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Our third race at the Fall 400 was the best race of the day for the Algonquin College Singapore Slings. Like our first race, we were piped in to the staging area by a world-class bagpiper who is the boyfriend of one our team members. Needless to say, this attracted a lot of attention (and looks of envy) from the other teams!

Racing in lane #4 again, we made our way to the top of the race course and lined up with the other teams. As an incentive to the team, I issued a challenge: If they better our best time of the day, I’d buy a round of beer for the team at the restaurant later.

I think that worked because we shaved 3 seconds off our time and finished in 01:52.43, a few tenths of a second behind the ORCC Dunrobin Dames, a very competitive team.

To say we were happy with the results is a bit of an understatement. We were ecstatic!What a high note to end the season on!

After watching the races for the  Community Challenge and top six teams we met up at Morphy’s Landing to celebrate a great day of racing. I was in the process of ordering pitchers of beer for the team when one of the team captains announced that she was letting me off the hook and that I didn’t have to buy the team beer. As an unexpected bonus, however, a local who was in the restaurant and talked to some people on the team arranged for three pitchers of beer to be sent to us after she left.  A tip o’ the hat to the mysterious Lady In Purple from the team!

So, from the weather to the organization to the races themselves, the Fall 400 was a great dragonboat festival! Congratulations to the organizers for putting on a great event!

Our second race here at the Fall 400 saw the Algonquin College Singapore Slings finish first in our race with a time of 01:55.58. We were in lane #4 and had a bit more of a headwind.

Our next race is in an hour or so.

Well, the weather gods are smiling on us at the Fall 400 in Carleton Place today. The sun is out and there isn’t a lot of wind to contend with.

Our first race felt really good and we pulled ahead at the end to beat the next fastest team in our heat by 0.6 seconds, finishing with 01:55.06.

Our next race is in a couple of hours.

At the risk of taunting the weather gods, it looks like the weather for the Fall 400 dragonboat festival in Carleton Place this weekend is going to be perfect. The text version of the forecast suggests there will be “a mix of sun and clouds” with a high of 25°C. No threat of rain there.

(Of course, now that I have posted this, the weather will probably consist of rain, wind and waterspouts that will suck the frogs up from the river and cause them to rain down on us, too. Weather gods are fickle.)

Anyways, the Fall 400 is the last race of the year my team, the Algonquin College Singapore Slings, takes part in. It’s held on the Mississippi River in Carleton Place at the Carleton Place Canoe Club every fall. Because the river is very narrow and there’s a bit of a bend, there are only four lanes and the races are 400m, as opposed to the usual 500m. Though the lanes are straight, the bend in the river can make it look like the lanes are actually curved, which can be a bit disconcerting when you’re on the start line.

Another thing I really like about the Fall 400 is the fact that you can stand on the shore anywhere along the entire length of the race course, mere metres from the boats as they race downstream. There’s nothing like racing down a course with people cheering just a few metres away!

So, here’s hoping that the weather gods play nice this weekend and everyone has good races at the Fall 400.

The Second Annual Rideau Canoe Club Dragon Boat Festival took place at the Rideau Canoe Club yesterday. Twenty-five to thirty teams came out for a full day of racing on the Rideau River just above the entrance to the canal locks at Hogs Back.

If you were in Ottawa, then you know that it rained. All day. And it was windy. All day. At least it wasn’t really cold, though it wasn’t super warm either. Still, people seemed to be having a good time, even when they were huddled in their tents.

Many of the teams that participated were what I’d consider the “hard core” teams of dragon boat racing in Ottawa who practice  once or twice a week from the moment the river thaws in the spring and go to all the local races (ODBF, RCCDBF and the Fall 400 in Carleton Place).

My team, the Algonquin College Singapore Slings, had a great day of races (except for the 500m race where we were stuck in the wake of Gung Ho, who leapt off the start line and finished the race a good 10 seconds ahead of the next fastest boat (which wasn’t us)). Our 200m races were particularly satisfying and our last 500m race felt really good, top. We had the option of doing a 1000m race, which I would have liked to do, but given that even the Goretex-clad people were soaked, we decided to opt out. I don’t think there were many teams who took part in the 1000m.

All in all, we finished third in the Mixed Final C block of teams, which we’re very happy about. I think we get a trophy for this accomplishment, which we’ll probably receive at our practice on Tuesday.

We had a new caller for the RCCDBF: Mary Anne. Normally, she paddles for the Slings, but she volunteered to call for us when we learned our summer caller wouldn’t be able to make the race. Her first time calling was at last week’s practice and I’m happy to report that she rose to the challenge and did a great job calling under less than ideal conditions. The caller’s job is probably the hardest in the boat. I’ve been steering dragon boats for several years, something many people consider difficult, and I wouldn’t want the responsibility of being the caller.

Congratulations to the organizers at the Rideau Canoe Club for another great festival and thanks to all the volunteers on the docks and in the marshal boats on the race course!

A year ago, I wrote about people swimming in the middle of Mooney’s Bay, seemingly oblivious to the boat traffic on the river.

Well, they’re back.

While dodging kayaks, small motor boats and other dragonboats at Tuesday evening’s dragonboat practice, I also had to contend with two swimmers in the middle of the river. Passing within 10 feet of them, we headed upstream to the top of the bay. As I looked back, I watched as they slowly swam into the middle of a dozen kayaks heading downstream. Shaking my head in disbelief, I continued steering the boat upstream.

A little while later while we were lining up at the 800m mark to practice our race plan, I saw the two swimmers about to head back across the lane that we were going to be racing down in a minute or two. Fortunately, they cleared the lane before it became an issue.

I’d like to think that these swimmers would figure out for themselves that swimming in the middle of a busy river is really not the best idea, but I doubt that’ll happen. If they’re out next week, I might try to tell them how much they look like the marker buoys and the risks they’re taking.

In just a few hours, the Ottawa Dragonboat Race Festival kicks off with the Team Captain’s meeting followed by Shanneyganock on stage.

My team, the Algonquin College Singapore Slings, enters the staging area at 10:10 Saturday morning for our race at 10:40. We’ll have a second race sometime in the afternoon. It’s also possible that we’ll be taking part in a third race tomorrow afternoon if we manage to stay in the top 8 teams who raised money for the Ottawa Dragonboat Foundation. Currently (14:20 on Friday), we’re in 8th place and we’re hoping that we stay there once all the offline donations are registered later this evening.

Speaking of donations, I’d like to thank everyone who has sponsored me. You’ve helped raise a lot of money that’s going to be handed out by the Ottawa Dragonboat Foundation to a number of very worthwhile local charities.

To everyone else: It’s not too late to sponsor me. You can follow this link or click the button at the top of the column to the right and sponsor me online.  Many thanks for even considering this.

See you on the water!