Welcome!
DragonMax is a dragonboat club that practices year-round in Berkeley,
California. It is part of the non-profit Berkeley Racing Canoe Center.
We welcome all types of paddlers into the club, which fields both competitive
and recreational crews for local and out-of-town races.
Contact coach Rodger Garfinkle
if you are a new paddler interested in coming to one of our practices.
News
Practices are hot and heavy for the season-ending Treasure Island races!
Some technique videos from Rodger include (see email for discussion):
I uploaded clips from Saturday's practice here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bO_vDd6SwHc Be sure to click on "Watch in High Quality" and try the full screen button to under the video on the right.
This young, Tahitian, stud muffin supposedly set a world record at the world championships last month: http://blip.tv/file/1196854/
Olympic Races
http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/player.html?assetid=cnfh-bj-sd28-082308-152502&channelcode=sportca
2008 Calendar
Membership
Practices and cruises are open to the public on a drop in basis. BRCC
membership fees of $100 are required for anyone (adults) attending more than 3
practices.
Membership for people aged 8 to 18 is free.
We use yahoogroups to manage our email list. To stay up to date with DragonMax news and information, please check our email blog at groups.yahoo.com/group/dragonmax. You can also have these emails distributed to your email address. For more advanced features, you will need a Yahoo Identity (or create one if you don't have one) and join the DragonMax group with the link below.
See Also the BRCC site for more information!
Practice Schedule @ Berkeley Marina
Racing Season (February 08 - September 08):
Practices held every Saturday from 10:15 (warmup, 10:30 push off) to 12:00, unless it rains heavily or we have a race or other special activity.
Weeknight practices dates to be confirmed, but are typically held from 6 to 7:00 PM. Please arrive by 5:45 to stretch out and warm-up.
Winter Off-Season (November 07 - February 08):
Practices held every Saturday from 10:15ish to 12:00, unless it rains heavily or we have another special activity.
Weeknight practices on Monday and Wednesday nights held from 6 to 7:00 PM.
Special Sunday Morning (@ 9:30AM) Dragonboat Cruises:
When the weather forecast calls for sun and little wind, we can schedule special, Sunday morning, long distance cruises where we'll take the boat out on the bay, along the coast, for an hour or two. These are intended to be casual, social trips, and not serious practices.
To schedule a special Sunday morning dragonboat cruise for a group of individuals, contact: Paul Kamen
Directions to the Berkeley Marina
From Highway 80 West (toward SF):
- Exit University Ave. in Berkeley.
- Stay right and turn right onto University Ave.
- Stay in the left lane and bear left at the fork in the road.
- After you pass the harbormaster's office (and snack store and Hana Japan Restaurant), look for sign on the right sign for Berth M
- Turn right into parking lot for Berth M, and then turn left to park on the left side of the parking lot
- If you've reached the end of University at the T in front of Skates restaurant, you've gone too far.
- Walk towards the docks from the parking lot and you should see the dragon boats parked at M dock.
- We pick up late paddlers throughout practice at the guest dock on "O" dock - make sure we can see you (stretching, looking for a ride) when we pull into the main channel.
From Highway 80 East (toward Sacramento):
- Exit University Ave. in Berkeley.
- Stay right at the first fork, on to the frontage road.
- Stay left at the second fork, going under the overpass.
- Turn right on Hearst Ave.
- Turn right on 6th Ave.
- Turn right on University and go over the overpass.
- Stay in the left lane and bear left at the fork in the road.
- After you pass the harbormaster's office (and snack store and Hana Japan Restaurant), look for sign on the right sign for Berth M
- Turn right into parking lot for Berth M, and then turn left to park on the left side of the parking lot
- If you've reached the end of University at the T in front of Skates restaurant, you've gone too far.
- Walk towards the docks from the parking lot and you should see the dragon boats parked at M dock.
- We pick up late paddlers throughout practice at the guest dock on "O" dock- make sure we can see you (stretching, looking for a ride) when we pull into the main channel.
