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!!!

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

Melbourne International Dragon Boat Festival

5 months of training to live for a single minute!

That's what my team's vice captain said before the race. last Sunday, i.e. 8 March 09. I could not agree more. All the sacrifices everyone made to attend tough trainings 3 times a week, enduring sore muscles the very next day, it all came down to this race.

We were up against the national and state champion and we were pushing them all the way. I must say, we did really well by coming third. There were a couple of races that we only lost by a fraction of a second!!!

Even the champions themselves were amazed how far we have come in 1 year. :D

Overall, it was a very good experience, the excitement and adrenaline burst before the race were just sensational and knowing we crossed the finish line far better than our training best time, it was pure "awesomeness". And to be in a team that shares the same commitment and determination to win, it's out of this world!

I am already looking forward to the next major race!

Below are some of the race videos (My team in red, in case you are wondering).

Heats - Open 20s

Heats - Men's Power 10

Finals - Mixed 20s

Finals - Men's Power 10

Lily and myself during race break

The 3 "stooges"

No idea what we were trying to do

Yuin was in town, was supposed to be our cheerleader but forgot her pom poms!

The whole team that made it all possible

Our rewards! :D

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.

Australian Footy

One of my cousins, Wei Jin (WJ) came over to Melbourne for 2 weeks holiday. We met up for number of meals and knowing what a sports fanatic he is, we thought of bringing him for a game of local football, i.e. footy at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). Before we can even suggest that, he had already asked us if we were interested for a game of footy. It was not hard to decide which game to go for as WJ is a big fan of Hawthorn (not bad for a guy that has only been in Australia for less than 2 weeks) and they were playing at MCG (Melbourne sports icon).

We managed to get our tickets but we had no idea how far our seatings were. When we went there this morning, we were pleasantly surprised that it’s a reasonable distance from the arena. The price weren’t too bad as well, approximately $34 per adult.

I think the last time we went for a game was when we were doing our degree back in 2001. I am not a fan of footy and Stephen does not enjoy watching it as much as European soccer. If we are in UK, Spain or Italy, we would be just like the locals, going for every match when his beloved team plays.

Overall, I think the game was pretty exciting, very fast paced and truly very different from the many soccer matches I have watched with Stephen. I remember reading the size of the footy arena being twice as big as a soccer field. TWICE! OMG!! There were a number of times where I had lost track of the ball… a tiny red ball in a huge arena with each team fielding 18 players, surely I am not the only one!

I didn’t really understand the rules of the game (or I am just not putting enough effort?? ), how penalty is given, how passing is made, etc. All I know is when the ball goes through the two highest polls, it is a 6 points goal. When the ball goes through the lower side polls or even hits any of the poll, it’s a 1 point goal. I still don’t understand why only 1 point is awarded when the ball struck the poll. I believe it should be a 10 points goal or something. What are the chances of hitting the poll given such a wide space and with such a great accuracy, surely one would deserve more points, i.e. bullseye. Hey, what do I know about footy??

A game consists of four quarters. The length of the quarters can vary from 15 to 25 minutes in different leagues. In the AFL, quarters are 20 minutes, but the clock is stopped when the ball is out of play, meaning that an average quarter could last for 27 to 31 minutes. At the end of each quarter, teams change their scoring end.

The first goal of the game was scored by Hawthorn (yellow and brown stripes), which are supported by my cousin and Jessica. Also Stephen’s as he heard that they are the stronger team. (Knowing him, he always supports the winning team).

When the goal is scored, the Goal Umpire signals a goal with two hands raised at elbow height, a behind with one hand, and then confirms the signal with the other goal umpire by waving flags above his head.

From the photos, it look like the weather was warm with the sun was out at the background. It was actually 12 degrees maximum. When the wind was blowing, it was freeeezing!!! That’s why we were all wrapped up nice and warm.