Dragon boat races: Saturday...
Jul. 31st, 2006 11:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dianec42Saturday I got up bright and early to drive to Long Beach for the first day of the races. It was sunny but not too hot; early but not insanely so. Sadly, everyone else is crazier than us, so getting there at 9 AM meant parking was pretty much impossible. Luckily I was able to find a parking spot that was so far away no one had bothered putting up signs saying "Please don't park here for the dragon boat races". Even more luckily, I was able to find the car again at the end of the day!
We competed in 2 divisions: corporate, and mixed. Corporate was very small this year; I think there were only 8 teams total. So we were all able to race at once! Mixed is always very large, and is sorted into divisions roughly by ability; we were in "Mixed IIIC" again this year. The first corporate race was Saturday just before noon. We had to borrow a steersman from one of the other teams; luckily he was very friendly and EXTREMELY good at his job (which was put to the test in fairly short order). "Hi, I'm Richard, I'll be your steersman for this race." "Hi, I'm Diane, and this is the first time I've ever called in a race situation." Whee! We agreed on some hand signals, decided that shouting would work too, and loaded onto the boat.
This was my first time sitting way up high in the chair, much less banging on the drum. Boy do those boats wobble when you push off! I'm pretty sure I was an interesting shade of green by the time we made it to the starting line. But I remembered all my lines, and I shouted the proper encouragement, and we were off!
We weren't doing spectacularly well, but there were a couple of boats behind us. Then Richard started pointing to his right... more and more insistently. I was puzzled, to say the least, and mouthed "What?!" at him cause shouting just wasn't going to cut it... then he yelled "Right side, look out!" I looked over my shoulder and HOLY CRAP THERE'S ANOTHER BOAT IN OUR LANE!
Paddles were pushed at the offending boat. Many swear words were exchanged. Neither boat actually sank. (Although if that happens again, especially from the same team, we'll see what we can do about that.) We ended up in 6th place out of 8, and the evil ramming boat came in 7th. A protest was lodged, and they were demoted to 8th, but there wasn't much else that could be done.
The first mixed-division race came, and I was paddling instead of calling. We came in, um, second or third? out of seven or eight; which was nice. In some ways I find paddling a lot less stressful; I get to just follow orders and shout abuse at any nearby n00bs that break timing.
I called in the corporate final in the afternoon. Good: After my first outing, this one was blissfully routine. Not so good: we did not do well at all in this one. Then therre was another mixed-division race, which I got to sit out; this, quite frankly, was a blessed relief. I think we came in (the other one of second or third) in that one. I even still had most of my voice left at the end of the day! I did feel like a bit of a jinx as we didn't do well in the 2 races I called.
Will post about Sunday later, must get some work done now.....
We competed in 2 divisions: corporate, and mixed. Corporate was very small this year; I think there were only 8 teams total. So we were all able to race at once! Mixed is always very large, and is sorted into divisions roughly by ability; we were in "Mixed IIIC" again this year. The first corporate race was Saturday just before noon. We had to borrow a steersman from one of the other teams; luckily he was very friendly and EXTREMELY good at his job (which was put to the test in fairly short order). "Hi, I'm Richard, I'll be your steersman for this race." "Hi, I'm Diane, and this is the first time I've ever called in a race situation." Whee! We agreed on some hand signals, decided that shouting would work too, and loaded onto the boat.
This was my first time sitting way up high in the chair, much less banging on the drum. Boy do those boats wobble when you push off! I'm pretty sure I was an interesting shade of green by the time we made it to the starting line. But I remembered all my lines, and I shouted the proper encouragement, and we were off!
We weren't doing spectacularly well, but there were a couple of boats behind us. Then Richard started pointing to his right... more and more insistently. I was puzzled, to say the least, and mouthed "What?!" at him cause shouting just wasn't going to cut it... then he yelled "Right side, look out!" I looked over my shoulder and HOLY CRAP THERE'S ANOTHER BOAT IN OUR LANE!
Paddles were pushed at the offending boat. Many swear words were exchanged. Neither boat actually sank. (Although if that happens again, especially from the same team, we'll see what we can do about that.) We ended up in 6th place out of 8, and the evil ramming boat came in 7th. A protest was lodged, and they were demoted to 8th, but there wasn't much else that could be done.
The first mixed-division race came, and I was paddling instead of calling. We came in, um, second or third? out of seven or eight; which was nice. In some ways I find paddling a lot less stressful; I get to just follow orders and shout abuse at any nearby n00bs that break timing.
I called in the corporate final in the afternoon. Good: After my first outing, this one was blissfully routine. Not so good: we did not do well at all in this one. Then therre was another mixed-division race, which I got to sit out; this, quite frankly, was a blessed relief. I think we came in (the other one of second or third) in that one. I even still had most of my voice left at the end of the day! I did feel like a bit of a jinx as we didn't do well in the 2 races I called.
Will post about Sunday later, must get some work done now.....
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no subject
Date: 2006-07-31 08:42 pm (UTC)You should have yelled "stand by to repel boarders!"
Yarr!!
(I need a suitable piratical LJ icon :) )
no subject
Date: 2006-07-31 10:42 pm (UTC)I didn't have the presence of mind at the time. Believe me, that was the first joke I made afterwards.
If I call again next year, I am TOTALLY wearing my pirate hat.
no subject
Date: 2006-08-01 02:55 am (UTC)