1-2-3-Liiiift!! 

July 4th Shrimp Peel

Hi, All.
I am planning a July 4th Shrimp Peel in my backyard for the team and friends of the team (significant others, etc). A Shrimp Peel in the south is steamed shrimp with "low-country boil" seasoning (if I can find that recipe), which is found in the Savannah area, with corn on the cob and whatever else we pull together, plus libations.

Anyway, these are some of the details:
1. I'd like to follow an early supper (5:00 PM or so) with a paddle to the point to see the fireworks (yes, the city's spectacular fireworks are on the 4th). Kit's working on permission from TRRA to take the boat out and I'm trying to see how many of you are interested - so I need to hear from you right away. So far, Lisa, Mina, Marie & Ralph, and I are in the boat...which leads to issue/point #2...

2. If we cannot pull together enough for the boat, we will still do the dinner, then drive to the point and stake out a piece of lawn near Heinz Field.

3. If the weather doesn't cooperate, we'll eat on the covered front porch or inside.

4. As you RSVP, let me know what would you like to bring. Mina's conjuring up a cauliflower quiche and will also contribute a couple of bottles of wine that Pauline gave her. Lisa's promising a southern flavored dessert. If you don't want to cook, you can chip in on the shrimp - or else go to your favorite grocery store. FYI: I have beer that was left over from our scrimmage with Steelcity.

See you soon, Carolyn

Hold The Date!

Please hold Friday, July 22nd, on your calendars for a potential fundraising party at the Washington's Landing boat house for our World Championship paddlers. Plans and details have yet to be worked out, but you don't want to miss this one!

And a note on practice tomorrow night: we're going to hold off on The Big Boat Flip until Bob is back in town. It just wouldn't be the same without him! So yes, we have practice tomorrow, but no, we're not flipping the boat at this one.

Picking Up Toronto Award 

Toronto: Oh Yeah!

What a great weekend! Super teamwork and fast racing (2:19:78 in the final), a beautiful venue, well-organized races, lots and lots of friendly teams, six boats on the water, and a beer garden on site!

We missed you, Lisa, and we were thinking of you! Can't wait till next year when you can enjoy Toronto with us.

Some 2005 Toronto moments:

Chuck riding the wake;

Kathy slipping off her seat, catching herself before she crashed into Ben, and getting back in time within one stroke!;

Oh, those life jackets..... Next year we bring our own or a bag of clothespins for our noses;

Having family there -- all of Kathy's relatives, Doug's mom and Misty -- our very own on-shore cheering section;

Mina's "was that a 250?!";

Ben's paddle smacks;

Jordan's "first" beer; and

The change in the way the U teams in our final looked at us as we lined up for the boats and then the way they looked at us after they got to the other side of the finish line. Yes!!!

More moments?

"Foot over ankle and..." 

Scrimmage; Friday Meeting

Just confirming what we discussed at practice tonight: the scrimmage with Steel City is on for Wednesday evening, 6:30 PM at Millvale. We'll do some 250s. Let me know if you can't make it (I know Gina, Jord, Jen, and Kate can't be there).

Carolyn will bring the post-scrimmage beverages.

We'll hold a short team meeting Friday evening in Toronto -- my hotel room, 8:00 PM. The tentative plan is to be at the ferry Saturday morning for a 7:30 AM crossing.

Looking Ahead: Calendar Notes

This week we focus on Toronto. Practice Monday. Steel City comes down Wednesday for a scrimmage. Friday we head up to Toronto. Let me know if you expect to arrive in Toronto after 8 PM; that will help me figure out whether or when we hold a team meeting.

Saturday's an early day; our first race is at 9:20, and the 2nd is at 12:20. The average of our times in those two races determines our placement in Sunday's race. Dinner at Quigley's (Quimby's?) Saturday evening -- please let Laurie know if you are bringing someone who wasn't in the boat this morning. (This morning's count was 18 for dinner.) Time for the dinner will be included in this week's update (an early one this week -- look for it Thursday).

Races at the Point for the regatta on July 3rd -- 11 AM to 1 PM. The focus is on the novice teams here; Chuck is working out a race schedule. We'll need drummers, steerspeople, and paddlers.

Open Paddle/Learn to Paddle on July 9th. Lindsey's offered to help organize a post-practice barbecue. (Thanks, Lindsey!)

Latter half of July: Fundraiser for our GrandMasters heading to Berlin. Details to be announced. Stef, Lisa, and Judy head to Berlin at the end of July; the races are the first week in August.

Lottie McAllister Regatta on Washington's Landing on August 13 -- the focus for these dboat races will again be on the novices.

Latter half of August: a looong paddle, perhaps marathon in length, on all three Pittsburgh rivers. Stay tuned for more on this.

Elsewhere in dragon boat land in August: the races in Welland (see May 31 blog post) and in Princeton. These are both on the last weekend in August. We can gauge levels of interest/commitment to traveling to one of these once we get past the July 3rd races, but am just putting them both out there for thought right now.

As soon as September comes, we're going to be called upon for a lot of volunteer support for the Pittsburgh Dragonboat Festival novice teams, I suspect. We're also going to be getting ready for our races at that Festival.

Looking way ahead: the USDBF is holding its championships in Tampa Bay next August. One of the starting officials in DC encouraged us to attend. Do we want to put that on our race calendar for next summer?

Pfish Members of USA Team: Judy, Lisa, Stef 

Next Steel City Scrimmage

Steel City has offered to scrimmage us before we go to Toronto to help us get in fighting trim and to fill us in on what that festival is like. (They also promised the inside scoop on nude beaches, so who knows what else we may be missing!)

The boats are pretty much spoken for almost every night with the various rec leagues coming down to paddle, so right now the Steel City coach is checking to see if next Wednesday would work for them. I'll keep you posted as things get more definite (or fall apart!).

World Class Paddlers

News from Jack: After an 8-mile tryout on Saturday, Judy, Lisa, and Stefani were ALL picked to be to be on the USA Women's Grand Masters World Championship Team that will go to Berlin in August.

A really fine thing for them and pretty cool for the rest of us too.

Notes on Toronto

Have you reserved a Toronto hotel room yet? Seven of the rooms Laurie held for us have been reserved; if you still need a hotel room, please call the Days Inn at Toronto East Lakeview.

The festival is on Centre Island: please follow this link to information (fares -- $6 -- schedule -- every 30 mins or so) about the ferry we'll use to get over to the island: http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/parks/island/summerschedule.htm . This link includes links to Centre Island, if you want to get a pre-festival peek!

We will not (cannot) have a tent, so bring sunscreen and any shade-inducing paraphernalia you can come up with! There will be porta-potties, so a pocket box of kleenex and some antibacterial hand lotion might be in order, too. And there will be lots of vendors at this one!

Pittsburgh Paddlefish: DC Festival 2005 

All About the Fish: Pfish and Red Fins

Nice work on the 250s last night! Special thanks to Bob for steering us with authority while catching almost all ten times -- no easy feat.

Here's the link to the story in Sunday's Post-Gazette about paddlefish: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05156/516028.stm .

Let's stop by Red Fin Blues during our workout tomorrow evening and toast the season -- stuff a little money in your shorts, please!

Thanks

Some notes of gratitude:

Thanks to Ada for leading our "pillar stretches" and Kate for attending to our technique with patience;

Thanks to Kathi for the nice shot of us (below)on the Potomac! She also has a great team shot (in Georgia's great red shirts) that I'll try to post this week;

Thanks to Dick for that stylin' dolly!

Good work this morning, everyone. I promise to do better at keeping the stopwatch turned right side up next time so I can measure our times for each piece and not just note the hour of the day on some of 'em! :-)

Shoulder Drill on the Potomac: DC 2005 

Open Paddles: Mark Your Calendar!

The Paddlefish are hosting an "open paddle" on (roughly) the first Saturday of the month through the summer for people who want to try dragon boating for the first time or who want to paddle with TRRA's competitive d'boat team.

Our next Open Paddle is this Saturday, June 4th, 9:00 AM at the Millvale Boat House (see http://www.threeriversrowing.org/directions.html for directions). People of all ages (well, 15+) and levels of paddling experience are welcome! Wear comfortable clothes that you don't mind getting wet (it's a water sport) and expect to have a great time!

July's Open Paddle is scheduled for Saturday, July 9th, 9 AM at Millvale again.