Sunday, June 01, 2008
Stroke Stroke Stroke Again
A little over a year ago I watched my friends in AQUA compete in the Dragon Boat Festival. At the time I thought it looked like a lot of fun and thought I'd like to try that someday, and this weekend I got the chance. Yes, I was a dragon boater this weekend...but I still feel pretty Caucasian.
I wasn't sure it would happen...the race was supposed to be two weeks ago but got postponed due to flooding. It was going to be rescheduled for the weekend I'm in Bangkok (which is also Pride Weekend here in DC, which meant that we, the token gay dragon boat team, might have some people missing). But some other changes happened and it took place this weekend and YAY I got to race.
OK, the suspenseful stuff out of the way up front: we took a bronze medal in our division in Saturday's 250-meter race, and today we got a silver in our division in the 500-meter race. so YAY US!!!!!!!!!! It felt like being in the Olympics...well, maybe the Special Olympics.
Photos are still forthcoming...I am relying on other people to provide the pics.
Saturday was interesting. Our races went well and I felt I did OK for my first time, though I got some tips later from the guy sitting behind me and I think I did better today. The 250-meter race is FAST!! Our first race took us 1 minute 15 seconds, and out second race we didn't do quite as well, finishing in 1 minute 21 seconds. Not a lot of time to recover from mistakes, AND after we got a fast start we kept a very fast pace throughout.
The day's festivities were cut short by a very bad storm that came through. When it hit and the suspended racing for the day a lot of our folks left, but about 10 of us stayed in a tent we had set up...when the rain stopped we got out to pack up our campground and load it into Danny's car but as we did that the second half of the storm came and left us completely drenched. Danny dropped a couple of us at the Metro station and we were by far the wettest people on the subway (and wearing matching clothes, which made people look at us strangely for two reasons that day).
When we came back today the race organizers had to finish some of the 250-meter races, then it was time for the 500-meter. We only had a semifinal race (our placement was based on our score in the 250-meter races) and a final race for the medal, so we needed to push ourselves early. This was the event where the team took the gold medal last year and we really wanted to defend it. Our semifinal race was...interesting. We sped up a lot toward the end and lost our timing, so we were not in sync...some of us were reaching far with the paddle like we planned to do, others were taking shorter strokes because of the fast pace. We took second in that race which affected our placement in the final. After we stepped back and talked about it we had an idea of how to do it better. When we got to the final we started out well but so did the other boats. One was clearly out in front of everyone but we were almost even with the second-place boat. We stayed with them the whole race and toward the end we had a rush of power that pulled us ahead right at the finish line, so we took the silver medal. We were sorry to lose the gold but very proud of doing so well in the second half of the final and catching up with the other boat.
No storm today. Though a few drops fell as we were leaving.
Stan came today and cheered us on, though he didn't wear the booty shorts and bring the pom poms he promised, though he did take photos. Justin also came near the end of the day and we were all happy to see him there.
As I walked to the river after parking my car I chatted with a guy from another team. He asked who I was with and when i said "Out2Paddle" he said "oh wow, you guys were great last year! I saw the YouTube videos!! So, who are you guys a part of?" When i told him we're from AQUA, a gay Asian group, he looked at me and said "Oh. So, how do you know those guys?"
How do I know gay Asian men? That's a question with a lot of answers. Anyway, I just told him I had friends who were members and got hooked up through them.
Oh, and when one of the teams went up for their medal they were chanting "Beer! Beer! Beer!" So of course when we went we chanted "Queer! Queer! Queer!" Hey, ya gotta represent!!
It's kinda cool to be THE gay group in a community event like this. We're just happy for the chance to remind people we're here. Which is pretty much what AQUA is all about.
I will have photos up this week I'm sure.
On a quick side note, I know I have not been blogging much the last couple months. I've been starting up a professional blog on the side and it's really cut into my personal blogging (I've also been getting used to an active life again, which means less time at home in front of the computer). That's bad because a lot has been happening that I'd like to share. But, for a variety of reasons, I think I'm going to suspend that other blog for now, fall back and regroup and try that again later in the summer or in the fall, and that should give me more time to write here.
And on a final side note, I notice in that blog about last year's race that I mentioned how I'd like to meet some more of my online friends...well, since that day, of those I mentioned in the post, I actually have met Nyk, Alex, Dr Paul, Paul, and Joel. And some of those boys (and a few other delightful lads whom I met last year, including Eddie, David, Jason, Jason Jr, Frankie, Sam, Daniel, and Janvier!) I will be seeing again soon in Malaysia June 15-22. So watch out.
I wasn't sure it would happen...the race was supposed to be two weeks ago but got postponed due to flooding. It was going to be rescheduled for the weekend I'm in Bangkok (which is also Pride Weekend here in DC, which meant that we, the token gay dragon boat team, might have some people missing). But some other changes happened and it took place this weekend and YAY I got to race.
OK, the suspenseful stuff out of the way up front: we took a bronze medal in our division in Saturday's 250-meter race, and today we got a silver in our division in the 500-meter race. so YAY US!!!!!!!!!! It felt like being in the Olympics...well, maybe the Special Olympics.
Photos are still forthcoming...I am relying on other people to provide the pics.
Saturday was interesting. Our races went well and I felt I did OK for my first time, though I got some tips later from the guy sitting behind me and I think I did better today. The 250-meter race is FAST!! Our first race took us 1 minute 15 seconds, and out second race we didn't do quite as well, finishing in 1 minute 21 seconds. Not a lot of time to recover from mistakes, AND after we got a fast start we kept a very fast pace throughout.
The day's festivities were cut short by a very bad storm that came through. When it hit and the suspended racing for the day a lot of our folks left, but about 10 of us stayed in a tent we had set up...when the rain stopped we got out to pack up our campground and load it into Danny's car but as we did that the second half of the storm came and left us completely drenched. Danny dropped a couple of us at the Metro station and we were by far the wettest people on the subway (and wearing matching clothes, which made people look at us strangely for two reasons that day).
When we came back today the race organizers had to finish some of the 250-meter races, then it was time for the 500-meter. We only had a semifinal race (our placement was based on our score in the 250-meter races) and a final race for the medal, so we needed to push ourselves early. This was the event where the team took the gold medal last year and we really wanted to defend it. Our semifinal race was...interesting. We sped up a lot toward the end and lost our timing, so we were not in sync...some of us were reaching far with the paddle like we planned to do, others were taking shorter strokes because of the fast pace. We took second in that race which affected our placement in the final. After we stepped back and talked about it we had an idea of how to do it better. When we got to the final we started out well but so did the other boats. One was clearly out in front of everyone but we were almost even with the second-place boat. We stayed with them the whole race and toward the end we had a rush of power that pulled us ahead right at the finish line, so we took the silver medal. We were sorry to lose the gold but very proud of doing so well in the second half of the final and catching up with the other boat.
No storm today. Though a few drops fell as we were leaving.
Stan came today and cheered us on, though he didn't wear the booty shorts and bring the pom poms he promised, though he did take photos. Justin also came near the end of the day and we were all happy to see him there.
As I walked to the river after parking my car I chatted with a guy from another team. He asked who I was with and when i said "Out2Paddle" he said "oh wow, you guys were great last year! I saw the YouTube videos!! So, who are you guys a part of?" When i told him we're from AQUA, a gay Asian group, he looked at me and said "Oh. So, how do you know those guys?"
How do I know gay Asian men? That's a question with a lot of answers. Anyway, I just told him I had friends who were members and got hooked up through them.
Oh, and when one of the teams went up for their medal they were chanting "Beer! Beer! Beer!" So of course when we went we chanted "Queer! Queer! Queer!" Hey, ya gotta represent!!
It's kinda cool to be THE gay group in a community event like this. We're just happy for the chance to remind people we're here. Which is pretty much what AQUA is all about.
I will have photos up this week I'm sure.
On a quick side note, I know I have not been blogging much the last couple months. I've been starting up a professional blog on the side and it's really cut into my personal blogging (I've also been getting used to an active life again, which means less time at home in front of the computer). That's bad because a lot has been happening that I'd like to share. But, for a variety of reasons, I think I'm going to suspend that other blog for now, fall back and regroup and try that again later in the summer or in the fall, and that should give me more time to write here.
And on a final side note, I notice in that blog about last year's race that I mentioned how I'd like to meet some more of my online friends...well, since that day, of those I mentioned in the post, I actually have met Nyk, Alex, Dr Paul, Paul, and Joel. And some of those boys (and a few other delightful lads whom I met last year, including Eddie, David, Jason, Jason Jr, Frankie, Sam, Daniel, and Janvier!) I will be seeing again soon in Malaysia June 15-22. So watch out.
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NICE Blog :)
Take a peek into the future of High Definition Technology at
http://hdtv2008.blogspot.com
Take a peek into the future of High Definition Technology at
http://hdtv2008.blogspot.com
Congrats on the races, Will. I'm still waiting for a better visit to Chicago! I've got a new position at work and no longer travel to D.C., but that didn't help anyway. You were always out of town when I came through! Safe travels . . .
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