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Paddles Ready is your go-to podcast for everything happening in the world of paddle racing.
Hosted by Dougie and Hando, the show brings you inside the sport with race reviews, real-time commentary, and conversations with paddlers from across the globe. Whether it’s breaking down major competitions, sharing behind-the-scenes stories, or hearing directly from the athletes shaping the sport, this podcast keeps you connected to the pulse of paddle racing.
From elite races to grassroots scenes, Paddles Ready covers it all, giving you insight, perspective, and the stories you won’t hear anywhere else.
What you’ll hear:
Honest race reviews and analysis
Conversations with paddlers and industry voices worldwide
Commentary on trends, performances, and competition results
Stories from the front lines of paddle racing
If you follow paddle racing or want to understand it better, this is where you stay informed.
👉 Visit paddlesready.com for more episodes and updates.
We're back. Wow. The representation of Australia, it just seems to be dropping off. Why? Why? Mate, there's no one coming through. Get off there and do it. And if it fails, it fails, but at least you've done something. For things to change, you gotta change. For things to get better, you gotta get better. Taiwan, done and dusted.
How good was that? She- yeah. We saw some amazing clubs as, as soon as we arrived. 100%. It was Dragon Boat Fever. It was in, in Hualien. It was the, the, the, the 15th Club Crew World Champs
I was ready
This is Paddles Ready, the global voice of paddle sports. Live commentary, race coverage, athlete stories, and expert analysis from across the world of paddling. From dragon boat racing to ocean ski, this is where the competition, the culture, and the stories come together. Let's get into it
Hando, it's been a while, hasn't it? We're back in the studio. It's been- That's right. Well, welcome to everybody. Welcome to our viewers. I mean, we, um, we haven't stopped for the last six weeks. We've been to Taiwan. We saw a lot of you over there in Taiwan. Actually, Hando
I'm putting on my Hualien hat. Welcome to Hualien. Hualien. Hualien, Taiwan. That's it, in Taiwan. We, well, you explain to our viewers what we have been up to as far as Taiwan, where we went, and what, what we got up to. Well, well, yeah, again, welcome. Thanks for tuning in, listening wherever around, where- wherever you are around the world.
Yes. But Dougie, yeah, you and I embarked on a magnificent tour. It's almost like Richie Benaud on tour with the cricket. But, you know, we arrived in Taiwan, and it was just an amazing experience from day one. And the funny thing is, you and I lived in Hong Kong in the '90s. Mm. At no stage did I ever think back then an hour 20 flight and we- you're in Taipei.
And the people of Taipei, the people of Taiwan. Friendly. Man, I had the best time. Yeah. I had the best, best time. Throw in dragon boating. Oh, wow. Throw in all our friends and all our mates. Wow. What a week. In Hong Kong, in, where, where I used to live in, in Shek O, uh, Da Lan Wan in Big Wave Bay, the mountains, it was that.
Yeah. When we arrived and we started going down by tra- You're talking about the Taiwanese being ... The mountains were happy. Yeah. You know? And the picturesque, when we went down south, from the moment we arrived, everything just seemed just calm. Easy. Easy. It was just easy. From the time we landed, and we landed in Taipei, we had the night and we caught up with an old mate of yours' son, um- That's right
down there at one of the local haunts. Yeah, yeah, Lee. One of the local bars with Lee and his son. And obviously when you go to a, a foreign country, it's always good to know somebody. Ex-Joe Bananas manager ... re- relatively speaking And that's it ... you and I had an early night, 'cause we had to be up early the next morning to get ourselves down south.
Which you're right, that train ride, for anybody who is going to Taiwan, um, we can't... A- apparently the train trip is on one of the best in the world. Like, you know how you see, um, uh, things you should do before you die and all this kind of stuff- You're right ... you hear. I heard that this train ride, or the train ride you and I did to Hualien, is noted as one of the best train rides in the world.
Now, if you're heading south, you hop on the right-hand side of the carriage, and obviously when you're heading north, you hop on the left-hand side. Yep. Yeah, yeah. Um, no, I've got that the wrong way. Sorry. Left-hand side going down, right-hand side coming back. But Phil Reader said something to me, our starter in the IDBF.
He said, "Dougie, make sure you jump on that right-hand side coming back because y- it is one of the most beautiful train rides in the world." On the water. And it was. On the water. But let's... Anyway, enough with trains. Enough with trains, planes and automobiles. Planes and automobiles. But we saw some amazing clubs a- a- as soon as we arrived.
100%. It was dragon boat fever. It was in, in Hualien, it was the, the, the 15th Club Crew World Champs. Yep. And we had an absolute ball. We'll, we'll give you a little bit of a wrap-up what happened. Uh, the athletes, the, the, the village, the opening z- The opening ceremony. The opening ceremonies. Wow. You and I I mean, we're blessed to do what we do, okay?
We, we've generated a lot of this, um- Talk about first class. Mate, those seats right on there ... uh, we've generated a lot of this and, and, and with the viewers, with you guys at home, um, supporting us, Hando and I got to go first class at the opening ceremony. Um, I'm not too sure if you've seen the podcast or if you've seen the footage from the production team in, uh, Taiwan, but Nick and I were very fortunate to walk down with the president.
We were with the federation. Um- Yeah ... we were with the mayor. It, it, it, it, the mayor- We were with the mayor. Oh, she, she was on, on, on the, uh, we got her actually commentating. We, we got the, uh, mayor on the broadcast- Yeah ... commentating with us, but that opening ceremony will stick with me till the day I die.
And, and you, you picture it, uh, for, for the viewers and listeners out there and everyone's tuning in, it, it was, you... We, I know we talked about Olympics, but this was a mini Olympics in, in itself. There was 6-odd thousand athletes- Yeah ... and they, they're parading past and w- and the rain opened up, then it cleared because it was raining.
It was almost gonna be called off. They had to make a big choice. The whole city shut down. Yep. It was all about dragon boating. It was all about the participation, the club, the culture, the history, the food, and, and each country that was represented, each club. They went country by country, but then each club, and they were waving, and they were dancing, and you had- Oh
the Brazilians and the, and, and, and, and the Mexicans. Yep. Uh, a- and then, and obviously the, the, the, the, all the other teams from all around the world. And then we're like, "Oh, wow, that was amazing," and then we all got moved on before all that. Then we got taken into this holding pen where we saw all the athletes going because we didn't really know what was going on.
It was basically like, it was like the town square. Yeah. A- and, and I thought it was over. Yeah. And then it opened up, well, literally the skies opened up, it cleared. Yeah. And then Claudio, the mayor, the IDBF, and the... Look. It was phenomenal. The drone show, the flames, the, it, it, it, it was amazing. It truly was.
So thank you Claudio Anne. Thank you. Thank you IDBF. Thank you IDBF for giving Hando and I the opportunity to, uh, join you all down the front there. It was, um, it was surreal. So let's get into some racing. Well, well, look, first of all, picture it. The mountains were happy. We were staying up at the Far Gloria Hotel.
Yes picturesque Crazy You know, we went for a swim. We did a bit of a State of Origin swim. Crazy. We did that, um- 'Cause, well, 'cause- That's right. It- For those of you- Go, go through that Dougie ... go, go, go on our socials We'll, we'll send it to you Go, go But why we had to wear the hats. So in Taiwan, it is illegal to go swimming in public places without swimming caps.
So if you go to our socials- Even if you have hair ... even if you have hair, or don't have hair Don't have hair ... don't have hair. So Hando and I put on our swinging, uh, swimming caps, and we went and had a swim in the, uh, local pool, and it was hilarious. So please go on our socials, see what we do. We did a bit of a State of Origin, um, Rugby League thing.
That's right. I had a blue hat on. Hando had a maroon one on. But it was so much fun, and- Mm ... you know, there's nothing better than, um, hooking into the local laws. Mm. 'Cause I don't know. W- do you get arrested? Oh, oh, I don't know. But I'd like to see them trying to arrest us. Yeah, exactly. And, and, and that was, um, uh- earthquake central Taiwan down there, wasn't it?
So, um- Some of the people don't even stay overnight when they go there. They don't. So we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll go, we'll go quickly through it. Farglory Hotel, beautiful. Beautiful. Charlie, amazing. All the people that looked after us. So where the event was was 170 meters above sea level. That's right.
We're about a 30-minute b- bus ride from our hotel, you know, 35 minutes from town. Uh, 170 meters above sea level, surrounded... If I could give people, uh, who know the Southern Hemisphere as well as we do, um, tap into your South Island in New Zealand, maybe down Wanaka way, Marlborough Sound. That is what it was like.
It had been raining for the last three, four months, so everything was green, everything was beautiful. Oh, yeah. As Hando was saying, it is, uh, on one of the biggest plates, tectonic plates in the world. It is one of the most active, um, earthquake, um, activities in the world. Well, there was no earth tremors.
The only earth tremor was when we had that, uh, stinky tofu- I tell you what- ... but we'll talk about that a bit later on ... the only earth tremor, Hando, was after I had a week there living on dumplings and that. I reckon it was when I hopped into bed, I think that I felt the earth move. But, um, it was truly amazing.
Let's get into a little bit of the results that happened in Taiwan. We met some amazing people, and just before... I, y- I know you're itching to talk about racing. Brett Glasgow, your shirt's in the mail. We're just waiting for the new ones to come off. Brett won one of our, uh, Julie and her, um, uh, karaoke song.
Brett got it. Oh, that's right. So Brett in Washington, thank you for tuning in. Um, it is on its way. Michael in the States as well, your Ass Dougie T-shirt has left. It is on its way. Uh, Rusty got his honey down in the, uh, in New Zealand. In New Zealand. So Hando's honey was a little bit of a hit. Um- And we gave away the paddle on site
Luke Wilkinson. Our first Paddles Ready- Yep ... giveaway. Lu- Luke Wilkinson won the paddle. He was paddling on behalf of Ride at the time. Ride have done a little bit of a, uh, social media, uh, thing with Luke. Oh, have they? Uh, yeah. Oh, nice. Luke's the man. Luke is the man. Luke is the man. Um- Ride your way to Ride
I think we'd, uh, we'd knocked off about two hours before we, after we saw Luke, and, uh, we were well and truly into the after party when we gave him the paddle. So that was fantastic. That's gonna be one of many paddles before the end of the year that we give away from Johnny Crossbones. Um, I believe Chinook are now coming on board with us.
Oh. Um, so we're gonna have a chat- Johnny Crossbones, Chinook, uh, we've got Fire here. Yeah, so we- Obviously Regatta Sport. We'll talk a bit more about them too. We'll talk about that in later podcasts, but, um- Well, everyone loves to travel, and everyone loves leisure. 100%. Don't they? 100%. Um- Read that, that into as you may, but l- lovely, lovely- The Norwegian boys, uh, the youth team there- Oh
the under 24s. I think they were- Just everyone, Doug Everyone ... everyone walking around. So picture it, athletes, the first couple of days were the 200 meters fast and furious. Yep. Uh, the, sorry, the 500s, uh, were first. Yep. Uh, then went the 200s, and then it was the, the, the 2000s that were the, the end of the days.
Um- So what was your standout? Who was your standout team? I mean, I had a couple. Oh, look, there, there, there was, there wa- there was quite a few. Local Hong Kong team did well in the seniors. Typhoons with Lister. Yep. And they had that little drummer. Yes. He was only, I think, uh, tw- Uh, Gabriel ... Ga- Gabriel. Only 30.
G'day, Gabriel. How are you, mate? G'day, Gabriel. And hello to your mom and dad. Yeah. And, and we'll probably be jumping everywhere because our mind's going, going off in different tangents, but True North from Canada were, were, were, were good. Yeah, Happy Dragon? Happy... Ha- no, no, no. No, what was the pizza? The- Um, Pizza in the Grass.
Pizza in the Grass, the local Taiwan team. The local Tai- Taiwanese, yeah. Mr... N- n- not, not Mr. Canoe. Mr. Canoe were there- Yeah ... but not doing. Um, FDRC- FDRC, yeah ... like, they, they were just dominant. And then when you're talking about who won the most golds, it was United States of America, Philadelphia Dragon Boat Club.
Philadelphia. It's, uh- Bob McNamara, B- Bob McNamara and, um, Tommy Leonardo, who we had- Ross ... on. Ross Flemmer. Ross Flemmer. Um, and- The US of A ... so yeah, but the, the dominance, Canada. I mean, there was a couple races there, or a lot of races- Right ... where we had Julie in with us, uh, commentating, and y- you would consistently see Canada, one, two, three.
Look, they've, they've done- There was one that I was watching the other day, one, two, three, four, when I was rewatching the- Mm ... you know, Canada. Geez, Nick, 40 years. Now they're so proud that they're only new to the sport- Mm ... but geez, they've, they've shown some dominance, don't they? Y- y- yeah, a- and it was good from all the way up from the youth teams in the big 20 boats as well.
Yep. All the way up, uh, to the, to the seniors. And the Breast Cancers, um, Falls Creek with Carmeny. Yep. Carmeny Jane. She, uh, she was on, on, on with us commentating. Oh, Carmeny Jane. We had many... And, and we'll go through. There was so many people to, to, to thank and remember, but the wrap-up, one, the production, the, the IMs, Dazan, the, the local collaborating with the IDBF with the live streaming.
Yep. I'm only just coming back to seeing it because people are sending me clips of us. Exactly. We were blessed- Well, even they, they're still cutting stuff- Yeah, yeah ... and sending it to us. Well, we, we were blessed to be able to, to do it, and we were right on the water. We're lifting it. We're, we're engaging it, and it's so...
It's, it, it's amazing when you're walking around, and you saw it as well, just people saying, "Guys, you're doing such a great job." Yeah. And, and we don't need the, the, the, the, the congratulations or accolades of all that because we love the sport. We love the, what we're doing with Paddles Ready and enhancing it because we knew it was gonna get bigger and better- Oh, 100%
after Taiwan. We've seen it from, from, from Ravenna to- Yeah ... Brandenburg to that, to now. To now. Hong, mate. I mean, we're making breakfast TV. W- w- breakfast TV in Taiwan with our Dougie Sti- um, Stinky Tofu. Oh my goodness. It was like 30,000 views or something. And when I got something the other day and it was like...
Well, that was on the socials. We had something like 30 and a half thousand views of that one, and then Taiwan- Tune in, listen ... yeah, Taiwan- Watch ... Taiwan Breakfast, um, TV picked it up, so, um- Well- ... interesting ... th- th- then you, you, you're going back to what was my pick of the racing. I love the 200s. The 200s are, they are- But, but then you, then you go, "Oh, the 2,000s are really good as well."
Yeah. The 500s you settle in because that sets the seeding- Yeah ... for the, for the racing, for the 2,000s, and then you get the, the fastest boats starting off last. Yeah. So they're chasing down. There was some amazing, you know, it's a tactical race, that 2,000-meter race. Yeah, it's- And I loved it, but the conditions were perfect.
The conditions were perfect. Oh, there was one day there that was horrific. Remember in the afternoon when we nearly got blown away, but we kept going. The storms. But you're right, the 200 as a commentator, they're so fun. Yeah. They are so much fun to call. Um, I was listening to yesterday, I think you and I were having a chat, and we sent each other that, uh, mixed prem I think it was.
Ooh, that was a good one. The second last race of the day on, oh, I call it day two I think it was. Day, day three or four, yeah. Day three. I just sat back and I went, "Is that really us?" Yeah. I was just like, "Actually, we're, we're not too bad at this." But then the 2Ks, I like what listening to you and the coaches that we have on, so like your Tommys, um, Julie, Ross, Mary Gibson.
Mm-hmm. And then you guys, for the people at home- Mm ... and for those who aren't used to the racing, um- Boston BBB. She was fantastic ... i.e., i.e. my parents. Well. They- Oh, yeah ... were telling me just on the weekend, they went, "Nick, the ar- the, the way it's..." And I can't believe I'm using your name and articulate in the same sentence.
That is true. But I will- Spell it. Yeah ... I will. Mm. Mm. Um, but the way you and the other coaches around the world called the 2000, I think it's a credit. It's, um... A- and that, that racing was fantastic. And you can break it down and you, and you can see it, especially with, with what IMAS are doing from Brandenburg, Germany, when they, when they're having the...
A- as I'd say, it's the, the leader of the pack, like you're watching the skiing- Yeah ... and you, and y- or, or, or the, the, the cycling. You're, you're in the hot se- you're in the, in the, in the three positions, and you, you, you get booted out. Yep. You know? Um, what was I talking about? The, you know, when you, when you, when you...
In a medal pos- in a medal contention, and you might get the highest score or the fastest time, and then, "Oh, sorry, you're out now." You're gone. "It's coming up." And that's what it was like- It was ... because you had the leaderboards, and you'd hear the cheers from outside- Yeah ... right near us- Yeah ... because they're watching their team.
"Oh, no, they're on second place now," and their team's got booted out. Yes. Gotcha. And it, and it was phenomenal. I think that comes with, you know, we're... Unfort- unfortunately, the sport has lacked in commentating pr- promoting it. It's just like, "Oh, and here they come," and the cow jumped over the moon. Yes. We're bringing the sport to a different level with our enthusiasm, with...
There's without a doubt the feedback- And with what they're seeing. Yeah. And, but- With the production, what IDBF are getting now- 100% ... with IMAS- I mean, we've got a local- ... and, and, and whatever local ones that are doing ... but we've got a local Taiwan production team there who can speak obviously Chinese, Taiwan, and so it's helping us.
We're here- You know, a couple of guys from Australia with the IDBF, and then you've got, um, the boys from Germany and, like, even that relationship now between us and the boys in Germany, that's two- Yeah, with the IMAS ... world titles we've done with IMAS. Absolutely. And we're now working with them to the point where, yeah, let's do it, go do post-production, having a couple beers, getting ready for the next day.
It's really becoming an absolute family and, you know, I, I hope it continues and I hope we can continue to bring it to you guys back at home. Mm. A- a- and it is long days. For all, for all the, all the, the, the people tuning in, listeners and viewers, it's, it's not just turn up. That y- you, Dougie, do an amazing amount of research, which is fantastic, and you have to, and we, and we, we've got little results.
Oh, well, you've got the Paddles Ready Podium- Well, we've got Paddles Ready- ... res- results ... yeah, so, so we've got- So e- even if I pull that up. Yeah, so you, we've got Paddles Ready Podium. There's a couple around. Um, so we've got Paddles Ready Podium, so if you go onto our website you can go and see what's on, what's happening.
Um, so yeah, that, that's a new addition. It has been work in progress for a while. A- a- and there's all different ones But it's up there now. JP had some great, some great insight as well. Yeah, JP. G'day, mate. How are you? Um- G'day, JP over in Canada. He's from Biome- Biome. Uh, fantastic stuff. But, like, you just look at this.
Canada, you actually- Yeah, actually run through some- ... you're on the money ... run through some stuff. There's 156 medals that Canada won. United States with 72, Germany 37, Hong Kong with 23. They're just the, the top four. That's what I'm saying with Canada, crazy. The- the- the- then, then you break it down into clubs specifically The New Dragons Racing Club, NDRC, wow Oh, see, like, they were the ones, I was calling them the Happy Dragons.
Yeah, yeah. New Dragons were unreal. 12 gold, 12 gold, seven silver, eight. So they got... Mate, amazing. What about Secret Pizza in the grass? Secret Pi- But like, well, the standout for the gold, see, there was different battles. You had NECA Dragon down there, the European. Uh, VIP Gordon Dragons, we're almost breaking it down into a race.
Southbury's on the outside, but Philadelphia Dragon bo- they got 15 golds. Yeah. 15 golds, four silver, and one. So they won the most golds. So, you know, we'll, we'll send you the podium podcast. Keep going, yeah, have a look, have a look on the website. It, it, it was amazing the technology from the starts and then the drone footage.
Yeah. It's helping us commentate and then sometimes, excuse me, sometimes, um, remember when the, when the, it was like mist and cloud, and we couldn't, and we, we're, we're, we're watching, especially with the 200s. And, and being 170 meters above sea level, it was something mythical. It was. At some stage there. It was.
The cloud cover would've only been above the lake, it would've been two, 200 feet at, at best, and it came down on top, and I'm there going, "Is this like something out of Harry Potter?" Oh, oh, yeah. I was just like- And some of the footage, some of the- And then the drone couldn't go up, so I'm getting abused on the, um, the, "Where's the drone footage?"
It's like, "Mate, it's blowing 30 knots and it's no visibility." Oh. Oh, I know. A- a- and- But anyway ... and when power outages, I'd be running to the tent. Oh. You'd be taking over. And a- again, thank you to all our guests. It was so much fun. You know, um, we had Blair Gamble on, Carmeny, Ro- all, all the people that we probably don't wanna thank them all, but we, we, but we will.
So how many paddlers did we end up having? Well, you and I were having a bit of chat this morning. 5,900. About, yeah, I was saying 5,000. Athletes all in the one location. In over five, six days. I mean, you look at the Olympic, whatever the Olympics or I think we were talking- 12,000? 12,000. So this is, you know, and that's a pro- I know it's amateur, inverted commas, "professional"- Not the sport
but what the numbers we are pulling- That they're professional athletes ... yeah, but what we're pulling here with 58, 5500 people in Taiwan, and then we're only talking about, um, just before with Mary. Right. Ah, yeah. Because the ladies were over in France just before, and you know, they had, they, they had a great, we had a really good chat with Mary.
They had 4,900 people. But remember back on the early podcast, Mary said that they had around about 6,000, um, entries. They had to knock them on the head, um, because they actually couldn't fit it in the waterways. So the sport, and hopefully with our con- you know, contribution as well, um, we've got more stuff coming up in the next podcast as well, which is going to blow hopefully all your minds.
Mm-hmm. Um- Well, let's, let's also don't forget the youth. You had Lincoln, you had Scholls. Oh, the Scholls girls. Mary, uh, y- y- y- you know, the, the- Now, the, the Mary and her Scholls girl, they were here ... tho- those young athletes Very well done Yeah And it was tension and, and, and it was... I just got chills then- Uh-
thinking about it ... when you interviewed the girls. Yeah. And, you know, the second part of it when they said, um, "We just wanna thank our mom and dad for giving us the opportunity." I know. You're either going- That was ... you girls are like between 14 and 17, and you're traveling to the other side of the world.
You're paddling and dragon boating. You, you're winning a lot. Like, you know- Yeah ... they don't go there just to come second. These girls are going there to win. Um, Mary has got an amazing program going on there at Schools- Yeah ... which we wanna get down there. And that's the youth. That, that's where Paddles really wanna push the youth as well.
Yep. Because you... When you think about it, if we start- Assisting federation clubs e- even locally here, going into schools, getting it in the program, whether it's rowers or kayakers or that, building it over the next five years because you see the pathway. I'm gonna hold you. Hang on. I'm gonna hold you to this, and I'm gonna stop you.
Okay. 'Cause this sounds to me like this could be a Hando's hot take. What do you think? And I re- I want you, want to... I want you to unpack the youth. I know we've spoken about it. Ah. I want you to- The hot take's not now, though ... and I, the, well, I don't, I might just change the, I might change the rules of the show.
No. Because you're looking like you're pretty passionate, and I know you've got a bit to say about this. I've got a little bit to say. But I, I ask the questions, so, um, I wanna get your answers, so I want you to hold that with sculls and oar. Okay, we'll hold that. We'll hold, we'll hold that event. So Taiwan.
But, but Taiwan in, in Hualien. Now, do you- Sheshe, it was amazing ... how much pressure now is on Hong Kong going forward after that? I think they're just gonna embrace it. I think. Simon Wan was there. Got Simon on. Loving it. He loved it, didn't he? Looking at the bl- And we're learning every day as well. Yeah. And we're going to the production site, "No, we need this, that.
We want, we want the roving mics." Yes. Just quickly, Waggy and the, uh, um- Te waka. Yeah, te w- te waka. And the, um, when they did the haka. Mm. How good was that? For those of you, jump on once again on the socials, or jump on the YouTube for the club crew, w- um, website, and you can see it. It, it was, how emotional was that?
That was good. Like, the haka was- I was there live talking to you. You were there. I- Mary was explaining the whole, uh, you know, coming down- History and the- ... the ancestors, the history of the haka. Um, it is one of the most- They did it, did it for Big Skip up above. I tell you- He was the founder of Te Waka, Waggy
even being an Aussie, e- e- Hi ... yeah, even being an Aussie, I still, whether I'm at the rugby, the rugby league, wherever, I don't, dragon boating. Even watching two cockroaches, if one was from New Zealand and one was from Australia, I still love to see the haka. Oh, it's, it's, it's, it's passion. So it is just, um, it's one of the greatest- It tell- it, it sends shivers down your spine.
It's wh- mate, they were taking their time. They were, they were, they were, they were doing the, uh, the, the, the, the Kiwi waka rather than the haka- Yeah ... at one stage. One of the greatest sporting, um, things of all time, and, uh, I tell you, it doesn't matter if you're from here or on the other side of the moon, um- Mm
if you don't get emotional to that- Mm ... well, you're not, you're not here. Well, I think we've got some- You're not here ... we, we, we should put together a special clip with, uh, the haka in it. Sounds good. Sounds good. Well, listen, Hando, that was a wrap-up. We hope we didn't, uh, babble on too much. We wanted to bring our experience to you guys back home with Taiwan.
Um, Taipei, awesome. Taiwan country, awesome. Mate, I, I couldn't fault it, and I can't wait for the next one. No, that's it. So let's get into it. We, I'm gonna hold you on your hot take now. Okay, let's go. Let's go. I'm Dougie. I'm Hando. And we're paddles ready. Paddles ready.
I'm with Chris. This is 60 Seconds with Dougie, British Dragon Singapore. Come on you Brits. Worst excuse for missing training you've heard? The dog ate my homework, mate. Early morning training or sleep-ins? Early morning training, early morning training, early morning training, five days a week. What's more- And Wednesday evenings.
Cool. What's more important, fitness or technique? Both. Carbon fibre or wooden paddle? Uh, train with wood, paddle with carbon. Coffee before or after training? Depends on who they are. Sometimes the coffee makes it all go. Biggest talker on your boat? Uh, probably myself. Sprint or distance? Uh, both. Distance.
Beers or lemonade on a Sunday afternoon? Oh, always the beers, mate. Favorite regatta you've competed in? Uh, well, this comes close. It's an absolute ripper. One tip that makes someone a better paddler? Eyes in the boat, heads up, open up, and follow your paces. Finish this sentence, Chris: If I wasn't a paddler, I'd be...?
Dead. Perfect. That's Chris from the British Dragon Singapore. Thanks, mate. 60 Seconds with Dougie.
All right, Hando. It's that time of the week, and I said on an ear- Dunny ... I, I said just be- earlier on in an earlier podcast I was gonna change the rules because we, we've just got back from Taiwan and, uh, you were quite passionate on the plane. I, I, I feel, and but as I said, I answer, I answer, I, uh, ask the questions.
Okay. Okay. Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. Mate, the representation of Australia- Yes ... in youth in the schools, it- Ah ... when- That was amazing ... when we first embarked on this, and we've been around long enough, we were seeing schools left, right, and center. I only saw one up there pretty mu- from Australia, and it was schools, and it was schools versing schools versing schools versing schools.
It's- And they did well. They did unbelievably well. Unbelievably. And up against Lincoln, up against New England. Yeah. But the representation of Australia, it just seems to be dropping off. Why? Why? So what's my hot take? What's that? Well- Why are you putting me under the hot seat? Well, I don't want to throw you under the bus, but I know this Hando's Hot Take is very, very passionate to you, and it may ruffle some feathers.
But mate, there's no one coming through. Well, well, no, you, you, you know you've... Well, Benny Livingston, one of our previous podcasts, he was on Auroras, he's dragon boat Queensland, and he wants to expand on the youth development. Yeah. Expanding, expanding on the youth development There is a pathway. Like anything in business, in sport, in family, you've got to invest- Yep
in what you do We can't rely on 30 years of people's grandkids and that just hoping, wanting to paddle. We want to try and be the voice. There is a, a way, and I'm not right or I'm not wrong, so please don't hold me account of it. I know Canada and America, Europe, Hong Kong, doing amazing jobs in the youth.
Down in Sydney, Merrywhiskers obviously doing something fantastic. In Queensland, I'd love to see it. I'd love to see the local federations, whether it's a Paddle Australia initiative, a Paddle Queensland, a Dragon Boat Queensland initiative, invest, put some money, have a five-year plan- Yep ... go into the schools.
Go into the schools that are rowing. Yep. The TSSs, the, the, the, the St. Peters, the Brisbane Grammar, the Churchie. And Paddles Ready have already g- set some of this in motion. Don't, don't get me wrong, Dougie. No. And we want to, we want to give them the opportunity because as, as Scott Sharples, Paddle Queensland once said, "The problem with the schools, we turn up, we only might have eight craft."
Mm-hmm. So if you implement dragon boating, there's 16 or 18, you put four boats, there's 60 kids that you can get to do something. Yep. And then you explore the notion of, let's put it into, let's put it into a participation event in one of the, the, the regattas of the GPS school regattas rowing, whether it, wherever it is.
It could be anywhere around the world. Yep. And then you have that. But you invest it, you employ people to go around and do that, then you're investing in the juniors. Now, if, if they're in grade six and seven and eight, which the GPS schools are- Mm-hmm ... and they get them paddling, and then there's the rowing, you implement it in to do that.
It's timing, it's, it's, you're learning, um, culture, history, everyone's leg eyes the same, so it's going to enhance their experience. Yep. Then imagine that. So by the way, you're at the schools, whether it's their rowing camps or, or, or, or, or, or federations that do it, then they get a race. So Dragon Boat Queensland might go, "You know what?
In the, in the state titles we want an All Schools Cup. Oh, we... Paddles Ready have just done a, uh, an implementation of, uh, to, to Churchie, Grammar, TSS and, and, and given them some..." But you need the, the money to do it. Yep. Then they do the racing, and then it's like, "Oh, where do we go from here? Oh, well, there's actually a pathway with Dragon Boat Queensland to represent Queensland."
Then there's a pathway with Auroras, you know- Yeah ... with, with, with, with Deb Morrogh, what she's doing. Deb Moran, sorry, what she's doing implementing the juniors. There's a massive pathway. If kids knew that- Yeah ... you're talking about travelers or paddlers. So it's education. It- Pardon the pun. Yep. You, you got to get it in, into the schools.
Yeah. So I was talking to Nick this morning down there at, uh, Varsity Sports Hub. Mm. Great guy. looking at doing some, you know, s- working with you and I with a couple of things that we got in plan. Okay. He was telling me, uh, because, and this is, you, you keep going down and the people powers that be keep going down the private school methodology.
No one's talking about the state system. From where I sit There's so much funding in the state government and governments are trying to just give this money away. So much so if you don't use it, they ask for it back. Nick's telling me that they're doing, looking at doing... And Nick, please correct me if I'm wrong at any stage, um, when we catch up with each other.
But Varsity College, so Varsity's got over 5,000 right down there, and it's state. Mm. So they're starting up their rowing. So why can't we go in there? 100%. And this is what I'm saying. Varsity College, is that a uni? No, it's, it's state high school. They've got 5,000 people in their school? I think it's more.
More, and I'll be- That's huge ... yeah, it's massive. Massive. Um, now they're implementing- It's just knocking on the front door. We're right here ... it's right here. This is the thing. So it got me thinking, right, are we knocking on the wrong doors? And I know, you know, the private school, um- Only, only reason- ... all that but-
for the private schools, they're already doing rowing But isn't right now- They've got the discipline ... everything's about funding Fun- funding, yes ... everything is about funding. So- But if you were... So let, i- i- if, if you're talking about funding, we've already got organizations. You've got thousands of paddlers that pay it.
The money goes into the organizations- Yep ... but it sits there. They're not spending it. You got to- Do you remember one of our very first hot- Hey guys, spend the money ... remember one of our first, um, hot takes and we spoke briefly about it and I said, "It's like a P&C not spending money on it." Oh, I'm the president of the- Save it for a rainy day.
What rainy day? ... I'm the president of the P&C of Joe Blog's state school, and we've got a million bucks in the bank. Well, guess what? That million bucks isn't doing anything for the school, and no one's going to give you a gold medal when you're six foot under and say, "He got a million dollars in the bank."
Spend the bloody money, get these kids on the water, and let's start making a difference because from where I'm sitting, we can't get them out behind these bloody screens- But, but- ... or doing anything ... correct. And all the paddlers, the, the people that are members in states or provinces or wherever they are around the world, they implement it.
They employ people- Yeah ... to go round and get them in it. Yep, that's right. Um, and, and, and it's not, it's not state versus private or public or any of that. If we can find a pathway that's funded that you can go round to these schools and get them in- Well, the private schools can get state funding as well
at, at, at- Maybe that's the doors you and I need to start talking. Absolutely. Maybe- We've, you know- Maybe Paddles Ready should go and, and, and start- You and I know- ... knocking, knocking on the doors of Joe Blog ... you and I know... Yeah. Well, you and I know, are fortunate enough to know a lot of people. Maybe it does need somebody to take the bull by the horns, and we go and we try and extract this, and w- we, we do.
We do like a bit of a litmus test on it. Mm. But when- There's too much talk, too much lip, lip service ... uh, I get it. I get it ... and, and, and you and I are passionate Queenslanders, Aussies. And to be fair to all the viewers and listeners, Australia didn't do Too well No, and that's, you know, that could be- Right
another hot take. You know, uh, but, oh, we won gold. Well, there was only two people in the race. Yeah. That's another- Yeah ... you know, that, that's- And, and we live- That's another- ... in a melting pot of nationalities that love the Asian culture of dragon boating and- Yeah ... paddling. Yes. And, you know, I, I, I, I there's, there's got to be change, but what's, what, what is that whole thing?
The re- re- repetitive you do it insanity- Oh, this ... isn't it? Yeah, yeah. Well, what- whatever it is. Doing the same thing time and time again and expecting a different result. Yeah. Well, I think, I think- Well- ... homegrown, I know Blair and Leah and Ben, they wanna get the youth because sometimes you can't even fill a youth team.
Well, the only result we're getting at the moment is- This is a long hot take ... yeah, there's no, there's no results at the moment except for those kids who are turning up, and they're turning up on their own initiative. So anyway, this is a long hot take. Let's get stuck into that because I really like to explore the state g- you know, what funding we can get.
W- you know, we can't do everything, you and I, but geez, if we can get the ball rolling and get some of these kids because- Well, that was a long hot take ... they- I hope the producers cut it up a bit and don't- No ... because we're a bit passionate and emotional. Those schools' girls were amazing, and I want to see more of it.
So- Mary, congratulations to all your athletes ... Mary, it was awesome, and thank you. So thanks, Hando. Hando's hot take, that was a good one. Woo- ... wee. There'll be- Bite your lip and taste the blood ... there'll be a couple of them sitting there just going, "Ugh." But anyway, that's what we're here for. Yeah, yeah, but, but, but, you know, hot take's over.
We're continuing almost into a, into, into, into a pathway because I've just been talking to some rowers. So you've got the schools. Yeah. Then you've got sub-committees, then you've got committees. If we can implement and show it... But you know what? I'm not prepared to, to... Time is money. Yeah. You know? You, you, you can be shown a path, but if you sit on the fence, what's the old saying?
It, from the cattleman, "Lead the horse to water." Yeah. And if they're not gonna drink it- Right ... well, guys, get off there and do it. Yeah. And if it fails, it fails, but at least you've done something. There's no point having, having, um, a- Thousands of paddlers registered, you pay it, all that money's supposed to go back into the sport.
Okay, it goes into the regattas and it, and, and, and, and, and there's timing systems, and there, new b- well, supposed to be new buoys. Like, look at the Australian Championships there. Yeah. Where, where, where, where is the money going? Yeah. Because we talked to Julie in Canada, and m- their money goes straight into the s- I know they're a lot bigger countries.
Yes. But in saying that, dragon boating over there is a business. Yep. It is. It is. And- Like clinics paid for, everything like that, it is a huge business- Yep ... over there. And, you know, that was one of the things that we got told there in Canada, sometimes it, it's pretty hard to just get in there and be a rec paddler, be a recreational paddler, because it's such a big business.
Oh my goodness. You know, and, and- Yeah. Well. Well- We could talk about this all day. And probably we will ... I d- I just think we, we, we've had, we've had, we've had topics on the podcast where it is about the youth. Um- And the youth keeps coming up because that's where the sport... You know, these guys now who are 18, 19, 20, 15, in 20 years' time, 10 years, 15 years' time, the, the- Well, that's where you go
there's no numbers ... and, and, and, and, and you saw some of the comments where you've, you've got the youth, and then they do it, and then they go to university, or then they, they, they leave the sport, and then they come back at, at, at 30, 35. Yeah. That's it. Yeah. They go, yeah. You know, 'cause there's a lot of high impact sports that people look at, whether it's netball, cricket, rugby, AFL, NFL, ice hockey, all of that.
Yeah. Like you're talking to Ross Flemmer, like Olympians- Yep ... come out. They're still, they're still paddling. Yeah. Like what Philadelphia did was next level. Mm. Next level. Mm. And then you're talking about different stroke rates and techniques and, and clinics. Yeah. Clinics. Yeah. No, we'll get onto that. Um, but you're right.
What else have you got for me, Dougie? No. Well, I, that was a bit of an extended hot take. We'll see what the producers can do with that one in the editing. Um, but it's going to keep right raising its head, and it's going to keep raising its head when we're traveling the world commentating, and we're seeing how much junior involvement is from other countries, but not from our own.
Yeah. And that's where the problem lies. And we don't n- we're not saying that we've got the answer. No, but we- We just need to say something needs to change ... we've got ideas. Something needs to change because what's, what- As the Americans say, Tony Robbins, "For things to change, you got to change. For things to get better, you got to get better."
There you go, Tony Robbins. If that's what it takes, that's what it takes. But that's Hando's hot take. That's it. Catch you later. Bye. Well, Hando, that's a wrap. Taiwan done and dusted. How good was that? Xie xie. I'll tell you what, everyone is very, very impressed with your local, uh, language and how many different countries you know- Well, that-
after our... It's very, very good. That's it. Well, there's... That's it from us. That's it. We want you to tune in again all round the world. Our Asian followers now are fantastic. Fantastic. And l- let us not forget, um, Aidan, our socials guy. He is just our creator, and I don't know, he's just the thing of everyone.
So Aidan, thank you for everything you're doing. Our socials have gone through the roof. Facebook's going fantastic. Anything you need to catch up with Hando and I, where we are in the world, commentating, what we've got coming up, whether it's coaching or anything like that, please follow our socials. Um- Instagram, YouTube.
Follow it. You name it, we've got it all. But, uh, thank you to all our viewers. Once again, thank you for, um, your patience while we got this one down. It's been a big four weeks, but, uh, we're back. Wow. See you later
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