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Read about Penny’s adventures when she joined a crew of paddlers from across the world, traveling to China to compete at the 2008 Dragon Boat Festival.
Dragon heads on the beach at Zhanziang
Zhanjiang, Guilin and Guangzhou (formerly Canton). Cities which sounded so far away and so well.....Chinese? Each one of them were hosting a Dragon Boat racing competition as part of the 2008 Chinese Dragon Boat Festival. I set off with the rest of Masters International to compete and come back with a great experience, some new friends and hopefully some bling for our efforts.
After a rather eventful flight, in which we were forced to turn back to Heathrow after 2 hours in, because of an engine problem (!) and spent and hour circling over The North Sea dumping fuel (great for one's carbon footprint) we arrived wearily in Hong Kong, where we spent the next day shopping and visiting the sites, before heading off on the overnight train to our first competition.
After torrential rains soaked us and our luggage, we boarded the train for the overnight journey to the peninsula city of Zhanjiang. With six bunks in each cabin it was a cosy night in our soaking wet clothes wrapped up in itchy blankets and damp pillows.
Masters International training session
The next morning was bright and sunny and we managed to get a training session in at the competition site. The heat and humidity was oppressive but we were glad of clear skies. The beach was of the golden sand variety and it was bliss to feel the sand between your toes and push the dragon boat into the water, up to our waists in the warm sea water.
It was at this stage we realised that we had our own chinese fan club – the volunteer interpreters from the Guangzhou University. They helped us make sense of the changing of schedules and understand the importance of 'not losing face', they were our biggest cheerleaders and became our friends throughout the journey.
The morning of the competition showed serious faces around the breakfast table, we were here to win and we had serious business to do. There was much talk of the competition. How good were the Australians? Weren't the Malaysian's the best? Could we beat the rating of the Chinese? We shoveled down our sticky white rice and jasmine tea and set off with determination.
Resplendent in our black 'skins' kit, we set up camp just like a normal dragon boat competition, with our gazebo to protect us from the sun with our crates of water and Red Bull. Except it wasn't like normal. There were thousands of spectators held back with ropes and security, we had a police escort to the race site, camera flashes in our faces and autographs to be signed.
There were two competitions, the International and Overall. We breezed through the International competition leaving our fellow Australians and Dutchies behind us, even reducing the boat to a comfortable 50% pressure to take us over the line in first place. The second competition was more challenging. We had to fight all the way against a scary looking Chinese crew with bright red head scarves. We paddled back waving at the cheering crowds of thousands not certain if we had won but happy with a good race. It turned out we were the winners.We got double bling tropies as winners of both the International and Overall Zhanjiang competition, two gold medals each, flasks of Chinese wine and two roasted pigs on a spit......hmmmm....honest....take a look at the photo!
After much celebration that night....and our much awaited team rendition of 'Swing low sweet chariots' (the clean version) we headed back to the train for the next overnight journey.
Caste Mountains, Guilin
Would you believe it in Guilin (phonetic: Gwaylin) the river was on red and so the competition was canceled. Henley Winter Series all over again! We made the most of our free time visiting the spectacular Caste mountains, shopping and seeking out MacDonalds (Chinese food for breakfast, lunch and dinner gets a bit much). On a serious note, days after we left Guilin, it was flooded and many people lost their houses and their lives.
In Guangzhou (phonetic: Gwanjoe), we had a few training sessions and messed about on the water in a 100 man Dragon Boat and some of us messed about IN the water with 5 man Dragon Boats. Some of us also showed off high kneeling too.
The day of the Guangzhou competition dawned with high humidity and rain. At the race meeting the previous night we were informed that the start sequence would be in Chinese (to us it sounded like “Go gay Julie”,”uBay”, and the starting horn”!) and that it was compulsory to wear Buoyancy Aides. Worst of all, if we didnt come 1st or 2nd in our first race we ere out! There were a few grumpy faces, but as in the last city, we had a job to do...more sticky white rice and jasmine tea....
We recognised the start sequence, however, as was often the case on this tour there was a last minute change. The drummer (that's me) had to hold onto a flag (an enormous flag!) held by a Chinese official in a small boat moored next to us. When the starting horn went I would have to pull it out of his hands and take it with me to the finish line! All went to plan and we blazed through, coming in first over the finish line. Oh and forget the Great River Race, the waves here were much higher!
The Final was a little different. We were lining the boat up ready for the start sequence. Every paddler was down and ready, but still relaxed as we were still maneuvering. I couldnt quite reach the flag. The Chinese Official was dangling it just beyond my reach. I was getting slightly annoyed as we had only 2 minutes to go until the start sequence. Suddenly, we heard “Go gay julie”, “uBay” and then the horn. What happened to the two minutes? We were not in position but I grabbed for the flag, falling almost flat over the drum in order to reach it, and the guys dug in. We were in 6th place. There were 6 boats in the race. I managed to scramble back into my seat clinging onto the flag and make the first calls, just as we crashed into the boat next to us. Their wash had pulled us in and we couldnt escape. We pushed them away and found some water to continue paddling.
The Chinese television footage via helicopter flying above us best describes what happened next. We were in 5th place and at least half way through the 600m race. We overtook each boat, seat by seat, until the very last one, when we just ran out of room. If only we had another 100m we would have been first! It was a very exciting race, despite an unfair start, although we didnt get any medals or pigs on spits for second place,we did get another huge trophy and some great memories to take away with us.
Masters International drummer
Most of us spent another day or two in Hong Kong, winding down and saying our farewells to our Chinese fan club.
For more photos, click here .
Reporter: Penny
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