Is it true that Team's going to Prague won't be able to participate at the Macau qualifiers because of timing issues? This would really suck.

maybe they can't participate because they are national crews ????

Why can't members of the National teams participate with their clubs? The qualifiers are held the week before the Worlds. It can be done, unless some priss is too worried about upsetting his holy taper.

This is a crazy oversight by DBC.

Do they event know this?

This is nuts to have a national during worlds.

It is not during it is before

They did it on purpose to stop national team members from racing club crews. Pretty stupid.

pretty smart

They did this to give the Nations cup a more prestigious feel.
Club Crews are going to be a lower level and more "high calibre fun " event

"Club Crews are going to be a lower level and more "high calibre fun " event"

Have you been to a Club Crew World Championship? They're taken pretty bloody seriously by those involved.

Not to worry ,I'm pretty sure that fcrcc will be a crew to race this event

or maybe it was the only date available.

I was the only date available. Deal with it. Any member of the national team can still race with his/her club at the Club Crews qualifier and not miss a beat.

How can it be the only date?

They must have discussed this at the BDC board level, no?

I can't understand why someone at DBC would want to do this.

Just contact DBC and ask yourself. And again -- what's the big deal? If the qualifiers were held at the same time as Prague, then we'd have a real gripe.

chole doesn't bite. execdirector@dragonboatcanada.org or 613-482-1377 made sense when I talked to her.

I wouldn't mind a bite from Chloe. : )

who is going to nationals next year? where is the list of participating teams?

A list of participating teams???? We've just finished this season, and you want a list of who is racing in nationals 9 months from now???

I would assume that DBC would do everything in it's power to promote both it's National Championships and the World Championships. They put themselves in a difficult position to do both.

I hope they learned a lesson and will have a better time gap between these two big events in years to come.

Why do you need more of a time gap? If you're on the National team and a Club team, then you're already a world-class paddler who can easily handle racing on consecutive weekends.

What is the date of the CCWC qualifier? I can't find it on the DBC website.

If it is the weekend before the world's in Prague, then I doubt that any national team paddlers will compete. Most of the teams are planning to fly on Friday or Saturday. Particularly for those teams that have members from across the country, having at least 3 days to practice together in Prague will be very important. The races start on the Wednesday.

The idea that world class paddlers won't be impacted by jet lag or won't need the opportunity to fine tune their crew, is just stupid.

Before you call any idea "stupid", look at the timing. First, are you sure that races start on Wednesday 8/26? In the past, the World Championship races always started on the Thursday, with Wednesday being the opening ceremomies.

Suppose you are a national team member and part of a club competing in Montreal. You race in Montreal on Sunday and fly out that night. You arrive in the early afternoon on Monday in Prague. The National team should be able to schedule a late-afternoon practice time, which you can attend. You can also practice Tuesday. And if Wednesday is not a race day, you have a third day for practice. So at the very least, you have two days to practice with the national team. Jet lag? You're over it in a day or two anyway.

That's great if your from Montreal. I need to take time off work and away from my family to go to worlds this year. There is no way I'll be able to go to nationals. I feel srewed by DBC.

<<That's great if your from Montreal. I need to take time off work and away from my family to go to worlds this year. There is no way I'll be able to go to nationals. I feel srewed by DBC.>>

This makes no sense. If the Worlds and the qualifiers were held further apart, you'd still have to travel twice, right?

who's going to nationals? who is not going to be there? is there a list of teams registered for nationals?

Yes if worlds and nationals were further apart I would have to travel twice, but I would actually be able to do it. To do both back to back is over two weeks away from work and family ALL IN A ROW.

DBC should have spread things out.

<<Yes if worlds and nationals were further apart I would have to travel twice, but I would actually be able to do it. To do both back to back is over two weeks away from work and family ALL IN A ROW.>>

"Over two weeks away"? No, it's not. It's less then two weeks. Do the math.

It's great how people who don't have to do the trip are critical of those who do. Here's the reality;

Prague is a $3000 trip. From Montreal you lose 8 hours do to time zones, so IF there was an affordable flight on Sunday night (that's fun - go right from the course to the plane with no party) you still would lose Monday. Yes, you could maybe go twice on Tuesday and Wednesday, but no one would cause the racing starts Thursday and Thursday is 3 1000's and a mixed 2000m.

But even that ignores the fact that for $3000 people are going to want to see a little bit of Prague.


So you can pay to go to Montreal to race Saturday and Sunday, jump on a plane and fly to Europe, get together with a new crew and cram in some training and then race 4 days AT WORLDS to then come home.

No National team people will go to Montreal the weekend before Worlds. Let it go.

But Nationals can still be great and will be wide open. There were 93 sport teams at Quebec Cup.

Obviously DBC just couldn't schedule mid July for Nationals like they could this year.

I am concerned that the grandmasters division will be really watered down due to the timing of the nationals.

First of all, you do not lose Monday. Flights arrive in Prague at 1:15PM, leaving enough time to practice late Monday if you really want to.

$3000 trip? Airfare as of today is $1300-$1400. And it will likely drop s bit as lower fuel prices kick in. Good hotels can be found for $100/night, and you can have a roommate to split that cost. The trip should cost about $1800. If you want to stay longer in Prague for s vacation, that's a great deal at an extra $50-$60/night.

to be fair, you arrive at 1:15 PM Monday if you race to the airport to leave Mtl at 6:30 on the Sunday, and you spend 15 hrs in the air, including connections. So you could practice on Monday afternoon if you did all that and slept on the plane.

Flights are 1400 or so if you fly today. If you book today for August from Mtl, the cheapest flight I saw was $1586.

Plus you pay your way to Mtl.

Sounds easy if you don't have to do it.

You have no idea what you are talking about. Spend two minutes on orbitz.com and you will find Air Canada flight #874, which leaves at 8PM on Sunday from Montreal. You can get a decent sleep on that seven-hour flight before connecting in Frankfurt and arrive in Prague at 1:15PM Monday. Return on Swiss Air on Monday after the Worlds. $1360.

So Manayunk won in Orlando? That makes sense because Honey Bear runs a Mickey Mouse organization.

Wrong thread

I thought TECO won in Orlando.

TECO won nothing. All hype.

You have no idea what you are talking about. Spend two minutes on orbitz.com and you will find Air Canada flight #874, which leaves at 8PM on Sunday from Montreal. You can get a decent sleep on that seven-hour flight before connecting in Frankfurt and arrive in Prague at 1:15PM Monday. Return on Swiss Air on Monday after the Worlds. $1360.
***************************************

Where do you get the idea that people will get 7 hours of sleep on a 7 hour flight that leaves at 8 pm? More likely 2-3 hours because of the time change. Have you ever flown to Europe dummy.Who would do this just days prior to the Worlds? When you get there on a few hours sleep you have to stay up the whole day to get yourself into the time change even though you are exhausted.

<<Where do you get the idea that people will get 7 hours of sleep on a 7 hour flight that leaves at 8 pm? More likely 2-3 hours because of the time change. Have you ever flown to Europe dummy.Who would do this just days prior to the Worlds? When you get there on a few hours sleep you have to stay up the whole day to get yourself into the time change even though you are exhausted.
>>

Excuse me, "dummy", but I've made many trips to Europe (as well as to Asia, but that's a REAL flight...). This is not rocket science. You get on the plane and go to sleep ASAP. You can easily get at least 6 hours of sleep on a 7-hour flight if you have any discipline (and tell the flight attendant that you don't want to be awakened). The time change does not affect flight time. A 7-hour flight is a 7-hour flight. There is also a three hour layover before the short flight to Prague. Feel free to take a two-hour nap then, if you like.

On Monday you may feel a bit tired still, but you'll easily be able to stay up, be part of a late day practice, grab dinner, and then get to bed early. By Tuesday, you're fine.

To 10:55 AM - please tell us about all the world DB championships you have won with this method of cat napping and ignoring time zones. Have you even been to one?

"I am concerned that the grandmasters division will be really watered down due to the timing of the nationals"

Last I heard Nationals was for Club Crews not National teams so it really shouldn't be an issue for a true Club Crew. National paddlers come from across the country and from numerous clubs - at least they are supposed to. I would imagine that most people will do the Nationals with their home teams and fly out on the Sunday for Prague. It really isn't rocket science just a bit of organization.

It is much better timing to have Nationals late August. It gives the Club Crews more time to work together and focus on the goal of Nationals. This is our Canadian Championships and should be the high point for true Club Crews.

<<To 10:55 AM - please tell us about all the world DB championships you have won with this method of cat napping and ignoring time zones. Have you even been to one?>>

Poznan, Shanghai, Berlin, Sydney.

Enough excuses. Sleep on the plane. Take a sleeping pill if it helps. Man up.

Adrenaline.

after 1-2 days of getting over the fatigue of the flight your excitement gets you through the actual racing.

Stay hydrated, take naps and your fine.

That said, there is no question that weeks of acclimatization help, but DB is not the olympics.

OK 11:45 - did you ever win one?

The ONLY crews going to be effected by this will be:
Mayfair
False Creek
DragonBeasts

Between the three crews - they supply the Senior National Crews and Premier Mixed and Open Crews.
If ay other crew has more than one paddler involved, then please contact DBC now.
The crews listed above - in some sense might want to think about whether they are a Club Crew anyway.

and of those 3 only one went to Penang.

The other heavily impacted crew would be the Montreal Women.

I think that the grandmasters and junior divisions will be impacted as well. Probably more then the crews already mentioned.

The Montreal Women.

They first of all have to "make" the Premiers Women's crew.
Don't count your chickens ladies.

Even if you take 4-6 of your top paddlers out, you're impacted. They've traditionally had that many on the crew.

They were included a few years ago out of necessity.
That is no longer the case.
Some of the women are exceptionally good athletes - but I wouldn't hang my hat on 6 this year.

"...but I wouldn't hang my hat on 6 this year."

where do i get to hang it?

Would totally affect the Junior Teams but most don't bother with Club Crews anyways. Isn't CC's really just a vacation with paddling thrown in?

To date, junior racing has been nothing but a big penis competition on the bay, with not one of the crews actually going to penang.

Ooooooh you're just looking for a beat-down. The vacation was after. If thats what you meant but it was no picnic in between, fool.

Different people handle jet lag differently. Just because you might be able to hack it, does not mean others could, don't be such a brick. In an ideal world, nationals would be spaced out. Now...deal with it. For those people going to prague who can race at the nationals, it's the best tune up they can get before going for it so why not.

"Different people handle jet lag differently. Just because you might be able to hack it, does not mean others could, don't be such a brick. In an ideal world, nationals would be spaced out. Now...deal with it. For those people going to prague who can race at the nationals, it's the best tune up they can get before going for it so why not."

Dragon boat is a team event. Having the team train together for as many days as possible in Prague is invaluable. Unless your team at the worlds is a club team and you've had the opportunity to consistently train together, it would be stupid to stay in Canada to race the weekend before and forgo the opportunity for quality training as a crew in Prague. A tune up with a crew that isn't your national team crew is a waste of your time.

I've raced in every world championship since Philadelphia, and I've learned that pulling together quality athletes from across the country doesn't mean the crew will instantly work well together. If I was the team coach I'd require that everyone get to Prague at least by Sunday (preferably Saturday), and if you'd rather stay and race with your club crew in Montreal, then don't bother coming to Prague.

why not a stopover or departure from montreal? I'm sure DBC could throw some exhibition races into nationals to prep the national teams.

Would also be a very motivating send off for the crews racing and being recognized before their home crowd.

Do you seriously think those going over need a tune up race just days before Worlds? HELLO!!!!!

yeah actually.... I do.

regarding travel, wont that be a coaches decision of asking the paddlers to be in Prague by a certain date?

yes it would, but we are all just playing the what if game here.

It sounds like this whole thread is about 20 - 40 paddlers who may or may not show up at Nationals. What about the many other clubs and paddlers in this country who will not be showing up for Nationals because of its timing or location. There must be 1000+ clubs in the country and only less then 25 travel to Nationals.

What about them?

If I was a club crew coach I would tell my national team paddlers to race in club crews and skip Prague. Here is how I would put it man to man: Wouldn't it be a better choice for you to get drunk and enjoy Montreal after the qualifer rather than to try and sleep 7 hours on a plane to go race Slovakian and Russian mutants?