Next race for Gung Haggis team on Sunday
– 10:56am Race 69 – lane 2.

Please meet at the tent for 9:45am Race briefing… and strategy, and warm-up.
Come for coffee at 9:40 and get settled in.

Good races everybody – no major issues….
Team listens and responds well, on the water. 
Nobody getting lost… we found our steersperson and drummer for the weekend.

We
experienced the confusion of one of North America's biggest dragon boat
races.  8 boat heats… 180 teams… Mixed, Womens, Open + Junior
divisions.

We will have some more muscle in the boat tomorrow with Alice and Eric joining us.

The new site is kind of neat… very urban… very accessible… a little bit crowded on the pathways…

Unfortunately,
the beer garden is not on the
Science World patio… where we had a great view of the finish line +
guts and glory races.   If you can – do stay on Sunday to watch the Comp
race finals… + Guts & Glory race –  18 boats on a double oval
race course, passing each other, with some collisions.  We will do a
mini-version on Oct 8th at Ft. Langley with 8 boat heats… slower
speeds, and safer voyageur canoes.

See you all tomorrow morning.

Please meet at the tent for 9:45am – for race briefing, line up changes, warm up, race strategies.

Cheers, Todd

Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team is ready to race this weekend at Rio Tinto Alcan Dragon Boat Festival

Rio Tinto Alcan Dragon Boat Festival is the largest such festival in North America.  The Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team has been racing since 2002, so this is our 10th year.  The team actually started racing in 1997 under the name Celebration Team, but changed the name in 2002, after the Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner that I had started in 1999.

We had our final practice on Wednesday.  We had 18 people skipping game 4 of the Stanley Cup playoffs to fine tune our paddling techniques instead.  A number of paddlers were watching the game, or off sick.  We are looking forward to having 20 paddlers on the boat on Saturday and Sunday.

It's been an up and down year so far.  Practices have had inconsistent turnouts.  There have been more than the usual number of illnesses, and vacations.  In my role of coach, I have been away for a week vacation, and a week of workshops, which I have never done before.  But the foundation of the team is strong.  We have had veteran paddlers Steven Wong and Debbie Poon step up to coach the team in my absence.  Every year there are new paddlers and retired paddlers.  And every year there is a great enthusiasm and sense of team. 

Both our practices tonight Wednesday, and on Sunday were all about fine tuning our race strategies and performance.  The team paddled hard with close to full boats each day, and we could really feel a strong start, and the catch and glide that we are used to with a good performing team working together.

Last year three of our paddlers were on work or education visas from Scotland, England and Belgium.  This year we have three people from France on work visas, who have joined us.  We also have some good experienced paddlers who have joined us, who have previously paddled on other teams.  All share a good sense of fun and friendship, that our team is known for.  At the Lotus Sports Club regatta in May, two of the new paddlers tried on the kilts that are so associated with our team.  One of our new local Vancouver paddlers is a friend from our Kilts Night events – so there will be plenty of kilts to be seen this weekend.

Good luck to all our dragon boat friends at the Rio Tinto Alcan Dragon Boat Festival.  I look forward to seeing long time friends from Chilliwack, Portland, Seattle and Victoria – as well as friends on all the local Metro Vancouver teams.

The race grid will be released soon, so I will post our race times for
Saturday as soon as I can.  Race times for Sunday, will be posted
following our Saturday races, which will determine seeding for the
semi-final and final races on Sunday.

Check the Festival website for the race grid here:
http://dragonboatbc.ca/the-rio-tinto-alcan-dragon-boat-festival/

There is NO PRACTICE for GUNG HAGGIS dragon boat team on SUNDAY – May 29th

Unfortunately
– with the Dragon Zone Regatta on from 9am to 4pm – it is very chaotic,
and all the boats, paddles and PFD's will be in use.

But do come out and watch the False Creek Women's Regatta on Saturday

and
especially watch the Dragon Zone Regatta around noon Sunday – as the
Competitive and Rec A teams will be racing their finals.

Next Practice, Wednesday June 1st, 7pm. then 10 more days afterwards until Rio Tinto Alcan Dragon Boat Festival

Cheers, Todd

Gung Haggis dragon boat team on first practice of the 2011 season – lots of enthusiasm, returning and new paddlers. – photo T. Wong

Scottish Robbie Burns music and poetry
+ Chinese New Year food and culture

+ BC history with Scottish & Chinese pioneers

= Gung Haggis Fat Choy

2010
was a break through year for the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team. We
started paddling in January then took a break for the Olympics. We
celebrated with a big Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner at Floata where we
first met a Chinese lass born in Scotland, who came to join the dragon
boat team, starting the string of Irish, Yorkshire, French, Belgian and
Australian visitors to Canada who came to paddle and race with us.

2010 Highlights included:
– A Division at
Lotus Races with the Community Spirit Award,
– Rec B Finals at Rio Tinto
Alcan Festival
– Silver medal in Senior B Race at Rio Tinto Alcan Festival
– Silver medal and
2nd overall at Richmond
– Top prize in the steering challenge race for free entry at 2011 Richmond Festival
– Silver Medals in C Division in Banff where we partnered with Spirit of Vancouver 
– 2 teams in A Final at Ft. Langley Cranberry Festival Canoe Regatta


2011 is year 10, of the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team, paddling
every year @ Alcan Races and beyond since 2002.  It is also Year 15 for a
team that started in 1997 under the name Celebration Team and for which
the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner event was
created as a fundraiser for in 1998.  This is the only team that has
twice won the Hon. David Lam Award for the team that best exemplifies
the multicultural spirit of the dragon boat festival (2001 & 2005)

Gung Haggis Fat Choy paddlers bite their silver medals at Richmond Dragon Boat Festival – 2nd place overall, and 1st in the steering challenge race.

Praise
Easter Dragon Boat Practice… 

Easter weekend and many dragon boats are on False Creek.  We arrived early to the Creekside Community Centre to watch some paddlers on the water paddling race kayaks and outrigger canoes.  But soon, members of the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team showed up for the 11am practice

SURPRISE!
Paddlers discovered special Easter Eggs under their seats. We paddled
along the south shore, towards the seawall lookout, beside the
Pedestrian bridge. There were 4 gold foil wrapped Lindt chocolate
bunnies, hanging from strings of tape. We paddled underneath and
paddlers tried to grab the hanging bunnies!

But as the dragon boat passed under the seawalk outlook, and paddlers grabbed at the chocolate bunnies, it was noticed that one of the bunnies was not on the end of his tape!  Lead stroke Debbie, spotted a shiny gold bunny floating toward the centre of the creek.

“Let's go get the bunny!” somebody shouted.  And just like that, people started paddling!  The boat quickly approached the floating bunny, and Debbie was able to scoop it up.  But wait… there was still one little gold bunny flapping at the end of tape, under the outlook.

“Let's go back and grab the last bunny,” I shouted to the team.  Our steers person Guillaume, swung the boat around, and the team paddled again under the seawalk outlook.  They grabbed the tape, and the remaining bunny.  Mission accomplished.  Now on with the dragon boat practice, after our fun warm up.

We did our normal practice drills for reach and rotation.  We paddled left side and lead strokes, then right side and lead strokes, to help paddlers get focused on following the lead stroke on the opposite side from them.  We paddled with veterans only, so new paddlers could see good technique demonstrated, and keep our veteran paddlers setting good role modeling.

Paddlers on our first practice on March 27th.  A mix of veterans and new paddlers are forming the core for the 2011 season – photo T. Wong

Over at the bay beside David Lam Park, we practiced starts.  We went back and forth, starting with 3 strokes only, then building up to a 6-12 start. 6 slow strokes to get the boat moving, followed by 6 medium strokes, and finally 6 fast strokes to bring the boat up to plane. 

Good job everybody.  Then we paddled over to Alder Bay, behind Granville Island.  We docked the boat and took a walk over to a restaurant for hot chocolates and coffees, and to stretch our legs.  It was a special treat on a holiday weekend, that we try to make practice a little more fun for paddlers.

Thank you Debbie and Karl for hiding the
chocolate eggs on the dragon boat, and hanging the chocolate bunnies
over the water. 

Everybody had fun paddling to grab the hanging bunnies and to the floating gold bunny.  They did not
worrying techniques such as timing, or rotation, or reaching out.  Maybe on
Wednesday… I think we should put the team into two or three 10 person
boats… throw some gold bunnies into the water… and let the teams
go after them!

It's an Easter Egg hung for the Gung Haggis dragon boat team Easter Sunday practice!

Gung Haggis dragon boat team in September 2009 – Since then 4 babies have been born to our paddlers – photo T. Wong

We will
have a paddle practice this Sunday for the Gung Haggis dragon boat team practice, and combine it with an Easter Egg Hunt.

Sunday
11am – meet at
Creekside Community Centre (water side)
quick cardio and stretching for warm-up for 10 minutes.
on water soon after…
return by 12:25pm

being a holiday weekend, we know that some people will not be able to attend…
but some people really want to paddle.

Destination:
Granville Island – We will paddle to Alder Bay, and stretch our legs.

Coaching emphasis:  We've learned timing, we've learned race starts,
now… it is time to get more from your paddle. 
How to be an effective paddler with paddle position.

We have had 13 Veteran paddlers + 3 2nd year paddlers who were new last year + 2 paddlers who did Junior dragon boats before.  New to dragon boating this year have been 15 people, 5 of whom are from France. 

Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team practice this Sunday
April 18, 11am

followed by Wednesday April 21, 6pm
Creekside Community Centre (Dragon Zone)

Gung Haggis dragon boat team at Rio Tinto Alcan Dragon Boat Festival in June – photo T.Wong collection

Some people are participating in the Sun Run and won't be joining us.  
So it is the perfect time to bring new friends, and I will do some one-to-one coaching with new and experienced paddlers.

May 7th is our first race…
We need to have a roster signed up quickly.

June 11-12 is the Rio Tinto Alcan Dragon Boat Festival.
We need to set the roster for this race too.

$110 for joining the club  – this includes boat rental, equipment and coaching 2X week
Each race event is separate… usually $15 to $30 depending on number of races and size of event.
Student discount available.

Cheers, Todd Wong
email gunghaggis at yahoo dot ca