Paddling on False Creek in the sunshine... with friends... on a dragon boat team.  Very Vancouver!


I love the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragonboat team.  I have managed and coached it since 2002, when the team morphed from the former Celebration team, which I had created in 1997.

This past Sunday, we did some full 500m race pieces.  You could feel the power in the boat.  Some of the rookies still need to develop their timing and many paddlers still need to develop their cardio.  But the potential is there and we are very happy with our development this year.

Our core paddlers are so enthusiastic they wanted to start paddling in February.  I told them they were crazy and should go skiing instead... but happily relented and joined them, when a Global television crew wanted to film us for their "Best of BC" news series representing cultural diversity.

The Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team is about opportunities. 
It's about community building.  It's about making cultural statements.  It's about having fun and making friends.
And it's about dragon boat racing....

This year I wanted to create two dragon boat teams.  We now have about 35 active paddlers, coming to practices on Sunday afternoon at 1:30pm and Tuesday and Wednesday evenings at 6pm.  Our system is flexible.  Come at least once a week, twice is recommended.  Pick a day, paddle, bring a friend and have some fun.  Each practice is different with different combinations of paddlers.  Everybody is getting to know each other, and we are encouraging more responsibilities and team leaders.

Last year we raced 7 dragon boat races + 2 canoe regattas.  We will do similar this year, starting on May 17th at the Lotus Sports Club Bill Alley dragonboat regatta.

This year is special.
Two weeks ago we had two time Olympic kayak racer Kamini Jain come out and give us a paddle clinic.  It really helped the team both improve their paddling, and as a bonding experience.  They got to watch each other on the video, cheer for each other, and encourage each other... which is what we do on the boat all the time.  Amazingly, Kamini really complimented many of our rookie paddlers.  She was amazed that some of them had only been on a boat for 6 or 7 times.

This year's Gung Haggis team is going to be incredible.
Adding the CC Dragons paddlers gives us so much more experience in the boat.
I have been drumming during our race pieces "as coach" waiting for our "star drummer" to come out.

Imagine conducting a symphony... where everybody knows what to do, when to do it.  All you have to do is wave your arms, and signal the transitions.

You don't do any counting... the team does it.... mentally... or only for key words.

You stand at the front, watch them, guide them, encourage them, coach them.  giving out cue words.... like a race jockey on a thoroughbred horse.

Olympic paddler Kamini Jain gives paddle clinic to Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team

Kamini Jain came out to give a paddle clinic. She is coach of the False Creek Mixed and FC Mens teams - that brought home medals from the World Championships last September in Sydney Australia.  Kamini is also a two-time Olympic paddler at the Sydney and Athens summer Olympic games.  And she is v-e-r-y "Gung Haggis" with both South Asian and Italian ancestry.

Kamini watched the team paddle out for their warm up from the coach boat, while Todd got used to steering the boat with a little out board and very sensitive throttle grip.

Then Kamini climbed into boat and gave a drill:
stretching forward with your hand along the gunnel of the boat until your arm was parallel with the water.  That's how far your reach should be she said.
A 2nd drill:  paddling only with the bottom hand... and reaching as far as the first drill

• She went down the boat making adjustments for each paddler. 
  
• She gave demonstrations for the reach and how to grip the paddle (no champagne glass two finger grips)

Kamini makes Stephen M utilize all his potential r-e-a-c-h!

Kamini did some paddle correction with each paddler
most notable:

1. more stretch
2. more forward lean
3. working the hinge at the waist
4. bottom hand placement

Good s-t-r-e-t-c-h Jane!

some of the corrections she made on the video were:

1. more reach
2. bottom arm extended straight out (more reach)
   
3. top hand staying high (not dropping out of the boat)
4. exit - not flaring out
5. recovery - not pulling the paddle into your body
6. move head forward when you pull
7. don't lean too far out
8. get paddle deep in the water for the catch
9. don't exit too late
   
10. don't sit back too far at the end of your stroke
11. use hips more
    

There were lots of compliments:

1. good reach
2. good top hands
3. good blending
4. good rotation
5. good hips
6. deep paddles
7. rookies are looking real good
   

Attending the practice today were, in order of appearance on the video:

LEFT SIDE of the Boat

1) Gayle
2) Hillary
3) Keng
4) Alyssa
5) Joy
6) Ernest
7) Steve Behn
8) Joe
9) Raphael
10) Don
11) Christina

RIGHT Side of the boat

1) Tzhe
2) Jane
3) Cindy
4) Colleen
5) Leanne
6) Stephen Mirowski
7) Steven ("Yoga") Wong
8) Devin
9) Sean John
10) Paulette
11) Pam

+
Michael
Gerard
Marion

Following both Tuesday and Wednesday practices.  We will take the dvd to "The Clubhouse" japanese restaurant - where we can watch the dvd, on a large screen, while we enjoy cabohydrate replenishment.

Tuesday roster will be limited to 22 paddlers, as last week we had the max, and not enough on Wednesday to go out. Very sad and unfair to the paddlers who came out on Wed.

please hit reply to myself and Stephen Mirowski, so we can have a roster count confirmed for each day. 

If you can only attend on Tuesday (some paddlers have classes on Wed) they will be priority for Tuesday.  If you can attend either - please come on Wednesday.

If there are 14 or 16 paddlers on each evening, it makes it easier for me to do more one-to-one work with individual paddlers.  If there is a full boat, I am less likely to do individual paddler corrections. hint... more personal coaching on Wednesday!!!

see all the pictures:

Gung Haggis dragon boat paddle clinic...

Cheers, Todd

BUT.... Last Sunday was soooo much fun with two boats out, doing sprint races side by side. Expect more fun and practices like this as more people come out.... It is 8 weeks until Rio Tinto Alcan Dragon Boat Festival Wednesday night, I attended the managers/captains meeting with Stephen Mirowski, Steven Wong, Stuart Mackinnon and Pash Brar.    more »

The sunshine stayed out - and it was warm!!! no rain in sight... and lots of dragon boaters came out to paddle in the sunshine. We had 28 people show up, so we took two dragon boats out. Gayle Gordon led one boat, and I lead the other. Both Stephen Wong and Stephen Mirowski started steering. Ashleigh and Wendy were lead strokes on the Chinchillas. Tzhe and Keng were lead strokes on the Donkeys. Gayle and I also took some turns at lead stroke as well.   more »

A very different kind of dragon boat practice today. When I arrived, we passed out the tartan kilts, and the tartan sashes. Because... We had a City TV cameraman John Wilson come film our practice this afternoon. And a bagpiper, my friend Joe McDonald, walked over from the Skytrain station, while we were doing our warm-up under the covered gazebo. We had a proclamation reading ceremony with the deputy mayor of Vancouver, city councilor Raymond Louie. + PICTURES   more »

Sunday March 30, we had 19 paddlers GREAT PRACTICE in the sunshine. This is what dragon boat practices are all about... great people, great weather, great experience paddling on a Sunday afternoon. We did our usual paddle around East Basin, then up to David Lam Park...... Tuesday Beginner night 14 paddlers out on the water Tuesday... and the boat felt strong, even with 3 new rookies. Joe Easton, a 6 year veteran on the Gung Haggis team says the team is way ahead of where we were this time last year.   more »

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.   more »

Being in a parade doesn't allow you to take pictures of your group, so it's always interesting to find pictures on flickr. Steven Duncan took some pictures of us setting up. Check out his flickr site http://www.flickr.com/photos/9057324@N08/sets/72157604144696435/   more »

The 15 foot long Chinese dragon undulated up and down in the air above the St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Vancouver’s Granville Street. A mini version of the larger 10 or 20 person dragons used in Chinatown Chinese New Year parades, it jerked hesitantly. Five Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team members carried short poles sporting a yellow body with red scales and blue and yellow ridge...... A Chinese dragon in a St. Patrick’s Day Parade? Didn’t St. Patrick drive the snakes out of Ireland? Ahh… but this is multi-inter-cultural Vancouver. Dragon boaters paddle in kilts, and bagpipers perform in the Chinese New Year Parade. And the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year dinner serves up deep-fried haggis won tons. Welcome to Vancouver!   more »

Watch GLOBAL NEWS on Tuesday Feb 26 -
6pm
TOMORROW!

Everybody knowns that BC's cultural diversity is one of the best things about living in BC.  Where else can you celebrate almost all the world's cultures worldly cuisines in a single city, go dragon boat racing, go to First Nations pow wows, enter a St. Patrick's Day parade, and learn bangra dancing?

Todd Wong (me)  was interviewed on Feb 17th for a Global TV story celebrating BC's 150 years.

I talk about cultural diversity in BC, and am seen with the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team, paddling in the background.

Cultural diversity is the topic, Todd and the Gung Haggis dragon boat team will represent it to Global TV viewers.  Our dragon boat team itself has a good mixture of not only Asian and Caucasian paddlers, but also one paddler with Iraqi heritage and 3 paddlers with both Asian/Caucasian DNA.

I also explain the history of the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year dinner, which celebrates not only the Scottish and Chinese pioneer histories of BC, but also "everything inbetween and everything beyond."



We did a poll asking people what they thought were the things that made BC a world-class place, and people/culture/diversity was one of the top 10 responses.  To illustrate some of BC's amazing culture and diversity, I thought you would be a great person to profile.  But of course, we need some viz of you doing something, and since we missed the dinner, the dragon boating would be great, as well as another example of cultural diversity.  The story is scheduled to air Feb 26.

We had a great practice in the sunshine today with a full 22 paddler boat and a Global TV camerman!

It was the first practice of the year, and all paddlers were enthusiastic veterans who braved the chilly February sunshine.  We were even filmed by a Global TV camerman.  Maybe it's like a dragon boat version of ground hog day.... if we can see our shadow we will have have great season of fun and medals.

It's the earliest time we've ever been out on the water.  Last year we started on the first Sunday in March with only 8 paddlers in the rain who went out in Marathon canoes.  This year it was 24 team members. 

Even the media attention has come early.  Last April, a the ADBF sprint regatta, it was a ZDF German Public television crew filming us for a travelogue documentary titled Toronto to Vancouver.  We are featured near the end of the show.  Check out:
http://wstreaming.zdf.de/zdf/veryhigh/071219_toronto_vancouver.asx
go to 54 minute mark of the 58 minute documentary to find the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team.

Attending our first practice were: returning Gung Haggis paddlers Wendy, Tzhe, Keng & Gerard, Georgia, Julie, Ashleigh, Steven Wong & Jane, Stephen Mirowski, Joe, Emma, Leanne, Daming, and myself...  + Lena who joined us in Oct + Raphael, Adam & Nicole from the UA team (who had joined us for Lotus and Ft. Langley Races) + 5 paddlers from CC Dragons Don & Paulette, Gail, Marg, and Debbie = 24 people on the water - Wow!

We were enthusiastically enjoying the sunshine, and happy to be out paddling, stretching our muscles!

We are grateful to the CC Dragons paddlers who are joining us, and bringing lots of experience from years of competitive, and Rec A/B racing.  Thank you to the Gung Haggis paddlers for making them feel welcome.  We will be inclusive, sharing leadership, wisdom, experience, enthusiasm and lots of fun, food and drink.

The Global TV cameraman came out to shoot some shots of the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team and to interview Todd for a story about "The Best of BC".  Cultural diversity is the topic, and Todd and the Gung Haggis dragon boat team will represent it to Global TV veiwers for the story celebrating BC's 150th Anniversary.



Today was a great start to a new Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat season.  We plan to have two teams where new paddlers can learn from veteran paddlers, and our best paddlers can race to their potential. 

Please remember to dress warmly, with polypropelene underwear that will wick moisture away, windbreakers to cut the wind chill, and bring water - as we still loose moisture through our breath.  It's important to stay warm and hydrated - even more so, as we are just getting started again in cold weather and many of us have not been exercising for awhile.

Two teams for 2008 will be GREAT!
Two boats can race together on Sunday afternoon practices
Tuesday and Wednesday 6pm practices will evolve as either advanced paddler or technique/beginner practices... or dependent upon which night people can attend. 

We are building flexibility into our practice schedule.
People could also paddle on one day, and help coach or steer on another day or more.

If new people would like to join they can contact me at:
gunghaggis at yahoo dot ca

or phone Todd Wong
h: 604-987-7124
c: 778-846-7090

It was only last week that our 3 year paddler Dan Seto decided to host a Christmas party, and invite the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team members - under the pretense of helping decide what colour to paint his kitchen cabinets. A number of paddlers had responded to the email invite - but Dan wasn't sure how many people would be attending. When I asked if I could invite George Jung, a friend from the Chinese Canadian Historical Society of BC Writing Workshop that Dan and I had also done - then Dan soon decided to invite the workshop writers too! Smart idea! Dan, myself and former team paddler Grace each took the writing workshop and made contributions to the recently published anthology Eating Stories: A Chinese Canadian and Aboriginal Potluck.   more »

Tonight is the night I get to see my contributions in print for the book: Eating Stories A Chinese-Canadian and Aboriginal Potluck.

Brandy will be on CBC Radio Friday morning with Rick Cluff, Morning Edition, at about 7:50AM.

Also some hot news from Henry.  Jerry Kwok has done a wonderful job with the 8 min. teaser film on the workshop. It's downloadable at http://www.instrcc.ubc.ca/CCHS/CCHS_workshop.wmv .  

We are having an author's book launch tonight at the Rhizome Cafe on Broadway, before the official book launch at the Vancouver Museum Sunday Nov. 25th at the Vancouver Museum.

It was a wonderful pleasure to meet so many people interested in the writing process, and how to improve their own writing skills.  People were so interested in food, our workshop discussions often took forays into Chinese-Canadian history, memories of food and family, as well as cultural traditions and differences.

The first book, Tracing Roots, by the CCHS is especially memorable for me because my cousin Hayne Wai contributed stories about his mother and our uncles.  It was great to be able to take the book home as a gift to my parents, and show them the paragraphs featuring "Uncle James," "Auntie Rose," and my father  - "Uncle Bill" to my cousin or "Bok-Sook" (#8 Uncle).

Tonight all the writing workshop participants get to take home copies of the book.  I will get to show my parents my published contributions of photographs and paragraphs, which introduce the stories of how I developed my love for salmon, my creation of Gung Haggis Fat Choy, and how our dragon boat team cooks up it's own haggis won ton.  This anthology features 2 current (Dan Seto and myself - Todd Wong) and two past paddlers (Grace Chow and Meena Wong) from the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team.

Brandy Lien-Worrall, our workshop leader and anthology editor, will be on CBC Radio Friday morning with Rick Cluff, Morning Edition, at about 7:50AM.

Also some hot news from Henry.  Jerry Kwok has done a wonderful job with the 8 min. teaser film on the workshop. It's downloadable at http://www.instrcc.ubc.ca/CCHS/CCHS_workshop.wmv .  

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:  info@cchsbc.ca

http://www.cchsbc.ca

 

Meals and Memories Come Alive in New Collection of Chinese Canadian and Aboriginal Food and Family Stories

Groundbreaking work captures authors’ personal stories of family and community

 

VANCOUVER – The Chinese Canadian Historical Society (CCHS) is pleased to announce the publication of Eating Stories: A Chinese Canadian and Aboriginal Potluck, edited by Brandy Liên Worrall and with Foreword by Margaret Gallagher.

Following the success of the first workshop and the resulting book publication, Finding Memories, Tracing Routes (English and bilingual English-Chinese editions), CCHS held a second writing workshop with the theme of “Food and Family”, which had nearly tripled in size.  Twenty-three participants of Chinese Canadian or Aboriginal backgrounds researched, discussed, and wrote their memories of family gatherings, home cooking, restaurant outings, and other stories cooked up by the smells, tastes, sounds, sights, and textures that bring families and communities together.  Together with their stories, 37 family recipes and over 170 images complete the collection.  Additional contributors include Imogene Lim, Lisa Moore, Janice Wong, and Henry Yu.

George McWhirter, Vancouver’s Poet Laureate, says of this groundbreaking collection: “I want one of those meals and to be in one of those families.  If I can’t be that in actuality, these stories make me a guest of all, complete with recipes for me to try out on my own, after.  These are more than literate tellings of family food rituals and recipes; they are elegantly and pungently related. . .In the process, these pieces become evocative literature and unforgettable history.”

“This collection is amazing in terms of the scope of experiences in these Canadian communities, from the 1930s all the way to present day,” states editor and workshop facilitator Brandy Liên Worrall.  “Reading these stories is just like sitting in a Chinatown café eating apple tarts in the 1960s or going to a barbecue at the reservation, catching salmon and having a good time. This is really history you can eat.”

Writers include Jacquie Adams, Jennifer Chan, Shirley Chan, Allan Cho, Grace Chow, Lilly Chow, Betty Ho, George Jung, Jackie Lee-Son, Roy Mah, Gordy Mark, Amy Perrault, Dan Seto, Bob Sung, Hayne Wai, Evelyn Wong, Larry Wong, Todd Wong, Harley A. Wylie, May Yan-Mountain, Candace Yip, Gail Yip, and Ken Yip.  The Chinese Canadian Historical Society of BC would like to acknowledge the support from the Provincial Capital Commission for the participation of two First Nations authors in the writing workshop.

An “authors reception” will be held at Rhizome Café (317 East Broadway) on Thursday, November 22, 2007, at 7:00 PM.  This intimate event will have a short presentation and author readings.  Media interest in this event, including requests for interviews with the authors, should be directed to Nancy Fong, nancy.wy.fong@gmail.com.  Media attendance to this event is by RSVP only.

The “Eating Stories: A Chinese Canadian and Aboriginal Potluck” book launch, hosted by CBC’s Margaret Gallagher, will be held at the Vancouver Museum on Sunday, November 25, 2007, at 4:00 PM.  Authors will read from the book, as well as answer questions from the audience.  In addition, New Voices: Chinese Canadian Narratives of Post-1967 Diaspora, a post-secondary student-initiated anthology of literary and artistic works by Chinese Canadians living in the Lower Mainland, will be also launched that day. This book is now available at http://www.newvoicesproject.org/ .

Copies of Eating Stories can be purchased at the authors reception and the launch.  For more information, bulk and educational orders, and press kits, email nancy.wy.fong@gmail.com.  Copies may also be purchased online at http://www.lulu.com/cchsbc.  Proceeds go toward the “Edgar Wickberg Scholarship for Chinese Canadian History.”

ABOUT the CHINESE CANADIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA

The Chinese Canadian Historical Society of British Columbia (CCHSBC) is a broadly based membership society with educational goals.  Our main objective is to bring out the untold history of ethnic Chinese within the history of British Columbia.  We achieve this through sustained efforts at document preservation, research, family and oral history promotion, public education programmes, an active website, and many other initiatives.

MEDIA CONTACT-ENGLISH AND CHINESE [interviews & press kits]: nancy.wy.fong@gmail.com

It's definitely fall when you can jump into a huge pile of leaves, We've had some cold weather for awhile... I've paddled and picketed through the recent rain. But this weekend, the weather warmed up, and all the leaves have started falling on the ground. I started my Sunday off with a Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team practice....We walked around Kits Beach,    more »

This will be the 3rd time the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team has entered the Fort Langley Cranberry Festival Canoe Regatta. It is a fundraiser for the Fort Langley Canoe Club. One of the race and club organizers is Cheryl MacIntosh, whom I have known for 4 years. It was great that Cheryl joined the Gung Haggis dragon boat team for the races in Vernon. So... we are all friends. Saturday, Oct 6 10am to 3:30pm 3 races per team / 20 teams of 10 paddlers.   more »

Gung Haggis dragon boat team paddles under the new Harvest Moon


Steersperson Adam Purvis waves from the back of the boat, while Gung Haggis team paddlers stretch during a break - photo Todd Wong

The Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dragon Boat team, is preparing for the Sept 30th UBC Day of the Long Boat Race.  It is the largest voyageur canoe race in North America, and designed as a recreation event for UBC students, faculty and staff.  But... there are division for community teams too!  It is a 2km course with 3 big turns.  A normal dragon boat race is only 500m.  So we are now training paddlers for endurance with 2km pieces.

We took out 2 Gemini dragon boats last night, and ran races from Dragon Zone to Cambie St. Bridge where we took a short break to simulate a paddler jumping out to the beach during the actual Day of the Long Boat race, where they would grab a baton.

After our quick break where some paddlers shed some extra clothes, we then raced up to David Lam Park and to the point.  Along the way we set up some obstacles for turning, like the sculpture, the buoy markers and boats.  After a short rest to change sides, we raced back to Cambie Street Bridge, and all the way back to Dragon Zone.

Longest race pieces we've ever done... lots of fun.

Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team practices on Sundays 1pm and Tuesday 6pm. If you would like to join the team - contact Coach Todd Wong
email gunghaggis at yahoo dot ca

We have participated in this event before with the Tacoma Dragon Boat Association Destiny Dragons:

See my past stories: