Haliburton Highlands Paddlers

Dragon Boating in Haliburton County

events

Port Perry Dragon Boat Festival

Working Together For a Healthy Community

June 17, 2017.   8 am to 6 pm at Palmer Park, Port Perry, Ontario

If you are interested in attending this festival please RSVP to the email of March 6th 2017.  Cost is $55.00

Further details about this Festival here.

Spares Policy 2017:

This season we are trying a new policy for handling ‘spares’ for our festivals (see below).  We examined many options, none of which is perfect.  At the end of the season we will evaluate how it has worked for us.

This year our plan is to have twenty one people register and pay their fee with two people registering who will be spares. The two spares won’t be required to pay and will only paddle if one of the 21 can’t do so. Refunds will be issued only if a paddler cancels before the team registration list is due. Anyone cancelling after that registration date is free to negotiate with one of the spares. We will review this at the end of the 2017 season.

Boat Repairs Needed

Greetings Paddlers

With the warmer weather about to arrive ( I think), we are just 2 months away from the launching of the Susanna Foo for another season of fun and paddling. Now is the time that we start getting the Foo ready. If you can remember from last year, the interior white paint on the floor was starting to flake off and de-laminate. Also the varnish on the gunwales, particularly on the sunny side at the dock received ultra violet light damage. These are the 2 major issues and there may be other minor stuff to do. The preparation work for painting and varnishing has to be carefully done and based on experience from last year, one gets tired after 1 to 2 hours so the need to have shifts of teams will allow the work to progress without too much burden on a few. You also get an opportunity to socialize as you work and get to know your fellow paddlers better.

At our Open House last February, we had a sign-up sheet for those members who were willing to assist in cleaning, sanding, painting and varnishing. Not all of you attended the Open House so this notice gives you an opportunity to sign up and help. During April and May, some of you may have travel plans and would be available on a reduced time frame. That’s fine. For those who would like to help including those who signed up in February please respond to the email in your inbox indicating your willingness to help and if you are away for part of the time, please indicate the dates.

Next week Scotty and Phil will examine the Foo to determine the magnitudes of the tasks and to see how it came through winter storage. We will also look at the list of volunteers and develop work teams. In reality only 4 or so can work at one time.

I envision that we will have no exact work schedules as essentially we will have to take advantage of good weather when we get it. We don’t have any exact procedures at this time. We may have teams come sequentially or maybe 2 teams at a time. With the latter, one can use a power sander for 10 minutes or so and then pass it on to someone else for a similar shift. The gunwales are relatively easy but the floor will be awkward. We will find out the best procedure when we start.

Paddles up!

Paddlers bring home the hardware

August 27th 2016

Its becoming a tradition.

Once again, the Haliburton Highlands Paddlers have come home with hardware.

The Haliburton dragon boat team placed second in the Iron consolation division at the Annual Barrie Dragon Boat Festival.

Rookie of the year award 2016

But the local team’s fortunes didn’t end there. The 20-member squad was thrilled when race officials announced them as winners of the Rookie of the Year award.

Saturday’s well attended festival was especially competitive, Haliburton team president, Elli Armstrong, said.

“With 55 teams from across Ontario we knew before the races got underway, we’d have to work hard, stay focused and give it our all,” Armstrong said.  The team was made up of 18 women and two strong men.

“Some teams came with 10 young men with muscle,” said Armstrong. But what gives Haliburton the edge is the attention and respect given to synchronicity, she said.

Coach, Janine Papadopoulos was especially proud of the performance. “Our team was awesome. We reduced our time with each race. It was a wonderful day.”

The Paddlers completed the third race at 1:32 and last 250-metre 1:26, a team record.

The team will certainly remember Saturday, said Armstrong. “It was the first time the Haliburton team paddled in a large lake.”

We learned about racing on big water. We knew we were up against muscle and lots of testosterone. Some of the young men could be our grandsons.”

Saturday marked the team’s fourth competition and they come home with hardware in all four, winning a bronze in Port Perry, a gold in Dundas and a silver in Port Perry last month.

Originating in China, dragon boating dates back to the 4th century.

Meanwhile, with 55 members, the Paddlers are enjoying their third season. The team practices twice a day on both Monday and Wednesday and Sunday afternoon on from the Patients News’ on Grass Lake from late May to early October.

Joining Papadopoulos to coach is Scotty Boyd and Lois Deacon.

They do an excellent job of steering the boat and giving direction, said Armstrong.

The Barrie Festival is in its 15th year. It raises money for local charities. To date, the Barrie festival has raised $1.6 million.

In keeping with the spirit of giving, the Paddlers raised $1,600.00 to be given to Haliburton’s Point in Time.

The funds were presented to Point in Time director and dragon boater, Marg Cox, at the coaches’ appreciation dinner.