WINDSWEPT IN NANAIMO

Well, the Nanaimo Dragon Boat Festival has come and gone, and it's the first time in six years that I haven't been there to take part in it. This is definitely the festival that I miss the most. It's always been the great team spirit/team building/team-a-whole-lot-of-fun event of our racing calendar. I thought I might at least make it up to cheer the Dog Paddlers on in their final on Sunday afternoon, but the prospect of sitting in a car for four hours over the course of the day was just too painful. This sciatica thing sucks big time. It's just as well that I didn't drive up there Sunday morning, as there was an accident on the Malahat, so things were backed up big time. I would have been stuck in the car even longer! And, as you'll see, it would all have been for naught.

Having not been there, I'm having to rely on someone else for a synopsis of the weekend's activities. Here's a slightly-edited version of what Pia emailed me (along with a few pix from Anne Nelson):

It was definitely an interesting weekend! The venue was fabulous as usual, the beer garden was bigger and better, more food vendors, and other activities. The race course was moved out and away from the sand bar (YAH!) so all lanes had an even depth all day. The first few races had a few stray boats, but we didn’t hear much of anything else.

Dogs Race 1 - The dogs were over-excited as usual and pulled too hard on the start which meant the first two strokes didn’t take us far. Lane 4 took a incorrect line of sight and moved into our lane nearly hitting us which caused Brianna to take a sharp correction which also slowed our time down (their steersperson apologized at the dock). The rate went waaaay up in the finish, and the dogs were a little spent! We pulled out a second place, and a slow time...the dogs were a little put out to say the least.

The Dog Paddlers' newest drummer!

Dogs Race 2 – The first race of the afternoon! A quick turn around and an early end to our day would mean an early start on the beer garden! The dogs were in lane 2 with the Dragonauts in lane 3. They spent all of the race half in our lane and finished on our side of the middle finish buoy. Brianna didn’t budge! The entire way down the course Brianna could hear the chase boats yelling at their steersperson (no apologies at the end of this race!) Again the dogs start had too much power (who would have thought?), however the rate and timing was much better and we pulled out a comfortable second in this race, leaving the dogs feeling much better about the race.

Happy Paddlers!

Dogs Dinner – Same restaurant as last year, the tables were in groups this year rather than one long table, which turned out to be better in the end. As last year, drinks came and went, orders were taken and the food came almost an hour and a half later. No one really minded as we were all having a good time, and most of us had a few drinks to make the time go faster. Once the food did come, it was good food and we scarfed it down in twenty minutes! The hotel crew went back to the hotel by way of the festival to check out the times for day 2. Tick tack tequila was played on the rooftop with at least one stray dog. As we weren’t there, you will need to get the full scoop from someone else who was!

Day 2, Dogs Race 3 – Jade semi B Lane 1, and the dogs are hungry for a good race and a good time. Lane one has done well all morning, so we are expecting to do well. It is a much closer race than Jacob expected, but as usual the Dogs put on the after burners in the finish and pull out first place with the fastest time in the Jade Semi! The whole race feels good, and we are going to Jade Final A to race the Nanaimo Save-On-Foods Dragon Slayers. We were pumped and so were they, some good ribbing to be had by all while we wait for the final heats....who will take the Gold???

Off to the carnation ceremony we go, the wind is starting to pick up, but nothing too bad. The first 2 divisions go out, the last race in the Mixed silver has experienced sterns and even they are having difficulty manoeuvring and are getting waves swamping the sides of the boats. First there is a 15 minute wind delay, then a 30 minute delay to see if the wind will die down...Then comes the 30 minute decision session... We are not going out...an outcry from the remaining teams...we want to race...the Dogs will go out if we can; they called a captains/or coach meeting to discuss the decision. Safety is paramount—so racing is cancelled, and they will determine, in an as fair as possible way, the results. The results are to be determined by using the cumulative times of all three races in the division heats. We wait in the beer gardens, we know we have a chance, but our Day 1 times were not great compared to the other teams in our Final heat....will there be bling??? And then the news...We are to have bronze...not quite what we were hoping to race for....but at least we were able to get this far! Dragonslayers receive the sliver, and the Comox Dragonflies the Gold (where they came from no one knows!).

I'm not sure I want to know the explanation for this picture!