Dragon Boating and Dragon Boaters… is it like acne and every one else like ProActiv?

It seems that everyone in the GTA treats Dragon Boaters/Boating like acne.

Rowers don’t like us, yachtsmen don’t like us, PWC Operators don’t like us, Dragon Boats don’t like us either (see any Forum thread).

Rowers think they own ALL the waterways in the GTA, apparently it was given to them by a higher power. They thumb their noses at us when ever we paddle next to their clubs. Said clubs have every newspaper clippingabout dragon baoting on their walls and bulletin boards, they can hardly wait to get rid of us off their waterways. Sailors thinks of us as a nuisance. Sprint Canoe think they are better than us (they may be betterpaddlers.. they have been doing it longer than us). PWC owners think that they can go as fast as they can to trip us over while practicing.

We are treated like acne and maybe rightfully so, just read the forum we bash ourselves consistently, we do not even respect our sport.

Do you for one moment think that the new WCCC site is being built for Dragon Boaters? Dream on... guess who will be running it not the TCBA, GWN or DBC. Sooner or later it will revert back to two groups mentioned earlier.

A bright mind like Larry was driven off by dragon boaters. Soon Dragon Boat in Canada will be like the XFL, WFL , WHL or the Expos. Gone and forgotten unless we start respecting the sport, teams and paddlers.

Rowers and Sprint Canoes respect their sport and fellow rowers/paddlers... why can’t we…

We are not acne. Treat us with respect, Dragon Boaters respect yourselves and the sport.

Sprint canoeists? What the hell are you talking about. Tell me what canoe club has plans to make that strip their home.

Rowers. What use is a 650m strip to a rower?

Tell me that now.

Okay, some of these threads are getting out of hand. Take a step back for a moment and see that dragon boat racing is still healthy, still growing, still the most accessible paddling sport on the continent, possibly the world.

The only problem I see is that we have an identity crisis. Is this a competitive sport, or is it a recreational activity? It's probably a bit of both, which gives it a problem of personality. What pleases one side does not ncecessarily please the other.

But for all it's dysfunction, the sport is still the best way to get people outside, on the water and enjoying some healthy competition at many different levels of ability.

As for driving out Larry, sorry, but just because he's unhappy with the way the club crew argument went I will not be crying any tears if he quits the sport entirely. It will go on with or without him (or me), or others like him (or me). Sorry LC, I don't mean to put you down but I think you need to understand that people can disagree with you and still have the best interests of the sport at heart. Not every contrary opinion supports a self-serving agenda. Maybe after GWN the masks can come off and we can settle differences the Canadian way, over a pint.

Just a few short weeks left in what has been an incredible summer for dragon boat racing, let's enjoy it.

Rowers etc are pissed cuz this sport is getting bigger and bigger(taking more place everywhere off and on the water)

I've seen it often enough at the basin that it must happen regularly. When the rowers and sprint canoes were out together, I'd often see one or two C1s 'buzz' a rower by zipping by in the opposite direction as close to his paddle blades as they could manage. Obviously the rowers never see them until they practically lose their sweeps. You can learn a lot of colourful language from these incidents.

They're probably concerned that 2 ton dragonboats might start thinking this is fun as well.

maybe it's time rowers started using these

The rowers do not care, the paddlers do not care. Dragon boaters are nothing more than a momentary annoyance on the water. Although I suspect that the team cheers and high-five line-ups would prompt any athlete to be contemptuous.

I still read the forum from time to time and just because my exposure to a lot of you on the forum has made me less motivated to participate in building the sport doesn't mean I won't race with my friends when given the opportunity, coach a cool crew or help people that want to paddle better. It's simply a matter of my finding the fun quotient seriously lacking this year (and presumably next) in dragon boat compared to sprint and outrigger.

That one poster is right....I am irrelevant. PLEASE stop wasting your time making speculating posts about me and get back to the inane comments and arguments that I find so fascinating and occasionally infuriating. One thing I can say is that you guys do make dragon boat entertaining.

Larry, the Budays etc. are bona fide Olympic calibre athletes. Obviously dragon boat racing is small potatoes to the rest of the sporting world. To me, having these big names taking an interest in what used to be a community-based sport somehow makes feel like it's more important. That if it's enough of a challenge and enjoyable for Olympic athletes to participate in, it helps make dboat feel a little more like a "legitimate" sport.

I dunno: what does it say about our sport if our best paddlers and ambassadors are turned off from dragon boat? Doesn't really sit well, does it?

keep the arguments goings all.. let's kill dragon boating forever. this forum is doing a great job. we should call this forum the katrina of dragonboating.

Nothing wrong with an argument. Sorting through this stuff will help determine the identity of the sport and community. As long as we keep it clean, avoid character assassination, name calling, and at least acknowledge when the other side makes a point, a disagreement can be productive.

And this Forum will NOT kill dragon boat racing. Don't place too much importance on it. There are still thousands and thousands of participants who have never even heard of the Forum.

One thing that might help is to make it a registered forum where identities are at least stable, if not necessarily public. That way you can't just stir up sh!t with no accountability. Peole are a whole lot more polite when they can't hide behind anonymity.

How can you take anything said on this forum seriously?

Que?