Extra Paddling this Thursday

6 p.m. on Thursday.
Come down to Millvale to participate in a mini-scrimmage with the Paddlers for Peace, and TRRA's Dragon Boat League.
We're looking for at least 8 or so extra paddlers, so if you know you'll be able to come to participate, please email Judy R.

There's food in it for you if you come :)

Happy Birthday to the invisible Lisa :)

Can't find a pic' anywhere, which is probably fro the best, Lisa, right?! ;)

Happy Birthday to our favo(u)rite Brit'fish!

Farewell to Carolyn F!

Carolyn F will be leaving us for somewhat hotter and sandier climbes this week. Tomorrow (Monday) night's practice will be her last before jetting out of Pittsburgh, so do take a moment to wish her well if you can.

Bon Voyage Carolyn, we'll miss you in the boat! (and out of it!)

Weekend Updates

Tonight (Friday): Please come to tonight's orientation dressed to go out on the water if the weather allows!

Tomorrow night (Saturday): Gathering at Taco Loco at 8:30 PM: 2700 Jane Street on the South Side (corner of 27th St). This is BYOB! Sophie will bring a bottle of red to contribute toward some Taco Loco sangria, but feel free to bring your own bottle of red or whatever other beverage spins your bow-tie!

Sunday morning: Start time for Sunday morning paddling is now 10 AM. Enjoy that extra hour of sleep! ;-)

Scrimmage Pics

Thanks to everyone who came to Fox Chapel Marina yesterday to scrimmage with the Steel City Dragons. We were fortunate enough to beat the rain -- at least until the post-scrimmage party at Baja Bar & Grill!

Most especially, thank you to Steel City for hosting us! Paddle cheers to all who helped to organize this event!

For more photos, please visit: http://www.flickr.com/groups/paddlefish/pool/

Double-Birthday-Bonanza!

Happy birthday to Frank and to Linda... Paddlefish twins :)

Paddling, hiking and boogying our way through Ithaca

Here are a few photos. I would have more but Jonathan used up my battery making documentaries about feet and Mark Twain. Does anyone remember the name of the falls in the photo?

What the Fork?!

Fork installation at Red Fin Blues.

Ithaca Results; Today's Weather

Race Results: The results from the Finger Lakes International races are posted as a PDF file at http://www.ithacadragonboat.org/race/2007_flidbf_results.pdf . Check out those times -- talk about smoke on the water! Whew! Congrats to all the strong Pfish who made it possible.

Now where are the pictures?! I hear the team has quite a reputation on the dance floor, building on last year's Tampa performance.....

Weather: If we have to change plans for tonight based on the weather, I'll try to post what I know by 4:30 this afternoon. Current (2 PM) plan is to meet at Millvale, rain or shine. If it rains, we have the ergs & weight room reserved from 6 till 8 PM.

Redfin Blues on Wednesday

We're paddling to Redfin Blues at practice tomorrow, so tuck a little money in your sports bra, pocket, or PFD-pouch.

Sophie gets to be the last one out of the boat this time.

Save the Date: Intensive Coaching Weekend

Scott (from Great White North and of 'camp fame') will be here the weekend of July 27th. Please block off time Friday evening through Sunday afternoon, and participate as much as you're able!

The task force will provide more details soon -- stay tuned.

Ithaca

Dick found this article from the Ithaca paper--see a photo of our last race, top right.
http://www.theithacajournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070716/NEWS01/707160329/1002

Good Luck!

Paddling to Ithaca
Originally uploaded by KitAy.

Good luck in Ithaca this weekend, Pfish! Show 'em how it's done!

Wednesday Workout & Team Meeting

We will try to do an Ithaca boat if enough people attend. The plan is to paddle out of the top of the channel to the 40th Street Bridge, around and back into the channel to practice starts: 5 x 1-20-5 starts.

This will be a short practice to allow time for the team meeting immediately following.

Paddle Round-Up

Dick Northway is going to inventory all of the wooden and plastic dragon boat paddles the weekend of July 28. If you have a TRRA paddle in your possession, please return it to the Millvale Boat House by that weekend. Paddles that are being stored at Washington's Landing (such as those being used with the OC-1s) should also be returned to Millvale for counting. Your help in rounding up these "stray" paddles for the inventory is appreciated.

As always, if you're taking a paddle to an out-of-town event (such as Ithaca this weekend!) please remember to sign it out and sign it back in; the checkout sheet is posted on our cabinet in the Millvale boathouse.

Getting to the OCs might be a little trickier this month.... See note below from TRRA:

Please be advised that you will have to come on River Ave. to get to Washington’s Landing from July 15th to July 25th. The 31st St. Bridge access will be closed from Route 28. This means that the 31st Street Bridge is the much closer to opening (the latest we have heard is October)!


http://www.dot.state.pa.us/penndot/districts/district11.nsf/D11Secondary?openframeset&Frame=main&src=vMRbyCounty?OpenView

Say "cheeeeeeeese"

Paddling to the Point afforded us a happy 10-minute break in the middle of practice this morning...
Enough time for Frank and I to don silly head-wear and for Carolyn F and Mina to put on matching tops ;)

DBL

Dentists Breathe Loudly...
Don't Bother Laurie...
Driving (is) Better (on the) Left... (?!)

The acronym is, of course, for the wonderful TRRA Dragon Boat League - run in large part by your fellow Paddlefish (paddle cheers to all those who volunteer!)

It's definitely one of the more important DB activities to go on in the 'Burgh, both for recruitment and general awareness of the sport, so make sure your friends, your colleagues and your family know about it, so that they will stop ridiculing you for spending most of your free time sweating and puffing&panting inside a mythical fire-breathing creature ;)

There are still a fair few empty seats for the upcoming session, starting on Tuesday, July 10 (next week), so get talking about it!

July 4th Paddle

Is at Station Square. 1:30 p.m. until around 3:30 p.m.

Not sure of exact details yet, but expect some short scrimmages (mixed teams) and some fun and games with our Steel City brethren. The more of us there are, the merrier it'll be :)

Any volunteers to help pack up boats/equipment at Millvale would be greatly appreciated (should be done around 6 p.m.)

Call Jonathan if you're coming but are lost/late, or if you can help out at Millvale!
Regatta website

Outrigger Canoe Sign-out

Hopefully you're all starting to get comfortable with paddling the outrigger canoes and also with the process of taking them out/putting them together/recovering from a huli/acknowledging all the admiring glances from on-lookers/putting them back/cleaning them/feeling like you rule the river?!

As the amount of 'out-of-regular-team-practice-hours' has risen over the past couple of months (a wonderful thing, as it helps justify to TRRA the expense of having them), there is now a sign-out sheet located near where the OC's are stored at the Washington's Landing facility.

If you're intending to use the outriggers at any time outside of team practices, do try to make every effort to sign-up for a time slot in advance (each slot is for an hour and a half). I realize that it's something of a hassle to go down to the boat bay to do this, although hopefully that might inspire you towards regular (weekly?!) usage of them!

FYI - An on-line sign-out process is apparently in the pipeline:
No idea on how that will work and when it might happen, so in the interest of everyone on the team, please try and book times in advance and check the sign-out sheet for prior bookings if you want to take one out without advanced notice.

Thanks all, and happy paddling!