Dragonboat 2009/10 race schedule

As soon as the daylight saving kicked in, we have been training harder, twice weekly to prepare ourselves for the upcoming races starting from early November to April. Last Saturday, I have committed myself to a number of races, as listed below. It's going to be a full on season.

1. Nagambie                      Sunday 8th November 2009
2. Docklands                     Sunday 6th December 2009
3. Falls Creek                    Sat/Sun 23th/24th January 2010
4. Yarra                             Sunday 7th February 2010
5. Sale                               Fri/Sat 26th/27th February 2010
6. Wodonga/Albury           Sunday 7th March 2010
7. Docklands                     Sunday 21st March 2010
8. Adelaide                        Thurs - Sun 22nd-25th April 2010

Hail, rain or shine... bring it on!!!

Black Eye Peas E.N.D Tour

When the news came out that Black Eye Peas (BEP) was going to include Australia as part of their E.N.D tour, the public got really excited, we included. They had 2 shows in Melbourne and the first show's tickets were sold out within days. We got ours for the second day.

Last Wednesday, we finally get to enjoyed their show. We got the standing floor tickets, we got there nice and early and we were a couple of feet away from the stage! Then we realised that we weren't tall enough to get a good view, the people in front of us were blocking some of our view and when they started to dance, we would not be able to see anything. We had to move back a little and it was a good call! :D

It was very entertaining! Fergie did most of the singing and screaming... as usual, Will.I.Am played it cool, Alp.de.ap and Taboo danced the most - from one end to the other and played the role in getting the crowd on their feet.

The show lasted for 2 hours and we were dancing the whole time, haven't done it for a very long, I was running out of breath towards the end. Need to go for more concerts! We were trying to contain ourselves from screaming too much, still need to work the next day.

Somewhere in the middle of their show, each of them did a solo gig and Will.I.Am's gig was the best! He is a club DJ and his performance got the whole arena jumping non-stop and everyone was screaming for more!

The only thing I was a little disappointed - I didn't get the "wow" factor from them. They were entertaining, the songs were good, their dance was good... nothing you would not expect from BEP. Unfortunately, there was no flow between songs and their script was disorganised. For a group that has been around for 10 years, maybe I was expecting bit too much.

When we went for Justin Timberlake's, we were amazed with his whole show, from stage set up to his singing, dancing to how well organised his performance was. We also got the "wow" factor from Jacky Cheung's concert and even from Josh Groban's.

On the plus side, we did have fun and get to see BEP in person rather than through a screen!

We took a couple of videos that turned out to be alright. Check it out.

2 weeks to go!!!

Shortly after my missus and myself came back in early 2007, we have been searching around for our first home. There were so many factors we were considering that after 1/2 year of research, we finally found a suburb that we can picture ourselves living in. Then it took us another year to finally secure the deal.

We are still counting our blessings that it only took us a year to find a place that both of us love. It was not an easy task and we came to know a number of couples that actually took more than 1 year or 2 to get their own joint. We are really lucky!

After all the research, going to house inspections, attending auctions, its now 2 weeks away before we move in to our new house. Getting more excited as THE day draws closer. Everything is going as planned, which is really comforting. The only thing left back now is to start packing our stuffs. Never realise we have so much items to pack until now.

It will be a tiring 2 weeks from now but for a good reason!

Dragon Boat End of Season Dinner

After the Melbourne International Dragon Boat Race, the season has comes to an end with a dinner celebration on 14th March 2009.

The celebration was held in Pepper Chilli (85 Little Bourke St, corner of Exhibition and Little Bourke) with a great attendance of 41 people! When we first heard the name of the restaurant, we were hoping that not all the food served were spicy. It turn out to be a Sze Chuan Restaurant. Thank god that it was a set menu where we were given a choice of some of the dishes.

The Dragon Boaters on our table

Overall it was a great night with good company, speeches from the Captains and there was also award presentations.

It started off with the CERTIFICATE of achievements:

• Best Race Day Performance Docklands Cup: Kevin Wong
  
• Best Race Day Performance Falls Creek Mile High Championship: Miki Ishikawa
• Best Race Day Performance Victorian Titles: Karsten Arnold
• Best Drummer: Melissa Ong
• Best Sweep: Chris Walters

Then followed by the 2008/09 TROPHIES:

• Most Valuable Paddler: Joel Chua
• Best Male Paddler: Jay Sadler
• Best Female Paddler: Eva Bui
• Best Rookie: Nadja Wiedemann
• Best Team Spirit Male: Stephen Soo
• Best Team Spirit Female: Hennley Sah
  

Stephen with his trophy!

Close up of Stephen's trophy

Stephen with me and his trophy

A very Happy Hennley with her trophy with me and Ivy

Both Stephen and I were very surprise that he would get an award, as we didn't know what the award categories were. Anyhow, it is an excellent idea to give out all these certificates and awards to give motivation as well as recognition of every one's hard work and determination to the team. Great Work CYSM!!!

Ryan and Stephen enjoying the night

Credit crunch? Think again!

For a number of months now, credit crisis, recession, massive cuts in jobs have been a hot topic in both local and international newspapers. They are painting a very bleak outlook for 09. I for one believe all of them got it very wrong!

I reckon we have more cash than ever to spend. Credit availability is overflowing in the market. No one is thinking twice in buying anything, not to mention if they need it in the first place.

Don't trust me? I have solid evidence!

Original price was $179.50, "reduced" to $901!

There is a new "sale" in town!

Dockland Cup 2008

This is a long overdue post... ;P I have been wanting to blog Stephen's first competitive dragon boat race held early December. So here it is. :D

On 7 December 2008 was our first competitive dragon boat race as compared to the one we had in Albert Park. We were all very excited the night before and tried our very best to have sufficient rest and carbs. Even thought I did not participate this time but I was there to cheer the team - it was just as tiring! =)

Luck was on our side that the weather was really good. Based on the weather forecast it was suppose to rain a bit in the morning, instead the sun was out the whole time. The race started at 9 in the morning and lasted till 4.30 in the evening. CYSM participated in over 20 races,, i.e. heats, quarter-final, semi-final and finals, winning some of it and came second for the rest. It was pretty good result and a massive improvement considering we only reached quarter-finals in prior year (i think) :D

Overall, CYSM came second and everyone in the team was thrilled! I think we were more ecstatic than the team that won!

Below are some of the photos to highlight the race event.

CYSM getting in position in the boat

All on board and moving out to the starting position

All paddling slowly to the start position

All in the starting position and ready for the horn to go off

This was one of our good heat. As you can see we won first position. It was a good start for our team. Great job guys!!!

Another series of photos showing we were giving all we've got in the race.

The tropes that we were racing for


Here is a video clip of one of the semi final races. (Of course it's showing CYSM winning. ;) )

CYSM 2008

Defense Lake Attack 2008

Referring to our earlier post, both Lily and myself are keen dragon boaters. After much practice every Saturday morning, last Sunday we put our stamina to test. There was a charity event, Defense Lake Attack 2008 hosted by the Australian Defence Force, held at the Albert Park. The team we are in, i.e. Chinese Youth Society of Melbourne (CYSM) joined other teams to compete at this event.

We got there nice and early, got ourselves settled in, all pumped up ready for the race (280 meters long). The race goes by point systems, first place 3 points, second place 2 points and third place 1 point. The top three teams that got the most points proceed for the grand final race.

Moved the boat into the water to start our warm up and getting ourselves use to it. This is not the usual one that we train on every week. Apparently, it is too risky to bring our usual boat from Docklands (where we train every week) to Albert Park. Each boat costs around $10,000? Any damage or scratches is going to be very costly. So, we had to make use of the boats that is already at Albert Park. It's ok since this race is just for charity. The important ones are usually held at Docklands, so thats ok.

Lily getting some motivational support from Hennley.

Both of us before the race starts. All dry, filled with energy and ready to go!

Got into the boat and started doing our warm up.

Then our captain made some changes to our seating and moved my partner and myself up to the front to make the boat more balance. It was heavier at the back, I think. After some warm up and got used to the boat, it was time for us to have our first race. We paddled to the start line and align ourselves with the other boats.

We were in ready position for our first race dragon boat race.

We didn't do too well in this race. Our timing is off, we should be paddling at the same time, which we didn't. We won the race though, but the margin wasn't huge. Got back on shore and receiving some improvement points from the captain.

Then our second race got much better, our timing was much better and everyone was paddling around the same time. This time around, we were racing the navy. Yes! It was a tough second race. We came in second in this round. Got back on shore and had some improvement points from the captain once again.

We won the first round and came in second in the second round. We were in the top 3 teams! Navy was obviously in there as well. Our grand final race photos as below.

Once again, we lost to the Navy but we came in second in the final race. :D That was a good result. We did well. It certainly was a good experience for newbies like myself to have a taste of an actual race. I am already looking forward to a more competitive race in December.

Lastly, our thanks to our photographer crew (Hennley & Devin) for such lovely photos.