Tom Arnold, Head Coach, Gorging Dragons, Gorging Dragons Alumni, and Flat Out
Tom Arnold, Head Coach, Gorging Dragons, Gorging Dragons Alumni, and Flat Out
Tom Arnold, one of the founders of VI Paddling, has been involved in paddle sports for most of his life – in canoe, dragon boat, outrigger canoe, marathon canoe, and surfski. He is most accomplished in dragon boat, having competed with both the Premier and Senior A Canadian National Teams, and winning multiple medals at Club Crew World Championships in the Premier Mixed and Open divisions. As part of VI Paddling’s coaching team, he has developed the Gorging Dragons High Performance Program (Premier, Senior B and Senior C) and Flat Out Competitive BCS crew into perennial contenders at Club Crew World Championships, with this success leading him to become Program Director for the Canadian National Senior B Team. He has a passion for helping paddlers and coaches who want to take their skills to the next level, and can be hired for clinics and private coaching.
Andree St. Denis, Gorging Dragons and Flat Out
Andree St. Denis, Gorging Dragons and Flat Out
There are few dragon boat competitors in the world with as well-rounded a resume as Andree St Denis. Since her first Club Crew World Championship in 2004 with the Gorging Dragons Premier Mixed, Andree has competed in 9 Club Crew World Championships, World Championships, and IDBF World Cups as a paddler, drummer, stern, and coach. She’s also an accomplished outrigger stern, having competed with Team Canada at the 2012 World Outrigger Sprints. She currently serves as a coach for both VI Paddling in Victoria for the Gorging Dragon teams, and with Team Canada’s Senior B National Dragon Boat team, and steered the Senior B Mixed and Open crews at the 2019 World Championships in Thailand. No matter your role in the boat, Andree can help you take your skills to the next level.
Mallorie Nicholson, Gorging Dragons and Flat Out
Mallorie Nicholson, Gorging Dragons and Flat Out
Mallorie started paddling at 12 years old (Burloak Canoe Club, Ontario) where she competed in sprint canoeing. Her successful competitive career included being 31x National Champion and 12x Pan American Champion. In 2010 and 2011, she and partner Laurence Vincent Lapointe were World Champions in doubles (C-2) 500m. Mallorie has been involved in coaching nearly as long as she has paddled. She has been a member of the Gorging Dragons coaching team since moving to Victoria in 2012, and coaches Senior B & C. Mallorie loves putting her finger on what a team needs to bring their paddling and racing to the next level, and encouraging all athletes to achieve their best performance on any given day.
Brett Kuroyama
Brett Kuroyama
Brett’s love for the outdoors led him to paddle recreationally at a young age, but it wasn’t until 2017 that he discovered his passion for dragon boating.
He joined VI Paddling in 2019 and quickly familiarized himself with outrigger paddling at the beginning of the Covid pandemic. Paddling became an essential outlet to stay physically active during physical distancing.
Brett competed in Sarasota, Florida at the 2022 Crew Club World Championships in the premier mixed division, winning a gold and two silver medals.
Joe Guidoriagao, Learn to Steer
Joe Guidoriagao, Learn to Steer
Joe Guidoriagao (Handsome Joe) has been paddling and steering for over 10 years, growing his steering expertise on the waters of Okanagan Lake before landing on the West Coast to stern for various high-level competitive and recreational dragon boat teams. Through his experience at the Canadian National Championships in Welland, Ontario, and Regina, Saskatchewan, Joe has solidified his knowledge of racing under pressure and how to motivate the teams under his helm. His love for paddling has led him to hone his paddling skills to take part in other disciplines on Vancouver Island and beyond. Joe is looking forward to coaching the VI Paddling Learn-to-Steer program in 2021.
Verlie Martin, Island Breaststrokers
Verlie Martin, Island Breaststrokers
Verlie started paddling dragon boat in Penticton in 2000. After a few seasons, the sport was growing quickly and there was a need for coaches. She took the plunge to coach a team in 2004 and has never looked back. Verlie coached recreational level teams in Penticton and Kelowna and loved the challenge of working with brand new paddlers. She had the privilege of coaching the breast cancer survivor team in Kelowna as well, and taking them to two breast cancer world championships. Since moving to Victoria and joining VI Paddling, Verlie has competed at two Canadian National Championships; World Club Crew Championships in Australia and Hungary; and, was a drummer for Team Canada Senior B in Thailand. Verlie has completed the National Coaching Certification Program, and is a certified Dragon Boat Canada coach.
Matthew Michaelis
Matthew Michaelis
Matthew started paddling in 2009 with a recreational team, having never touched a paddle before. In the winter of 2009, he started training with the Gorging Dragons Premier team. He’s competed in two Club Crew World Championships and also won a few medals with Team Canada in the Senior A division for three cycles (2015, 2017, 2019). He holds a DBC Level 1 Coaching Community Dragon Boat certification and over the last 10 years has coached many different recreational and corporate teams, including VIP’s own Slegg Titans, IBS, and Gorging Dragons.
Kelly Spilsbury, VIP WILD
Kelly Spilsbury, VIP WILD
Kelly joined VI Paddling as a recreational paddler in 2017. She now paddles with the Gorging Dragons High Performance Premier team and feeds her passion for paddling and love of the water with plenty of outrigger canoe, marathon canoe, and surfski paddles on the side! In 2019, Kelly co-created one of VI Paddling’s newest team, VIP Wild, who finished their first season in the top women’s division at the Victoria Dragon Boat Festival. She obtained her Dragon Boat Canada Level 1 Community Coach Certification in 2019 and loves the supportive and team-based approach taken at VI Paddling to ensure she continues to learn and grow as a paddler and coach. Kelly competed in Sarasota, Florida at the 2022 Crew Club World Championships in the premier mixed division, winning a gold and two silver medals. She currently coaches the VIP WILD team.
Tina Watson
Tina Watson
Tina grew up playing a variety of team sports and has always been eager to take on new challenges.
In the summer of 2011, paddling became that new challenge. She began training with the Gorging Dragons Premier team and began competing at National and International races shortly thereafter. She earned the opportunity to compete at three Club Crew World Championships (Italy 2014, Australia 2016, and Hungary 2018), and has won multiple medals in the Premier Mixed division.
Her passion for paddling also extends to sharing that passion with others. In 2014 she was given the opportunity to coach a long-standing local dragon boat team. This opportunity lit a fire for coaching, and since then she has helped with a variety of paddling clinics up and down the Vancouver Island (as well an international paddling clinic in the USA), helped establish a new corporate dragon boat team for Slegg Building Materials staff (The Slegg Titans), and co-coached a women’s team to compete in Sister Cities Friendship race in Suzhou, China. Tina is also one of our erg practice coaches. Whether she is needed to help coach, drum, steer, or paddle, Tina brings a positive hardworking attitude to anything she approaches.
Mike Weirmier, Navy Dragon Anchors
Mike Weirmier, Navy Dragon Anchors
Mike began his paddling career in 2004, but he’s always had a love of the water. Growing up on southern Vancouver Island, his family spent many hours cruising around the Gulf Islands. As a teen, Mike joined the Claremont rowing team and the Victoria City Rowing Club, competing across Canada and the United States. As an adult he began his coaching career at Lambrick Park Secondary where two of his kids attended and carried on the family rowing tradition. In 2004, he was asked by a friend to try a forward facing water sport and the rest is history. Mike has been on four teams over his paddling career: the Dragonauts (2004-2007), the Navy Dragon Anchors (2009-present, coach since 2016), the Gorging Dragons Premier (2014-present), as well the Canadian National Team (2017-present) where he competed on the world stage.
Janice Meier, Mighty Mermaids
Janice Meier
Janice joined VI Paddling in 2012 after several years paddling with local recreational dragon boat crews. She joined the Gorging Dragons high performance team to challenge herself to become a better paddler. As part of the Gorging Dragons Senior C (60+) team, Janice competed at the Canadian National Dragon Boat Championships in 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019. Success at these events provided Janice and the Senior C team the opportunity to compete internationally at Club Crew World Championships in Italy, Australia, and Hungary, where they had podium finishes in multiple distance events. Her love for the sport, appreciation of the coaching she received over the years, and a desire to give back to the community led Janice to pursue her Dragon Boat Canada Level 1 Community Coaching certification in 2015. Janice has coached several introductory paddling sessions and is the coach of VI Paddling’s newest team for 2023, the Mighty Mermaids.
Toni Weirmier, No Drama Llamas, Gorge-O-Saurus, Smoke on the Water
Toni Weirmier, No Drama Llamas
Toni started her paddling adventure in 2004 as a drummer. She also, that same year, began rowing for her high school team at Lambrick Park Secondary School. After a long hiatus from water sports, she found her way back in 2015 as a drummer once again, and in 2016 she finally joined a team as a paddler. Toni has been on five teams as a member: Dragonauts (2004), Navy Dragon Anchors (2015), Dragons of North America (DNA) (2016- present), Rebel Alliance (2016), Goblin Empire (2018). And she’s been lucky enough to experience paddling in Malaysia, the Philippines, China, Hong Kong, and the USA on strong recreational teams. She currently coaches our offseason dragon boat training and development program in Victoria in addition to the No Drama Llamas, Gorge-O-Saurus, and Smoke on the Water.
Cara Weirmier, Route 22
Cara Weirmier, Route 22
Cara began her paddling journey on a dare in 2006. A friend of her husband jokingly asked her to paddle an OC6 race (Bridges, I believe) and she said “sure, why not!”. She jumped in the boat, paddle facing backwards, never having been in any paddle boat before, and was ready to go. From there the dare became an obsession.
Since that time, oh so long ago, she has been a crew member of the Dragonauts (2006 – 2008), Navy Dragon Anchors (2010 – present) and Gorging Dragon Premier (2017 – present), as well as founded and coached the BC Transit corporate team Route 22 and our offseason dragon boat training and development program in Victoria. She has also paddled and raced outrigger (OC6 and OC1) and marathon canoe. Major accomplishments to date have been the Queen Liliʻuokalani OC6 race in Kona Hawaii (2007), completing the 715km Yukon River Quest (2022) in a four-person marathon canoe, the Club Crew World Championships (2022) with the Gorging Dragons Premier crew, and most recently, attending the Canadian National Team Showcase in October 2022 with the hopes of representing Canada at the 2023 World Championship in Pattaya, Thailand.
Lauren Douglas, Flying Dragons Comox Valley
Lauren Douglas, Flying Dragons Comox Valley
Lauren was coaxed into a dragon boat with the Comox Valley Flying Dragons in 2009 and was hooked from the first stroke!
She took over the coaching reins in 2012 and what she lacked in technical skill she made up for with a passion to learn, enthusiasm to share, and the competitive spirit to help the team ‘bring home the bling’ in local regattas.
In her commitment to continued improvement in paddling technique, Lauren has been fortunate to clinic with Kamini Jain of Right Angle Performance and Tom Arnold and Andrea Keenan of VI Paddling.
Trying her hand in OC6 in 2015 with the Comox Valley Canoe Racing Club, Lauren competed and placed in the 12km Crazy 8 race out of Nanaimo and the 15km Comox Island Iron.
Lauren had the privilege of coaching and drumming for the Queneesh Dragons (a women’s consolidated team of local paddlers) for the 55+ BC Games in 2019 (Kelowna) and 2022 (Victoria). Placing 1st in an exciting relay was a highlight in Victoria!
Lauren is excited about what the future holds for the Flying Dragons as part of VI Paddling!
Joan Goodwin, Wave Cutters and the Dragon Riders
Joan Goodwin
Joan began paddling in 2013 with Hope Afloat, a recreational, cancer-survivor team in Comox, BC.
In 2015, while continuing with Hope Afloat, she joined the Gorging Dragons paddling on the Senior C (60+) women and mixed crews. After successfully qualifying at respective Canadian National Championships, Joan and the GDs competed at the Club Crew World Championships in Australia (2016), Hungary (2018), and Florida (2022).
In 2019, Joan was selected to represent Canada on the Senior B (50+) women and mixed teams at the World Dragon Boat Racing Championships held in Thailand.
Wanting to give back to the sport that has given her so much, in the summer of 2023 she began coaching for VI Paddling’s newest program in Comox, BC – Wave Cutters – a fast track program designed to introduce new paddlers to the sport over the course of two short weeks before racing at the Comox Dragon Boat Festival.
In 2024, Joan will continue coaching the Wave Cutters team alongside Barb Bock as the team transitions to a full-time recreational team, and she will also be coaching our youth team, the Dragon Riders.
Barb Bock, Wave Cutters
Barb Bock
Barb was introduced to the sport of dragon boating in 2005 and fell in love with dragon boating because of the camaraderie of 20+ paddlers training towards a common goal and the opportunity to do something competitive and fun with a bunch of people she considers her extended family. She loves racing and is always learning new things through training, both on and off the water.
Barb was fortunate enough to compete with the VI Paddling women’s Senior B Gorging Dragons crew in the 2018 Club Crew World Championships in Szeged, Hungary and 2022 Sarasota, Florida. She currently trains with the women’s Senior C crew and the Flat Out breast cancer survivor high performance team.
She has co-coached Hope Afloat, and recently, the new Wave Cutters team in Comox.
She provides a high-energy and positive feedback approach and looks forward helping other paddlers reach their goals
Jane Bowering Hay, Prevailing Wins
Jane Bowering Hay
Jane started paddling in 2015 with the Prevailing Wins team in Comox. She enjoyed learning a new sport, the camaraderie, teamwork, and competitiveness of dragon boating. So, in 2018, Jane joined the Gorging Dragons with a group of paddlers training on Comox Lake. She quickly learnt that dragon boat paddling is a very technical sport and continues to enjoy perfecting her technique today.
Jane’s racing experience includes the Canadian Championships in 2019 in Regina, the World Club Crew Championships in 2022 in Sarasota, Florida, and the Canadian Championships in 2023 in Welland, Ontario. Her latest accomplishment has been representing Canada on the Senior C (60+) Canadian National Team in 2023 at the World Dragon Boat Racing Championships in Thailand, coming home with 8 gold medals paddling on both the women’s and mixed crews.
Jane joins the coaching team at VI Paddling in 2024 by coaching Prevailing Wins, which she describes as an honour, and Jane looks forward to assisting the team and individual paddlers reach their goals.
Lise Bugeaud
Lise Bugeaud
Lise began her athletic journey early in her life as a Track and Field athlete, a volleyball and basketball player and morphed into a dancer and dance teacher in her adult years.
She was introduced to paddling in 1997 joining a local recreational dragon boat team called Precision Impossible. She freely admits this may have been a watershed moment in her life that fostered her unrelenting allegiance to fitness and competition.
After a number of years spent dragon boating Lise added outrigger canoeing to her paddling passions spending close to ten years doing outrigger paddling exclusively. During this time, she competed at local and international locations at a national level doing OC6 races. While continuing to pursue her own paddling goals, Lise coached OC6 paddling crews and OC1 paddlers.
In 2014, she returned to dragon boat competition as a member of the Gorging Dragons. Lise has been a competitor with Gorging Dragons at three Club Crew World Championships in Australia, Hungary, and Sarasota, as well as competing at the 2011 World Championships in Sacramento.
Additionally, in 2018 Lise was selected as a member of the Canadian National Team and competed in the 2019 World Championships in Thailand. As a high performance senior athlete Lise is committed to passing on her knowledge and passion for paddling through her coaching opportunities. She currently coaches OC1 for both recreational and high performance paddlers.
She was introduced to paddling in 1997 joining a local recreational dragon boat team called Precision Impossible. She freely admits this may have been a watershed moment in her life that fostered her unrelenting allegiance to fitness and competition.
After a number of years spent dragon boating Lise added outrigger canoeing to her paddling passions spending close to ten years doing outrigger paddling exclusively. During this time, she competed at local and international locations at a national level doing OC6 races. While continuing to pursue her own paddling goals, Lise coached OC6 paddling crews and OC1 paddlers.
In 2014, she returned to dragon boat competition as a member of the Gorging Dragons. Lise has been a competitor with Gorging Dragons at three Club Crew World Championships in Australia, Hungary, and Sarasota, as well as competing at the 2011 World Championships in Sacramento.
Additionally, in 2018 Lise was selected as a member of the Canadian National Team and competed in the 2019 World Championships in Thailand. As a high performance senior athlete Lise is committed to passing on her knowledge and passion for paddling through her coaching opportunities. She currently coaches OC1 for both recreational and high performance paddlers.
Sean Barich
Sean Barich
Sean started paddling when he was 12 years old in Sprint Canoeing at Mississauga Canoe Club.
He achieved close to 20 National championships, in singles and various team boats and distances. In 2014, he represented Canada at the Junior World Championship in Szeged, Hungary in C1 1000m.
He is particularly proud to have won the C4 1000m Canadian Championship (John W. Black Trophy) in both 2014 and 2018, joining a long history of paddlers for that event.
With the mentorship of fellow club members and various training camps, he has had close to 20 different coaches over the years and has appreciated their different insights and lessons.
Sean focuses on the small details with the importance of technique and an adaptive race plan, but most importantly he focuses his attention to the glide of the boat.
Through his experiences, he has learned to be adaptable to each person to improve the boat. He loves being the underdog in a race and finds nothing beats the glide and connection to the crew/boat.
He achieved close to 20 National championships, in singles and various team boats and distances. In 2014, he represented Canada at the Junior World Championship in Szeged, Hungary in C1 1000m.
He is particularly proud to have won the C4 1000m Canadian Championship (John W. Black Trophy) in both 2014 and 2018, joining a long history of paddlers for that event.
With the mentorship of fellow club members and various training camps, he has had close to 20 different coaches over the years and has appreciated their different insights and lessons.
Sean focuses on the small details with the importance of technique and an adaptive race plan, but most importantly he focuses his attention to the glide of the boat.
Through his experiences, he has learned to be adaptable to each person to improve the boat. He loves being the underdog in a race and finds nothing beats the glide and connection to the crew/boat.
Sean Dupuis
Sean Dupuis
Sean Dupuis, the founder and coach of Team PANDA, brings a deep passion for dragon boating, and a focus on the relationship between team dynamics and performance to his coaching role at VI Paddling. His coaching journey began in hockey, a sport where developing team cohesion and learning to execute strategic gameplay are critical to success. This experience helped him transition seamlessly into dragon boat coaching roles in Nanaimo, working with both novice paddlers and with those seeking to advance their skills towards a high-performance level. As a competitor, Sean has competed on the National stage with both the Gorging Dragons and Edmonton Dragon Boat Racing Club, experiences that have helped shape his coaching philosophy, and technical framework. His highest goal is to foster a love of sport in everyone he coaches
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