Paddle For Kids 2009 – Recap

First off I want to thank my dragon boat team, Gary and Meaghan for supporting me.

BC Childrens 11th Annual Paddle for Kids charity event happened on Sunday, 30 teams registered though only 24 teams took part in the event. The weather was nice, wasn’t to hot out either. H2O Geeks raised over $3441 dollars in 7 short weeks and were ranked in 6th spot as of Friday afternoon for most fund-raised, which is not bad if you ask me. In the end Paddle for Kids raised over $95,681 dollars that’s over half a million dollars for BC Childrens hospital in Paddle for kids lifespan.

Our team H2O Geeks could have arrived on site on Sunday never having a chance to be in a dragon boat and then race, for me that was not an option, I wanted this team to be on the water as much as possible, for one get use to the boats and to learn the stroke. Like the old saying goes “practice makes perfect”. All summer long we never had a chance to paddle with a full boat (of 20 paddlers) until race day. It was a great experiences for all. WAIT! There is more to read… read on »

Post on: Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 2:18 pm
Category: #H20Geeks, Dragon Boat, fitness
Tags: charity, db, online friends, PaddleForKids, Vancouver
6 Comments »

#H20GEEKS and a broken paddle

For those of you who follow me on twitter, may have heard me talk about forming a dragon boat team of twitters.. I wanted to see if there was enough interest in Vancouver’s tech community to even go though with it. As a way to remove oneself from behind technology to interact with fellow Vancouverites that you would not meet at a tweet up or meet up and it was away for me to introduce my love and joy (the sport) to people who have always wanted to try it and or wanted to get back into the sport. And I’ve done it thanks for the lovely souls who’ve signed up to learn how to dragon boat in 8 weeks (a practice a week).

Right now #H2OGeeks is ranked 2nd in fund-raising and I’m proud of the team and all their effects. Pads on the back forever one. If you’d like to help support us you please feel free to support me or if you have more then one friend who’s on this team you can donate straight to the team instead. Tax receipts are given to those who donate $20 or more.

I might do some more Dragon Boating Intro for Vancouver techies /anyone starting next spring if anyone would be interested. Please let me know.. It is afterall my dream job to be on the water all (err most of the day) teaching people how to dragon boat and work as one team .. not a bunch of people in a big long boat.

Broken Carbon Fiber Paddle Yesterday at #H2OGeeks practice my brother borrowed my paddle so he could and 6 others could grab the boat and paddle it back to the dock. Well, he came to the dock and was scared shit-less that I was gonna kill him for breaking it. I’m upset and mad but what more can you do? Over the years I’ve seen and heard about carbon fiber paddles breaking somewhere on the shaft and now I have to find myself another paddle and fast (the 3 semi retired paddles I own aren’t at the length I need) as I’m racing this Saturday.

Earlier in the season I thought about getting a new paddle in September when the season ends at the length I’ve been getting use to and a better T-grip.. It just sucks that carbon fiber paddles are anywhere from $200-300 bucks and its money that I just don’t have lying around to spend at the moment.