Cherry Blossom dragon boat public paddling regatta
Todd Wong gives paddling instruction to one of two boatloads of people who showed up to the inaugural Cherry Blossom Festival public dragon boat paddlings event. First-time paddlers were assisted by experienced paddlers from teams: Gung Haggis Fat Choy, The Eh? Team, and GVRD 44 Cheeks. - photo Dave Samis
The Creekside Park cherry blossoms were not in bloom, but dragon boat friendships are already developing as many paddlers hit the water with their teams. Wanna-be paddlers can try out paddling at the Dragon Zone paddling club, organized by the Alcan Dragon Boat Festival, located at Creekside Park, at the South East end of False Creek, just south of the Science World building.
The first Dragon Zone public paddling / Cherry Blossom regatta went well. About 17 people showed up for Cherry Blossom paddling, and were assisted by experienced paddlers. 5 people from Eh Team, 1 person from GVRD 44 Cheeks, and 9 paddlers from Gung Haggis Fat Choy, all came to share stories about their paddling adventures and friendships.
We started out by having everybody meet inside the clubhouse, as the weather was damp outside. We did introductions, and I shared dragon boat history (origins, local and international) with everybody. Some people had come to try the public paddling, advertised by Dragon Zone, some because they had heard of the Cherry Blossom event. All were looking forward to trying dragon boats for their first time.
We took two boats out. I coached one boat with Shawn steering. Shawn is one of the staff members at Dragon Zone, working the docks and clubhouse, ensuring safety and smooth management. I have known him for a number of years, in his role as a volunteer for the Alcan Dragon Boat Festival, and also as a paddler and steersperson for different teams.
Second boat coached by Dave Montrose with Ed from Eh Team steering. The friendship between Dave Montrose and myself goes back years to 1998, when we first paddled together on a Civil Serpents team competing in Victoria. In 1999, we again found ourselves on the same team - this time it was Spirit of Vancouver competing for a race in San Francisco. Dave joined me when Civil Serpents team went competitive in 2001, and we also helped set up the 39th Brigade Army team, and some of their paddlers joined us in 2002 for paddling in Kelowna.
We split people into two groups and matched experienced paddlers with 1st timers.
We did warm up exercises, paddle instruction, safety lesson - then loaded onto the boats.
Boats separated for paddle instructions, then met for a race towards Plaza of Nations. Ending with a short race back to Dragon Zone. All races were kept short, to minimize stress and risk of injury to paddlers. Having the two boats out together was ideal, because we could have the mini races. It gave people a sense of dragon boat "racing".
Everybody really enjoyed themselves, and many said they would be back. We had great compliments from the paddlers from the Eh? team - a wondefully friendly seniors team. I have known Bill Redhead and his team mate Ed for a few years, since my father first painted a unicorn on a paddle for Ed. Dave Samis paddles on the GVRD 44 Cheeks team, and he has also joined Gung Haggis Fat Choy for races in Victoria, Seattle, Harrison Lake and the Vancouver Taiwanese Race. I also taught Dave how to steer a boat, and like with Dave Montrose, we have developed a nice frienship over the years.
It is dragon boat friendships like these that inspired me to create an event for the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival. I have been marvelling at all the cherry blossoms sparkling in Vancouver for the past few weeks, and thinking that it is very cool that Vancouver now has a Cherry Blossom festival. Hopefully next year, we will be able to have more paddlers out for our annual event, and that when Vancouverites start to see cherry blossoms blooming, they will start to think, "Time to get into a dragon boat for some paddling."
If you would like to try dragon boat paddling, come down to Dragon Zone at Creekside Park. For $2, on Sunday at 1pm, you can have a paddle instruction session - until April 30th.
Check out the beautiful photos of Vancouver's cherry trees and also the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival website. The following 2002 pictures are from the Sakura Diary website, and the trees can be seen while paddling on False Creek.
Cherry Blossoms overlooking False Creek between Granville Island and Burrard Bridge.
Granville Island Cherry trees
