The United States Dragon Boat Federation is offering a Fundamentals of Dragon Boat Coaching Course in November, right here in Portland, led by Connie Flesuras, founder of Dragon Boat Training.

Where: Wasabi Paddling Club, 1515 SE Water Avenue, Portland, Oregon 
When: November 18-20, 2016 (Friday 6-9pm, Saturday 9am-5pm, Sunday 9am-5pm) 
Cost: $300
​
Course highlights include:

• Team safety – injury prevention
• Basic stroke mechanics – coaching strategies
• Identification of your coaching style
• Ability to create & utilize team mission and goal statements
• Design team season and practice plans
• Learn to capture and use video as a coaching tool
• Develop “critical eye”
• Develop a race day plan

Click here for more information and to download the registration form.

Late last week, the Oregon Health Authority Public Health Division issued an advisory due to visual confirmation of a blue-green algae bloom in the Ross Island Lagoon. Lab results to confirm the toxin are still pending, but given the low water and warm temperatures, it is probably safe to assume that there is a bloom in that area.

In the past couple of years, the alert relating to the Ross Island Lagoon has preceded a broader warning to the Willamette River and we wanted to first caution everyone who paddles in the Holgate Channel to avoid the lagoon (or the shallow and slow-moving water of the channel altogether) and to wash with fresh water as soon as you are able, particularly if you have sensitive skin.

DragonSports does not plan to cancel practices or the Portland Dragon Boat Festival if a bloom does occur in the broader Willamette River. Consulting a number of experts and online sources last year, we learned that unless you are ingesting significant quantities of water, there is little risk of harm. The Oregon Health Authority only cautions against swimming or certain activities where there is a risk of ingestion; paddling is not one of them. The biggest risk may be for small children and especially pets who may immerse themselves in and/or drink the water if left unsupervised.

​If you have any questions or concerns, please contact board@dragonsports.org. 

In the typical DragonSports practice areas, see the chart for emergency stops and rescue points. Always know where you can go in an emergency – and how to describe where you are! In the winter, the current moves fast, and you may need to go downstream to get the crew and boat to safety.

​It’s important to have a plan!

From Connie Cavagnaro, Wasabi Paddling Club:

Looking to join a team?

Founded in 1994, DragonSports rents dragon boats and outrigger canoes to over 25 paddling clubs and teams in downtown Portland.

We are holding open houses on :

Saturday, June 18 from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m.
Tuesday, June 21 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Wednesday, June 22 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

Meet us by the flagpoles above the public dock at RiverPlace Marina.

Looking to add to your team? 

If you would like to have a team representative present to distribute materials and/or take out paddlers if your practices are during those times, we welcome you to do so. Also, please email us if you are recruiting and/or accepting new paddlers.
​

We're only a few weeks into our peak practice schedule where we have 8 boats in the water and we're already having some serious issues challenging the maintenance schedule for our boats. If we are going to continue to have enough boats in the water for teams to use, we need EVERYONE to take better care of our boats and to report maintenance issues to board@dragonsports.org immediately.​ Failure to do so is a violation of the Team Rental Terms.

While we recommend that everyone review all of the Team Rental Terms as well as our Safety Rules & Guidelines, we wanted to highlight two issues that have surfaced in the past week.

When you return to the dock, please remember to put the boat fenders out before reaching the dock and then approach the dock slowly and carefully. Please refer to the diagram below for proper boat parking (yes, this is a 6-boat diagram, the other two go to the left when we have 8 in the water). 

Once you've got that maneuver down, don’t forget to tie up the boats properly to dock cleats using a cleat hitch (no more than one per cleat), like this:

NOT this:

Please also be sure to lock the boats when you are done, unless another team is on the dock and waiting to take your boat out (same goes for the lockers). If a lock is broken or missing, please email board@dragonsports.org immediately.

This one is for the tillers, and we know you've heard this before, but another till mount was broken last week.

As far as we know, there are really only two causes (other than normal wear and tear) for the breakage: 1) hitting another object, or 2) backing up the boat and leaving the till in the water.

In the photo above, the till bracket on the right is pretty severely bent. This has all the hallmarks of a tiller backing up the boat and trying to use the till as a rudder, rather than using sweeps, to correct the boat’s course. It’s very easy to lose control of the till in this situation. Typically one of two things will happen: 1) the till blade will be caught by the water and swept away from the boat, twisting the till bracket and putting quite a bit of stress on the till, along with potentially pushing the tiller out of the boat; or 2) the till will be caught by the water and swept downward, pushing the top of the till bracket backward until it bends, or the till mount breaks, or both.

The till bracket on the left in the photo isn’t bent, which would indicate that the breakage in this case was more likely from a direct impact, rather than till-induced.

If a till mount is broken or if there are any other issues with the till (we also heard a rope wrapped on a till came undone this past week), please email board@dragonsports.org immediately.

The manager of the RiverPlace Hotel has communicated to us that the bathroom use from the dragon boat teams is getting a little difficult for them to manage... and this is in advance of the Rose Festival teams starting practices. Please understand the extra traffic takes a toll on the hotel's paper products and requires additional services to keep the restrooms clean and stocked for their guests.

Please be respectful of our hotel neighbors!

Please know that you may still continue to use the hotel restrooms in urgent situations or when patronizing the RiverPlace restaurant and bar, but that there are public restrooms at the south end of the RiverPlace walk which we should otherwise use.

​Thank you!

​Thanks to the Multnomah County Sheriff’s River Patrol, the Portland Parks Rangers, and the Friends of RiverPlace, we can safely walk on the Public Docks in our neighborhood once again. The situation with squatters and unhealthy conditions has improved, but it has not been solved. Your help is needed in letting City Hall know to vote for the budget to keep the Multnomah County Sheriff River Patrol (MCSRP) and Portland Parks Rangers on the job at RiverPlace.
 
Last year the Mayor allocated $98,000 out of the general fund to provide 15-20 hours for RP dock patrol. What a difference it made! We need to ask the Mayor and Commissioners to make this money available again, in fact make it a line item in the budget.
 
Please take the time to write a letter to the Mayor and other commissioners, expressing your concerns and requesting sufficient resources to alleviate them.
 
It is very important that a few of us give short testimony at the public budget hearings. April 5, Tues., 6:30-8:30 Wilson High School and April 12, Tues, 6:30-8:30 at Alice Ott Middle school. Contact susan@bluemoonastrology.com for instructions. It’s EASY.
 
Please send your letters to:
 
Charlie Hales: mayorcharliehales@portlandoregon.gov
Amanda Fritz: Amanda@portlandoregon.gov
Also:
Commissioner Nick Fish nick@portlandoregon.gov  
Commissioner Steve Novick novick@portlandoregon.gov  
Commissioner Dan Saltzman dan@portlandoregon.gov  
 
A sample letter: Modify it to express your concerns and requesting the city provide sufficient resources to alleviate this problem. Sight specific examples that you have seen. Ask them where they stand.
 
Dear Mayor Hales and Commissioner Fritz,
 
Thank you and the rest of the City Council for your support in keeping the public docks at RiverPlace safe and secure. I appreciate your providing funds in the budget last year to contract with the Multnomah County Sheriff River Patrol to patrol the RiverPlace breakwater dock allowing Portland Park Rangers to work hand in hand with the Sheriff to make the dock clean and safe for recreational boaters and the general public.
 
The continuation of the MCSRP’s contract to patrol RiverPlace is vital to keeping our community and city safe and secure.Please make this a permanent line item in your budget. 
 
Will you add this to the budget and vote for this?
 
Sincerely,
Your name

Come celebrate with Mighty Women Paddling Club at our Silent Auction on Saturday, February 27, starting at 6pm at Portland Brewing, 2730 NW 31st Ave.

Tickets are available online now - click here. $25 in advance ($30 at the door, space available) and includes buffet dinner, two beer/wine tickets and entertainment by Willamette Radio Workshop. 

We have LOTS of great items to bid on including:

• $100 gift certificate to Next  Adventure
• Tasting package for 8 at Maryhill Winery
• Passes for 4 to Portland Children's Museum
• Deluxe box of truffles from Moonstruck Chocolates
• Beer Gift Box from Laurelwood Brewery
• Pair of passes to Oregon Garden
• Roller skating passes for 5 at Oaks Park Skating Rink
• Beer Bundle Gift Certificate from Widmer Brothers Brewing
• Oregon Shakespeare Festival voucher good for 2 play tickets
• Private tasting party for 10 at Eastside Distilling

PLUS dining gift certificates for the following restaurants:

• Toro Bravo
• Little River Cafe
• Tasty n Alder/Tasty n Sons
• Full Sail Brewery
• Mediterranean Exploration Company
• Fire on the Mountain

Join DragonSports USA for our Annual Meeting & Dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory (yes, the place you always paddle by on the river!)  on Thursday, February 25 starting at 6:00 p.m. This is an opportunity to gather with your team and visit with other dragonboat/outrigger paddlers, while enjoying a convivial atmosphere, good food and drink. ​

During a short meeting, we will give away over a DOOR PRIZES, including DragonSports and Portland Race gear, and one free hour in our Chase Boat (so you can videotape your award-winning team)! 

For only $10, you’ll have a choice of 3 pastas (with Marinara sauce, Red Meat sauce or Mizithra Cheese), salad, bread, and your choice of coffee, hot tea, ice tea or milk. Dinner is topped off by Old Spaghetti Factory’s classic spumoni ice cream. (Specialty drinks, wine, beer or cocktails are also available on a no-host basis.)

Space is limited to 80 people. RSVP HERE to reserve a spot.