Paddlers for Peace

The Post-Gazette ran a great photo of TRRA's Youth League crew (Paddlers for Peace) in this morning's paper: see http://www.post-gazette.com/journal/photos_display.asp?ID=19177 .

Jim and Judy Robertson are volunteering with this group. If you're interested in helping, please let them know!

River Sojourn in August

As part of the"Rivers of the Year" celebration, the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources is sponsoring paddling events in August. Venture Outdoors is helping with a three-day river sojourn launching from Harmarville on August 10th (for a 12-mile paddle down to Heinz Field, a trip to Duck Hollow (the Mon) on Friday, and ending with a cruise on the Voyager down the Ohio on Saturday. Cost for all three days is $200 and covers rental of the kayak or canoe, lodging at night (nothing fancy!), a tee shirt, breakfast/lunch/dinner, and drinking water.

See http://www.pawatersheds.org/sojourn/ for specifics -- and for links to register via Venture Outdoors or to order a free poster of kayakers on the Allegheny in downtown Pittsburgh!

Results - Finger Lakes Dragon Boat Festival

The results are now posted on the FLDBF Web site click here to view.

The results show the Paddlefish racing 7 times during the day but they are missing the 250m Final against Philadelphia Police, which would have brought the number to 8 races. This is a lower number than I originally posted but it is still a lot of racing!

Congratulations again to all the members of the Pittsburgh Paddlefish.

Pfish Masters Team in Ithaca

My first drumming experience in a race! I can't remember what race this was -- maybe the third out of eight that day?

tiring practice

But well worth it, just for that 'after the tire is taken out' feeling

Bliss :)

Sarah's verdict on her first ever tire practice:

"I was dreading it, but I actually ended up enjoying this morning's session- it made me feel every element of the stroke better"

Yeah, you can tell she's new...

Ithica is Gorges

Is Ben here yet?

Great Fun at Ithaca Dragon Boat Festival

To all of my Pfishmates -- we had a terrific time in Ithaca this past Saturday. We were shown outstanding hospitality and enjoyed a day of really competitive racing. I think we were in 9 races and we seemed to get stronger as the day progressed. We hit a nice time of 2:11.6 in one of our 500m heats and I was very proud of our team.

We took overall 2nd place in a tie with Steel City Dragons. We placed 4th in the 500m and 2nd in the 250m. Steel City placed 2nd in the 500m and 4th in the 250m. That equated to a tie for second place. The Philadelphia Police took first place with some great times. I think we held our own against them and in different heats were within 1 and 3 seconds of their time.

We received a nice case of Finger Lakes Wine for our award. I hope to see all 40 of us celebrate our efforts together and share that wine but I don't know the final resolution on the award disposition.

The entire Paddlefish Team is responsible for our results in that race, and in other festivals. We practice hard as a team and each and every person helps their teammates to stretch a little more, dig a little deeper, and push the edge. It doesn't matter how many of us can actually attend any particular festival, our complete team roster shares in the victories and makes it all possible.

Congratulations to ALL of my Paddlefish Teammates!

Article on Ithaca Dragon Boat Festival

For a preview of this weekend's Finger Lakes International festival from the local perspective, see http://www.theithacajournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060712/NEWS01/607120307/1002 .

Today's the Day!

Kathi gets her cast off today! Woo-hoooo!

I vote she gets exempted from any boat-putting-in for the next two years: she's paid in full and then some!

Tuesday Bits & Pieces

• Welcome to Sarah, our newest Paddlefish! Sarah's studying library science at Pitt and finds Jonathan endlessly amusing (or so says Jonathan).
  
• Brand strategy: Marie is ordering tattoos for us again this summer. Woo-hoo!
  
• The second session of the Dragon Boat League starts next Tuesday evening (July 18th), and both boats are full. Big thanks to Kim, Judy D, and Rich, who have volunteered to coach these novice paddlers (and drum and steer), introducing them to the sport and preparing them to race in the Lottie McAlice in August.
  
• Our first race on Saturday (Ithaca/Finger Lakes Dragon Boat Festival) is at 9:45 AM. We'll be doing lots and lots of racing that day!
  

Great News from Twin City Dragons!

Hi, Guys!

We had our first race yesterday, and we one 1 out
of 4, which we felt was great! It was a Taiwan style
flag catching race, so that added some excitement. It
was great to pull the team together even more and I
think we recruited some new members as well! We had a
full boat for all 4 heats, and I had to scramble the
night before to make sure we had enough women- crazy,
huh?

We will be going to our next race in about 3
weeks, in Grand Marais, MN, where we will race on Lake
Superior. I just wanted to give you guys the update. I
wrote about our doings on the blog on our myspace if
you wanna check it out. People are really excited now,
and I have the members of my oh-so-important
fundraising commitee now.

I believe they said it was a 300 metre race, and they
made us do one run and then come back and do another,
taking the averages. Thanks for teaching me so well! I
really did it! I made a team by teaching them in
canoes and on land with a shovel handle. Crazy.

Yours,

Georgia

p.s. people are totally gung ho about getting boats so
hopefully by spring we will have our own! some of the
guys want to build one. I told them to form their own
commitee for that....


http://www.myspace.com/twincitydragons
http://blog.myspace.com/twincitydragons

Open Paddle: Friends, Food, and Fun

This weekend's Open Paddle was a lot of fun for all involved. Special thanks to Rich for his phenomenal organizational skills and to all of the Pfish who gave so much of their spirit and scrambled eggs to make the morning a warm and welcoming experience for everyone there.

Cheeeese!

Happy 4th of July?

Our lovely British pride in Toronto.

Three Rivers Regatta

Congratulations to all the winning paddlers at Sunday's Three Rivers Regatta dragon boat races, especially the strong-of-spirit youth team, TRRA's Paddlers for Peace.

Lookin' good in that do-rag, Frank!

Reminder: Team photo and team meeting tonight (Wednesday).

(Thanks to John K. for the photos!)

Finger Lakes Festival

After our exhibition race against Steel City at the Three Rivers Regatta, our next racing adventure will be at the Finger Lakes International Dragon Boat Festival on Saturday, July 15th. The following Paddlefish are on the roster: Ann, Bob, Carolyn, Carolyn, Frank, Jack, Jeanne, Jim, Joei, Judy L, Judy R, Kathi, Kim, Kit, Kris, Lindsey, Lisa, Lori, Marie, Marie, Mina, Rich, and Stefani.

If your name is listed but you no longer plan to attend, please let Rich know right away.

If your name is not listed but you DO plan to attend, please let Rich know right away. The special room rate at the Clarion has expired, but they may still have rooms. See http://paddlesup.blogspot.com/2006/05/finger-lakes-ithaca-lodging.html for hotel information.