Ladies, thank you so much for that spectacular entrance – alas, you didn’t tell me what your team name was, so I can’t tag it here. Can someone sell me a clue? (I got a clue: These are the ladies of Vancouver’s The 7th Wave.)

Photographs taken during the 2011 Nanaimo Dragon Boat Festival are available in two places online. The sets can be found on Facebook in the BC Dragon Boat Paddlers group and on Flickr. Sunday’s images have been uploaded to FaceBook,
and the Flickr upload is now complete.

It was great to renew acquaintences with old paddling friends while we promoted our Champion dragon boats and the upcoming VCKC “Guts and Glory” event on August 27th.

All the best,
Ken

 

Ok. I’ve downed my second cup of coffee, and I’m ready to face the world…and think about what I am hoping was but the first of many Race the River dragon boat festivals in Campbell River.

Organized by local teams Bravehearts and River Spirit, “Race the River” was an outstanding example of what can be accomplished if your hearts are in the right place.

The venue wasn’t perfect, lacking only better loading and unloading facilities, but everything else was outstanding. The event was held in the Campbell River Estuary, which provided nearly ideal racing conditions and spectacular scenery, as this image of the starting line 350 meters away, attests:

(Click on the photograph for the spectacular full-sized version of this picture.)

Where to begin? At the beginning, of course.

When we arrived in the area, on Campbell River’s Spit Road near Dick Murphy Park on Tyee Spit, we were greeted by a smiling traffic control lady who explained that there was an unloading area at the Park, plus free, day-long, parking in a nearby paved lot. She also pointed out that the festival offered  free shuttle service to and from the aforesaid parking area, complete with a gorgeous vintage Cadillac to make paddlers feel special! (Would that Nanaimo would do that!)

Locations for paddlers’ tents were clearly marked by plainly labeled stakes, and most of the team tents were already set up by the time we arrived. All the facilities needed were clustered around the parking area, including porta-potties, a stage for the live entertainment, a Serious Coffee area for folks like me who appreciate real coffee (would love to see this implemented in every festival I attend…there’s nothing worse than the wretched coffee served up by most vending trailers at festivals, made, I suspect, with the cheapest floor sweepings imaginable and boiled for hours to insure that it’s properly disgusting), a Marine Harvest kitchen offering immense slabs of grilled salmon for a paltry five bucks, and the registration and staging tents. It was immediately apparent that these folks were looking after their guests in grand fashion. There wasn’t an overpriced, second-rate vending trailer in sight, and I loved it.

The breezy morning air was shattered at precisely 8:30 by the call to warmup led by an energized woman who was probably an ex-Marine Corps drill sergeant:

Here we can insert, “A hearty good time was had by all!”

Then, of course, it was on to the racing… Most of the photographs in the Flickr collection were taken from near the finish line, where a multitude of great viewing spots were available. Thanks to the friendly and cooperative festival staff, I was also able to hitch a ride to the Start line, where I spent an hour or so taking pictures and getting sunburned.

Click here to see the entire Race the River collection

Bravehearts and River Spirit earned a resounding “A+” for this event, and everyone should be looking forward to next year, when I’m hoping they will find the time to add another day to the festival for 200m Champion Sprints, which are near and dear to my heart.

Cheers,

Ken

PS: One final image, lest we forget what brought many of us to this wonderful sport:

Afterthoughts:

• This enthusiastic volunteer had a ball while encouraging staging teams to chant their chants and sing their songs, and Wow! was she effective at raising the Fun Bar! (I can still hear a rousing version of “What do ya do with an Aquaholic?” ringing in my ears This was an effective moral booster, and I’d love to see more of this enthusiasm during other festivals. In retrospect, I realize that the mood for the festival was set by the organizers. As paddlers themselves, they understood and embraced the festival atmosphere and augmented it with humour and class.
• The Carnations used for the traditional ceremony weren’t pink; the colours were mixed, and provided a rainbow of colour which I, being a dedicated “pink-o-phobe,” deeply appreciated.

 

I have uploaded 160 images from 2011 Nanaimo Paddlefest. Most of them are my routine fare – people – but this one intrigues me:

I don’t remember who was drumming for the TD team, but she’s either recovering from a near-dunking, or invoking a hitherto-unseen maneuver to spook the opposition. As a friend recently said, “You can do anything in a Millenium and nothing will happen.”

What are the most likely choices here?

1. She decided to walk back to the Crab Dock?

2. She felt a sudden urge to take a dip?

3. She decided to change horses in mid-stream?

(I thought she fallen off the seat – as it turned out, she was balancing a 17-paddler crew load. Way to go, Leslie!)

Let’s hear your suggestions, folks – anything’s possible in a dragon boat

[Click on either image to see the full photo set on Flickr.]

 
GoRow has posted summary results here and full results here.
 

 

 

The Victoria Canoe and Kayak Club (VCKC) knows how to put on a party! From the boats to the BBQ, this year’s Guts & Glory event was a rocker. The innovative 2500m race offered paddlers a change from the usual 500m event. Teams raced in two 1250m heats, and the combined time for both was used to determine final placement. This was a great event, and I am hoping VCKC will be able to expand Guts & Glory next year with involvement from more Island teams.

VCKC team putting a Champion 912 through its paces 

Two Champion 912′s added to the fun when they were raced by anyone wanting to try a smaller, lighter boat. The highlight of the 10-paddler racing was the “Over 50 – Under 50 Challenge,” which saw the youngsters beaten by their elders in a very close finish.

Paddlers of the Fifth Moon on the last leg of a 1250m heat 

VCKC team rounding the first bouy during a 1250m heat 

VCKC hasn’t set a date for next year’s Guts & Glory, but when they do, make sure to mark your calendar and get your team involved. Good people, good food, outstanding venue…what more can you ask for?

 

Doing the Macarena at the best dawgone Beer Garden on the Festival Circuit!

All the best,
Ken

 

Then she asks – demurely, of course – if she might have “just one more pint.” Sure, she’s a little tipsy, but what self-respecting paddler could turn this cutie down?

Only too late do you come to realize that having paid for dinner and two pints of Guinness (you, being a paddler, of course do not drink), you’re stuck with every dragon boat paddler’s nightmare… an inebriated Teddy!!

Let this be a lesson to you. Just because she’s cute, cuddly and covered with fur doesn’t mean she’s cut out for life with a paddler!

(Photos courtesy Rima Szabo, Phoenix Rising Dragon Boat Team, Nanaimo, BC. God bless you, Ruth #1))

 

My thanks to the West Coast Dragon Boat Society for their kindness in permitting me to use their chase boats as a platform for photographing much of the event! The results from this year`s Challenge are below.

Praying to the God of Paddling, perhaps?

 

Kudos to the Nusa’Lon Dragons for sponsoring this event – ladies, you did an awesome job!

Huge THANK YOU to all the paddlers that commented on my photographs… that’s what makes taking them worthwhile.

I also had a lot of paddlers ask about having accounts here on dragonboatpaddlers.net… that’s an easy one – Register and post articles and updates about your teams, add commentary to race photos, whatever you wish. It’s free, it’s fun, and it’s easy.

Congratulations to TSUNAMI for taking home the gold!

Stay tuned!

Ken

 

WHAT A ROWDY BUNCH OF TERRIFIC PEOPLE PADDLERS ARE!

The message is simple: If you didn’t know about the Oxy party, the free appies, or the raucous fun everyone shares, just show up next year, sometime after 6:00 PM, insert your ear plugs and have a ball!

“Paddlers to the right, others to the left…”

NOTE: You can download the images available without cost for non-commercial use, but you need to know how to do it, so listen up:

When you find an image you want, click on the thumbnail copy to make a larger copy appear on the right side of the screen. Then click on the BUY button. When you do that, you will see a product screen with four tabs at the top.

Click on the DOWNLOAD tab and download the image. That’s all there is to it! Some earlier dragon boat folders were not configured for free downloads – if you run across one of them, send me a note including the name of the folder, and I will update it for free downloads.