Gung Haggis paddlers place 1st and 3rd in B Final for Ft. Langley Cranberry Festival Canoe Regatta

Gung Haggis FUN Choy leads the pack with Adam Purvis steering and Nicole Purvis as lead stroke.  Gung Haggis & Friends follows in 2nd place with Dave Samis steering- photo Deb Martin

It was an exciting day… lots of smiles on faces… lots of learning experiences on both teams… lots of achievements too!

That
we could come together not only as two individual teams, but also as
one team on two boats…  There was no separation between paddlers as
evidenced by our “team picture.”

Thank you to Cheryl Ing,
Charlie Cho, and Alexei who paddled with Gung Haggis for the first time
– who answered the call this week to join us.

Thank you to Remus
Wong, Raphael Fang, Teresa Plesner for joining us again, also answering
the call to paddler with us this week.

Thank you to our Gung
Haggis core and family paddlers: Dave, Arthur, Georgia, Dan, Sarah.
Stuart, Adam, Nicole, Kristine, Keng, Cindy, Leanne… who have paddled
with Gung Haggis at race events from April and May, through to
September and October.

Everybody worked well together and
supported each other.  We didn't yell or criticize each other when
things went off-track.  We learned how challenging it is to steer
voyageur canoes, turn around pylons, and get knocked off course by
other boats.  We assessed the problems, worked on solutions, and
succeeded by coming 1st and 3rd in the B Final.

Gung Haggis Fat Choy paddlers raced two team: Gung Haggis FUN Choy and Gung Haggis & Friends…
front row crouching: Raphael, Kristine, Keng, Leanne, Sarah, Rebecca, Cheryl
Standing Adam (back) Deb, Dave, Arthur (back) Charlie, Nicole, Alexei, Georgia, Stuart (back), Remus, Cindy, Teresa, Dan, Todd + race organizer Cheryl Macintosh
missing (Sarah)

It WAS fun…
and I hope everybody can come back and do it with us again for next
year.  SMILES on faces, and the cameraderie at the pub was great, a
true testament to Gung Haggis spirit.  People like Manfred Preuss of
the Fraser Valley Dragon Boat Club, and Ian Paul of the Pirates, all said hello and congratulatd us… as well as paddlers from
other teams such as Saints Preserve us, as we said hello and congratulated them.

We all
paddled hard.  It was amazing to watch the power in the Gung Haggis
& Friends boat, as you came into each corner, bumping boats out of
your way…. correcting your course, then catching up to other teams.

Gung
Haggis Fun Choy was inspiring, taking good leads in our races…
especially the B Final… as well as showing what NOT to do in our
first race, by missing a pylon, and having to go back.  You really
showed what a boat of rookies (Cindy, Adam, Nicole, Leanne, Raphael)
can do.

We all were suprised by the jostling and colliding of
boats.  I overheard Cheryl telling a friend, “It's like a demolition
derby!”

But no boats tipped over.  Aside from an unmentioned
team, that cussed and jabbed some paddles at the GH&F team… I
think everybody handled themselves very well.  GH Fun Choy had good
spirits… raising and waving their paddles whenever we heard the
announcer call our name, calling out “Hello – How Are you… Nice to
meet you…” as we bumped into other teams… and cheering on the other
teams as they finished.

Steering techniques really play an
important role in this race, as well as steering strategies, being able
to recover from being bumped, and managing to avoid collisions with
other teams.  It was wonderful to watch team members, as they commented
on one 2nd heat race, where 4 boats all got jammed up on a corner,
stopping dead and getting pushed down stream as they had to paddle
upstream to get around a buoy marker for a turn.  CRAZY!!!

Check out pictures by Deb Martin, Dave Samis and Todd Wong
– loaded onto Todd's Flickr account.

Oct 6, Ft. Langley Cranberry Canoe…

Kilts Night Oct 4th…

It was a fun kilts night on Thursday, Oct 4th.  We go to Doolin's Irish Pub on the first Thursday of each month.  The free pint of Guinness is nice… but the music by the Halifax Wharf Rats is excellent!

Several people from our Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team were there: Hillary, Alf, Leanne and myself.  Kilts night organizers Bear and Raphael were also there.  Cecilia also joined us.  A small group we were.

Then five young women wearing mini-kilts showed up.  Wondering how they had heard about Kilts Night, I introduced myself and the Gung Haggis dragon boat team.  It was their first time at Kilts Night.  I ordered the free pints of Guinness for them… and for me and Leanne on our team.  One of the young women was hapa (half-asian) and I quickly introduced her to Leanne who is also hapa.  I talked about how our dragon boat team and Kilts Night often features Asians in kilts, and one of the women answered, “Why is that strange?  This is Vancouver!”

Soon after, somebody approached our table asking, “Are you dragon boaters?”

It was Ashleigh, who had e-mailed last month, asking if she could join the Gung Haggis dragon boat team.  She had brought her friend Kayla.  Introductions to the team were made, and also to our resident kilt maker Terry “Bear” Varga, who has made each of the team's 4 kilts + 1 mini-kilt.

Soon, everybody body was dancing to the Johnny Cash song “I Walk the Line.”  There was no way to keep Alf or Hillary from the dance floor during a Johnny Cash song.

More Canadiana songs soon followed with Barrett's Privateers, Alberta Bound and then some celtic tunes.  The Halifax Wharf Rats were in great form Thursday night.  New songs I hadn't heard before were the Doobie Brothers song “Listen to the Music” and then… something that has slipped my mind.

A group of 3 young women, not wearing kilts, were definitely intrigued by our kilted group.  They were students from Brazil, anxious to learn more about Canadian culture and Canadian music.  We obliged.

pictures to come soon….