DRAGON BOAT INVOLVEMENT 1995 - started paddling, have been deeply involved ever since:- 1995 to 2000 inaugural member & first secretary of Paddlesnappers Club 1996 - International Dragon Boat Federation (IDBF) accredited coach and helm 1996 to 2000 committee member of SADBA 1996 to 2004 - corporate teams for Cape Town Internationals & Leagues 1996-2009 SADBA Sweep and Safety Officer 1997 to present - coached SA team for 2nd IDBF World Championships in Hong Kong 1998 coached the corporate team of Safmarine into the club Safdragons (now called Mujaji). 1999 coached the corporate team of I&J into the club I&J Dragon's Pursuit. 1999 Passed IDBF Race Official's Exam 2000 joined Safdragons 2003 DSK founder and coach, entered as SA junior team for Poznan Worlds. 2004 Technical Director for the Club Crew World Championship in Cape Town 2005 Race Official at the 5th World Championship, Berlin 2005 South African represenative at the IDBF Council meeting in Berlin 2005 DSK and Dragon's Pursuit coach 2005-6 Mujaji coach 2005-9 SADBA Vice President 2005-6 WCDBA Chair 2006-9 IDBF representative for Southern Africa 2006 V&A Dragon Flyers founder coach 2006-8 Amabele Belles founder and coach 2006 competed as a paddler at the Taipei (Taiwan) and Miluo (China) Internationals 2006 attended as coach of the SA team at the 1st BDS World Championship in Singapore 2007 competed as a paddler in a multinational team in China 4-city Dragon Boat Festivals           Zhaoqing, Zhanjiang, Shauguan, Guangzhou 2008 paddled the Venetian Vongalonga with the Typhoon Tigers of London 2009 Cape Grace founder coach South African helm at World Championships 1997 Hong Kong 1999 Nottingham 2002 Rome 2003 Poznan, Poland 2004 Cape Town 2006 1st BCS World Championship in Singapore (80/20% division) International Race helm 1997 Macau Dragon Boat International 1996-2003 Cape Town Dragon Boat Internationals 2000 Dabao Yan Huang Cup, China ( Beijing, HuangZhou and Xiamen) 2006 Milou and Nanning Internationals (China) 2007 Shauguan Dragon Boat Festival Also helmed for Australian Premier Open at Hong Kong International 1997 for the winning NYFD-Queensland crew at the World Firefighters Games in Durban 1998 Australian Dragons Abreast at the Club Crew World Champs in Rome 2002 Poland Girls team at Berlin World Champs 2005 (won silver) USA and Singapore at the Nanning International 2006 and for Italy, Germany and Sweden at various Cape Town internationals SA Team Coach for 2003 World Championships, Poznan, Poland 2006 BCS World Championships, Singapore have also participated in several Chinese Festival Regattas in Gauteng; as stroke paddler for I&J Dragons Pursuit and corporates' sweep at Florida Lake in 2002; as sweep (helm) for DSK and Safdragons at the Emerald Casino Regatta in 2003; for Paddlesnappers at Wemmer Pan in 2004; and for DSK at Florida Lake in 2005. webmaster and sponsor of www.dragonboat.org.za since 1997

hummm ... I still get pre-first-race nerves after all these years !

Born: British Somaliland (Northern Somalia) 18th November - never mind which year Grew up: England, Tanganyika, England, Malawi, England, New Zealand, South Africa (Natal) Current occupation: web master and computer literacy teacher Previous occupation: 5 years lecturing Zoology at university 9 years teaching matric Biology & Head of Department Academic qualifications B.Sc., Hons., M.Sc. (Zoology)   (Natal) My Masters thesis was on cavernicolous microchiropteran behaviour & reproduction.

The longer you have been dragon boating, the greater the chances you've had to make an ass of yourself, especially if you are a sweep. Many years ago, in the days before cell phones and the duckpond (Marina Basin), we were allowed to move freely around the V&A if we had a VHF marine radio on board. Now when you are a sweep you are busy calling time and shouting coaching instructions, so it is not that easy to hear if Port Control are calling you or some fishing boat, especially if the radio on your belt is pushed out of your way around your back. I discovered this clever little headphone-microphone set for my radio. The neat thing about it was the switch on the microphone which gave you three options; the normal press-and-hold to transmit, release to receive press-and-release to transmit and it turns itself off after 30 seconds (you could receive during this period) press-and-release to transmit and leave it on to transmit only. (You couldn't receive in this mode) Very clever, and perfect for someone who may have Port Control calling them at a time when you need both hands on the sweep oar. The problem was the little switches were easy to confuse. I apparently spent a whole hour or more with it on option 3 when I thought it was on option 2. Not only Port Control, but every ship within line-of-sight of Cape Town could hear me calling time, giving commands and explaining to a novice sweep the rules and regs of the harbour in very un-nautical terms. I haven't used it since! Being perched on the drumseat also gives you an excellent opportunity to make a spectacle of yourself. When I was training the SA Juniors for Poland in 2003, I decided for a change one session to coach from the drum seat instead of the back. The squad was really fit and strong at this stage and obeyed commands promptly and powerfully. As it was quite windy we were stretching alongside a marina. I then explained something and wanting to use both hands, I put the loop of marina mooring rope around my leg. Explanations over, the sweep (he shall remain nameless) called backpaddle - and they did so promptly and powerfully. The boat shot backward, the rope shot forwards up my thigh and bit in hard, yanking me sideways off the drumseat ....