Falling Out, Part 1. A First Time Steers Story.

To say I was scared was an understatement. I mean, I had been training for this event for 3 months, right? In my own mind I was ready to go, right? Hey, what is the problem with having a bit of nerves and butterflies? That is what makes it exciting. Problem was that once I got into the boat, I did want to go…….away!! Far, far away!! You see, the boat was full. That was the first problem. Now I know that having a full boat is kind of an advantage in dragon boating. That is kind of the idea. But I had not trained with a full boat before. The weight of the boat, when full, was the first indication that this may not go as well as I had hoped. You see, I was very, very, very new to the world of dragon boat steering, and this was my first festival. A little bit of advice here…if you do decide to steer a dragon boat at full speed for the first time in waves and strong currents, it is highly adviseable to make sure that you dont have pneumonia when performing this very important function. I did, or was very close to it, and it was not fun. But I digress here. The boat is full, I have a bad lung infection, I am scared out of my mind and have quckly realized that there is next to no space for me to place my feet. What I did not know was that the boat I was in was a millenium boat. They are big, heavy, have a mean personality, and are as uncomfortable as hell. Ask any steers and they will agree. So here I am…sick, scared and cramped. I realize that the only way for me to have any balance was to stand on my toes in a weird contorsianistic (is that even a real word?) ballet pose. To add insult to injury, I almost fell out as we were leaving the dock. Luck would be in my favour and I was able to steer the boat out into open waters with some grace. Problem was, I was supposed to be steering towards the shore. Seems the other dragon boat racers don’t like it when you encroach on their race course. I was able to, in a stumbling and bumbling maneuver, guide the boat back to the correct course. It was at this point that our coach had all the paddlers warm up with 10 power strokes. Okay I said to myself, this ain’t all that bad, you got this. Yeah, I got this alright. If all you need to do to win is do a complete circle, then call me champ. Thing is, we need to go straight. Now, my coach tells me that he was first concerned about me when he looked back and I was as white as a ghost. To be honest, I don’t remember much about getting to the starting line, but I did. Thank God. So there we are lined up, things are good, I can relax a little. Then bamn, horn goes. I dig my steers oar into the water and hang on to that thing, and the boat for dear life while still maintaining a weird ballerina pose in the back. The POWER of the paddlers pulling us forward through the wind , waves and current is unbelievable. The intensity of the forward momentum is unexplainable. I briefly came out of what I can only call an out of body experience, to realize that not are we only going straight, but we are actually in the lead. My only focus, at this time, is to stay on target with the finish line bouy. The coach is yelling 10 more! 10 more! 10 more!! Then, we cross the finish line in first place. I was so overwhelmed with excitement that I was screaming with joy. Okay, I said to myself, let’s get back to the dock and celebrate. We unloaded, debriefed and went back to our shelter area. I was jazzed, pumped, freaked out!! Yeah, I totally got this. That was until race number 2. Riding the bull.