Dragon Boat West

A word or two from a paddling Indian to a paddling Indian - I did
everything right

Here I am, an Indian from a different nation. Were I come from they
give different smoke signals, have different haircuts, ride different
horses, and wear socks and sandals. Do you know who I am?

I am still an Indian, here I am. Not too bad considering the huge
responsibility my chief is putting on me, and my entire fellow
Indians. Three moons ago my 2 chiefs shipped 9 Indians and me north
to Oregon, the land of Vikings. This time we couldn't take our horses
and instead took a ride on a yellow iron horse. Later I found out it
was transportation for little Indians who cannot paddle in canoes
yet.

We arrived, took our weapons, and camped on blankets. Tons of
friendly Indians from other tribes were there to meet for canoe
racing. How fun! Indian: "Chief, Chief, why, when, from where to
where, against whom, what is the deal?" Chief: "Shut up and go back
to your blanket and wait with the other Indians, I will figure it
out" – I did. And guess what, he came back and figured it
out. "LARD!" (Name of our tribe) "Listen up". Our chief gave us
specific information and wants us to round up in a circle. He makes
us jump, bend and stretch. A way of scaring other Indian teams? No,
our chief does not want us to get hurt and to see the medicine man,
now I get it.  Then he makes us sit on the pavement, pretending we
sit in a canoe and paddle. I don't know about this Chief, but I do.
Actually, looking at my shorts later, I think we moved a little bit.
And I have to admit it did feel good, paddling with or without a
canoe. Maybe I will do this again later tonight in my tent.

At the shoreline crowds of painted Indians from other tribes are
lined up, waiting to get into the canoes. Some crews are loud, sing
and shout. Ain't no scared, my chief told us we will kick their
as……...  

"Hey Indian, sit here, row 5". I think to myself…..no chief I like
row 7 better. But I shut up. I remember the chief sitting with the co-
chiefs the night before talking about some stuff. That may had
something to do with where I am sitting now? After a short while I
don't see much of a difference, row 5 is as good as row 7, left or
right.  Other Indians don't seem to mind either. Oh my god, there is
dirty water in our canoe. Other tribes had left water in our canoe to
slow us down. Not with us my fellow friendly Indians. We scope the
water out real quick and we are ready to go. (P.S. later we leave
some of our own dirty water in the canoe to get even = old Indian
trick). Now my chief yells "gunnels!" What's that? Now "Take it
away",  – I do everything he says. I am a good Indian; I do exactly
what my chief says and so do my fellow Indians.  Man, that feels a
lot better then I thought.        

"Concentrate" – I do. "Focus" – I do. "Paddles up" – I do. I don't
even talk any more, or look to shore where some pretty female Indians
walk by. I am here to paddle now and I am prepared for the battle. I
brace my legs into the canoe; make my legs help me paddling stronger.
Legs paddling? Yes, believe it or not and try it out. There we go,
all teams start paddling now and soon we see open water. "Heads up
and rotate" he yells at me. That's right I forgot…and I was wondering
why it felt so hard breathing. Now it's better, and now I can even
see my fellow Indians paddle. My paddle hits the water at the exact
same time like my blood brothers paddles. That makes perfect sense.
WOW, I can feel it that makes a big difference. The canoe feels light
and powerful. We can barely hear the other Indians anymore. Where are
they? `Come paddle with us', I think. But I am not here to think and
I won't look back either, or try to find out were they are. I just
keep paddling hard.

WOW, what's this now? Our canoe goes sideways towards the shore. Are
we almost there? Nope, our tiller Indian is loosing it. I don't care
and still paddle hard even tough it feels like we approach a turn. We
are almost turned around now, and there they are, I can see the other
Indian canoes again. One of them is pretty close to us and I think,
if they don't stop soon or we get out of their way, they may hit us.
And guess what, Manitou didn't help us here. They run into us hard. I
prepare to take a bath but surprisingly our canoe does not sink. Too
bad one of our Indians got hurt and needs to see the medicine man. I
wonder what would have happened if Indian heads were on our canoes.
Anyways, minutes later we crossed the finish line almost sideways.
The official chiefs telling us that they don't want to paddle with us
anymore. We are in trouble. I already see myself spending the night
at the totem pole. Now I am getting angry but don't show it, instead
laugh and dance just like my fellow Indians. Everything considered,
this was kind of cool. Amazing what 12 red racing Indians have
caused.  

We went back to our tents and soon the yellow iron horse picked us
up. The sun goes down, we eat, and have some fire water. "But only 2
fire water" our chief says – I do. "We meet at 8:30 in the morning at
the yellow iron horse. Go in your tipi's now" the chief says – I do,
just like everybody else. One moon later we met, left in time and get
there relaxed.
 
The official chief said, "Because of your crash, you red racing
Indians have to paddle with the novice Indians".  "No way!" Other
novice Indians teams say. "We don't want the red racing Indians to
paddle in our group". Now all the tribe chiefs had to get together
and smoked the freedom pipe. They agree that the red racing Indians
should paddle with the competitive black and green Wasabi Indians,
the yellow Sun Indians, and the black and orange Zambowanga
Indians. "Thanks Manitou, good move". Our chief just has to find 10
more Indians from other tribes to fill up our canoe.  30 min later
some black VO2 Max (Volume of oxygen = cool name) from British
Colombia, a pink Arizona Indian, and a black and green Wasabi Indian,
join our team. The chief puts me in row 10 now. "What?" He must have
a reason - I just shut up and paddle.      

"Indians! Learn from yesterday, breath, rotate, reach, focus, heads
up, full blade, brace, dig deep, all the good stuff" – I do. "Indians
on your mark!" And there we go START; half, three-quarter, full,
full, full is our secret. I know my chief relays on me, and my fellow
Indians now. I paddle so hard if there is no tomorrow and do
everything right.

There is a canoe from a friendly tribe ahead of us but there are also
2 behind. The green and black Wasabi canoe is breathing up our neck.
The red racing Indians paddle hard, "Power 20" and we accelerate one
more time, not given up an inch. "Extreme", we are gaining more, just
like our chief expected it from us. The red racing canoe comes in at
a respectable second place at the competitive A finals. The feared
Wasabi Indians placed third, almost one canoe length behind us. The
Zambowanga canoe won the race but they are friendly Indians to the
red racing Indians – for now! After the race they fed us and share
their firewater with us. Thanks black and yellow Zambowanga Indians,
and also thank you Manitou, to give us the skill and memory to adapt
our new paddle technique; don't drink more than two fire water, be in
bed in time and be such great fellow Indians.

It felt to me, that our fellow Indians couldn't do without me, and I
couldn't do without them. And between you and me, my dear fellow team
Indian, our chiefs couldn't do without us either. I am so glad to be
a disciplined Indian. All I have to do is paddle hard and shut up,
and sure enough our tribe will be successful and win canoe races.

On the end they call our tribe on stage and hang heavy silver medals
on us. Cool! I like that, some call them hardware, and some think
they take space of their tents. I will decorate my tent with the
medals all right. But wait a minute; wouldn't it be cool to have some
gold medals? But that would mean that all of our team Indians has to
come out and help pushing our canoe. Please my fellow Indians, we
have 15 seats to fill for the San Francisco canoe race and we don't
want to give them away to green, yellow, blue or black Indians. Some
of us will take their horse to get there, so don't worry, you don't
have to get on the flying iron horse.

And last but not least; I am extremely proud to be a part of this
successful tribe and my chiefs, even tough I have a different hair
cut.  And… I also like paddling better than horseback riding now.

Cheers,
The international Indian of mysteries

I think the term is First Nations.

In the United States, they are Indians.