Dragon Boat - Cali Paddler Answers the Call

"I'm so pumped! I feel like a puppy whose tail is wagging and it won't stop!!!", Megs Phillips - after her first race heat.

Earlier this year, Cali Paddler had its first exposure to a Dragon Boat race when we attended the Long Beach Festival in July as a vendor and spectator. Following that, one of our team writers shared his "Dragon Boat - Impressions from an Outrigger Paddler" article. We were stoked on what we saw, and invited by many in the community to get in a dragon boat race and learn first hand how exciting it can be. So, this past weekend, we did just that. But rather than just send one or two folks, we entered a whole team, from every walk of paddling life we could find throughout the state. And their response? Read for yourself.

Team E.P.I.C. (Every Paddler In California) leaving it all on the water in the LA DB finals.

Question 1. What did you take away from today's experience, as it was perhaps different from your normal paddle craft?

"Paddling with a bunch of outrigger paddlers made me appreciate and reminisce what hooked me in to this sport to begin with four years ago. It's having that one beat, one stroke, one rhythm as one crew from start to finish. It's not about which stroke is better, nor the type of paddle you are using. It's about paddling the way you know how together, and sharing that energy from the caller/drummer to the paddler to the steersman... The dragon will only respond if we paddle as one!"

"As I'm racing for a minute and 15ish seconds the two thoughts that came to my mind were, 'OH YEA, breathe!' , And 'dear god, they have two hour practices for this, I'd die!'

In my paddling world, I'm the sturdy built, long and strong engine room; quick muscle twitch cardio, running, sprinting, eeek! Not my cup of tea. I paddle outrigger with some of the most inspirational and amazing dragon boat women I know from Team Survivor and I have gotten invitations to join a practice, "it's good cross training" they say, "you'll love it", they say and my answer was always "I like two sides and breathing, you guys amaze me!" I knew nothing of amazement until I tried this myself!"

"Dragon boat paddling is fun, family-friendly, fast, furious and all fast twitch, especially at this 250 meter distance. It was like a long race-start in a SUP race. I was gassed after every race!

After paddling SUP and outrigger, I wanted to switch paddle sides so bad - my left side was on fire and drenched from all my splashing.

Those boats are not nearly as stable as they look.

Winning hardware with a team is always sweeter than winning as an individual."

Question 2. What would you say to a non dragon boater if they were curious about trying the sport?

"Having the privilege to try a new paddle sport really opens your eyes to the nuances in your own sport that you maybe didn't pay attention to as much. For example, in OC-6 outrigger sprints, the effort is not nearly as intense, or explosive, but sprinting in a dragonboat reinforces the impact of giving the right level of effort in coordination with your teammates."

"Just try. Just do it! And the rest will be epic history!"

"For me it was a community, so much more so than a competition, but you could tell once you hit that water, that it was going down; outside of it was so much more than just the race. Outrigger, in its nature of long distance is so race driven, clubs competing against each other, that you don't get the opportunity to mix and mingle while in a paddling vessel. I watched people jump from crew to crew with welcome arms all having a blast and working just as hard with one crew as with another.

But the race itself, man I do cherish and value the opportunity for two sides more than ever, it was so fast, barely settling in, trying to find the focus enough to hear the calls, finding the stroke that didn't result in a drenched teammate sitting in front of me, then it was over, can't breathe, losing my left arm, after race high fives and hugs, then as soon as it's gone, time to do it again

Give me long races any day, I bow down to you dragon boaters!"

"Try it! It’s so much fun and the people are great.
If you race other watercraft, I’m sure dragon boat training will help you with your race-starts or speed bursts to catch a wave, swell or bump."

Team DPW, all smiles. Owners of the fastest time of the day.

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So there you have it from our Cali Paddler peers. A few folks who have never paddled dragon boat, but with SUP, Outrigger and Surf-Ski backgrounds, mixed in with some Dragon Boat vets who got to share their sport with the rest of us. Now its up to you. Check out our Paddle Directory and find a team near you. We guarantee you the Dragon Boat community will welcome you like they did us!

Cali Paddlers 1st Ever "Team E.P.I.C". (Clarke Graves, Cody Silvester, Red Pedrick, Paul Gagnon, Tony Fajardo, Justin Chi, Chris Hill, Greg Gagnon. Kristen Langhorne, Megan Phillips, Mags Gilo, Breezy Gatavasky. Rex Cajanding, GiovanniLachica Azaula. TK Kimura.)

It is our goal to unite paddlers throughout the state, share new paddle sports and expand the sense of community. Cali Paddler will be coming to a body of water near you, with new Team EPICs, and we can't wait for you to join them...Every Paddler In California!

Special thanks to Coach Nath Salazar for making this happen for Cali Paddler and Team E.P.I.C. We are grateful, humbled and stoked!

[ Photo Credit - the talented and selfless Chris Silvester ]