Recreational Paddler Added to Membership

Thanks to the inspiration of Nothin’ Dragon alumnus, Ric Tesan, in 2023, the Alumni Paddle was formed and quickly morphed into our Recreational Paddle in 2024.

This is a casual paddle opportunity for our alumni to get back in the boat and keep enjoying the sport.

The creation of a recreational membership, was voted in during a Nothin’ Dragon Paddling Society meeting in 2024, and allows those over 50 years and new to dragon boat to give it a try.

It also assists existing Nothin' Dragon teammates to get more time on the water, recover after injury, try new positions, and build leadership.

The ‘rec paddle’ takes place on Wednesday mornings at Rocky Point Park.

A big thank you to teammates, Steve Mason who has helped with this endeavour from inception, and to Michele Joel and Bev McKenna, our rec paddle manager and assistant manager.

Interested in joining us in 2025 and beyond? Email us at nothindragonmasters@gmail.com to inquire about membership.

Results of the 2021 Annual General Meeting

Nothin’ Dragon Masters held out AGM on Oct. 28 in the Centennial Room of the Dogwood Pavilion in Coquitlam.

Several positions on the executive were up for nomination and voting in.

Congratulations to returning and new executive members:

President: Brian Kenny
Vice President: Brent Murphy
Treasurer: Willie Savage
Secretary: Linda Corcoran
Fundraising: Sandra Foubert
Race Registrar: Warren Fox
Captain: Denise Nelson
Asst. Captain: Steven Chung

Committee members:

Boat Maintenance: Warren Fox
Coffee Mornings: Trish and John Wintle
Communications: Marjorie Wong
Dragon Boat Management: Linda Corcoran / Denise Nelson
Equipment (Tents): Ed Foss
Membership: Cheryl Plume
Old Mill Boathouse Liaison: Pat Johnson
Recycling: Julie Asselstine
Safety: Donna Nyberg
Social (parties): Darlene Galer
Sunshine: Elizabeth Scales
Uniforms: Laney Bryenton
Boat Booking Agent: Vacant

Team members of Nothin’ Dragon Masters at the AGM held at Dogwood Pavilion’s Centennial Room.

Nothin' Dragon Competes at Concord Pacific Dragon Boat Festival

After a long break due to the pandemic the Nothin’ Dragon Masters were excited to participate in one racing event this year, that being the Concord Pacific Dragon Boat Festival in Vancouver, BC on Sept. 25.

The team had been training throughout the summer so it was great to put what was learned by Coach Kris Lepianka to the test. There was lots of excitement and a near boat crash, but it was great to be out racing again.

Approximately 30 teams participated in the internationally recognized event which usually has around 200 teams from around the world.

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Trish ad Steve stretching it out before the next race.

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Coming in after semi-finals (Boat #6)

Santa Crashes Nothin' Dragon Zoom Christmas Party

It’s been nine months since Covid reared its ugly head, and that’s a long time for this team to be apart from each other. Our longest break is traditionally between our Christmas party usually held at the Pitt Meadows Golf and Country Club and our startup for the new season usually in late March or early April.

Despite coming together for weekly virtual training with Coach Kris and yoga with Dorota, our AGM was the first time we attempted a mass online gathering. We’re proud to say it went very well.

We decided to tackle a Christmas Zoom party, and the executive got to work with test meetings and putting together an agenda that would move things along and hopefully be entertaining. Well, the word must have gotten out, because, at the start of the meeting, none other than Santa himself showed up to cheer on the team and provide encouragement. Thank you, Santa!

We watched our aerial footage of the Inlet Spring Regatta by Jon Ross Films and then went into our first breakout rooms. Zoom can automatically move the large group into smaller groups for discussion purposes. This made it easier for everyone to have their say, which can be difficult in a larger online meeting. We had about 40 in attendance.

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Happy smiling faces!

In between breakout rooms of about 4–5 people each, we got back together to play Kahoot with trivia questions organized by Pat W. Kahoot is a game-based learning platform, used as educational technology in schools and other educational institutions.

Some of our Kahoot questions set up by Pat were:

1. What Christmas carol became the first song ever broadcast from space in 1965?

2. What is the most popular meal for Christmas in Japan?

3. There is banana, creme de menthe and what in a Horny Monkey?

4. How many calories are burned by kissing someone under the mistletoe for one minute?

5. How many ghosts are there in the movie, A Christmas Carol?

It was so much fun! It felt like being in a game show with bells and chimes and auto-tabulating. To make it even more exciting and challenging, scores were based on correct answers and speed. Thank you Pat for setting up!

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Even our former coach, Erica showed up. She whooped our butts at Kahoo too!

Everyone really enjoyed the breakout rooms as they were a little more intimate and we did this three times, allowing new groups to come together each time. Teammates could talk about anything they liked, or prompts were given like:

How are you spending the holidays this year?
If you could travel anywhere for Christmas, where would you go?
Most memorable Christmas present as a kid?
Favourite Christmas food?
What are you cooking this year?
Best Dragon Boat memory?
What are you grateful for?

During a midway break, we played a video of the Santa Ships that recently visited Rocky Point, as well as a video of our win in the Great Grand Dragon Race in Victoria in 2017.

There were lots of door prizes! We gave out a choice of red wine, white wine, beer, or a box of chocolates. Prizes were claimed Sunday morning at the Old Mill Boathouse from the Santa truck. Thank you Brian!

Before we wrapped up for the evening, Darlene gave out prizes for the best Christmas sweater and best overall Zoom presentation (outfit and backdrop). Congrats to Steve C. for the best sweater award, and Julie and Brian for their lovely Christmas ensemble.

Another surprise of the evening is when Laney announced she and Rob were grandparents to a baby girl. She had just received the text from her son during the party!

After the evening finished up, a handful of us hung out virtual chatting afterward. Overall another huge success. Merry Christmas one and all!

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Santa truck for pickup of prizes by our winners on Sunday morning. (Thanks Brian!)

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ANSWERS to the trivia questions above:

1. Jingle Bells

2. Kentucky Fried Chicken

3. Irish creme

4. Two

5. Four