Parking Options for Drivers (SF)

Via Marina:
There is a parking lot (Portsmouth Square) directly across the street from Hilton, their fees are $26-27 per 24 hours. There is not in-and-out privileges, so if you are planning on just leaving your car for weekend, this is much more affordable.

There may be other lower-cost options surrounding the hotel as well.

Via Karen:
Also, one block away, there's the St Mary's senior condominum parking garage. Entrance on Jackson between Kearny and Columbus. If you pass the hotel on Kearny, make a right on Jackson and it's right there, it's the only thing between Kearny and Columbus. I think they have a slightly cheaper over night rate. I've parked there overnight but I'm not 100% sure they're open 24hrs so you may not be able to get the car at 5 in the morning.

Important SF Logistics

Last tournament of the year - going to be a blast!

Please review info below - & help spread the word & take care of one another, as always.
Any questions - contact Wade ().


12 Vets share recommendations for the race (~6 minute video):



Event Website - www.sfdragonboat.com
Team Bios, race rules, course information, vendors, entertainment, etc are all posted.
Take a look.


Transportation to the Hilton SF Financial District Hotel
Options from SF or Oakland Airports:

• BART - exit Montgomery Station. Hotel is 7.5 blocks away (~14 minute walk) - see map below. ~$6 for 1-way fare, travel time approx 30 minutes.
• SuperShuttle
• Taxi. ~$40, approx 20 minute ride.
• Limo (surprisingly comparable rate to Taxi)

Hotel Address:
750 Kearny Street
San Francisco, California
USA 94108
Tel: +1-415-433-6600

For those driving, parking is ~$51 a day (not a typo).

Map - BART Montgomery Station to Hilton SF Financial District Hotel:













Hotel Lodging
Coordinate both your arrival times & lodging expenses directly with your roommates.
(And help each other get out of bed Sat & Sun morning)

Remember that the hotel will charge an extra fee ($25) for any known additional roommates above the standard 2 guests.

Kevin reports that the hotel provides free wireless.


Transport to/from Race Site
A free shuttle bus service to/from tourney hotel & race site is provided - no rental cars needed.
Organizers will likely post a shuttle schedule in the hotel lobby.

On Friday night, review the schedule and be sure to be on time Sat early AM for the Space Dragons bus - do NOT be late - & expect an early wake-up!Sunday will follow similar protocol.

For those driving directly to the race site (TI) - contact the coaches to coordinate a race-site call time. See the website for driving directions.


Friday Paddler's Party
Meet @ the Hilton Lobby @ 4:45pm to walk over as a team.
The lovely Tran will be collecting $5 from each of you for the VIP entry.
Give Tran a big hug (& your $) for arranging the pre-order tickets.

Party location (5-8pm):
111 Minna Gallery at 2nd Street between Howard and Mission
1 mile from hotel

Have a good time - but watch your alcohol consumption, & use the 2-for-1 rule:
2 glasses of water for every glass of wobbly-pop.
You'll need to be @ 100% for the loads of racing during the weekend.


Food @ the Tournament Site
Unless you are Joe, Denise, Marina, Robert, or Mayana - you are being included in the team group lunch order for the tournament.

Please pay $10 to Wade.
Lunch on Saturday is Subway sandwiches.
Sunday is Teriyaki Chicken Bowls.

Ripple FX is kindly providing us breakfast, snacks, and beverages on both days.
Feel free to bring your own as well, and share :).

Plenty of food vendors on site as well.


Team Dinner - Saturday Night
The first ever Ripple Space team dinner!
Currently planned for a convenient & tasty locale within walking distance to the hotel.
Thank you, Ripple, for coordinating!!

Things to bring (recommendations)

• $
• The usual competition paddling gear + uniform (jersey + dark bottoms)
• Cold weather clothing @ tournament - Under Armor-type garments are a good idea
• Casual warm clothing for team dinner / out-and-about
• Cameras / Camcorders
• Sunblock
• Towel
• Extra Jersey to trade
• No need for beach chairs/tents - Ripple Fx is kindly providing.

Paddle Transport
For those flying, please plan on packing your PFD with you.
As for your paddle, you can ask a driver to bring it up for you (e.g., Joe).
Simply drop it off @ practice.

For those that prefer a designated equipment drop-off, there will be one at Space Park (Redondo Beach) at 4:30pm Thurs Oct 2nd - same spot as usual.

Thank you, drivers, for helping bring paddles up!


Any issues or questions during race weekend?Contact Wade, Pearl, Joe, Em, Denise, or any vets
Wade -


Race Day Requests

• Eat light & eat for fuel
• Stay hydrated - even if its cold out
• Be on time for stretches, marshaling
• Stay off your feet & rest up between races - it's a long weekend
• If you wander off, let folks know where you're headed. Playing hide-and-go-seek during Marshalling is NOT fun
• Make sure everyone wears a PFD

Other

• As always - be sure to thank the race organizers & volunteers. Loads of effort go into organizing these events, and they've always done a good job putting on a race 'for paddlers by paddlers'.
• Also be sure to give a bunch of love to our host/sister team Ripple Effect!
• Remember that you reppin' the entire team when you up there.
• Above all else, have a good (& safe) time!

Final Wed Practice of 2008

Tomorrow, 9/24, is the last Wednesday Night practice of 2008 -
See you there!

Great job to the consistent Wednesday Night practice crew -
Your dedication, effort, and time on the water has paid obvious dividends!

New Team Sponsor! BDIA

The Space Dragons are very proud to be sponsored by Best Deal Insurance Agency!


Please click the logo above to contact Phil for all of your insurance inquiries.

Thanks, Phil!

Sunday recap + More Practice Video

Thanks all for coming out on Sunday to represent during the "Masters vs Youngins Challenge"!

We had some great race scrimmages that will only help us as we close in on SF.
Great job to both boats! And for the time being - the brats have bragging rights, proving the polls right.

Also, welcome to new paddler Linda, who recently moved here from NYC!

And finally - video clips from Sunday's "Just Paddle" below.
(note - some mature content - as always)

Click here for last week's set.










Engine Room up close & a bit too personal



Masters 'warm-up' for the challenge later in the day ...



... then the youngins ...


Side Views

This Sunday

Make-up Video Session
Per special request, we'll film during Sunday's "Just Paddle" session.
So if you missed out last Sunday, or if you want more video footage, or if you want to "just paddle" - see you bright and early Sunday.

Masters vs Youngins Challenge
The much-anticipated match-up is finally here.
Show up by 9am for stretches and to check-in.
Please don't be late, as we'll need to organize seating and race heats.

Latest polls show that Youngins continue to be favored.

Happy Birthday, Kameron!!
(Now go get ready to beat your pops on Sunday)

Food in SF

Question:
What am I going to eat during the SF tournament?

Answer:
Our host team Ripple Effect will be graciously providing us breakfast, snacks, and beverages/H20 throughout the tournament. Thanks, guys!

If you have any specific favorite snacks that you like, go ahead & bring it (and some to share!).

For lunch, we are taking advantage of a group discount.
For $10 total, you will get:
a Subway sandwich on Saturday (turkey or roasted chicken, standard fixings)
a Teriyaki Chicken Bowl on Sunday.

Because it is a bulk order, sorry, no special preferences will be taken.
During tournaments, we eat for fuel & we eat light - right, AJ?

Give Wade the $10 at your earliest possible convenience.
If you don't want to be included in the group lunch order, we need to know by this Thurs 9/18 COB.

Details for Team Dinner on Saturday night are forthcoming.

Practice Video

Unedited video below from Sunday's "Just Paddle" session & standard practice.

Certainly each of us aren't finished products and we have definite room for improvement -
but everyone's hard work & time on the water is apparent & really paying dividends.

After reviewing, don't hesitate to talk to any of the Coaches to discuss.
As always, we'll also point things out and do our best to help out.

Here's a tip - wondering whether your paddling is consistent with the team's standard technique? Simply review against our technique guidelines document conveniently available via your google docs account. If you can't seem to access, simply email us and we'll shoot you a copy.

Enjoy!

Race Sets














Side Views (standard paddling)









Bow Views (standard paddling)













For Janet:

Coach Galen's Fitness Challenge

With inspiration from Ripple's "Get Ripped" program, Coach G will be partaking in the following off-water fitness regimen and encourages all to join in.

SF is less than 20 days away - keep your fitness & cardio levels up!

Coach G's challenge:

at a minimum per day:

2x 20 sit-ups

2x 20 push-ups

2x 20 squats or leapfrogs

2x 20 lunges

at a minimum per week:

2 sets of aerobic activity for 20+ min outside of dboat practice

2 dboat practices

Cute 1-man "Dragon Boat"

They so need to mass-produce these.

Great Job, Wednesday Crew

Great job at practice last night, team.
Awesome attendance (close to 2 full boats) and solid effort.
With SF just around the corner (3 weeks) - the more time on the water, the better.

Special welcome to newbie Bianca and 2nd-timer Jennifer (you gals did great!), & to our VIP guest Kristine, who visited us from up north! Loved having you at practice!

Team Biking this weekend

Bring your bike & gear to practice on Saturday if you want to join in!
Thanks, Jason, for coordinating!

September 13^th Bike Ride

This ride is mostly to help prepare for the Bay to Bay bike ride, however, everyone on the team is invited.

We will start from Mothers Beach then head south down the PCH to the Huntington Beach Pier and then return. It is just over 20 miles total, since we took the same route last week we may change it up a little.

It sounds like there will be a much larger group this week, so we may divide the road bikers and mountain bikers up into two groups.

Plan on the ride starting about 45 minutes after the land workout approximately 10:45. This will give us all enough time to eat a light snack (bananas, apple, Clif bar, etc.) and rest a little. Make sure to eat light, fast digesting carbs, nothing too heavy. We can gorge ourselves after the ride. Make sure to have plenty of water or, preferably, sports drink with you.

You will have to wear a bike helmet.

**If you want a good endurance challenge start with the 7am run, hit paddling practice hard, then the land workout, followed by the bike ride. It’s about five hours of exercise, but worth the pain!!**

If you have not signed up for the Cycling Team please do so now. There is only about 4 weeks left until the bike Tour and it is already 80% sold out, so time and space are running out! See you on Saturday.

Here is the link to sign up

http://www.biketofinishms.com/spacedragons

Here is the Cycling Weblog link

http://www.spacedragonscyclingteam.blogspot.com/

SF Paddlers Party

SF CREW -

See info below regarding SF Paddler's Party this year! Always a good time, especially to mingle w/ other folks in the DB community - and maybe you can be this year's Ed and bring home a new carbon fiber paddle from the raffle.

Please RSVP via the evite that will be sent out w/ the weekly email digest this week. We need headcount ASAP (before 9/24) . If you can't make it, respond "No" on the evite so I don't have to guess or track you down personally.




**********************************************************

Attention Treasure Island Visiting Team Captains:

Have your team experience a San Francisco welcome by joining us on Friday October 3rd from 5-9pm for our Welcome Mixer to kickoff the dragon boat festival. This year the event will be at 111 Minna Gallery at 2nd Street between Howard and Mission (www.111minnagallery.com), just a mile from the Hilton Financial District Hotel. For $5 USD, you'll get VIP entry which includes drink specials, appetizers, raffle prizes, and a chance to meet and hang out with other visiting and local teams before the festival. There will be musical entertainment by Look Out Weekend and the live bands of the Women's Audio Mission. Please note that because of the venue all attendees must be 21 and over, and IDs will be checked at the door.

Drink Specials:
Beer: $3
Special Treasure Island drink: $5
Well drinks: $1 off (regularly about $6)
Call drinks: $2 off (regularly about $9)

This year, we'll be providing tickets to teams in advance to help speed up entry into the event. Please notify me at jadene@pol.net no later than Wednesday, September 24th with the number of tickets for your team. You will need to pre-arrange with me to exchange your payment for the tickets either at your team practice or at the hotel on Thursday or Friday. Each person must have a ticket for entry.

In past years, this event has sold out, so please sign-up early to ensure that you'll be able to join us for this fun event!

-Jadene Wong

Thank you for Hurting us

Just a special mid-week shout-out & Space Love to our resident fitness gurus, coaches, motivators, and team trainers Joe & Rod!

Joe & Rod sit in dark corners and scheme new and innovative ways to mold us into machines, accomplish our fitness goals, and get each of us into great shape.
In other words, they plan ways to hurt us.

And they diligently bring the scary tools to do it each week.

Thanks, guys!










Keep up the workouts, Space Dragons, and push yourself each time to be faster, stronger.

And for those that haven't experienced it of late - join in the fun & experience the burn:

Saturdays @ 10:00 AM


And join in for cardio conditioning (jogs, sprints):
Saturdays & Sundays @ 7:00 AM
Wednesdays @ 8:00 PM

Internal Team File Sharing

Mighty Space Dragons -

We've begun transferring our internal team documents/files to Google Docs.

Hey, we gotta support Google-engineer Jackie, right?


The following files (+ more in the future!) have been posted:

• SD Practice Attendance Log
• SD Paddling Technique Guide
  
• SD Sponsor Proposals (for large & small organizations)

To access these files, simply do this:

1) Go to https://docs.google.com

2) If you do not have a Google DOCS account yet, click "Get Started" 3) Under 'Email' - enter your email address that is on the Space Dragons distribution
(i.e., the email you use to receive Space Dragons email).

4) Create a password /account (30 second process)

5) And you're done!
Simply login and you should see the Space Dragons documents waiting for you!


Google Docs will be used to share files moving forward.
If you do not see any files or have any issues w/ access, email us.

For Honor and Pride

It's on!

Artwork: David K.

During Sunday practice on September 21, the Cranky Masters will go head-to-head with the Bratty Kiddos in an epic challenge on Alamitos Bay. Don't miss it!