Another major thing I learned was to steer around stall outs. By this, I mean that you need to anticipate when your canoe is in a situation where if you keep going, you are going to stall out (i.e. burry your nose into the wave in front of you, not have enough umph to carry you over that next bump, or when you are going to miss a wave and have it pass underneath you). Whenever I feel my boat is about to stall out, I steer around that stall out (usually right to keep the ama down-wave) and keep as much momentum as I can.
By steering around stall outs, you can change the angle of your canoe relative to the waves and prevent being completely perpendicular to the wave. When you “see-saw” (i.e. your boat is perpendicular to the wave as the wave rolls under you), you lose all your speed as the tail will not release until the nose starts to point down again, lifting the tail. By the time that happens, you have lost all your speed and missed a wave. If you don’t do something different, you’ll likely miss the next wave too.
Instead, try to steer right or left so that your canoe is at an angle to the wave. By doing this, your tail won’t get sucked down as your nose goes up. Your tail will release sooner and you’ll maintain more speed, allowing you to catch that next runner instead of missing another bump.
In short, steer around situations where your nose is going to be pointed up instead of down. Avoid going “nose up” any way you can; you’ll surf faster and link more rides.
Trent Parke - Google Blog Search Result - My Google Reader - Fri 17 Dec 2010
Most days I will get one or two alerts come through on my Google Reader. Normally, they don't lead to anything interesting or something I don't already know about him. However, I received an alert that quickly drew my attention. It was titled:
A bit of a ramble to follow. I have known of Geoff Dyer for sometime. At least since around the time of the publication of his book, the The Ongoing Moment (Guardian Review - 16 Oct 2005). A novel and rather modest approach to writing about photography - he claims that he does not even own a camera:
"I am not a photographer ... I don't even own a camera."
I enjoyed the book and appreciated his knowledge of photography. In particular I enjoyed his writing style and the metaphors he used to get his ideas across - you will see this in his article on Trent.
[on writing about the book, The Seventh Wave] The surface of the sea is a film separating two worlds, that of water and that of air. Though absolute the distinction is perpetually on the brink of dissolving, melting away. People fly through the water as if suspended in a turbulent sky, or float through great clouds of aquatic light. That’s what water is for Parke and Autio – liquid light. Forms dissolve, blur, swim into and out of focus. Quick and silver, the water is a flash-flood of mercury.
On to Trent Parke. I have followed his progress since he was photographer with the Sydney Morning Herald back in the early 2000's. He had two photos in the first Sydney Looking Forward Exhibtion back in 2002. I wrote about one of the photos here. Indeed the post is one of the more popular pages residing in my little blog.
In 2003 I bought two copies of the two books he had published at that stage:
Both books appear to be long out of print, by the looks of the Amazon Used Books prices.
Looks like I have done alright with these purchases (they were about $50 each from the Stills Gallery). I could not help myself other than to buy two copies of each. They were just beautiful. I have a soft/weak spot for photography books. I can remember catching the train after work, upto Kings Cross and then walking into Paddington to the Stills Gallery. I took quite a few photos with my litte IXUS. Must drag them out of the archive to find out the exact date of purchase of the books. A job for another day.
I will close with a quote from Geoff Dyer's article on Trent:
Later works will continue but intensify the Dream/Life vision so that, at its most extreme, Sydney becomes a kind of ghost city, in the process of being annihilated by light. A passer-by will be transformed into an accidental super-hero: Solar-man, a bleached absence of pure radiance! (Part of the fascination of this picture is of the photographer-as-magician kind: how did he do that? The difference between magic and photography is that the spell remains unbroken even when the technical explanation - which, in any case, I cannot recall - is forthcoming. [GeoffE: maybe some discussion here will help: How is this done? (Trent Parke) at photo.net - 31 Mar 2004)]
White Man, 2001 - Circular Quay/Sydney (GeoffE: at guess!) - Trent Parke
An article by the Sydney Morning Herald's Tim Clayton giving some background to the working environment that Trent Parke evolved.
Joanne, Jenny and Geoff - Hawkesbury Canoe Classic 2006 - Windsor - Sat 28 Oct 2006 (picasa)
In 2006, Jenny, Joanne (Jenny's younger identical twin) and myself (Jenny's husband) decided to do the Hawkesbury Canoe Classic (HCC) with our paddling club, Pacific Dragons. By mid June 2006, there was enough interest to enter three mixed OC6's crews.
At the time we, along with a number of other PD's paddlers (see picasa), some who were also paddling the HCC, had also been selected to represent Australia at the 2006 Asian Dragon Boat Championships in Macau in late Sep 2006 (see picasa). It was great campaign and we even learnt how to paddle and race standing up.
On our return, via Singapore for a Breast Cancer Survivor Dragon Boat Regatta for Jenny, we had about four weeks to prepare for the HCC. Our team comprised of 5 paddlers from the Macau Campaign (Mandy, Nicci, Jenny, Joanne and Geoff) and Paul who would do the majority of our steering. We were commonly referred to as the Macau Crew, but we decided to call ourselves Team Happy for our team entry application, as we were a happy bunch of paddlers. We were in it for fun and we did have a whole 13 hours of fun and finished strongly standing up.
A year later, I was asked 3 days before the 2007 HCC to fill a seat, in a Mixed OC6, that had become vacant due to a paddler injury. They were called the Red Devil's and had been training seriously for months. They wanted to have fun, but they also wanted to break the Mixed OC6 record, which they did. I was pleased to help out at such short notice and have fond memories of the crew and night (see picasa). Jenny and Joanne even came to the start line to wave us off (picasa). It was a nice surprise as I was not expecting them to come out because of a Breast Cancer Seminar they attended that day in the City.
Sadly, we lost Jenny on Tue 30 Jun 2009. Joanne and I have tried to live fulfilling lives, something that Jenny wanted for us. We have paddled in her memory and honour. She inspires and guides us from above. It is barely 12 months, and we already have some great memories.
In 2009, Joanne and I did not paddle the HCC. We had only just returned from Europe after the 2009 World Dragon Boat Championships. I was able help out at quite few training sessions towards the end, and Joanne and I went to the start line to wave the PD's Mixed OC12 crew off (picasa). Lisa has some great recollections of her experience (see Part: 1, 2 and 3).
In 2010, Jo and I will paddle the HCC.
Shortly after Jenny's passing, the 2009, Prague bound, Australian Dragon Boat Squad presented Jo and I with a gift in Jenny's memory. It was a Star, located in the southern sky, named In the Memory of Jenny Petterson in the Constellation of Vela. Vela is latin for Sail and the star was picked because of the Constellation's water themed name.
Jenny, believed the 2006 HCC was an experience that created life time memories, which it surly does, as anyone who has paddled the HCC will tell you. She fondly recalled (see more further below):
It was such a great experience under a sky filled with thousands of stars.
It is something that we will be able to look back on for the rest of our lives.
So when it came time to name our 2010 Mixed OC6 (Charlotte, Rachel, Jo, Alasdair, Graeme and Geoff) Team, I tried to think of a name that allowed us to remember Jenny and to inspire us. It had to be Team ?? following our 2006 tradition. It did not take long to come up with Team Vela which I think allows us recognise the past, present and future.
I hope this goes some way to explaining the name - Team Vela.
This post includes some photos and recollections from the 2006 HCC, as well as a couple of inspirational quotes.
We will remember Jenny as we paddle under a thousand stars. In particular, we will remember Jenny and the star named in Jenny's Memory in the Constellation of Vela as it shines down brightly upon us from the southern sky.
Go Team Vela! - the most fantastic team on the Hawkesbury!!!!
Regards .. Geoff
Joanne, Jenny and Geoff - Hawkesbury Canoe Classic 2006 - Windsor - Sat 28 Oct 2006 (picasa)
On our return from Macau a routine CT scan showed that I had an accumulation of fluid around my lung. I had it drained so I was able to take part in the Hawkesbury Canoe Classic. This is an 111 kilometre race from Windsor to Brooklyn along the Hawkesbury River. All types of craft including kayaks, canoes, outrigger canoes and surf skis take part in the race. It was a fantastic experience. I was a member of a six person team who paddled an outrigger canoe. Geoff and Jo were also in the team. We set off at 6pm and paddled through the night arriving 13 hours later. It was such a great experience under a sky filled with thousands of stars.
Pacific Dragons Crews and Supporters - Hawkesbury Canoe Classic 2006 - Windsor - Sat 28 Oct 2006 (picasa)
Jenny and Joanne - Hawkesbury Canoe Classic 2006 - Windsor - Sat 28 Oct 2006 (picasa)
"A single step repeated hundreds and thousands of times would see us eventually arrive at the end. It did not take superhuman strength or a talent that most do not have. It took a steadfast commitment. Step by step, the miles added up and the challenges slipped by. Today just like those days on the trail, is another step. Tomorrow is yet another. I walk this journey in anticipation of the end, but I also know that there is much to learn in the process. It is the process, no matter what the hardship where great beauty and adventure can be found."
Sunrise - Hawkesbury Canoe Classic 2006 - Hawkesbury River - Sun 29 Oct 2006 (picasa)
Sunrise - Hawkesbury Canoe Classic 2006 - Hawkesbury River - Sun 29 Oct 2006 (picasa)
Respect your soul: don’t keep repeating "I’m going to make it". Your soul already knows that, what it needs is to use the long journey to be able to grow, stretch along the horizon, touch the sky. An obsession does not help you at all to reach your objective, and even ends up taking the pleasure out of the climb. But pay attention: also, don’t keep saying "it’s harder than I thought", because that will make you lose your inner strength.
Team Happy - Geoff, Jenny, Mandy, Jo, Nicci and Paul - Hawkesbury Canoe Classic 2006 - Brooklyn - Sun 29 Oct 2006 (picasa)
Sarah and Gav - Hawkesbury Canoe Classic 2006 - Brooklyn - Sun 29 Oct 2006 (picasa)
Gav wrote on Mon 30 Oct 2006 ..
PDs, There are some very inspirational people in this club. They won't jump out at you, and they won't tell you about it - but if you stop, look and listen you will see immense courage, inner strength, and team work mixed in with a joke and a smile.
3 PD OC6s + Claire on her ski, showed some true grit on the weekend by finishing the Hawkesbury, and in good time. Each paddler taking 40,000 strokes through the night (give or take a couple).
For a race so long, you can't start the race with the mind set and strength you need to finish it. It's impossible. You have to find it along the way. Brutal mind games that get played out as the kms tick over.
The paddlers have to dig deeper and deeper in themselves in order to keep going and enduring the pain and extreme fatigue.
In the darkness, they imagine the sweet sweet moment at the finish line where they realise their goal of conquering the distance, and finally allowing their bodies to stop.
Sometimes it feels like it is getting further away. But when it finally, actually, really happens - PADDLES OUT- the sense of achievement mixed with relief is overwhelming and pure ecstasy.
Tears, smiles and hugs all round.
After the Hawkesbury, your concept of distance and yourself changes forever. From then on, you are never again afraid of 'not being able to finish' a race. It is now just a question of how hard you can go.
Well done to the 'Amazing 18' !!! May we all be made of the same stuff.
There is only one way to find out.
Joanne and Jenny - Hawkesbury Canoe Classic 2006 - Brooklyn - Oct 2006 (picasa)
On Wed 1 Nov 2006, Jenny wrote ..
Thank you all so much for the wonderful experience. It was unbelievable and seems like a bit of a dream now. It was truly an honour to be a part of Team Happy. It is something that we will be able to look back on for the rest of our lives.
We cannot thank you Gav, Sarah, Tamara and Luke (and for that matter, all of the other land crews) enough for all the support you gave us. You all made things so easy for us and looked after us soooo well. We could never have done it without you. From helping us on and off the boat, keeping us warm, feeding us, helping us change and massaging our weary bodies. You are the best!
Go Team Happy! - the most fantastic team on the Hawkesbury!!!!
I really enjoy steering an OC6 and I often find myself steering an OC6 at my regular training sessions. I try to pickup useful tips from the various Outrigging web sites - ausoutrigger.com and ocpaddler.com. Found the following question and responses very informative.
"I paddle OC-6 and my coach suggested I work on feeling the boat. [..] Honestly I really have no idea what he is talking about so I just keep paddling hoping one day the mystery will be solved. Any clues?"
When I steer an OC6, in certain sections, I ask the crew to feel the water. Anyway, some nice responses to this question and the whole discussion is worth reading. For me, the following response by Hiro C. resonates the most:
"when sitting in a car or a plane, you can close your eyes and you can fell when it goes faster or slower, you can feel if it is turning. In the canoe, try to get focused on those feelings. You should feel when a wave is pushing or pulling the canoe. You will feel when it’s gliding and when it’s not."
21 SEPTEMBER - 21 OCTOBER 2012 CENTRAL WALKWAY HYDE PARK NORTH
With a unique lens on who we are and the city we live in, the finalists in this year’s much-loved Sydney Life exhibition capture our city in fresh and surprising ways.From a close-up on the personal to a wide-angle view on our collective joys and sorrows, the stunning large-scale photographs of this year’s 22 finalists are as diverse, interesting and exciting as Sydney itself. Wander beneath the canopy of leaves and see images that reveal a city which never ceases to fascinate.
Sydney Life Tours
Join Sydney Life judge Sandy Edwards for a free tour of this year’s exhibition.
Known as a passionate ambassador for issues relating to design and the environment, Liane presented Happy Talk with Heidi Dokulil at last year’s Art & About Sydney. Other recent work includes Supercyclers, a design project focused on clever and beautiful re-use of waste shown at Milan Design Week. Liane was also a co-founder and former designer and director of Dinosaur Designs.
Moshe Rosenzveig
Moshe Rosenzveig is the founder and director of Head On Photo Festival, the world’s second-largest event of its kind which runs in Sydney annually in May.
His career spans over 30 years as a photojournalist, commercial photographer, educator and an award winning television producer/director whose work has been screened, published and exhibited in Australia and overseas.
Sandy Edwards
Sandyis the founder of ARTHERE – an organisation that provides services to photographers for exhibitions and projects in Sydney and Australia. She is also a curator at Stills Gallery,Sydney’s most established photography gallery
Page 14 - Sydney Life - Art and About 2012
Page 15 - Sydney Life - Art and About 2012
The Sydney Life Prize
Congratulations to Sally McInerney, the 2012 winner of the Sydney Life Prize. The judges determined that Sally’s image ‘Shark in pool, Dover Heights’ was the most outstanding work in the selection of 22 finalists, and have awarded her the prize of $10,000.
The 2012 Sydney Life Prize - Sally McInerney - Shark in pool
The Finalists
01 Adrian Cook (*) / blog (*): Dog Day Afternoon. Winner of the Wenty Park Mongrel Cup 2011.
Marco Bok (*) / SMH:Tue 10 Jan 2006 (*): Lifesavers Bondi Beach. Candid photo of a lifesaving exercise. From a large unpublished series on Bondi Beach made whilst living there.
Garry Trinh (*) / Google (*): Super Size Hamburger. A re-examining of everyday life in Sydney.
Graham Monro (*) / blog (*): Modern Family. A typical Sydney family in 2012, everyone is connected, but no one is talking.
Jennifer Blau (*) / blog (*): It’s time to wake up and become sustainable. Walking in the bush opposite her home on Sydney’s North Shore, Robyn calls for a more sustainable life.
Maylei Hunt (*) / Google (*): Let Them Eat Wedding Cake. Sydney residents have been taking the streets to protest for the Equal Rights for Gay Marriage in Australia. It’s time.
Ingvar Keene (*): Cormac Malabar Pool. Last light and last swim after a long hot summer day.
Louise Whelan (*) / Google (*): By the Pool. Kira Hula Hoops beside the pool for the 75th Anniversary of North Sydney Pool.
Lyndal Irons (*) / blog (*): Wash n’ Wax Ronaldinho. Youths spend Saturday night playing football at a late night carwash in Concord. From the series Parramatta Road.
Jenny Evans (*) / Google (*): Above Sydney. Dudley Page Reserve in Dover Heights provides a stunning view of Sydney Harbour.
Hugh Peterswald (*) / Google (*): Celebrity Wave Sydneysiders crowd to see US television celebrity Oprah as she leaves from her lunch in Bondi.
Matt Kaarma (*) / Google (*): Contact. Whilst Sydney parties, dines and dances, soldiers stationed on the outskirts of the city train hard for war.
Tamara Dean (*): Chelsea & Caroline Hibernian House. From my new series depicting images of young contemporary Australian women within their environments.
Daniel Gibbs (*) / blog (*): Secret Women’s Business. Girls on a school excursion in Botany Bay National Park huddle around an Aboriginal Elder to learn some secrets; I was excluded!
Roman Balla (*): Winter Sunseekers. My mother is 86 this year. On sunny winters days she tries to warm herself and her guinea pig "Squeek".
Richard Payne (*): Women Shopping in Auburn. Sydney is a diverse city and I wanted to show the diversity of life through an image of an every day activity.
Sally McInerney (*) / Google (*): Shark in pool, Dover Heights. Someone had added a shark to an estate agent’s auction sign overlooking the ocean.
Alex Davies (*) / Google (*): Hubub. Justin Shoulder drifts through Hyde Park as Hubub during APEC protests Sydney.
Ann-Maree Moodie (*) / Google (*): Bunnies on the Line. Sometimes there is such a thing as too much lovin’ and intervention is required – warm, soapy water and a day in the sun hanging from the quintessential icon of the Australian backyard.
Bryce Watanasoponwong (*): We look great. Three Sikh followers view their self-posed image, taken on a mobile phone, during the Vaisakhi festival at Martin Place.
Cassandra French (*): Historic Chinese Market Gardens. I would love to see these heritage gardens protected and preserved. They are under serious threat from the neighbouring cemetery which is looking for more land for burial plot
Deb Kent (*): Cake on a Hot Summer’s Day. On a sweltering hot summers day the rosy cheeked party girls stand watching their cakes melt away.
Definitely worth the wait to see all the action starting just before half way into the video. Great top view of the nose of the OC1, with glimpses of Partick's arms to see the rate changes and where the effort is being put in. The arma is kept very light at all times - you can see it popping every stroke, particularly when paddling on the right. Also flys the arma when on a wave.
Planning to get into some OC1 paddling in the new year. Need to get some more Ocean experience. Will have to get myself one of those GoPro Cameras. Will look around to see how paddlers set these up on their canoes (google - specifically).
I like this a lot for some reason. The sweeping wave-like hill and it's detailed surface (with figures and all), the weeping willow, and the warrior with his sword and fancy boots to match the curvature of the hill. Seems to have some Chinese influence, but it would appear to be of European heritage.
Midday Blue (Water) - Hamelin Bay - South West / Western Australia (Thu 10 Oct 2008)
Always take photos of water while I am travelling, no matter what time of the day. This was an incredibly isolated beach with not a person in sight.
For some reason I am drawn to this photo and I have it in my little folder of favourite photos on my PC (along with many others). Love the Blue (and white of the sand and small breaking wave lines) in this photo, along with the lone seagull on the sand in the lower left corner.
One of the most difficult parts of walking the early stages of cancer seems to be the waves of feelings, emotions, guilt, etc. that you feel. It is the strangest feeling. One moment you are having a normal conversation or doing simple daily tasks and SUDDENLY......WHAM you get hit by a wave of thoughts. [..]
But at times this weight lifts. And for a moment there is a lightness of being. At times as you face your mortality there are moments where the importance rests solely in a single moment. The blueness of the sky, a breeze, the warmth of the sun, a laugh with a friend, the touch of a hand, these moments sometimes sharpen the focus of life. And at once time stands still pausing in the simplicity and perfection of that moment. Maybe that is how eternity feels.
When a wave breaks, the water is not moving. The swell has travelled great distances but only the energy is moving, not the water. Perhaps time moves through us and not us through it ... the past is in us, and not behind us. Things are never over.
These words are so touching. Not really sure how to say what they make me feel - this photograph of me the day after Jenny died, might say it all? Maybe time did move through me and I am still there - I don't know really, but this photo makes it feel like it - one of those reference points in life. It also reminds me of who I was, who I have become and want to be, which when I think about is the same thing. Not sure what I'm trying to say or how (nothing unusual there). Gladly, it is never over. I have a past, it is who I am. And thankfully, I've stopped trying to be anything else.
Pacific Dragons Long Course Mixed Crew - Cronulla Outrigger Canoe Regatta (Sun 03 Mar 2013) [Youtube (*)]
Just over 2 minutes of paddling fun crossing a Sandbar half way through the race. Once the canoe goes of course slightly at these kind if speeds, it is very difficult to correct. We recovered nicely and the 6th wave later we managed to get a second chance. Heaps of fun and we learnt a lot. Thanks everyone, it was a great experience and race. A few more sections of the GoPro footage can be found at the eljeiffel YouTube site.
GPS Plot for YouTube Video - Port Hacking Sandbar and The Complete Race (Sun 03 Mar 2013)
Steph Kerr, Tim Vose, Jo Petterson, Mark Hall, Liz Cowan, Geoff Eldridge - Gunnamatta Bay (Sun 03 Mar 2013)
Sydney Life 2012 Collage - Red Pretender - The Finalists plus a few Pretenders - Art and About 2012 / Sydney (24 Aug 2012)
Sydney Life 2012 Collage - Black Pretender - The Finalists plus a few Pretenders - Art and About 2012 / Sydney (24 Aug 2012)
Above - a few variations of a Picasa Contact Sheet Collage of this year's upcoming Sydney Life (*) Finalists, plus my own two unsuccessful entries (Red and Black) at the end. Just dreaming - think I have too much time on my hands..
Now the real selection, with my initial favourite as the background:
Sydney Life 2012 Collage - Rabbits - The Finalists - Art and About / Sydney (24 Aug 2012)
Photographer and photo details:
Adrian Cook (*) / blog (*): Dog Day Afternoon. Winner of the Wenty Park Mongrel Cup 2011.
Marco Bok (*) / SMH:Tue 10 Jan 2006 (*): Lifesavers Bondi Beach. Candid photo of a lifesaving exercise. From a large unpublished series on Bondi Beach made whilst living there.
Garry Trinh (*) / Google (*): Super Size Hamburger. A re-examining of everyday life in Sydney.
Graham Monro (*) / blog (*): Modern Family. A typical Sydney family in 2012, everyone is connected, but no one is talking.
Jennifer Blau (*) / blog (*): It’s time to wake up and become sustainable. Walking in the bush opposite her home on Sydney’s North Shore, Robyn calls for a more sustainable life.
Maylei Hunt (*) / Google (*): Let Them Eat Wedding Cake. Sydney residents have been taking the streets to protest for the Equal Rights for Gay Marriage in Australia. It’s time.
Ingvar Keene (*): Cormac Malabar Pool. Last light and last swim after a long hot summer day.
Louise Whelan (*) / Google (*): By the Pool. Kira Hula Hoops beside the pool for the 75th Anniversary of North Sydney Pool.
Lyndal Irons (*) / blog (*): Wash n’ Wax Ronaldinho. Youths spend Saturday night playing football at a late night carwash in Concord. From the series Parramatta Road.
Jenny Evans (*) / Google (*): Above Sydney. Dudley Page Reserve in Dover Heights provides a stunning view of Sydney Harbour.
Hugh Peterswald (*) / Google (*): Celebrity Wave Sydneysiders crowd to see US television celebrity Oprah as she leaves from her lunch in Bondi.
Matt Kaarma (*) / Google (*): Contact. Whilst Sydney parties, dines and dances, soldiers stationed on the outskirts of the city train hard for war.
Tamara Dean (*): Chelsea & Caroline Hibernian House. From my new series depicting images of young contemporary Australian women within their environments.
Daniel Gibbs (*) / blog (*): Secret Women’s Business. Girls on a school excursion in Botany Bay National Park huddle around an Aboriginal Elder to learn some secrets; I was excluded!
Roman Balla (*): Winter Sunseekers. My mother is 86 this year. On sunny winters days she tries to warm herself and her guinea pig "Squeek".
Richard Payne (*): Women Shopping in Auburn. Sydney is a diverse city and I wanted to show the diversity of life through an image of an every day activity.
Sally McInerney (*) / Google (*): Shark in pool, Dover Heights. Someone had added a shark to an estate agent’s auction sign overlooking the ocean.
Alex Davies (*) / Google (*): Hubub. Justin Shoulder drifts through Hyde Park as Hubub during APEC protests Sydney.
Ann-Maree Moodie (*) / Google (*): Bunnies on the Line. Sometimes there is such a thing as too much lovin’ and intervention is required – warm, soapy water and a day in the sun hanging from the quintessential icon of the Australian backyard.
Bryce Watanasoponwong (*): We look great. Three Sikh followers view their self-posed image, taken on a mobile phone, during the Vaisakhi festival at Martin Place.
Cassandra French (*): Historic Chinese Market Gardens. I would love to see these heritage gardens protected and preserved. They are under serious threat from the neighbouring cemetery which is looking for more land for burial plot
Deb Kent (*): Cake on a Hot Summer’s Day. On a sweltering hot summers day the rosy cheeked party girls stand watching their cakes melt away.
Looking forward to it as usual. It is just across the road from where I work. It is fun to see the photos in situ amongst the trees and how they play with the early morning and mid afternoon light and shadows. More when the exhibition begins.
This victory has cost him anxious moments, nights racked with doubt, endless days of waiting. Since ancient times, celebrating a triumph has been part of the ritual of life itself: celebration is a rite of passage.
His companions see the warrior of light's joy and think: 'Why is he doing that? He might be disappointed in his next battle. He might draw down on himself the wrath of his enemy.'
But the warrior knows why he is celebrating. He is savouring the best gift that victory can bring: confidence.
He celebrates yesterday's victory in order to gain more strength for tomorrow's battle.
The above passage now makes me realise why we should celebrate our little successes and achievements - it is not just about celebrating the victory!!
Jenny - she has just been presented with 2006 Aus Flag Bearer Recognition Trophy (Macau 2006 - a story for another day) - Kawana - 23 Apr 2009 (picasa)
Hard to believe that 12 months has almost gone by since the 2009 AusDBF National Dragon Boat Titles at Kawana. As we go through the final selection process and complete our final training sessions, I guess it is a good time to reflect on past experiences.
We did have a great time at the 2009 Nationals and it was fantastic that Jenny was with us. The day before we flew to the Sunshine coast, Jenny had her 5th cycle of fortnightly treatment (chemo and another drug, Avastin) and was still able to paddle for her State and Club over the Regatta. She did experience numerous visual migraines at night, which a month later would be diagnosed as being caused by a 4cm brain tumor. She also worried that the tumors in her liver would cause painful cramping in her stomach, but this did not occur while she was paddling.
Jenny, Geoff and Joanne - State - Kawana - 23 Apr 2009 (picass)
Jenny, Jo and Geoff - 200m Men's and Women's Tropy's - Breakfree Resort/Caloundra - 26 Apr 2009 (picasa)
The following is a small photo essay of the "9 from 9" effort by my club, the Pacific Dragons. This result was never expected and we took it one race at a time. Each day the Women's Crew would put the race of a lifetime on the water in the final and somehow come across the line first. This then put the pressure on the Men's crew to do the same. A few strategic words, a couple of calming and distracting jokes, and the moving story of brave little Tommy , from Gav would get us on the water to do the best we could. The rest is now history.
Gav gave Eugene (my seat 1 partner) and myself, the great honour of receiving the last club trophy to be presented at the Regatta. It was an amazing moment for Eugene and I, as we held aloft the Gold Medals and 200m Open's Winning Trophy. The assembled Australian Dragon Boat Community stood and applauded the amazing and historic achievement of our club, the Pacific Dragons. I had never seen anything like it and was humbled by the genorosity of spirit the Australian Dragon Boat community displayed that day to our Coaches, Teams, and Club.
All the best to every competing at the 2010 AusDBF National Dragon Boat Championships in Adelaide over the Anzac Weekend. Look forward to some great racing and catching up with many friends, and hopefully making some new friends on and off the water.
See you in Adelaide. Jenny's Spirit and Memory will be with us. She Guides and Inspires us from Above.
PD's Premier Open 200m Final - Kawana - Sun 26 Apr 2010 (picasa)
Premier Opens 200m Final - AusDBF 2009 National Dragon Boat Champs - Kawana/Qld - Sun 26 Apr 2009 (at youtube by warwick27au)
The smile says it all - "9 from 9" - tidying up the Cox Vox cable after the Premier Open 200m Final - Anne would ask me to come and celebrate with the Team off the water - Kawana - Sun 26 Apr 2009 (picasa)
Eugene and Geoff - Premier Open 200m Presentation - "PD's - nine from nine !! - I did not really want this weekend to end as I kind of knew the end was beginning to start (Editors: An End has a Start)." - Kawana - Sun 26 Apr 2009 (picasa)
The Australian Dragon Boat Community acknowledging Pacific Dragons "9 from 9" - Kawana - Sun 26 Apr 2009 (picasa)
Lost in the Crowd - Kawana - Sun 26 Apr 2009 (picasa)
PD's Premier Open Men - After Party Celebration - Kawana - Sun 26 Apr 2010 (picasa)
Pacific Dragons - After Party Celebration - Kawana - Sun 26 Apr 2010 (picasa)
The Orange Wave - Gav Crowd Surfing - Just go with it Gav - After Party Celebration - Kawana - Sun 26 Apr 2010 (picasa)
Joanne, Helen, Jenny and Nicola - After Party Celebration - Kawana - Sun 26 Apr 2010 (picasa)
Joanne, Jenny and Geoff - After Party Celebration - Kawana - Sun 26 Apr 2010 (picasa)
