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!

I originally wrote this for my dragonboat team, the Algonquin College Singapore Slings, and I thought it might be of interest to a wider audience.

If you’ve been dragonboating for a couple of years, you’ve probably heard your steersman or caller issue instructions such as “check the boat”, “all up”, “right side draw” or “let it run”. And you (hopefully) know what the person wants you to do. But, if you’re new to dragonboating, it might be Greek to you.

So, to help demystify things, here’s a list of the most common things your steersman is likely to say and what they want you to do.

In general, when you’re paddling, whether it’s paddling easy during a practice, drawing at the start line or during the race, all the paddlers should be hitting at the same time. If even one person is out a bit, the paddlers around them will tend to get off beat.

Happy paddling!

Once again this year, I am steering a dragon boat in the Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival for the Algonquin College Singapore Slings.  And like the other teams in the festival, we’re taking part in the pledge challenge raising money that will go to support the charities selected by the Ottawa Dragon Boat Foundation. These charities do very important work in the Ottawa area and are worth supporting.

If you’d like to help my team reach its pledge target and thus help the various charities selected by the ODBF, please consider clicking on the link at the top of the right column, and sponsoring me.  All donations of $20 or more automatically receive a tax receipt and you can request one for donations of less than $20.

Many thanks for reading this and thinking about it.  And a special thank you if you do sponsor me. 🙂

I’ve been steering a dragonboat on the Rideau River almost every week since the end of April.  We depart from the Rideau Canoe Club at Hog’s Back for an hour long practice, heading upstream.  Sometimes we make it as far as the railway bridge a couple of kilometres upstream, but usually we stay in Mooney’s Bay and just around the corner upstream.

More often than not over the last couple of months there have been people swimming in the middle of the river near the Mooney’s Bay Beach.  Having gone scuba diving there, I can understand why they might not want to swim in the swimming area, but they really shouldn’t be out in the middle of the river.  They are very hard to see and look very much like the marker buoys delineating the race course.  A couple of times I almost turned around them instead of a real marker.

But the real problem is that in addition to dragonboats, canoes and kayaks, there are often motor boats zipping along the river well in excess of the 10 km/h speed limit that exists on that part of the river.  Unless the boaters are paying attention, they might run the swimmers over and possibly not even realize it.

So, on the off-chance that one of these swimmers is reading this, please think twice the next time you venture outside the swimming area.  Or if you insist on swimming in the middle of the channel, could you drag a float with a marker flag on it behind you so you’re a little more visible.

The weather here at the ODBF isn’t as nice today as it was yesterday. It’s not actually raining at the moment, but it’s overcast and windy and every time the trees sway drops of water fall on us. The conditions on the course weren’t the greatest — choppy and windy — but we were third in our race this morning and just a few tenths of a second behind the boat just ahead of us.

Out final race of the day is a 200m sprint at 2pm. This is the first year they’ve held a 200m race. In years past, there were two 500m races, but the second race rarely had a significant impact on the overall standings, so they’re trying something new. Should be a lot of fun! 🙂