Join a dragon boat team that specializes in multicultural and community activities:
Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team

Emilie grabs the flag at the 2007 Vancouver Taiwanese Dragon Boat Race. – photo VFK

Hope you can join us for a wonderful
season of dragon boat paddling.  2007 was an AWESOME year for the
Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team.  Our vision is to expand to 2 teams for twice as much fun for 2008.  We welcome our new and old paddler friends from CC Dragons to add lots of experience and fun to our team.

Our highlights from 2007 included winning a gold medal in B division at
the 3rd annual Greater Vernon Dragon Boat Festival, held on Kalamalka
Lake.  This is one of our favorite races, and we plan to be returning
to “lake of many colours.”

Other 2007 highlights include:


In 2007, we raced 7 dragon boat races + 2 voyageur canoe races.  We were filmed for German Public Television ZDF for the program “Toronto to Vancouver by Train” http://wstreaming.zdf.de/zdf/veryhigh/071219_toronto_vancouver.asx

a) We became the poster faces for Kilts Night at Doolin's Irish Pub, every 1st Thursday each month.
b) We raced at the Lotus Sports Club dragon boat regatta at Burnaby's Barnet Marine Park
c) UBC Day of the Long Boat – 8 voyageur canoes bumping into each other
d) Two Gung Haggis teams at the Ft. Langley Cranberry Festival Canoe regatta – our beginner/fun team beat our advanced paddlers!

Some of our activities so far for 2008! 

On February 25 2008, we were featured on Global News as part of a news series highlighting what makes BC world class.  We represented cultural diversity!
http://www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com/blog/_archives/2008/2/28/3551687.html
You can see the Global News feature on the web
http://www.canada.com/globaltv/bc/video/index.html


One March 16th, we put some Chinese dragons and lions into the Celtic Fest's St. Patrick's Day Parade.  In the first three years of the St. Patrick's Day parade, we have put a Taiwanese dragon boat into the parade, but we had some technical challenges getting a dragon boat for the 2008 parade so Stuart Mackinnon and I paddled the car.




Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team practices 


Sundays 1:30 pm – 3pm  (Recreation & Beginner team)
Tuesdays at 6:00 sharp to 7:45 pm (Beginner + technique practice)
Wednesday at 6:00pm to 7:45pm (Recreation + advanced practice)


All practices are from Dragon Zone, at Creekside Park
Southeast corner of False Creek
look for Green trailer building
South of Science World – just above aqua bus ferries.

Parking – park on the street. Try Quebec or 2nd Ave.
pay parking available at Science World – no parking on city lot anymore.

Price for Spring paddling is $180 each, and will cover boat rental, coaching, and registration in Alcan Dragon Boat Festival races June 21 & 22.  Other races cost additional.

Price for Summer paddling is aproximately $120 each, and
will cover boat rental, coaching, plus registration for one summer
race.  Additional summer races are aproximately $30 each.


Other possible races are:
May 20       Lotus Sports Club “Bill Alley Memorial Dragon Boat Regatta” (Burnaby)
July 15th    Kent-Seattle
Dragon Boat Races (Lake Meridien, Kent WA),
July 22/23 GreaterVernon Dragon Boat Festival (Kalamalka Lake, Vernon BC)
July 22       Fraser Valley Dragon Boat Festival (Harrison Lake, BC)
Sept 2/3    Vancouver
International Taiwanese Dragon Boat Race (Vancouver)

other races may be considered, depending on interest

Will we have 1 or 2 teams?
One
team is now confirmed for the Alcan Dragon Boat Festival – but if
enough new people come on board, we can expand to two teams –
Recreation and Beginner.

We
have a lot of people returning + paddler friends from CC Dragons, and we have lots of
interest from wanna-be paddlers.

Please
invite friends to come out to try dragon boating over the next two
weeks, before the boat starts going TOO FAST!

contact me by e-mail:    gunghaggis at yahoo dot ca
home phone: 604-987-7124

Cheers, Todd Wong

 www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com/blog/GungHaggisdragonboatteaminformation


Pictures from 2005
1) Drummer Todd with Flag Grabber Ed on The Eh? Team at Taiwanese Dragon Boat Race, featured in a 2007 scholastic textbook – “Literacy in Action”
2) Todd with Dave Samis, at Sea Vancouver Festival for dragon head carving tent

Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team grabs flag at Taiwanese Dragon Boat Races

Emilie Bourque-Quevillon grabs the flag for the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team an instant before the Splash Test Dragons grab their flag.  It was a tight race for 4th place.  Drumming for Gung Haggis is coach Todd Wong, right side paddlers are (r-l) Wendy Lee, Hillary Wong, Julie Wong, Stephen Wong.  left side paddlers (hidden r-l) are Marlene Chamberlain, Tzhe Lam and Georgia Thorburn.

Great team work on the weekend at the Vancouver International Taiwanese Dragon Boat Races.

It was good to see so many people working together, making new friends, renewing old friendships, and meeting new challenges.

BIG
Thank yous to Captains Marlene and Julie for helping lead us into the
races… and providing and making our new team hats (that were under
constant threat of being stolen, as a pirate bounty had been put on
them).

Thank you Deb and Dave Samis for steering races for us on Sat and Sun (steering is notoriously difficult in Taiwanese boats).

OUR RACES

We
competed well.  It was a tough race field, with many comp and upper Rec
teams.  As a lower end Rec team, we matched very well against other
teams in the Nogard race, and I don't think we ever crossed a finish
line last including the Nogard.  And our barrel race was one of our
best ever!

We had good starts and grabbed our flag in our ONE
Taiwanese 500m race and although we demonstrated how challenging
steering backwards and forwards could be… there were other teams in
subsequent races, who NEVER grabbed their flag.

OUR ROSTER

A
special achievement is that our team did NOT borrow or supplement our
roster with paddlers from other teams.  Every one of our racers on the
weekend was a bonafide Gung Haggis paddler in good standing.  No drop
ins or substitutions.  This shows the levels of depth and loyalty that
our team has.  Hopefully next year, we can run two teams in the
Taiwanese Dragon Boat races.

TEAM SPORTING
ATTITUDE + TEAM BUILDING

Other
teams and DBA staff were friendly to us.  DBA dock workers Wally and Francis helped us
load/unload our disabled drummer on the dock.  And the race commentary
of Kim Tomkins gave good mention of our team.

On Sunday night,
many of us met at Doolin's Irish Pub for our FREE drink + 25% off
food.  We were served by Rachelle, and also joined by dragon boat
friends from Fluid Motion and Calgary's Draco Stealth.

more photos at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24064901@N00/sets/72157601815097689/

NEXT PRACTICE

No practice this Tuesday… stay at home and rest…  I need to rest my back. 

But if you are going to Penticton to race with GVRD – there is a practice with them on Tuesday Night and Thursday night.

Tzhe is organizing a social and cultural outing to the Vancouver Art Gallery to go see Monet to Dali
http://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/the_exhibitions/exhibit_monet.html
It
sounds great!!!  And if you ever come to race in San Francisco with
me… I will show you the Rodin sculture “The Thinker” and Monet
“Waterlilies” at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor.

Next Sunday's practice on Sep 9th is canceled because of “Paddle for Kids” – volunteers are welcome for this event.

Next official Gung Haggis practice is Tuesday Sept 11th. 6pm.

GUNG HAGGIS FAT CHOY DRAGON BOAT TEAM WRAP UP PARTY

Coming soon for September???  watch for details!!!
Awards for paddler achievements ?!?!?

volunteer organizers needed!!!

This
is the event where we created home-made haggis won-tons last year at
Dan's apartment.  We will also teach people the words to Robbie Burns
immortal poem “Address to a Haggis.”

And begin planning for
the 2008 Gung Haggis Fat Choy: Toddish McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese
New Year Dinner, set for January 27th, 2008, Sunday.

NEXT RACE EVENTS

Sep 30 – UBC REC – Day of the Longboat
            
This is a fun but brutally competitive race that can be like contact
bumper boats. 2 km races from Jericho beach around a pylon, East to
grab a pylon from the beach, out to English Bay, around a pylon, then
west, turn left at the last pylon and race to the sand, send your
runner to bang the gong.

Oct 7 – Ft. Langley Cranberry Festival Canoe Regatta
          
This is a much friendlier version of the above race.  Only about 16 to
20 teams.  An oval to race around 2x that adds to about 1.75 km.  Plus
an obstacle race that includes chasing and grabbing a pumpkin, turning
around pylons, dropping a paddler off to balance cranberry wine on a
paddle without spilling as they walk along the beach, picking up the
paddler, more turns around pylons, then a sprint to a finish!

Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team and supporters:
standing:
Bill Martin (back view) Hillary Wong, Pat martin (peeking), Wendy Lee, Craig Brown, Tzhe Lam, Jim Blatherwick, Todd Wong, Emma Hopkins, Stephen Mirowski, Jonas Ng, Steven Wong, Sandra, Jane Johnson, Dan Seto, Joanne Black, Gerry Black, Richard Montagna
sitting:
Ashleigh Dalton, Deb Martin (steers), Sarah Wong (Remus' daughter), Rebecca Wong (Remus' daughter), Hyuma, Dave Samis, Remus Wong, Leanne Riding, Cheryl McIntosh, Holly Parsons

Gold medals for Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team in Vernon!

Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team won Rec B in Vernon Dragon Boat Races today.

On Saturday – we races two 200m sprints + one 500 m race + a demonstration 1000m race – where we got knocked around by a rogue wave, which resulted in a collision.  Another boat hit our drum broadside.  Nobody was hurt.

We had a wonderfu team BBQ + swimming + canoes at Martin's Nest on Kalamalka Lake.

Sunday, we raced hard in the Rec B semi-finals with a time of 2:26. – securing a place in the final.  Sunday afternoon we placed our best time of 2:23 – good enough for 1st place gold medal

Dragon Boat on Kalamalka Lake at Vernon Dragon Boat Race – photo Stephen Mirowski

Gung Haggis paddlers cool off in Kalamalka Lake (l-r) Leanne, Jonas,
Wendy, Ashleigh, Tzhe, Hillary, Todd and Jim – photo Stephen Mirowski

Jonas Ng and Wendy Lee – 2nd year Gung Haggis paddlers – photo Stephen Mirowski

Stephen Mirowski – our captain and drummer – photo Dave Samis courtesy of S. Mirowski

Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team in Vernon July 29th, 2007 – photo Raymond Kwong

pictures & more details to follow.

Gung Haggis dragon boat team races Harrison…. cancels Sunday practice

Hi everybody….

Gung Haggis paddlers agreed to cancel Sunday's practice for July 22nd.

If
people would still like to do something… such as paddle canoes… or
watch a movie, or rollerblade or go for lunch…. – I will be there. 
1pm Sunday as normal.

We raced today July 21st at the Fraser Valley Dragon Boat Races, at beautiful Harrison Lake, set beside the town of Harrison Hot Springs.  Everybody had lots of fun.  Good cameraderie all around.  Lots of compliments from team paddlers, and other teams.

We are very tired from a very long day at Harrison.
We raced 4 hard paddled races.
We were up early by 4am to arrive by 7am
There were long delays and the races weren't finished by 7:30 when we had left.

We made it to Rec B division Mixed

There was Comp, Rec A, Rec B, Rec C

We had some great races.
first race – came 1st against lower Rec teams
2nd race – came 4th against higher Rec + Comp teams
3rd
race – very solid race in Rec B semi ( we were 4th in our race) tough
competition – good compliments from people watching the race.
4th race – very tired race in Rec B consolation – we came 3rd…. and have the ribbons to prove it!

Must go to bed now…
See you tomorrow…
We will prepare roster for Vernon July
28/29
and car pools for Vernon etc.

Collisions happen in dragon boats. 

Collisions happen in dragon boats.  Protect your self, and your hands. 
In 2003, Gung Haggis raced in Portland.  A team from LA, had an
inexperienced steersperson that couldn't handle the power of competitve
level paddlers, and she lost control of steering, and turned sharply in
front of us.  We called “Hold the boat” and they called “let it run” –
but we still hit them with a “bump”

This picture is Gung Haggis Fat Choy hitting LARD at the 2003 Portland 6-16 races – photo by Ray Shum and posted on www.dragonboatwest.net

Often
I will coach teams to keep paddling – even if boats come so close that
paddles are hitting each other.  Sometimes we practice these situations
with other teams.  If the paddlers on the “near-collision” side all
stop paddling and all the paddlers on the “clear” side keep paddling –
then the boat will be over-powered to turn towards the “impending
collision”. 

In 1999, Unipharm went head to head, side by side
with another team in the Novice B finals at Alcan.  Paddles collided at
the beginning and the start… but the boats never did.  The race
referees in the chase boat watched them carefully, and told them after
the race not to  protest, because no collisions occured and the teams
finished 1st and 2nd.  It was an exciting race.  Having another team
beside you can push you to give more, or make you over excited and
forget your technique.

Above all… watch out for your safety. 
One dragon boat race isn't worth a broken hand or finger. It's been 2
months since my right baby finger was hurt (smashed on the boat gunnel
and requiring 5 stitches), and the pain can still be sharp at times. 
Definitely cramped my musical performing life.

Gung Haggis had what looks like near collisions at the 2007 Alcan Dragon Boat Festival… but it was only steering challenges.  The water had some strange currents and it was difficult for everybody to control their boats on Saturday afternoon.  We chased the CC Dragons, nipping at their tail… then we were asked to let it run… we did a running start, and still finished in third place.  One of our paddlers Sarah posted this video of our Saturday afternoon race:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZaJL84YWhg

Check out this Youtube video:
Here's what happens in a collision between two dragon boats…  and nobody holds their boat to stop the impending collision.  Gee… it's a mens' boat loaded with testosterone…
And
the side that gets hit sits up straight – or leans into the middle to
yell at the other boat or to avoid the crash… and the non-collision
side keeps paddling and leaning out…

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZDXWcH3rd9E

This video from the 2007 CDBA Sprint Dragon Boat Regatta Men's Final – that were held last weekend.  CDBA organizes the San Francisco Dragon Boat Races
held at the end of September.  I have raced there in 1999 and 2001.  Our Gung Hagg paddlers
Dan Seto, Pam Huey and Kristine Shum raced there in 2005.  And we all
have medals from those races!

Gung Haggis dragon boat team getting ready for Fraser Valley races at Harrison Lake

Harrison Lake is a beautiful mountain lake with a hot spring rumoured to be somewhere in the middle of the lake.  There is a hot spring pool for the public, and a more luxurious one for hotel resort guests.  There is a lovely sandy beach, with a lagoon.  It's a great place to visit.

In 2005, we were the team with the fastest posted times going into the Recreation Finals at the at inaugural Fraser Valley Dragon Boat Races.  We were pumped.  We felt we had a date with destiny.  We were anticipating medals.  Only 4 boats in the finals.  75% chance of winning a medal.  And we had the fastest posted times.  But it didn't happen.  We fell behind at the midpoint, and chased the other boats in to collect a 4th place ribbon.

Last year, we passed on the FVDBR in favor of the Greater Vernon Dragon Boat Races at Kalamalka Lake. But this year we are returning to Harrison Lake  on July 21st., and will head to Vernon for July 28th and 29th.

We had our final two practices before the race on Sunday July 15th and Tuesday July 17th.  Both practices felt good.  24 paddlers on the boat Sunday – but not everybody is going to races in Harrison or Vernon.  Some will just join us for Vancouver Taiwanese races on Sept 1 & 2.

Each month we are rotating captains for our team.  Stephen Mirowski will captain our team for the two races in July.  He joined the team early last year, and also quickly began learning to steer.  Due to an injury that prevented him from paddling at the Alcan Dragon Boat Festival, Stephen steered for the team.  This time he is our drummer. It's good to learn all the different roles on a dragon boat team, as I help mentor him into a coaching role for our team. 

We are also integrating some new paddlers onto the team.  Gerry and Joanne have 10 years of experience and paddled on seniors teams.  I have known them for many years, and am happy to have them join Gung Haggis.  Andrew and Emma are brand new paddlers and have been making steady improvements with the 2 or 3 practices they have had so far.  I always ask new paddlers to simply focus on the timing, and to keep the paddle stroke short.  After they get the timing down, the next step is to work on their reach and rotation.  Get the paddle in early, then deep, and the power comes naturally.

For Sunday practices we warmed up and moved into working on our starts.  Stephen next had us working on endurance pieces… During the middle of the practice, I moved from paddling lead stroke to a coaching role and helping people improve their paddling technique.  After we finished a final 500m race piece, people felt good.  The boat was moving well, people paddled in time.

As we paddled towards the dock, I asked Stephen to ask each team member to call out their favorite ice cream flavor.  “Chocolate!” I yelled… other flavours soon followed.  Vanilla, Strawberry, Mango, sorbetto, were called out.  “Tequila!” yelled Wendy, followed by quizzical comments and laughs. 

“Hold the boat!” Stephen yelled.  I told the team, that I wanted one more practice start. We were now relaxed and happy.  Thinking about ice cream does that to a person.  I told the the team, I wanted an explosive start, with a big yell, deep paddles, and the best start of our day.  The team readied itself, and on Stephen's call the boat jumped forward, leaping with each stroke, lifting with our faster “Up” strokes.

“Hold the boat!” Stephen called… before we raced past the barge at the entrance to the South East harbour area.  We all patted each other for a job well done.  It was a really good start.  We were tired, but we pulled it off.

On Tuesday, we had another good practice.  Stephen was sick, so steersperson Deb Martin came up to drum to start off our practice (Deb drummed for us at Alcan, and for the two previous years and wants to steer this year).  Steven Wong steered and I did lead stroke as we worked on starts and a practice race.  I moved to the back and coached paddlers there to help build more cohesion, as our timing was off.  We did some group drills with paddlers working in groups of 4 or 6 at at time, to build timing cohesion and for resistance training.  It all came together for a final race piece.  It felt good. 

After practice we went for dinner at Congee House Restaurant where our team prides itself on fitting as many people around a single table as possible.  Tuesday the count was 15.  We ordered about 10 different dishes including sweet & sour pork, buddha's feast, salt and chili dry ribs, chicken chow mein, and cantonese steak.  Our bill came to less than $10 per person with tip.  Our team likes to eat.  Hopefully we won't be too fat to paddle dragon boat races for two weekends in a row.

Here's directions to get to Harrison Lake
http://www.fraservalleydragonboatclub.com/location.html