Row row row your boat, speedily down the stream....
Had an awesome day today. First dragon boat race ever at the Hawkesbury river at Mooney Mooney, Brooklyn.
The night before (well, you can actually say this whole week), I was pretty excited and looking forward to this weekend. It sort of felt like those swimming days, I always get excited when there's a competition over the weekend. Don't know what excites me. Definitely not the winning because back in those days, I never won a swimming race. And same with dragon boat, I knew we were a social club and heard we've never won. There's so many good teams out there. So yeaa... no idea. Perhaps it's the whole process of it. It's different from netball (though I still really miss this sport a lot!!!). The excitement comes from the thought and hunger of winning. Even when we play weekend social netball, I always wanna win! Lol!
So yea... the whole process of it. From the weekly training sessions down to the race day itself. I've been dragging myself out of bed nearly every Sunday morning since the 5th of June and turn up for training. It's something I actually look forward to. It's my new found substitute for netball. There was a point where I wanted to quit after paddling under the worst condition ever - Windy, wet and cold. Paddling the boat so hard but the water is so choppy, you're going no where. When you have dry skin and you rub your face with salt water, it stings like hell. There have been a few weekends where I would call Lucas up and say I do not want to go for training and go for breakfast instead.... or him calling me up and say he doesn't want to go .... but somehow or rather, we'd make each other go. And then regret later on. But after a few weekends of good paddling conditions and being acknowledged for improving, I started enjoying this sport more. And I have to make myself go because once you stop for a weekend or two, then it feels like the techniques are all gone.
After weeks of stroke corrections, we started focusing on the race starts and race plan few weeks before the race day. Even had an extra training session last Wednesday night after work to practice it. That's when it got exciting for me. And then to the night before where you pack your bags - Sunscreen: Check. Water: Check. Spare clothes: Check. Towel: Check. (Note to self: bring a pack of playing cards next race day!!). And then to the next morning where you wake up early and have a good brekkie - Milo, nutella + peanut butter with crumpets FTW..... yea yurrr!!! And then carpooling to get to the race venue (although last time in swimming, it's mummy/daddy uncle/auntie that drove us there and we'd sleep in the car).
Reached the race venue just after 7.30 and there were already so many cars. I was shocked to see the amount of people and cars. Did not know dragon boat is such a big thing over here. WOW!!!! Got to the waiting area and there were already so many teams that have set up their marquees and tents and have started their warm up. We did the same, set up our marquee (though I was still half awake and all I did was just holding a pole and then voila.... it's up!!!) and then warmed up and get into our seating plan. Mind you, we warmed up on land and not in sea. The only warm up you get in the water is the paddling up to the start line.
Early morning start....
First race is the mixed race. For the mixed team, male paddlers must not exceed 50% of the boat. As we only had 8 girls, we can only have 8 guys. So we were 4 short. Most other teams have 20 all up. I felt the start to the first race was pretty good. I could see on my left that we were matching up to the 2 boats. And then when I turn to my right, I saw this tiny dragon head popping out at the corner of my right eyes. Bloody hell! There was this other team that collided into us!!! What made it annoying is that team just kept paddling and did not stop and move away. And then wham! Another collision. Seriously?? The timing definitely went off. We stopped and got away from them and then started paddling again. In the end, we caught up to one of the boats in front of us that was leading 2 boat lengths ahead of us. I think we came 4th? That felt pretty good. But still annoyed how the other boat went out of their lane and clashed into us and did not even apologized. =_="
Second race is the open team. And since we did not have enough guys either to make a full boat of 20 guys, they had to put us girls in as well. But at least we had a full boat of 20 + drummer + sweeper. Sad thing is, we didn't do too well either. Right at the start line, our boat was slanted and we did not have time to adjust ourselves and then gun went. So we just started paddling and as we were in the outermost lane, the current took us further out to the side and we were pretty much paddling diagonally. No wonder take so long to reach the end!! We came 5th out of 6th in that race. Lol! Coach wasn't too happy. Had a de-brief and he said there were chatters going on at the back even when we were at the starting line. We had to get our minds focus and work as a team. The race does not start in the water but starts right from where we line up in the marshalling area.
Nap time!!!!!
Had an hour break before the third race. Weather was getting hotter. 34 degrees yo! Stretched, rehydrate, and munched on lollies. If only I had playing cards with me, it would have been perfect. Just like the good ol' swimming days :p Third race was another mixed race. Still same positions and 16 paddlers instead of 20. This time, we were more focused, no collisions and the race felt better. We came 4th, but just 0.4 seconds behind the 3rd team and 0.7 seconds behind the 2nd team.
Last and final race was back to the open team. We did a quick warm up together, swinging our arms and bodies side to side, stretch and then off to the boat. I felt pretty pumped up despite being exhausted after the three races. No one said anything but you could feel the positive energy on the boat. Everyone's hyped up for this last and final race of the day. The gun went and off we go. Sneaked a look to my left and we were head to head with the two boats beside us. Was counting the strokes in my head and paddle to the beat of the drum. Went flat towards the end and you could actually feel the whole boat slowed down. Almost came 2nd but ended up with a third. But it was the best race to end with.
According to the coach, we did pretty well for the first race of the season. With a few of us new paddlers and not even full boat we still did alright. Now we just need to get two more girls and we'd make a full mixed team. And more guys to make up 20 on the boat to get a strong open team.
We ended the race with BBQ at a park nearby. Traffic was rather slow on the way back and took almost 1.5 hour to reach the city. Can't complain as I was sleeping most of the way :p Reached home almost 6.
And that's my whole Sunday gone. To think that it's only 4 races, each race only lasting for just over a minute..... I'm exhausted!!!
Looking forward to the season and more races. I can now definitely add dragon boat to my new sport this year :D yea yurrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!
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