Projekt: Drachenbootrennen KI-SF

[DirkLonnemann]

Beim Stöbern im Internet stolperten wir über The Bay Area Dragons http://bayareadragons.org, einem Verein von Drachenbootsportlern in der "Bay Area" bei San Francisco.

Da wir in Kiel dank Bernd Lensch, Initiator und Organisator der Kieler Drachenboottage (http://www.kielerdrachenboottage.de/), auch wissen, wie man Drachenboote schnell auf dem Wasser vorwärts bewegt, kam die Idee, für das Vereinsziel "Menschen verbinden" eine Aktivität zu planen.

Bernd Lensch ließ sich nicht lange bitten und versandte eine Einladung via Email an den Vereinsvorstand der "The Bay Area Dragons". Dabei geht es um die Teilnahme der Bay Area Dragons an den Kieler Drachenboottagen am 9. September. Ein Boot würde vom Veranstalter gestellt werden, so Bernd Lensch zuversichtlich.

Jetzt hoffen wir, dass der Verein, der übrigens den Slogan "Born to be BAD" führt, die Einladung annimmt und mit uns auf der Hörn um die Wette paddelt.

[DirkLonnemann]

Bernd Lensch berichtet, das die BAD Leute noch nicht reagiert haben.

Hanna, Peter, Gerald; könnt ihr uns unterstützen und vor Ort mal Kontakt aufnehmen?

Viele Grüsse von den Kielern!

[GerG]

oK,
muss es BAD sein!? Lese es gab ein paar innerpolitische Zerwuerfnisse vor einigen Jahren und das damalige Team hat sich gesplittet in mehere andere Teams. Also anstelle von BAD/nur BAD koennte ich mal bei der CBDA anfragen:
The California Dragon Boat Association (CDBA) is a complete volunteer operated 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization. Our purpose is to foster the growth and development of the sport of Dragon Boating in the San Francisco Bay Area. We are a member of the Pacific Dragon Boat Association (PDBA) whose mission is to promote the sport of dragon boat racing and foster national and international dragon boat competition. The CDBA currently manages the nations largest youth Dragon Boat program and organizes the largest competitive Dragon Boat race festival in the United States.

[DirkLonnemann]

oK,
muss es BAD sein!? Lese es gab ein paar innerpolitische Zerwuerfnisse vor einigen Jahren und das damalige Team hat sich gesplittet in mehere andere Teams. Also anstelle von BAD/nur BAD koennte ich mal bei der CBDA anfragen:
....

Gerne doch! Wir wollen Menschen verbinden, die unsere Ideen teilen. Damit sind wir nicht nur auf einen Verein / Verband fixiert.
CBDA und / oder andere werden von den "Kieler Drachenbootlern" herzlich empfangen, das ist ganz sicher.

[GerG]

Habe die Einladung der BAD Vorsitzenden(Emmy(sp?)) im Umschlag heute beim novice race in Foster City übergeben. Sie wollen darüber ein Meeting abhalten, um zu entscheiden. Hauptproblem ist, dass der 9te September mitten in ihre Vorbereitungen zum 22nd Annual Northern California Intl. Dragon Boat Festival, Lake Merrit, Oakland(siehe sfdragonboat.com) fällt. Das gilt wohl für alle Bay Area Teams.
Möglicherweise Einladung an die CDBA direkt schicken, um weiteres Netz zu spannen?
Awareness für Kiel ist jedenfalls jetzt bei BAD vorhanden und eine Antwort wird demnächst folgen.

[DirkLonnemann]

...
Möglicherweise Einladung an die CDBA direkt schicken, um weiteres Netz zu spannen?
...

Das klingt doch hervorragend, gratuliere!
Eine Einladung an CDBA ist ebenfalls gerne gesehen. So haben wir gute Chancen, dass die Gruppen sich gegenseitig besuchen, gemeinsam wettkämpfen und austauschen.

Ich schicke dir bald ein paar englischsprachige Unterlagen zur Weitergabe an Interessierte in SF.

[DirkLonnemann]

........
there are a great many dragon boat teams in our area, and it is hard to know who is who. Therefore, I checked around several "corners" to get to someone who has an overview, and I finally got a satisfactory answer: Please feel free to share this email with Bernd as well, especially, since he should clarify the situation for us as an orientation for possibilities not just now, but also in the future:
1) Is Kiel looking for a whole team - i.e. 20 paddlers plus a steer person?
or
2) would they consider accommodating a few interested individuals fromSan Francisco, in case 1) cannot be provided at this time?

I discussed the situation with a few people, explaining the details and referring also to the non-answer you had received. (No one seemed to know the individual who wrote to you).
Finally, one person, who knows all the clubs and the presidents of the clubs around here, reached out to her former teammates, including the recent previous president and VP of CDBA (California Dragon Boat Association). The latter two suggested to email the current president and VP of external relations of the CDBA:

J. K.
H. C.

I think this is a good idea, since they can reach out to all Northern California teams and come up with possibilities.

If further help is needed, let me know. We can reach out to several more people. But I think this should be a good start. And contacting those two people would bode well for the future!
Although I do not know the names of the recent previous president and VP, you can refer to their recommendation that we contact the "currents", since there are interesting prospects for the future.

We are in the midst of boating season, with training and trial races. Everyone is busy preparing for the 2017 Northern California International Dragon Boat Festival, sept.23 - 24, (on nearby Lake Merrit). Note that this is "international" (maybe the Kielers would be interested?).
The Kiel event being just two weeks before that event here might be an obstacle to get a whole NorCal team to Kiel this year - but individual boaters might still want to go to Kiel as well...

Other boating:

I myself have only experience in sailing and kayaking on the Bay.
My trainer, on the other hand, is an avid boat racer, especially in the outrigger canoe ocean racing. Dragon Boat paddlers are sometimes cross training with the Outrigger Canoe teams, but the dragon boaters race mostly on one of our numerous lakes or other calmer lagoon-type waters, as far as I know. While she has participated in (at least one) dragon boat race, she prefers having to fight the wavy and choppy waters of the ocean in the outrigger canoe races.
Her team is extremely good, they race successfully even against native Hawaiian teams between the Hawaiian islands. Their schedule is also booked through September . However, I think she might be interested to come to Kiel for the dragon boat event. Any possibilities?

So another question for the future would be, if Kiel has might have any interest in outrigger canoe events also. I suppose this could also be done on the Baltic, even if it does not exist already.

So, please contact the CDBA people - best for all purposes also for the future, share this email also with Bernd, and do keep me in the loop. I would like to maintain informed contact with the people who have made such an effort on our behalf. I am sure they would come through again, if further help is needed.
...

[DirkLonnemann]

We will sign the citizenship between us soon, on a September day during Kiel Digital Week.

Our Dragon boat idea with unique or mixed SF / Kiel team(s) could be a very strong signal to the public for the power of our organisation. I’m pretty sure that we might get strong tailwind by newspapers here and there.

You should know that our Dragon boat event is more a funrace than a serious competition. Dozens of team celebrate themselves, wear costumes and each other has a lot of fun. Finally we have a VIP race with teams from CAU (University), a mixed prominent sportsmen Kiel-Team, the economic leaders of Kiel, a Kiel employee team and, hopefully, a unique team from SF and/or a mixed Bay Areas Team with members from SF and Kiel.
We would welcome anyone coming from abroad. They will be supported, get a homestay if they want to they will get an unforgettable hospitality by the organizers and our members.

Btw, actually we have guest sailor from SF here at Kiel Week. He is participating in the Laser Radial race and is enjoying a homestay within the family of Axel. Lately we had fun together at a Kiel Week evening cruise with colleagues of EC/FEL.

Other Boating
is interesting as well. Kiel has a great basis with Kieler Kanu Club and Akademischer Ruderclub Kiel. Actually we are not in contact with them, but I will try to make it.

I´ll get in contact soon with CDBA representatives soon.

Let me end with a suggestion how to be best informed at any time about the activities of our organisation. We have introduced the https://forum.the-bay-areas.de as THE “information hub”. I kindly ask you to register, to take part and to work on it. This is the only and most effective way to keep in touch with ALL the news from TBA.

[DirkLonnemann]

Zwischenstandsmeldung:

Leider haben wir noch keine Antwort erhalten, ob und wer aus San Francisco an unsrem Rennen teilnehmen möchte.

Unsere "San Francisco TBA Gruppe" kümmert sich am 17.07. in einer internen Sitzung darum und wird dann wohl einen letzten Kontaktversuch unternehmen. Viel Glück dabei!

Wenn es Neuigkeiten gibt, dann veröffentlichen wir sie hier

[DirkLonnemann]

... good and not so good news for you: the good good news is that there is definitely interest on part of individual boaters, even for this year. One of them I know, the other one I do not know. Both want to know what the accommodations would be like , and I cannot answer the question.
At any rate, it would mean quite a bit of figuring out, since they would have to squeeze this in somehow between their already scheduled races.
By the way, around here competition is always friendly but serious. THAT is considered fun. This is our mindset.

Also, just this week there was a group of enthusiastic high- school students downtown carrying huge signs; they were fundraising for their Dragon Boat team!

So, there IS interest.

The not so good news is that you will probably not have any results for this year:
1) TheCDBA connection will apparently not work for THIS year. We can discuss this in Kiel.
2) For the two interested serious boaters there would be much coordination necessary - probably illusory at this point.
3) High School might be a great opportunity, but this would have to be coordinated with the school, and no one has the time to do this for now.

Moreover,
Currently, there seems to be no clarity in our group as to WHO will assume responsibility for this. ....

Best,
Renata

Das ist ein erster guter Ansatz, finde ich.

Bitte alle Unterstützer hier und per PN an DL und Bernd Lensch melden, um die Koordination der Einladung für die beiden interessierten SF-Drachenbootler schnell umsetzen zu können.