Tuesday 23 September 2008

Paddling With the Dragons

I love it when I get invitations to do cool stuff. One came to me last week when my friend Steve invited me to ride with the Carleton Place Dragon Blades. They were holding a paddling practice the week before the 7th Annual Carleton Place Dragon Boat Festival that took place this past Saturday on the 13th.

So Peter and I wandered down to the canoe club to see what all this dragon boat fuss was about.

We approached a crowd of people in shorts and t-shirts doing various stretches of their upper-bodies. If I stood back and squinted my eyes, it might look like a ballet warm up, sans toe shoes.

The team loaded in a long, skinny boat. They were ordered in a way that balanced the weight of the boat. I was given my own seat in the back of the boat, in front of a guy who stood and ‘steered’ with one long paddle in the water behind us.

They handed me a paddle.

What was I supposed to do with it?

Peter was wise. He rode in the motor boat beside us so he could take pictures.

I still didn’t know what to do with the paddle. The guy in front of me told me to watch what he did, and just paddle.

“So I’m just going to row with you, even though I don’t know what I’m doing?”
The boat got deadly silent.

“We don’t row. We paddle. Rowing is backwards. We’re forwards.” Said with strength of conviction.

Oh. Paddle. Right. Never say row again. Got it.

So on some commands that I didn’t understand, my oar was in the water and I was paddling with the rest of them. Four minutes later, my arms were done. Paddle-dead. Toast.

Something important here, folks. If you are in a dragon boat, and you aren’t paddling, pretend you’re on a horse. You know how you have to move with the rhythm of the horse as you ride (posting)? Well, if you don’t rock with the motion of the boat, you are in serious danger of being tossed right over, only because you can’t find your seat as your limbs go in all kinds of crazy directions.

It’s probably easier just to paddle, but my arms told me otherwise. So I posted in the boat, with the motion of the river and the mad paddling.

Suffice it to say, I had a great time with the Carleton Place team. They were fun but deadly serious about their task. By the time practice was over, we were all soaking wet. Me, from the guy in front of me paddling all his water into my lap, and the rest of the team from hard work and sweat.

Fast forward to race day on the 13th.

The Carleton Place Canoe Club and the surrounding park areas were alive with activity. There were people everywhere, most of them paddling teams from other towns. They were all ready to compete, all ready to win.

I’d never seen so many people that were into arm torture. And to cement that thought, I spied a team with black t-shirts that said “My Arms Hurt!”.

Aha. My mission. I would find the most creative team name. There were some good ones – People In a Boat, Dirty Oars (snicker), Mixed Nuts, Chicks and Hunks Ahoy, Drag’n Tales, Double D’s (what?), The Undomesticated Goddesses, and many more.

Good stuff.

The boats on race day were dressed up as well, with groovy little dragon heads adorning the front of all of them. Teams climbed in, and the oarsman at the back stood, while a person also took a small chair facing the team inside the boat. Apparently the person who sits on that chair has to be good at beating a steady rhythm on a drum, and must be especially good at screaming at the team while paddling.

It was fascinating to watch. Three minutes of mad paddling and the race is over, and a team is crowned the winners. I wish I could tell you what the ceremony was like, but the Canoe Club was too crowded with paddlers and their beer for me to get too close during the awards ceremony.

However, a hearty congratulations to the following winners:
Women’s Challenge: Galley Girls, 1st place with a time of 1:47.11
The Dale Scott Community Challenge: Carleton Place Dragon Blades with a time of 1:45.52 (Woot woot!)
Overall Championship: Gung Ho with a time of 1:37.74

The Dragon Boat Festival was fun. There were so many great people there, and so much energy to all the races. Can’t wait for next year!

Oh, and props to my new friend Wendy Martin - obviously not from these parts - in a county such as Lanark, it's nigh on impossible to find a true fashionista in our presence.

Girlfriend was rockin' these blue suede boots in a sea of flip-flops. Power to the shoes!

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