Flying Ears

10/06/2024

Happy Birthday Kris Littlefield!

08/20/2024

Recently members of WNIU, WNIJ/Under Rocks podcast came to our Wednesday dragon boat practice on Lake Shabbona to check out dragon boating, as a fun and exciting thing to do in Northern Illinois. They interviewed members of our Flying Ears racing team and then got in the boat with us to experience the thrill and excitement of dragon boating first hand.

Check out Under Rocks podcast at, https://www.northernpublicradio.org/wnij-news/2024-08-15/reach-it-out-chasing-the-dragon-boat-under-rocks-podcast

The Flying Ears will have our dragon boats and team members in this year's Maple Park Fun Fest Parade on Saturday, August 31. Come check out the 42-foot boats and talk to team members.

If you would like to check out the fun and excitement of dragon boating, you can come "give it a try" at one of our practices. We gather at the boat rental dock at Pokanoka's Dockside Cafe on Lake Shabbona every Wednesday at 6:30 PM and Saturday at 8:30 AM.

For more information or reserve a spot to "give it a try" please contact our coach Craig Littlefield; 815 761 7658 or email [email protected].

What do you get when you combine dragons, boats, a touch of “oh my!” and 22 dedicated athletes? The coolest sport you’ve never heard of! Dragon boating has roots in ancient China and branches all over the world…including a lake near you. The Under Rocks crew dons life vests and heads to Shab...

08/20/2024

Flying Beers, Kaleidoscope and Racine Dragon Boat Club, Pink Paddling Power party goers after our Minocqua race Saturday night.

08/20/2024

Ten members of the Flying Ears racing team combined with the Racine Dragon Boat Club, Motley Crew racing team, and formed two teams, The Flying Beers and Kaleidoscope, for the Minocqua Dragon Boat Festival this past weekend. The Flying Beers earned a silver medal in the 300-meter race. The top 6 club teams from the 300m races then go on to compete in a 2,000-meter race. The Flying Beers advanced from being the 6th seed in the 2k to earning silver once again. Our Kaleidoscope team earned bronze in the 300m race but did not qualify for the 2k.

Flying Ears member on Kaleidoscope, Michelle Davis, received a cancer survivor medal. Gary Scott of the Flying Ears and member of Flying Beers received the Wisest Dragon Award which goes to the oldest paddler (82). Rain for some of the day did not affect the fun and excitement of the day of racing, after all, it is a water sport.

We had a blast at the after the race dinner and party put on by our Motley Crew friends. There were approximately 60 people attending.

08/16/2024

One of the many fun things about dragon boating is the camaraderie that exists between the many teams we compete against. On the water we are fierce competitors, but off the water we are the best of friends, and can we party!

This weekend for example, 10 of us Flying Ears will be joining up with our friends from the Racine Dragon Boat Club, Motley Crew. They did not have enough to fill two boats for the Minocqua Dragon Boat Festival so we will be racing with them this weekend, August 17, at Torpy Park on beautiful Lake Minocqua in the Wisconsin North Woods. It will be a fun race as the team members of each boat was decided by a random lottery drawing. So, five of us Flying Ears will be on one of the teams known as the Flying Beers, the other five on the team now known as Kaleidoscope. It will be Flying Ears against each other. We are so excited for this race and happy to be with our friends from Motley Crew. Oh yes, we are expecting 35-50 people at our party after the race Saturday evening.

The Flying Ears final race for the 2024 racing season will be September 14 in Oshkosh, WI. For those who would like for give this fun and exciting water sport a try, we practice every Wednesday evening starting at 6:30 and every Saturday morning starting at 8:30. We gather at the boat rental docks near Pokanoka's Dockside Cafe where our dragon boat is docked.
If interested in "Giving It A Try" please contact our coach, Craig Littlefield, at 815 761 7658 or email him at [email protected]

08/14/2024

The Flying Ears and Windy City United Sky Dragons joined forces last Saturday to compete against 51 other teams at the Milwaukee Dragon Boat Festival. We came away with a trophy and silver medals in the top Diamond Division.

05/05/2024

What a great first practice and "give it a try" day for The Flying Ears Dragon Boat team. Nine new people joined us in the boat to "give it a try". It was a perfect morning to be on Lake Shabbona with a full boat of paddlers.

Our next practice/"give it a try" will be Wednesday evening May 8 with warm-ups at 6:30 prompt, in the boat by 7 (or sooner) done by 8PM. If you missed the first "give it a try", Wednesday is another good chance. For those wishing to reserve a spot for either Wednesday or Saturday 8:30AM May, 11 please contact Coach Craig Littlefield, cell #815 761 7658 or email [email protected]. Hope to see you soon!

05/03/2024

The 2024 Dragon Boat season is upon us. If you are looking for a new excitement in your life, wanting a new challenge, staying in shape, love water sports, wanting to meet new and positive thinking friends. Come see what the Dragon Boating excitement is all about, making it the fastest growing water sport in the world.

The Flying Ears season starts Saturday, May 4, 2024. We practice at Lake Shabbona and our dragon boat is docked by Pokanoka's Dockside Restaurant. Practices are 8:30 - 10:00AM on Saturday's and 6:30 - 8:00 PM Wednesday evenings. For those interested in "giving it a try" or for more information, please contact Coach Craig Littlefield 815/761 7658 or email at [email protected]. We have life jackets and paddles available. Anyone 14 years of age and up is eligible, currently our oldest is 82 and in his 11th season with the Flying Ears Race Team. We are a mixed team of men and women and would like to start an all-women's team.

08/14/2023

Second race of our season is in the books. The Flying Ears arrived in Ft. Dodge, IA ( 5 hour drive from our home base in Dekalb Co. IL) in time for Friday night activities. We started with a free meal of pulled pork sandwiches, chips and beverage. Dinner was then followed by posting of the colors by the local service group, followed by introduction of teams. A band played from 7 - 9:30 PM with the grand finally of fireworks.

Competition started at 9A.M. with the championship round around 4PM. Our Flying Ears had the best time in our first two races going into the finals seeded #1. Three teams raced in our division championship. We had a very bad start as the gun started the race. It was definitely a crowd-pleasing race as it was a photo finish with all 3 teams crossing the finish line. After official review it was determined that there was only a fraction-of-a-second difference between first and third place. The Flying Ears had earned bronze in a hard-fought race.

Our next race is this coming Saturday, August 19, in Minocqua, WI (another 5-hour trip). For our fan club in the Wisconsin North Woods area coming to the race please stop by our tent and say hello.

We are so proud to announce that our teammate, Patrick Hickey, earned a spot-on Team USA Senior B (50-60 years of age) competing last week in the World International Dragon Boat Championships held in Thailand. Team USA is the cream of the crop dragon boaters from across the USA. Pat is coming home with one gold, two silver and one bronze medals. We are so proud and happy for him.

We have had some inquiry about how the public can get some of our Flying Ear's paraphernalia. I will soon be posting a web site where this can be ordered.

08/02/2023

First race of the 2023 season is in the books.
Our Flying Ears Racing Team earned the bronze medal in this years Chicago International Dragon Boat Festival held Saturday, July 29. We were beaten by two premier A team, Windy City Dragons from Chicago took Gold and The Water Vipers from Toronto, Canada got Silver.

It was good seeing team participation coming back after the Covid pandemic. This year there were teams from Florida, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Indiana, Wisconsin, Toronto Canada, as well as Illinois. Our next race will be August 12 in Ft Dodge, IA. August 19 will find us racing in Minocqua, WI and our final race on September 16 in Oshkosh, WI. Looking for some excitement in your life and a competitive athletic kind of person...come join us. We practice every Wednesday evening 6- 7:30 and Saturday mornings (when not racing) 8:30-10:00 at Lake Shabbona. Congratulations to our teammate, Patrick Hickey, who made Senior B (50-60 years of age) Team USA. Pat leaves August 4 to compete in the World Dragon Boat Championships being held in Thailand this year.

07/28/2023

Looking for an exciting Saturday. Come join our Flying Ears Dragon Boat Team at our first race of the 2023 season. Where - Busse Woods (Ned Brown Preserve) in Schaumburg/Elk Grove, IL. Racing starts at 8AM Saturday, July 29. The Flying Ears will be competing against teams from, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Canada as well as Illinois. Come cheer us on and stop by our tent in the athletes village to say hello.

If you're interested in looking further into Dragon Boating, we practice every Wednesday evening 6-7:30 PM and Saturday mornings 8:30 - 10AM at Lake Shabbona. This years Flying Ears racing team of 25 comes from Dekalb County, Cary, IL, Plainfield, IL, St. Charles, IL, Newark, IL, Steward, IL and a couple from Wisconsin. WE have two dragon boats and would love to fill the second one...come join us.

05/01/2023

Your donation of $18 will help feed the residents of Hope Haven Homeless Shelter here in DeKalb, IL., a fantastic Pork Chop and Chicken bar-b-que dinner the evening of May12, 2023. If you can help, please email Gary at [email protected] by May 7. Please use FE Fundraiser on the subject line. Thank you for your consideration.

05/01/2023

Looking for a new excitement in you life? A new challenge? Love water sports? Are you a competitive person and would like to compete and have a ton of fun with a great group of people? Come see why Dragon Boating might be what you are looking for. You are invited to Give It A Try.

01/24/2023

The Flying Ears 2023 season has started off by appointing Michelle Davis as our Director of Fun. She is planning a new event every month. Our first event was last Saturday as she arranged for a team Axe Throwing. We gathered at her home prior to the 6 - 8 PM event and then again after for pizza, adult beverages, fun and laughter. 19 attended the axe throwing. We all look forward to Michelle's next event.

09/21/2022

The Flying Ears last race of the season was last weekend in Janesville Wisconsin. The Dragons on the Rock 2022 Festival was a wonderful event. We are still practicing at Shabbona Lake State Park on Wednesday and Saturdays. Come to a practice and checkout the sport. Send us a message if you want more information.

08/23/2022

After two seasons of no races, the Flying Ears has finally resumed racing with many first-time members on our race crew. Our veteran and new members have had a great season. The first race of the 2022 season was The Chicago International Dragon Boat Festival held July 30th at Busse Woods in Schaumburg, IL. in which we took the silver medal.

August 13th we again took silver at the Milwaukee Dragon Boat Festival. Last Saturday, August 20th, found us racing again in Wisconsin at The Minocqua Dragon Boat Festival. The Minocqua race has 3 x 300meter races for which the Flying Ears took silver. Then for the final race of the day, the top 6 teams race a 2,000-meter race and we took bronze in that race.

We have one race left this season on September 17th at Dragons on the Rock Festival in Janesville, WI

More 2022 season posts will follow soon.

05/10/2022

Our 2022 season has officially started. First practice was Wednesday evening May 4. Our first Give It A Try day was Saturday May 7 with 7 new paddlers eager to give Dragon Boating a try. We will have another "Give It A Try" day in June, watch for date announcement.

If you would like to give this fabulous sport a try, you don't have to wait until June. We practice every Wednesday evening and alternate Saturday's and Sunday's at Lake Shabbona State Park. We meet at the docks at Boondocks Bait Shop and Rentals. Please contact Gary at [email protected] to secure your seat in the boat. I have included our practice calendar as well as photos including our new paddlers from our May 7 "Give It A Try" day.