BEI LOON DRAGON BOAT CLUB

FROM THE PRESIDENT

The Club achieved outstanding results at the recent Masters Games in Canberra. We came home winning medals in 11 various events. It was very impressive how Bei Loon competed strongly against the various composite crews stacked with many representative paddlers. A big thank you to Libby for organising the accommodation and the Coaches for all the hard work in entering and seating all our teams.

I do have knowledge of an interesting story from the trip home, no names in this forum. I am sure most of you are aware of the last Service Centre coming into Sydney called Pheasants Nest. One of our vehicles travelling home on Monday thanks to GPS Navigation discovered that there is another Pheasants Nest that looked nothing like the big Service Centre but I am told wide open spaces. (see photos below to identify our explorers)

Have a read of the information below on conduct at Regattas and boat loading and please follow them as closely as possible.

Lastly and most importantly, a big congratulations to Steve for his appointment as the Senior C Coach of the NSW State Team. An appointment well deserved after all his years of dedicated service to Dragon Boating and outstanding results as the Head Coach of Bei Loon. I am sure that with Steve’s coaching skills those results will continue with the Senior C State crews.

Neil Jones – President

Congratulations Steve

UPDATE FOR PADDLERS TRYING OUT FOR STATES

EOI closing date is now 9^th November, 2025

Good luck to any of our Bei Loon Paddlers trying out for State Teams

Some Pics from the Masters

Picture 1 – George still trying to work out how a mobile phone works

Picture 2 – Sarah ecstatic that Bei Loon knows how to do The Nutbush.

Picture 3 – Our new television stars Neil and Andrea.

Picture 4 – Discovery of the new Pheasants Nest.

ARRIVAL OF NEW BOATS UPDATE

Further to George's 15 October 'Master Plan' new boats delivery email, I can advise that the boats are now on the high seas and are due to arrive in Sydney towards the end of the 2nd week in November.

Bei Loon will retain our Pink (2014) and Black (2018) boats and welcome our new blue and green boats to Rowland Reserve.

One of our old Red boats (2012) is now on the water around Port Macquarie and the other will be gifted to Pittwater, who in turn will be gifting their older Orange boat to FFB.

Pittwater are great friends and the use of their two boats for our annual 8km Race enables 2 more crews per race and provides us with $1,470 in paddler fees per race (x 4 races).

Once we have specific delivery details, George will communicate with work party volunteers to finalise movements on the day.

If you may be able to assist and have not as yet registered, please let George know gwwebster@hotmail.com

UPCOMING REGATTAS

Unfortunately, DBNSW has advised that the November 9th Regatta will not be going ahead. Therefore, our next Regatta will be Round 3 on Sunday 14^th December, 2025. Please put your names down before the deadline date of 28^th November, 2025.

BOAT ETIQUETTE AT REGATTAS

RACING CONDUCT AND CONDUCT IN THE BOAT

The sweep is in charge of the boat on the water; therefore, it is important to listen out for and respond quickly to their instructions.

There should be no talking once your team is in the boat. The sweep and drummer must be able to communicate with the team and each other at all times and all team members need to be able to hear the commands.

The only other person to talk in the boat is the captain of the team.

It is important to keep focus in the boat and not to be concerned with other teams on the water.

LOADING INTO THE BOAT

The sweep always gets into the boat first when loading.

The Captain is generally responsible for coordinating the loading of the boat, listen to the captain’s calls on what seat to load. It is very important that each paddler knows their seat position particularly what side of the boat.

When the team starts to load, the boat is usually loaded from front seat to back seat first then seat 2 seat 9 seat 3 seat 8 etc. When your seat number is called load from the middle of the boat and make your way to your allocated seat.  The paddlers from the middle seats may need to assist in holding the boat.

If the boat is nose first on a beach, then the team loads from seat 10 first then 9, 8, 7 etc.  The drummer and/or strokes may need to assist in holding the boat.

Unloading is the same procedure in reverse.

RECENT INCIDENT

One of the reasons for that reminder is that we had a little incident at the regatta recently which led to us being reprimanded by the chief official.

Given the complexity of the situation and issues with communication between boats and boat loading officials, there was not really any point of blame.  But better discipline in the boat would improve our ability to communicate and make decisions and help avoid similar incidents in future.

Here is a summary of what happened:

Due to a late change after team lists had been printed, we had to change reserves/seating in some teams.  Our intention was to allow race 19 (Snr B Mixed final) to proceed without having to wait for race 18 (Snr A Mixed heat) to come back, but we made a mistake and one paddler ended up being listed in both teams.

Marshalling and Boat Loading officials were already trying to manage one or more other teams in a similar situation.  They had sent off some Snr B teams to clear space on the pontoon, and were trying to call in the Snr A boats where paddlers were still required by the remaining Snr B teams.  Around this time many people became aware of our conflict and we were added to the list of boats to be called in / turned around.

The Chief Boat Loader directed our Snr A boat to remain off the pontoon and leave room for other boats to unload/swap paddlers into Snr B teams.  It wasn’t clear to us whether he was aware that we also needed to do the same thing.

Our Snr B team, being concerned about being able to make it to the start line, and unaware of whether the situation was being addressed (they were in lane 1 – quite a distance from the Chief Boat Loader, with no clear communication), departed their loading area.  They rafted up alongside our Snr A boat and transferred our paddler, before proceeding to the start line and racing successfully.

The problem with those actions is that it is significant infringement to swap paddlers on the water / outside of boat loading.  There are several reasons for that, around safety and accountability, but one of the clearest ones is that if boats were allowed to change paddlers outside of the controlled procedures, it opens up opportunities for cheating when competition gets serious.

We can all contribute to reducing problems by eliminating unnecessary talking in the boat, and by trusting the sweep’s decisions and directions.

Thanks,

Steve.

SOCIAL NEWS

The welcome BBQ held on Sunday 26^th October, was a great success. Thanks to Kathy and her crew

for their organisation and providing us all with great food. The next big social event is Sunday 7^th December, 2025 for the Christmas BBQ so don’t forget to RSVP on team app. 

PROFILE – One of our ex-Presidents

For two decades, Gayle and her family called the Adelaide Hills home. It didn’t take long before Gayle’s love of wine grew into something a little more… hands-on. Why just drink it, she thought, when you can make it?

So, they planted a small pinot noir vineyard in their backyard — about 250 vines in all — with six different cultivars for a bit of complexity (and a touch of chaos). Pinot noir, as any winemaker will tell you, is a fickle friend. It’s tricky in the vineyard, temperamental in the winery, and gloriously unpredictable in the bottle. 

The heart of operations was not your usual house — a cellar and a winemaking room that shared space with the family laundry. Each season’s harvest produced enough juice to fill a single oak barrique — that’s 225 litres, or roughly 300 bottles of lovingly crafted, occasionally exasperating, and always personal wine.

Each vintage became a community affair, with friends rallying to help with the picking and pressing. Gayle even tried to involve her son and his friends.  At first, the idea of “foot-stomping” the grapes sounded like fun — rustic, energetic.  But the magic wore off quickly when they learned that hygiene rules required washing their feet in a weak antiseptic solution first. Suddenly, enthusiasm dried up fast! – Gayle – a great friend to have.