Monday, June 11, 2007

Dragonboat season

Well, another year of Rose Festival-brand dragonboating came to a close this weekend. The team Margaret is on (I haven't been able to take part in the racing since my arm now extends backwards courtesy of The Car Accident of 2004) raced on Saturday and Sunday. The weather was not what I'd call optimal racing weather. In between the gusts of wind and pre-global-warming-era Arctic temperatures, Noah's-Ark-era amounts of rain drenched the paddlers. Fortunately I was able to stay dry and comfortable in the team tent ("guarding" all the snacks) and emerge only to snap a few pictures during the race.

This picture is of Margaret triumphantly snatching the flag at the finish line. That's something unique to Portland dragonboat races--everywhere else boringly crosses a finish line and calls it good. Here in Portland, we turn it into a dramatic finish where the flag catcher, precariously perched on the head of a dragon like a figurehead on a pirate ship (although they generally keep their tops on), extends herself as far out over the water as she dares to be the first to pluck the flag from the finish buoy. Of course overconfident women (as the figurehead is almost never a man) have been known to fall off the dragon head and into the filthy water, or, even WORSE, miss the flag and be penalized. As you can see from this picture, Margaret successfully grabbed the flag AND stayed on board! The team went on to win second place in their division! And I went on to eat almost all the peanut M&M's that someone had brought for the team.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Margaret ROCKS!!!