Like I discussed earlier, dragon boat is a team sport, where costs are incurred as a team. No matter if you have 12 people or 30 people on your dragon boat team, it’ll still cost the same amount of money to book your practice, hire your steersperson, or enter your race. The only “individually-incurred” costs are for personal things like life jackets, paddles, or team shirts.
So how do you budget for all of these things? I will review the biggest items on our team’s budget this year and go over how much you should expect to pay and what you should expect to get.
Well, the biggest cost, by far is entry fees for festivals. Entry fees range from $700 to $1500. Usually the small, newer races will be cheaper, and the older, more established races are more expensive. By “small”, I mean anything from about 30 to 70 teams. These are usually one-day festivals, and are under 5 years old. The “large” festivals are the 100 plus teams and span two days. The GWN Challenge, for example, has 180 teams competing annually and is currently in its 13th year.
The earlier you book a festival, the cheaper the price, as many early bird payment structures can save you $100s of dollars. Our team paid an early-bird fee of $1325 to race at the GWN Challenge this year, whereas we paid the full-priced $1600 last year. It’s great if you’re organized enough (and have the cash) to pay months in advance, but it’s also risky if you’re a new team without committed paddlers yet.
When looking at your race fees, you should consider what your team wants out of the racing experience before deciding what your budget for races should be. When considering a festival, find out how many races you get at the festival, if your team can do a one day festival or would like two days, and how far the festival is from where you live or practice. Find out how many free or discounted practices you get included with your race entry. With Oakville, you get two free practices. At GWN, you get 50% off your first two practice but no freebies at all.
And finally consider what kind of “experience” you want your team to have. I think that the bigger races are great for a first-time competing team. There is a lot of hype at a big race, with 1,000s of paddlers, spectators, and action happening. It’s definitely a fun way to celebrate the end-of-season and get your team feeling excited. Plus the money is worth it in the way the festival is organized and presented to you. (Read my reviews of past races by clicking older links on the right hand side).
The second biggest item on the budget is practice fees. This year, the total came to $727.31 for 7 practices at Sunnyside beach in Toronto. That's just over $100/practice after taxes, but breaks down to $65 for the one-hour boat rental (which includes paddles and life jackets for everyone) plus $33 per hour for a steersperson. Mind you, if we had a teammate who could steer for us, then we would’ve saved over $200. And in my Vancouver days, we didn’t even have the option of hiring a steersperson—we had to learn how to do it on our own!
Anyway, a brand new team can get away with 4 practices and still perform decently on race day although an ideal number would be 6 total practices. When you’re budgeting for your race entry fees, and find a race that includes 2 free (or discounted) practices in the fees, then that’s great because it will help you save on your practice budget.
These top two expenses are actually all you need to commit to for a proper dragon boat season. At the cheapest, four practices and a small race would only be about $900. Not too bad if you split it amongst 22 members.
But to look like a REAL team, your team needs to get team uniforms. You’ll notice at the festivals that some teams go all out, dressing head-to-toe in coordinated outfits. It’s rare to not have a team uniform, so you should get, at the very least, a printed t-shirt. These days, silk-screened shirts are pretty cheap, and can probably be found for $15-$20 each. Our dry-wicking, athletic shirts cost $25 each, with print on both front and back of the shirt. Not bad at all, and we added the cost of the shirt into the membership fees at the beginning of the year so we would have money up front.
So overall, with careful budgeting and early planning, you can do a lot with a little. And with some fundraising or sponsorship support, you can charge your members less, enter a couple extra races, or get decked out in a really fancy dragon boating outfit! Next post, I hope to expand on my earlier post about fundraising activity, as extra income is always good for a dragon boat budget.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Friday, September 21, 2007
How to start a dragon boat team (in three steps)
Starting a dragon boat team is not hard. Well, it’s not that easy either. But with a few foundations in place, anyone can do it. Here are the first three steps of how to start up:
1. Get a boat.
The first step is to make sure that there is a dragon boat club in your area. These "clubs" are organizations or associations who run a practice site and rent out dragon boats. Teams (even elite teams) do not buy their own boats; everyone rents from a club. Dragon boat clubs offer rental rates for their boats and offer services like coaching and steering.
So, first be sure there is a club relatively close by. If your city has any flat water (i.e. lake, bay, or slow moving waters), then there's a good chance that there is some paddling activity going on. And as dragon boat is such a hot sport, there are several dragon boating venues all over Canada. In Toronto, there are locations at Sunnyside Beach and Cherry Beach, as well as in surrounding towns of Hamilton, Oakville, and Burlington. In Vancouver, there are two main clubs that paddle in False Creek. One is called Dragon Zone, near Science World and the other is the False Creek Community Centre which is located at Granville Island.
I have a list of dragon boat clubs under my links and I'll keep adding to this. [Or email me with dragon boat clubs that you know of in your area, and I'll add them.] Meanwhile, the best thing to do is search in your area under Google. Try key words like “canoe” clubs or “outrigger paddling” clubs in addition to “dragon boat”. Remember that many places that rent out canoes also rent out dragon boats.
2. Get people.
After making sure there is a place to dragon boat, you need to make sure you have enough people on your team. Getting people also allows you to start getting money, which is what you’ll need to pay for the boat practices, ie. the next step. (So steps 1, 2, and 3 really go hand-in-hand).
You need 20 paddlers minimum, but I recommend recruiting 22 to 24 members to your team. The boat has exactly 20 seats, so having more than 20 members will give you some spare paddlers. Spares are just as important as regular paddlers. In six years of dragon boating, I’ve never had any single day when 100% of the team turned up, healthy and on-time. Typically, of your group of 22 people, 2 or 3 people aren’t going to come to the practice or race. This means you'll have exactly 20 people, which is perfect.
Other than paddlers, you will also need a drummer and a steersperson. These are both critical roles, but for some reason, I find it harder to recruit people for these positions. A skilled steersperson, however, is always in high demand. (A status not unlike a good hockey goalie.) So it pays to have one person on your team devoted to and specifically trained just to steer. You'll also save a lot of money over "hiring" someone to steer for you. Drummers, on the other hand, do not require a lot of training, and do not need to be at every practice. A "good" drummer is someone who is small, light, and really loud. Drummers can be one of your spare paddlers too.
3. Get money.
Once you have enough paddlers, and have found a place to practice, you’ll have to get money. Money is important because dragon boat is an expensive sport. Costs are not incurred individually as they are in other sports (i.e. hockey, where each players goes out to buy hockey sticks, pads, skates, and tons of equipment). In dragon boat, all the necessary equipment is included in the price of a boat rental. But because you rent the boat “as a team”, the costs are also charged “per team”. You also race as a team, and therefore incur entry fees as a team.
These fees often need to be paid up front, or close to up front, and can be several hundreds of dollars. The fee to enter the GWN Challenge (one of Toronto's biggest races), for example is $1,300. A typical practice at Sunnyside Beach cost us $95 per session. A beginner team should have at least 6 practice sessions before going into a race. As you can see, these costs add up, even when shared amongst 22 people, so make sure you have a committed team first that will split that cost.
There are several revenue models in the world of dragon boat and I’ll list a few for you here.
1. Get a boat.
The first step is to make sure that there is a dragon boat club in your area. These "clubs" are organizations or associations who run a practice site and rent out dragon boats. Teams (even elite teams) do not buy their own boats; everyone rents from a club. Dragon boat clubs offer rental rates for their boats and offer services like coaching and steering.
So, first be sure there is a club relatively close by. If your city has any flat water (i.e. lake, bay, or slow moving waters), then there's a good chance that there is some paddling activity going on. And as dragon boat is such a hot sport, there are several dragon boating venues all over Canada. In Toronto, there are locations at Sunnyside Beach and Cherry Beach, as well as in surrounding towns of Hamilton, Oakville, and Burlington. In Vancouver, there are two main clubs that paddle in False Creek. One is called Dragon Zone, near Science World and the other is the False Creek Community Centre which is located at Granville Island.
I have a list of dragon boat clubs under my links and I'll keep adding to this. [Or email me with dragon boat clubs that you know of in your area, and I'll add them.] Meanwhile, the best thing to do is search in your area under Google. Try key words like “canoe” clubs or “outrigger paddling” clubs in addition to “dragon boat”. Remember that many places that rent out canoes also rent out dragon boats.
2. Get people.
After making sure there is a place to dragon boat, you need to make sure you have enough people on your team. Getting people also allows you to start getting money, which is what you’ll need to pay for the boat practices, ie. the next step. (So steps 1, 2, and 3 really go hand-in-hand).
You need 20 paddlers minimum, but I recommend recruiting 22 to 24 members to your team. The boat has exactly 20 seats, so having more than 20 members will give you some spare paddlers. Spares are just as important as regular paddlers. In six years of dragon boating, I’ve never had any single day when 100% of the team turned up, healthy and on-time. Typically, of your group of 22 people, 2 or 3 people aren’t going to come to the practice or race. This means you'll have exactly 20 people, which is perfect.
Other than paddlers, you will also need a drummer and a steersperson. These are both critical roles, but for some reason, I find it harder to recruit people for these positions. A skilled steersperson, however, is always in high demand. (A status not unlike a good hockey goalie.) So it pays to have one person on your team devoted to and specifically trained just to steer. You'll also save a lot of money over "hiring" someone to steer for you. Drummers, on the other hand, do not require a lot of training, and do not need to be at every practice. A "good" drummer is someone who is small, light, and really loud. Drummers can be one of your spare paddlers too.
3. Get money.
Once you have enough paddlers, and have found a place to practice, you’ll have to get money. Money is important because dragon boat is an expensive sport. Costs are not incurred individually as they are in other sports (i.e. hockey, where each players goes out to buy hockey sticks, pads, skates, and tons of equipment). In dragon boat, all the necessary equipment is included in the price of a boat rental. But because you rent the boat “as a team”, the costs are also charged “per team”. You also race as a team, and therefore incur entry fees as a team.
These fees often need to be paid up front, or close to up front, and can be several hundreds of dollars. The fee to enter the GWN Challenge (one of Toronto's biggest races), for example is $1,300. A typical practice at Sunnyside Beach cost us $95 per session. A beginner team should have at least 6 practice sessions before going into a race. As you can see, these costs add up, even when shared amongst 22 people, so make sure you have a committed team first that will split that cost.
There are several revenue models in the world of dragon boat and I’ll list a few for you here.
- Membership fees. This season, we charged team members $150 each. This is a very reasonable amount of money for a sport, and is average for dragon boat membership fees. (Other teams can charge $100-$250, I’ve seen). For a 22 person team, we had a budget of $3,300, which funded 8 weeks worth of practices, entry into a couple of races, and team shirts for everyone.
- Sponsorship. Many teams you will see are sponsored. There are many corporations that have their own team, for example, the "Royal Bank Golden Lions" or "Deloitte Dragons". I think it's perfectly reasonable to ask your company to sponsor your team, even if the team isn't entirely made up company employees. Or you can go seek out sponsorship from other companies. Sponsors may give you money or may “donate” t-shirts or hats to you. The best sponsorship situation is when you sell, what I call, “naming rights.” You’ll be surprised how many companies will give you several thousand dollars just to name your team after them. Smaller companies may still give you a few hundred for wearing their logo on your t-shirts. It’s a lot of work finding a sponsor, but can be a great pay off and eliminate any financial head aches for you later.
- Fundraisers. Many dragon boat teams fundraise year-round. Not only does this help offset costs, but it is also a great team-building idea. There are several types of fundraisers, that I can go on and on about, but here are some primary examples:
- Easy-work, low-pay. There are a number of bars, and restaurants that have active sports club fundraising joint ventures. An example from Malone’s Sports Club in Vancouver is that they give you x-number of tickets worth a burger and a beer. They charge you $5 per ticket but you can sell the ticket for however much you want (usually $6 or $7) and pocket the difference. The bar wins because you’re bringing in customers, and you win because you’re making money without much effort. Of course, with just $1 or $2 profit, you’ll have to sell about 500 tickets before having enough to pay for one race.
- Hard-work, low-pay. I see a lot of teams holding car washes, especially in suburban areas. This is definitely a fun fundraiser, and good for building team spirit, but definitely low in return. During one 8-hour carwash, our team raised just under $400. A lot of money for one day, but when you consider there were 20 of us working at the car wash, that averages out to a salary of $2.50 an hour. We figured that just donating an hour’s pay from our salaries would be more than 5 times that amount. (Of course, if you’re students, then $2.50/hour is pretty decent).
- Hard-work, high-pay. The most successful fundraisers that I’ve had are selling tickets to a club. Typically club organizers, will “give you the door” for the early hours of a slow night. This means you can sell tickets in advance, and collect cover from party-goers. Cover can be anywhere between $7 and $10 and you should expect that with a team of 20 you can sell 200 tickets to a club night. The payoff can therefore be as much as $2000 in one night! Of course, there is a lot of work in hustling tickets, and if your event is poor, no one will ever go to another one.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Dragon boat paddle bags?
The dragon boat paddle bag is a strange and odd device, but one that I sincerely wished that I had this morning, as I struggled on my commute balancing my purse, a newspaper, a hot cup of tea, and a 45” paddle sticking out of my grocery bag. The people who buy dragon boat paddles bags are very few and far between, I believe, as they must meet three strict criteria in order to qualify for wanting to purchase. First, they must be dragon boaters; second, they must be dragon boaters who own paddles; and third, they must be dragon boaters who own paddles who commute. Because without these three-tiers of qualification, you really wouldn’t be very interested in buying one.
And although I do qualify as a potential dragon boat paddle bag buyer, I’m not even sure if I’m interested. Sure, it would be nice if I could just sling my paddle across my back, and hop on my bike down to practice. Sure, it would be great if I could balance my paddle, life jacket, paddling gloves, captain’s clipboard, and bag of dry clothes without knocking into people with my paddle's handle. But I wonder what other solutions there are out there. Anyone own a paddle bag? Do you just put everything into a duffle bag? And do paddle bags even work well, or are you still trying to balance your paddle on your back without looking ridiculous? Let me know because I'm sincerely interested. Comment below
<<... This is the "ultimate" dragon boat paddle bag, with Water Proof 1680D Ballistic Nylon Exterior and capacity for three paddles. Price tag though? a whopping $85USD. AND only available via online mailing, as far as I can tell.
And although I do qualify as a potential dragon boat paddle bag buyer, I’m not even sure if I’m interested. Sure, it would be nice if I could just sling my paddle across my back, and hop on my bike down to practice. Sure, it would be great if I could balance my paddle, life jacket, paddling gloves, captain’s clipboard, and bag of dry clothes without knocking into people with my paddle's handle. But I wonder what other solutions there are out there. Anyone own a paddle bag? Do you just put everything into a duffle bag? And do paddle bags even work well, or are you still trying to balance your paddle on your back without looking ridiculous? Let me know because I'm sincerely interested. Comment below
<<... This is the "ultimate" dragon boat paddle bag, with Water Proof 1680D Ballistic Nylon Exterior and capacity for three paddles. Price tag though? a whopping $85USD. AND only available via online mailing, as far as I can tell.Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Review: Oakville Charity Dragon Boat Festival
The Fourth Annual Oakville Charity Dragon Boat Festival far exceeded its own expectations. While hoping to have 40 teams participate, the Oakville crew ended up with 73. Good for them, but bad for us, as a bigger event meant a few compromises.
Here’s my review on this event:
1. Course. Lake Kelso is a nice water to paddle in, as it is clean, clear, and fast. The race course itself though was simply marked in the middle of a lake with sets of buoys. Without any breakers or natural shape to the course length, the lanes were out in the open water. This makes it tougher for paddlers and steerspeople to navigate, especially those in the outside lanes. The worst part is that there weren't any docks at this lake and so paddlers had to load the boats beachside. The dragon boats were basically pulled up to the short beach and paddlers had to climb in through the front of the boat and walk through it to their seat. Most of us had to tread ankle to calf-deep into the lake water while the volunteers who assisted us were in up their hips. Pretty ghetto loading style.
2. Sight lines. While our team pitched our tent with the best view of the water, we could only see about the last 50 meters or so of the race. From water’s edge, near the marshalling area, the boats would come into view for about the last half or so of the race. It was difficult to see the boats from where they started, which was about the middle of the lake. Overall this made for some uninteresting sight lines and hard-to-view racing.
3. Athlete's Village. The gorgeous park was a great location for the Athlete’s Village, with lots of trees overhead, grass underfoot, and picnic tables spread throughout the grounds. Our team sought out a patch of land at the top of a hill, about 200 metres away from the main Athlete’s Village and enjoyed a sprawl of space along with two picnic tables side-by-side. All the tenting spots seemed pretty good, and with few corporate tents out, the paddlers goverened the land themselves, giving themselves as much space as they wanted.
4. Organizers. Email correspondence pre-festival was responded to quickly and politely. I even chatted with a couple of the organizers on the phone a couple of times about regatta details. On race day itself, however, the volunteers seemed a bit flustered and uncertain. To me it became quite clear that three different organizations were running the show (ie. Oakville Rotary Club, Burloak Canoe Club people, and volunteers) and they weren’t all sure what the others were doing. My biggest frustration was securing a drummer and a steersperson for each of our three races, which was promised to me via email early on. At every race however, the organizers were scrambling to find someone who could help me out, making me feel scrambled as well.
5. Facilities (ie. Porta-potties). No shortage of portable toilets at this site, although they were already stinking at 7am, when half the teams hadn’t even arrived yet. While the site has permanent, housed toilets, these were taped off for “private use” by the people who were eating at the BBQ/Beer tent. The shape of the venue allowed for the toilets to be clustered in three main areas—one in the heart of the Athlete’s Village, one at the top of the hill, and one at the very base of the hill, nearest the marshalling area. The longest line ups were at the Athlete’s Village toilets.
6. Food and entertainment. I wasn’t expecting a lot, and there wasn’t a lot, although the live bands who kicked it up were playing all morning. The announcer didn’t provide very much race commentary, but was reliable for announcing boat marshalling times and giving warning to teams to hurry up. There was only one main food vendor, which was totally fine with us because our team over-indulged and brought enough “potluck” foods to feed three or FOUR teams. By the end of the day, we were packing up our sandwiches, cakes, cookies, and piles of food, despite gorging out for the 8 hours.
7. Awards. Not sure how these turned out as the awards as our team didn’t make it in. The divisions this year ran A through G, with 10 boats in each division. The top five teams were called “Championship” and the bottom five were “Consolation.” We finished fourth in Consolation-C. Pretty good, and above what we expected, although out of medal contention.
Summary
Cost: $800 Number of races: 3 races/one day
Scores (out of 5):
Course: 3
Sight lines: 2
Athlete’s Village: 4
Organizers: 3
Facilities: 4
Food and entertainment: 3
Awards: 3
OVERALL SCORE: 22
For us, this was a first time “little” race, and we chose to do it particularly to train for and warm up to the bigger and more important GWN. The cheap $800 cost was great, and a lower barrier for entry. Unfortunately, I think the regatta grew too quickly this year, and wasn't quite well managed as well as it might have been in the past. It simply lost the simple and easy feel of a small regatta. At this growth rate and low cost of entry, they’ll probably grow another 20-30 boats for next year, but then plateau once they can’t handle it, and people start looking for the other “smaller” festivals.
Here’s my review on this event:
1. Course. Lake Kelso is a nice water to paddle in, as it is clean, clear, and fast. The race course itself though was simply marked in the middle of a lake with sets of buoys. Without any breakers or natural shape to the course length, the lanes were out in the open water. This makes it tougher for paddlers and steerspeople to navigate, especially those in the outside lanes. The worst part is that there weren't any docks at this lake and so paddlers had to load the boats beachside. The dragon boats were basically pulled up to the short beach and paddlers had to climb in through the front of the boat and walk through it to their seat. Most of us had to tread ankle to calf-deep into the lake water while the volunteers who assisted us were in up their hips. Pretty ghetto loading style.
2. Sight lines. While our team pitched our tent with the best view of the water, we could only see about the last 50 meters or so of the race. From water’s edge, near the marshalling area, the boats would come into view for about the last half or so of the race. It was difficult to see the boats from where they started, which was about the middle of the lake. Overall this made for some uninteresting sight lines and hard-to-view racing.
3. Athlete's Village. The gorgeous park was a great location for the Athlete’s Village, with lots of trees overhead, grass underfoot, and picnic tables spread throughout the grounds. Our team sought out a patch of land at the top of a hill, about 200 metres away from the main Athlete’s Village and enjoyed a sprawl of space along with two picnic tables side-by-side. All the tenting spots seemed pretty good, and with few corporate tents out, the paddlers goverened the land themselves, giving themselves as much space as they wanted.
4. Organizers. Email correspondence pre-festival was responded to quickly and politely. I even chatted with a couple of the organizers on the phone a couple of times about regatta details. On race day itself, however, the volunteers seemed a bit flustered and uncertain. To me it became quite clear that three different organizations were running the show (ie. Oakville Rotary Club, Burloak Canoe Club people, and volunteers) and they weren’t all sure what the others were doing. My biggest frustration was securing a drummer and a steersperson for each of our three races, which was promised to me via email early on. At every race however, the organizers were scrambling to find someone who could help me out, making me feel scrambled as well.
5. Facilities (ie. Porta-potties). No shortage of portable toilets at this site, although they were already stinking at 7am, when half the teams hadn’t even arrived yet. While the site has permanent, housed toilets, these were taped off for “private use” by the people who were eating at the BBQ/Beer tent. The shape of the venue allowed for the toilets to be clustered in three main areas—one in the heart of the Athlete’s Village, one at the top of the hill, and one at the very base of the hill, nearest the marshalling area. The longest line ups were at the Athlete’s Village toilets.
6. Food and entertainment. I wasn’t expecting a lot, and there wasn’t a lot, although the live bands who kicked it up were playing all morning. The announcer didn’t provide very much race commentary, but was reliable for announcing boat marshalling times and giving warning to teams to hurry up. There was only one main food vendor, which was totally fine with us because our team over-indulged and brought enough “potluck” foods to feed three or FOUR teams. By the end of the day, we were packing up our sandwiches, cakes, cookies, and piles of food, despite gorging out for the 8 hours.
7. Awards. Not sure how these turned out as the awards as our team didn’t make it in. The divisions this year ran A through G, with 10 boats in each division. The top five teams were called “Championship” and the bottom five were “Consolation.” We finished fourth in Consolation-C. Pretty good, and above what we expected, although out of medal contention.
Summary
Cost: $800 Number of races: 3 races/one day
Scores (out of 5):
Course: 3
Sight lines: 2
Athlete’s Village: 4
Organizers: 3
Facilities: 4
Food and entertainment: 3
Awards: 3
OVERALL SCORE: 22
For us, this was a first time “little” race, and we chose to do it particularly to train for and warm up to the bigger and more important GWN. The cheap $800 cost was great, and a lower barrier for entry. Unfortunately, I think the regatta grew too quickly this year, and wasn't quite well managed as well as it might have been in the past. It simply lost the simple and easy feel of a small regatta. At this growth rate and low cost of entry, they’ll probably grow another 20-30 boats for next year, but then plateau once they can’t handle it, and people start looking for the other “smaller” festivals.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Stolen Boats in Cypress
I just read an article about some unfortunate dragon boaters in Cyprus who will miss this year's Limassol Dragon Boat Festival Races. The reason? The Dragon Boats for the event - which were due to be shipped from the UK to Cyprus, were stolen from their storage compound in Cirencester, Gloucester, along with their road trailer !
As the report said, "The Gloucestershire Police have been unable to trace either the boats or trailer and say they are bafflled as to why anyone would want to steal two 40' Dragon Boats." The assumption is that the thiefs were after the trailer and that the boats would soon be found in a ditch somewhere.
As the report said, "The Gloucestershire Police have been unable to trace either the boats or trailer and say they are bafflled as to why anyone would want to steal two 40' Dragon Boats." The assumption is that the thiefs were after the trailer and that the boats would soon be found in a ditch somewhere.
Unfortunately due to the timing of the thievery, new boats cannot be sent to Cypress in time for the event so the races have been rescheduled to next October 2008.
The saddest thing about this whole incident was the reason the Cyprus Dragon Boat Association needed the new boats in the first place, because one year earlier their 4 boats and their trailer were destroyed by fire!
So if anyone spots some dragon boats for sale, I guess you ought to call the Gloucestershire Police!
World Championship Races in Sydney
My eyes will be looking to the IDBF website this week, in hopes to finding the news and results of this year's World Championships in Sydney, Australia. "World Championships?!" some may exclaim in surprise. YES, dragon boat IS a legitimate sport, and national teams DO compete for and represent their countries at international events and meets. Just because it is not in the Olympics does not warrant it any less authority on the sports channel. (Though admittedly, I've never heard of a televised dragon boating event, nor do I think they'll be broadcasting this Sydney competition.) BUT one day they will, and dragon boating will have the respect and ranking of sculling!
Anyway, look forward to this weekend's race, and read on below about how the countries stack up:
The countdown to Sydney 2007 has begun and National Teams are gearing up for the 8th World Championships scheduled for the 20-23 September 07, with a warm up festival regatta in Darling Harbour, on 16 September and a Coaching Work shop on the Championship week programme for Tuesday 18 September 2007.
Anyway, look forward to this weekend's race, and read on below about how the countries stack up:
The countdown to Sydney 2007 has begun and National Teams are gearing up for the 8th World Championships scheduled for the 20-23 September 07, with a warm up festival regatta in Darling Harbour, on 16 September and a Coaching Work shop on the Championship week programme for Tuesday 18 September 2007.
With over 100 crews entered from around the globe, hot racing will be the order of the day on the Penrith Olympic Regatta Course, some 60 kilometres from down town Sydney. Russia will be looking to keep the Nations Cup as the best Premier Team overall but they can expect strong competition in the Premier Woman’s Division from Canada and Great Britain and no doubt Team Australia will be all out to prove themselves tops on home waters too.
China, Macau and the Philippines - medal winners all, in previous World Championships, lead a strong Asian entry, which also includes dark horses Chinese Taipei, plus Japan and Hong Kong. Notably absentees are Singapore and Indonesia both Countries who have competed at IDBF Affiliated Festivals this year and Vietnam. New Zealand are making their first appearance at a WDBRC since Hong Kong in 1997, where they won Bronze and new boys Slovakia, who won Gold at the 2006 European Championships, are a Team to watch in the Premier Open Division, as are the Ukraine Team after their Clubs’ recent showing in the European Club Crew Championships in St Petersburg.
South America will be represented for the first time, when Chile take to the water in the Premier Mixed Division. In the Senior Division 42 crews from 10 Countries will do battle for Championship Medals, including 12 Grand Dragons Crews (the over 50s) racing formally in a World Champs for the first time. In the Junior Division some 23 crews from 7 Countries will make the trip to Sydney, with the Junior Women racing in their own Division for the first time too.
As expected, without the government funding that is taken for granted by the Olympic Sports, the high cost of travelling across the globe has precluded many Teams from competing at the World Champs, South Africa and Trinidad and Tobago for example. Lack of funding has also struck the Europeans too, where the Czech Republic, Poland, Switzerland, Norway, the Netherlands and Sweden, all regular participants in the World Championships, will be sadly missed. But despite this more that 2000 of the best Dragon Boaters in the World will still be chasing the Medals in Sydney, in a feast of colour and muscle power, so why not come along and cheer them on to victory!
Friday, September 14, 2007
My paddle
Serious paddlers are serious about their paddles. Me? I spent $30 on my Grey Owl Dragon Boat club paddle, and I’m perfectly pleased with it. It’s not carbon fiber light, but it isn’t as heavy as standard loaner paddles either. More importantly, it’s aesthetically better than the loaner paddles, because the wood is maintained shiny and clean, without warped sides or splinters sticking out. Plus, it’s personalized, with my hand-traced black Asian dragon drawing on one side of the blade.
I got my paddle as part of a group buy with my Vancouver team, Team Vortex, a spontaneous purchase because if I really wanted to invest in my “paddling career”, I probably should have put that money towards a life jacket. Nonetheless, I bought my paddle and I think it’s great. I haven’t paddled without my paddle for over four years, even checking it into special cargo when I brought it over from Vancouver to Toronto. (Note here that the WestJet luggage handlers not only “lost” my paddle for a couple of hours, they also scratched it! Darn them!)
The first thing that I did when I bought my paddle was personalize it. This is definitely the most fun part of owning a paddle. I found an amazing image of a calligraphic dragon that I enlarged and then hand-traced to my paddle. I just used a permanent wood-marker to do it, and my dragon is still intact to this day. (Note that at the same time, I also did a hand-tracing of Trogdor the Burninator on my friends' paddle, but because of its fine lines, some of the ink has scratched off in the last four years).
Personally, I think that recreational paddlers should never buy carbon composite paddles, unless they get one for free or some great deal. At least don’t spend more than fifty bucks on a paddle. It’s really unnecessary, and a bit pretentious. It’s the same feeling I get when I see a 16 year old kid driving a Ferrari or something.
I got my paddle as part of a group buy with my Vancouver team, Team Vortex, a spontaneous purchase because if I really wanted to invest in my “paddling career”, I probably should have put that money towards a life jacket. Nonetheless, I bought my paddle and I think it’s great. I haven’t paddled without my paddle for over four years, even checking it into special cargo when I brought it over from Vancouver to Toronto. (Note here that the WestJet luggage handlers not only “lost” my paddle for a couple of hours, they also scratched it! Darn them!)
The first thing that I did when I bought my paddle was personalize it. This is definitely the most fun part of owning a paddle. I found an amazing image of a calligraphic dragon that I enlarged and then hand-traced to my paddle. I just used a permanent wood-marker to do it, and my dragon is still intact to this day. (Note that at the same time, I also did a hand-tracing of Trogdor the Burninator on my friends' paddle, but because of its fine lines, some of the ink has scratched off in the last four years).
Personally, I think that recreational paddlers should never buy carbon composite paddles, unless they get one for free or some great deal. At least don’t spend more than fifty bucks on a paddle. It’s really unnecessary, and a bit pretentious. It’s the same feeling I get when I see a 16 year old kid driving a Ferrari or something.
Review: GWN Challenge at Marilyn Bell Park
This year's GWN Challenge (ie. the 13th one) took place for the first time at Marilyn Bell Park (named for the heroic Marilyn Bell), on Sept. 8 and 9. Marilyn Bell is by far a better venue than Ontario Place, where the previous 12 other GWN races have been. Here's my review on how the event faired, from a paddler's perspective:
1. Course. The water conditions were fantastic, with a full breaker lining about a 1,000 meters (or more?) of watercourse. They did a nice job of, wrangling in and calming a corner of Lake Ontario. In other waters, as we all know from practicing at Sunnyside beach, the waves can really rough up a boat, especially close to the ends of the much-shorter break walls. Then again, it ought to be a "perfect course"-- the Marilyn Bell was purposefully created to meet international standards in water racing, for the Toronto International Dragon Boat Club Crew Championships that were hosted here last year.
2. Sight lines. While a man-made breaker lines one side of the course, the land side is all perfectly manicured landscape with optimal viewing points along the entire course. With such perfect sight lines, a db fan could sit in one spot and watch the entire race from beginning to end. Or, as some are willing, to run alongside the boats, from start to finish. Some areas even protrude slightly from the wide boardwalk, getting the viewer an extra foot or two closer. As a viewer, I have been closer to the racing boats at other events, but with good eye sight and a sharp camera lens, much can be seen. A grandstand was also brought in for GWN.
3. Athlete's Village. The sprawling Athlete’s Village is on park grassland this year, which is hugely refreshing compared to the hard pavement near Ontario Place. The shape of the Village area is loose, with corporate tents lining the boardwalk (and getting the best view of the course) and the food and entertainment tents at one end. While the paid-for areas are fenced in and secured at night, the rest of the tents in the Athlete’s Village are pretty much in public park space—a big enough concern for us that we took our tent down over night, and simply marked our space with a tarp. The occasional tree and picnic table also broke up the landscape, but without real organization, the village experience came down to how well you picked your spot in the morning.
4. Organizers. The organization was near-perfect at this regatta. With a lot of online management tools available, waivers were done cleanly and quickly using email. Our race package was available immediately as soon as I got there and all of the instructions were given to me personally. Good volunteers and good signage made the event accessible.
5. Facilities (ie. Porta-potties). Toilets being what they are at these events, it is worthwhile to mention them, and at GWN, give credit where credit is due. Lots of portable toilets were available at this venue, with the biggest ones located closest to the main stage and beer tent. I never had to line up for more than a minute for a toilet, although the main toilets did run out of toilet paper near the end of the day on the second day. Not too concerned, the next batch of porta-lets was only 2 minutes away. The nicest touch was a group of toilets right beside the marshalling area, as people, as we all know, have the biggest urge to pee right before getting on the boat.
6. Food and entertainment. Because of my previous experiences, this part of the race weekend was mediocore at best. There was a fairly large, sophisticated beer tent (with wide screen plasma TVs for close up viewing of the races) and standard BBQ. There was also the standard fry truck and pizza place. Other than that, there was just a handful of vendors doing unoriginal things, and even fewer giving out free samples that we love so much. The crocs tent was the most elaborate sponsor tent, and its obvious from their presence that crocs have found a gold mine with this sporting niche.
7. Awards. The master of ceremonies was the voice of the races, which I should mention did a fabulous job of commentary the whole weekend. Although I ignored him for the most part, I would look to see what was happening each time I heard that rise of excitement in his voice. Anyway, Mr. Sports commentator was also the MC at the Awards ceremony, which was typically unfabulous and standard. At least it was proper staging though, and not just on a flatbed truck like in Oakville.
Awards went out to divisions A through K, with each division breaking out into “Championship” and “Consolation” categories. The top three winners in the Championship division won unlimited (and anonymous) medals for every team member in gold, silver and bronze, PLUS a Cup that declared the division name and win. Of course, ours says “I Championship Division First Place”. Only the gold winners in the Consolation Prize were given anything.
Summary
Cost: $1300 Number of races: 5 total = 2 races/first day + 2 races/second day + education cup (bonus race) on day one
Scores (out of 5):
Water: 4.5
Sight lines: 5
Athlete’s Village: 4
Organizers: 5
Facilities: 4
Food and entertainment: 3
Awards: 3
OVERALL SCORE: 28.5
All in all a good event to be at, but with a $1,300 price tag, also definitely one of the pricier ones.
1. Course. The water conditions were fantastic, with a full breaker lining about a 1,000 meters (or more?) of watercourse. They did a nice job of, wrangling in and calming a corner of Lake Ontario. In other waters, as we all know from practicing at Sunnyside beach, the waves can really rough up a boat, especially close to the ends of the much-shorter break walls. Then again, it ought to be a "perfect course"-- the Marilyn Bell was purposefully created to meet international standards in water racing, for the Toronto International Dragon Boat Club Crew Championships that were hosted here last year.
2. Sight lines. While a man-made breaker lines one side of the course, the land side is all perfectly manicured landscape with optimal viewing points along the entire course. With such perfect sight lines, a db fan could sit in one spot and watch the entire race from beginning to end. Or, as some are willing, to run alongside the boats, from start to finish. Some areas even protrude slightly from the wide boardwalk, getting the viewer an extra foot or two closer. As a viewer, I have been closer to the racing boats at other events, but with good eye sight and a sharp camera lens, much can be seen. A grandstand was also brought in for GWN.
3. Athlete's Village. The sprawling Athlete’s Village is on park grassland this year, which is hugely refreshing compared to the hard pavement near Ontario Place. The shape of the Village area is loose, with corporate tents lining the boardwalk (and getting the best view of the course) and the food and entertainment tents at one end. While the paid-for areas are fenced in and secured at night, the rest of the tents in the Athlete’s Village are pretty much in public park space—a big enough concern for us that we took our tent down over night, and simply marked our space with a tarp. The occasional tree and picnic table also broke up the landscape, but without real organization, the village experience came down to how well you picked your spot in the morning.
4. Organizers. The organization was near-perfect at this regatta. With a lot of online management tools available, waivers were done cleanly and quickly using email. Our race package was available immediately as soon as I got there and all of the instructions were given to me personally. Good volunteers and good signage made the event accessible.
5. Facilities (ie. Porta-potties). Toilets being what they are at these events, it is worthwhile to mention them, and at GWN, give credit where credit is due. Lots of portable toilets were available at this venue, with the biggest ones located closest to the main stage and beer tent. I never had to line up for more than a minute for a toilet, although the main toilets did run out of toilet paper near the end of the day on the second day. Not too concerned, the next batch of porta-lets was only 2 minutes away. The nicest touch was a group of toilets right beside the marshalling area, as people, as we all know, have the biggest urge to pee right before getting on the boat.
6. Food and entertainment. Because of my previous experiences, this part of the race weekend was mediocore at best. There was a fairly large, sophisticated beer tent (with wide screen plasma TVs for close up viewing of the races) and standard BBQ. There was also the standard fry truck and pizza place. Other than that, there was just a handful of vendors doing unoriginal things, and even fewer giving out free samples that we love so much. The crocs tent was the most elaborate sponsor tent, and its obvious from their presence that crocs have found a gold mine with this sporting niche.
7. Awards. The master of ceremonies was the voice of the races, which I should mention did a fabulous job of commentary the whole weekend. Although I ignored him for the most part, I would look to see what was happening each time I heard that rise of excitement in his voice. Anyway, Mr. Sports commentator was also the MC at the Awards ceremony, which was typically unfabulous and standard. At least it was proper staging though, and not just on a flatbed truck like in Oakville.
Awards went out to divisions A through K, with each division breaking out into “Championship” and “Consolation” categories. The top three winners in the Championship division won unlimited (and anonymous) medals for every team member in gold, silver and bronze, PLUS a Cup that declared the division name and win. Of course, ours says “I Championship Division First Place”. Only the gold winners in the Consolation Prize were given anything.
Summary
Cost: $1300 Number of races: 5 total = 2 races/first day + 2 races/second day + education cup (bonus race) on day one
Scores (out of 5):
Water: 4.5
Sight lines: 5
Athlete’s Village: 4
Organizers: 5
Facilities: 4
Food and entertainment: 3
Awards: 3
OVERALL SCORE: 28.5
All in all a good event to be at, but with a $1,300 price tag, also definitely one of the pricier ones.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Coach's Gift
Early on in the season, I budgeted $100 for a present to our dragon boat team coach. He’s a volunteer, after all, and well-deserving of some thing, even if it’s just a small gift. Of course I waived his paddling fees as well, so in some ways he was exchanging his time for the $150 membership. Even though he’s our coach, technically, he still paddled with us for all of our races, and was very much an equal and valued member.
Anyway, I wanted to get him something special with the $100 gift but it’s challenging because there are not a lot of gifts that are “dragon boat” –ish. Sure, there’re paddles, gloves, life jackets, and some higher-end, sweat-wicking, polyester super shirts. But none of them seem very present-worthy, and at the same time, Coach Kevin already owns a paddle, life jacket, and high end super shirts…
One original idea that we came up with though, was that in lieu of a regular “thank you card” we would get him a paddle, signed by all of us team members. And that’s exactly what we got! We fortunately found these old, warped paddles for sale at the most recent dragon boat regatta. They were only $5 apiece! The paddles were pretty wrecked… probably only salvageable for pool paddles (ie. the cut down version, with a slimmer head for paddling in still water, poolside.) Or, as my teammate and I figured, as a nifty card!
So we bought one ($5 INCLUDING tax) and brought it home. Now it just needs to be sanded down, and re-varnished to bring it back to some of it’s paddling glory. Oh, and I think we’ll put the logo on it too, and then have everyone sign around it. It’ll take some work, but I think it’ll be a great coach’s gift!
Anyway, I wanted to get him something special with the $100 gift but it’s challenging because there are not a lot of gifts that are “dragon boat” –ish. Sure, there’re paddles, gloves, life jackets, and some higher-end, sweat-wicking, polyester super shirts. But none of them seem very present-worthy, and at the same time, Coach Kevin already owns a paddle, life jacket, and high end super shirts…
One original idea that we came up with though, was that in lieu of a regular “thank you card” we would get him a paddle, signed by all of us team members. And that’s exactly what we got! We fortunately found these old, warped paddles for sale at the most recent dragon boat regatta. They were only $5 apiece! The paddles were pretty wrecked… probably only salvageable for pool paddles (ie. the cut down version, with a slimmer head for paddling in still water, poolside.) Or, as my teammate and I figured, as a nifty card!
So we bought one ($5 INCLUDING tax) and brought it home. Now it just needs to be sanded down, and re-varnished to bring it back to some of it’s paddling glory. Oh, and I think we’ll put the logo on it too, and then have everyone sign around it. It’ll take some work, but I think it’ll be a great coach’s gift!
Gold Medal Victory Recap
In our final race of the season, the hard-learned elements of two long months came in alignment. Off the gun, we surged as one, hitting together at a blistering rate of 60 strokes a minute. Twenty paddles flashed in the air, plunged deep, and ripped through the water as our boat sprinted towards the finish line. Neck-in-neck with top-seeded RBC Golden Lions, we muscled ahead in the final 50 meters, with one of our strongest finish series of the season. Our team crossed the line a full three seats ahead of the second place finishers, getting just under 2.5 minutes. A mighty victory for the Fighting Carps!
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