October 9, 2023
We just returned from a three day dragon boat training camp in Los Angeles, followed by the Los Angeles County Dragon Boat 2023 Festival held at the Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area. We had a great time and learned a lot about paddling! The weather was hot! But we had a lot of paddling time on a beautiful reservoir with the San Gabriel Mountains in the background to cool us down. The camp coaches videoed our paddling strokes before the camp (the pretest!) and after the camp (the post test!). That was truly helpful to be able to see your stroke in action.
For the race on Saturday, since we didn’t arrive with a whole team, we were assigned to a boat with others from around the US. One of us raced on a women’s team with paddlers from Oregon, California, and Missouri and Kansas. The other raced on a mixed (co-ed) team with paddlers from Washington, Oregon, California, Kansas, and Arizona.
The great thing about paddling on a dragon boat team is the community that is created! People from all over the US–and internationally as well–come together with a shared desire to be a part of a fun community, to be healthy, and to be competitive…though it’s usually the first two that are the big drivers of people joining a team. At the camp, we learned and shared information with each other. Competition and collaboration!
We came back with some great ideas for our team, and we are excited to share them with you all this spring as we move forward on the goal to bring a dragon boat team to Clatsop County! Please be sure to include your name on the interest list so you can keep up with developments.
Paddles Up!
NCPC