 2005.  Last year Art Calderwood was one of our best rookie paddlers on Gung Haggis, this year he is paddling on Without Warning.  Art and I bumped into each other and had a good chat.  We are proud of him, and he is happy to see that Gung Haggis has improved this year too.

Racer's Village is a compact community of 160 dragon boat teams, each with a designated spot under army tents.  On one side of the Gung Haggis team space are the Killarney Cougars, managed by teacher sponsor Stuart Mackinnon who fell in love with dragon boat racing when he joined the Gung Haggis team last year.  On our other side is G. Force Winds – coached, drummed and organized by Gayle Gordon who is now our lead stroke, and an assistant coach for our team.  Gayle is an whirlwind of activity this year, as she is also coaching a corporate team Flight Centre, tenting on the other side of G. Force Winds.

Gung Haggis is making a special effort to cheer on G. Force Winds because 3 of our paddlers who didn't roster for the Alcan race are now paddling with Gayle and G. Force.  It is really a compatible relationship.  Gung Haggis Fat Choy has built up a depth of about 40 members in our “club.”  I really wanted to build a second team, but it didn't work for Alcan this year.  Not everybody wanted to paddle at Alcan, some go on vacation, some have studies, some don't like the huge size of Alcan Races, nor the waiting in between races.  But now Wendy, Ashleigh and Leanne are paddling with Gayle.  It's fair to say that we all really love Gayle, and the effort that she puts into each practice.  We have nicknamed her “The Goddess.”


Leanne, Ashleigh and Wendy are Gung Haggis paddling on G. Force Wind.


James Yu, Michael Brophy and Todd Wong at the Rio Tinto Alcan Dragon Boat Festival

There are so many friends here at the festival.  GVRD 44 Cheeks are just opposite us.  Their coach and drummer James Yu was on my first  dragon boat team.  Their steersperson Dave Samis is also a Gung Haggis paddler.  I coached the GVRD team back in 2003, and they joined us for races in Portland OR, and Victoria BC that year.

The Pirates led by Ian Paul are around the corner.  My family friend and honourary cousin Mei-Fah is just a few tents away with the Richmond Centre Dragoneers.   Her daughter Jessie is paddling on the Richmond Colts Junior Team.  And over around the other corner are 6 Wasabi Teams from Portland. I consider the Wasabi Team Huge women's premier team as “my Portland team” because they have invited me to steer for them on 3 occasions in Kent WA, Deep Cove BC, and for last year's Victoria races.  This is largely due to my friendship with one of their veteran paddlers Suzi Cloutier, a former US National kayak team member.  Since 1991, Suzi and I have had a tradition of meeting, exchanging gifts and having a post-Alcan Monday brunch.  But sadly she is not at this year's festival.  Coach Kim Ketcham explained that she couldn't make this year's trip due to the sudden passing of a close friend.


Here's my friend Suzi admiring the Hon. David Lam Trophy for “Best Multicultural Team” with the winning Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team in 2005 – photo Todd Wong

And it is these friendships that I have with so many of the paddlers that make this event special for me.  Having conversations with Manfred Preuss and his wife Kathy from Chilliwack.  Saying hello with Connie and Kristine who also work at the Vancouver Public Library with me.  Seeing Tracey who first paddled with Gung Haggis and after only four practices won a medal at the inaugural Sellwood Park Race in Portland OR, then again two weeks later in Victoria with a combined team of Gung Haggis Fat Choy with Dieselfish of San Francisco.

Dragon Boat racing is about teamwork.  But at the root of the team is friendship.  The Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team is built with an emphasis on friendship and good-hearted people.  It is the favorite team I have ever paddled or coached for.  And as Tony Lim, the former PYROS paddle wrote to me last night.  “Gung Haggis IS Todd Wong.”