Dragon Boat West

yeah... I'm bored... thought I'd try and start dragonboat-related discussion.

Plain and simple...what got you started into dragonboat?

My high school friends and my desire to join a 4th team in grade 11.

volunteering sucks and it seems more fun to race and get a good work out

Just trying something new.  Who'd have thought I'd enjoy it so much?!  :D

On the down side my CS skills have gone South.  WAY South.  Or maybe that's because of WC3...  :shock: <-- mach playin WC3 at 2am last night

i know the real reason why mach joined, because of me!  :P yeah baby !  :lol:

i joined 'cause i was getting fat. and tired of doing nothing but work

Who told you?!?!?!    :D   :wink:

Same here.  I may not look fat now, but I knew the day would soon come when my no-exercise, bad-food-eating, three-Pepsi's-a-day lifestyle would catch up with me and I'd balloon to 300+lbs.   :oops:

I luv the water, and I luv to paddle, and what a better way to meet alot of fun :Cheers:  and interesting people.

Lemme think back:

Chai4me & Wonger did an excellent good job in convincing me to try it out, plus i got to meet some competitve/intellectual people from V. Tech...
HA!

grade 11, was running down a flight of stairs to somewhere probably unimportant, and saw a big poster for trying out dragonboat, and a meeting time & place,


My first reaction?  "pfft, yeah, what a dumb name.." and kept on running...


Probably in the next couple days I decided to just go and check it out... so anyways, went to the meeting, listened to Mrs. Pires talk about Dboat, and some other guy brag about his new Geo Storm "it's the 16th made.. oh it's automatic, but i drive it like a standard anyways" b.s....

That was in 1993, which means I've been doing this for... 10 years!?  :shock:  And having the best time of my life.  (except maybe for those wobbly days of learning to ride motorcycles)



I believe Voon and I are the only ones to stick around from that original group
(Just Dragon Along -> United Dragons Ablaze (Brenda :evil: ) -> Vo2max)

we've just walked down different paths, I still have a paddle in hand, and Voon... well, he has his g-strings and leather jackets  :wall:  (hehe j/k voon, I know you're all about the wider thong cut)

I'm waiting for the day Hattie starts another Dboat team for DT for us, they could be called the "Freshlings" or something  :rofl:

Nook:  THat sounds very familiar, and I know who you're talking about  :lol:

As for me, I wanted to try it out in high school, but my lifestyle did not allow me to participate in any such extra curricular activities.   Actually it was too bad that I didn't join, because I think that my high school team (hamber) apparently had a good dragonboat program going on at the time..

Fast forward 10 years to the present, where a friend of mine from church asked if I would want to try out for a dragonboat team.   Up until a few months ago, I thought that only people from a workplace or school could join a team (funding).   Anyways, I went to the meeting hoping to see what I had missed 10 years ago, and signed up.

Yeah, I think I know who you're talking about too...there was only one guy with a Geo Storm back in highschool.

That's hilarious. What does the guy drive now?

A-hem!  :twisted:  
For those that don't know my team history: during the '95 year, i co-captained with Nook the crook. To this day, i've got nightmares on why i didnt go with Chia's suggestion of Vo2max.  :oops:

All i remember is that the deadline for the bio was due in 30 minutes, and i had to pick a name for the College team.  Everything during that year at the festival was a blur for me.  Kind of like that one race i drummed (infamously known as the "egg beater" race)

Honestly, I can't remember the entire reason why I joined in the beginning (1993), though I think I remember who had the geo storm.  Did this person have a very, uh, large, shiny forehead and ego to match?   :roll:

Back to the reason why I joined...I was managing a v-ball team for Wonger and he asked me to try out for the d-boat team that he was creating.  I said, "Sure, why not" and that was that.  A bunch of us grade 10 girls joined; most of whom you will not know.  We've all come and gone, but I think I'd have to say that I stuck with it the longest and consistently (1993-2000), at least from the original bunch of girls, although Tanya did drum for you this year.  Yep, that's many years with my left hip glued to the gunnel in stroke seat.  Just don't ever ask me to paddle on the right side; it's an ugly mess.  Alan and I tried a few years back and just trust me, you don't want to see it.

Anyways, I could go on and on, especially when the VT and DT portions of the team joined together and had our first meeting at Barnet and later our first car wash.  Those are experiences I'll never forget, but I'll leave it here and if you have any questions, ask away.

I got a question Chai4me, did you ever try steering?  :wink:

Now i remember why i was mostly on the left side! I wanted to see how Chai4me paddled...heehee!

holy smokes... so many VT people here..

Chai: do you work at Fitness world?  

just curious, but how does the coach determine if a person should be on the left/right side?

hey now THAT would be interesting if chai4me was working at Fitness World..free passes all around!

Since when does the coach decide what side you paddle on?
i thought its whatever side YOU felt comfortable with?

oh, wait a sec.  I take that back. I think the coach gets to decide when the boat is left-heavy or right-heavy...

grannyB: it must be lonely on your side of the boat.. :twisted:  :twisted:  :twisted:  :twisted:  :twisted:  :twisted:  :twisted:  :P

sorry, I just couldn't resist..

:evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :upsidehead:
Hmph!
I happen to LIKE paddling without a partner. There's so much MORE ROOM! And you don't have to worry about timing when you're doing seat-work.

Z: Is it pick on poor Granny B week??

<ouch!> stop hitting me!!

grannyb: how did you get your name?

Zeph : Oops! sorry! its a reflex of mine from Wing chun kung-fu. :lol:

The answer to your question lies in my sagely advice and driving habit.

PM me for more details

Nope, don't work at FW; just work out there 3 times a week.  I also did not go to VT, I'm at DTer and proud of it  8)

As for paddling side, I just chose the left side myself when we first tried it out.  It made logical sense to me since I'm right-handed and thus stronger on my right side, I'd be able to hold the right arm up for longer.....although some of you may disagree and chose the right side because your right-handed.