Philly Festival Update

We are in Tent #13 on Kelly Drive. This tent is located near the finish line toward Gillen's Boathouse (to the right of finish line facing the river).

Our first race is Race #2 in Lane #2 at 8:11 am in the Mixed Club Challenge.

Junior Paddlefish: Now That's What I'm Talkin' About!

The Jr Pfish clown for the camera while celebrating their victories in the Pittsburgh Dragon Boat Festival!

TRRA Fundraiser: Eat a Cow

This is the last week of the September fundraiser for TRRA through Five Guys, so if you haven't stopped in for a hamburger yet (voted "best hamburgers in Pitsburgh"), please consider this a good excuse not to cook supper or pack a lunch this week.

There are two local Five Guys locations: one in Oakland, on S. Bouquet between Forbes and Fifth, and one in the Waterworks Mall in Fox Chapel. If you turn in the coupons available on the TRRA website when you place your order, Five Guys will give TRRA 20% of the purchase total.

See http://www.threeriversrowing.org/200609%20Five%20Guys%20Flyer.PDF for the coupon.

Paddlefish Do It on Land

I saw quite a few Paddlefish at the Great Race yesterday: Jonathan, Rachel, Mina, Ada, Frank... anybody else?

Also special kudos to Saturday's Open Paddle participants (Emily H. and Laura M.) who ran on Sunday. Paddle cheers to everyone for cross-training!

Jonathan took this group-self-portrait with his camera phone at the 10K start (Jonathan, Rachel, and J's friend Omer).

Ten Commandments of Dragon Boating

Asian Week posted ten commandments of dragonboating in time for the San Francisco DB Festival: http://news.asianweek.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=cc4c409c6a911feb4ea13150b9fffa02 . None begins with "thou shalt not"!

Any commandments you'd add to that list? (I don't see any mention of butt pads, for instance....)

Paddlefish 'Tude

Now that's what I'm talkin' about!

Happy Talk-Like-A-Pirate Day!

Bob's been our role model in the talk-like-a-pirate movement (arrrrrh!!), and now the whole world is catching on!

See http://www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html.

Pep Talk Before Men's Final

Ben demonstrates the choreography for the ABBA singalong later that evening.

Pittsburgh Dragon Boat Festival

Jeff juggled.....


....AJ (Paddler for Peace) mugged....


....Sarah told 'em to move their butts....


... and Richard kept an eye on it all!

Scenes from Blue Lou's: Post-Festival Celebrations

Linda, Carolyn, and Kris: "See that girl, watch that scene, diggin' the dancing queen"!


Martin, Richard, and Rachel toast the team.


Yowza, Rich! See what some winter training will get you?

Festival photos

I'll ask Jonathan to post a proper album over at his blog, but in the meantime, here are a few pictures to tide you over!

Paddlefish men get ready to rumble, and the GSK River Dragons get their game faces on...











Jonathan getting cozy with the race officials...and with Rich and Kris...

Pittsburgh Dragon Boat Festival 2006

This is a great shot of the men's race: click on it so you can see it in an enlarged view and look at those faces! No wonder the Pfish men won!

Thanks to everyone involved in making yesterday a great time for paddlers. If you've got feedbaack on what worked and what needs to be worked on for next year, please let Judy D and/or me know (now, while it's fresh!) so we can channel that to TRRA as they start planning for 2007.

Special thanks to Bob and Laurie for organizing the post-race party, and to Richard for covering all those pitchers of beer! Thanks to David Bennett for the photo above; if you've got pictures you'd like to share, please post them here or send them on to me for posting.

Schedule for Saturday

The race schedule for Saturday's Pittsburgh Dragon Boat Fesrival should be posted by TRRA today; I'll bring a hard copy to practice tonight if you want to see it that way. This is a draft schedule -- no expectation of any big changes between today and Saturday, but you never know!

The captains/officials meeting is at 9 AM. It would be a good idea for anyone who is steering or drumming to attend that meeting, too.

Races start at 10 AM with a masters final between the Pfish and Steel City. Mixed division heats then begin at 10:20 AM. Paddlefish are currently scheduled (this is not a promise) to race a mixed heat at 11:20 AM against the DC Dragons.

The six mixed division teams with fastest heat times will go to a semi-final race in the early afternoon; the other 16 mixed division teams go straight to finals. Three of the teams that competed in semi-finals will get a shot at the grand final at 4:20 PM.

The women's final is currently scheduled (it's a draft) for 4:40 PM: DC Dragons vs Pittsburgh Paddlefish vs Steel City Dragons.

The men's final is listed in the draft schedule for 5:00 PM: TRRA/Pittsburgh Paddlefish vs Steel City Dragons vs DC Dragons.

Celebrations at 7 PM at Blue Lou's (upstairs room of Mario's) on Carson Street.

Awards for winners of finals will take place throughout the afternoon, probably in the athletes' village at the end of the park, though the specific location has not yet been determined.

Team Shirts

You know the drill for Saturday (Pittsburgh Festival): please wear the team "uniform" for racing (deep blue top, black shorts) and the red Pfish tee shirt for lounging!

Flights to Philly

In case any of you are thinking of flying to Philadelphia for the Oct. 7 festival, Southwest Airlines still have availability on their $39 each way from PIT-PHL fares...

It's a really easy flight, and then it's about 9 miles to where the festival is taking place (presumably by taxi, unless someone else can find out information about public transit to the Schuylkill river in Fairmount Park?)

Orders for Personal Paddles: ZRE Models

From Dick:

This is the last call for ordering ZRE paddles at a discount this summer! Please let me know if you want to order one, by Friday morning. I am placing the order with Ben Lau of ERDBA this Friday afternoon.

I do not believe Ben is taking orders at this time for paddles from other manufacturers: He has orders for the ZRE paddles as a result of interest generated at Nationals. The final price of the paddle is a function of the quantity ordered. I understand that Ben's current quantity is 19. A look at the order form will give you the paddle cost for that quantity.

Descriptions of the paddles can be found at the ZRE website, if you are interested. I have orders from Kathi Robinson-Dassel, Carolyn Freeman and Lisa Kennard to date.

To order, send me an e-mail identifying the model number of the ZRE paddle you want to purchase and the length (models vary with hand grip style). We'll take care of payments next week.

Paddlefish in Action--Out of the Water

In case you couldn't remember what happened after the races, here are a few reminders...

How did this 'Fish get in with these DragonMaxers???

All's quiet...that is, until the music starts...

Let the party begin!

I feel a Corey Hart song coming on...

Paddlefish in Action--On the Water

Just a few pics of the Paddlefish Masters Mixed team in action at the US Dragon Boat Racing Championship in Tampa, as seen from the lens of a sober non-Paddlefish...

This was at the end of the 2nd 250-meter race of the day, as viewed from the the bridge at the finish line.

This was the third 250 of the day for the team. I was warming up the camera to take pictures of the DragonMax Grand Masters Mixed team (who were in the next heat)...

Greetings from the NJ Dragon Boat Community!

THANKS to the Pittsburgh Dragon Boat Community for their help in our bid for Sydney World Championships. The NJDBC-Crossed Paddlers entered in all three 50s racing classes of the 2006 Tampa US National Dragon Boat Championships. All three of our crews secured bids with the help of your Paddlefish and Steel City Dragons!!!

Special thanks to Rich Smith who helped in proctoring the tests.

NJDBC-Crossed Paddlers - 50s Women = Gold
Marie Ulsh and Jeanne Sadler

NJDBC-Crossed Paddlers - 50s Open = Silver
Jim Robertson, Jeanne Sadler, Marty Silverman and Larry Wentzel

NJDBC-Crossed Paddlers - 50s Mixed = Silver
Larry Wentzel


We hope to have more Steelers on board as we make our run at the Sydney World Championship medals next year!!! Follow our progress on our website - and RSVP if you want to be added to our info distribution list.

OYE - OYE - OYE!!!

Ellen Law
NJ Dragon Boat Club
http://www.njdragonboat.org/gm
201-738-0918

Tampa pics!

Paddlefish Open Club team crossing the finish line


Paddlefish Masters Team












Is it Hollywood or Tampa?

Paddlefish Poolside!