Well, CLUB CREW WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2012 is officially in the bag. I think I wore more hats than ever at this event. I was the acting club manager on site. Gwen Foley gets all the props for doing all of the leg work. I just turned in paperwork at the appropriate times. Did have to make some tough decisions, but that is all I have to say about that. I was a co-coach of two crews. There is no harder moment in a coaches career than deciding seating at an event like this. You know that each and every person attending put out big money to be here. You know they have been training hard on and off the water for this event. You know that in their hearts they all want what is best for the team. You know that seating what you hope is the strongest crew for the distance you are racing that day and the boat style you are in will break somebones heart. You know you just cannot make everyone happy. I can only hope we made the right decisions. I have learned a lot from this, as a coach and a person. My ladies really made me proud. They gave it their all and that is all I really can ask for. I steered for three crews this week. Two crews for Wasabi (i helmed for Huge today due to Janet suffering a nasty virus infection) and for the San Diego 2000m race. I have to say that if I never ever see Victoria Harbor from the back of a dragon boat it will be too soon. This water was vicious, dirty, mean and nasty. I have heard from the officials that this race had more teams swamp, helms lose control, boats collide and general all around mayhem than many have ever seen. The crazy steering oar snapping in half will definitely be up there in my top three dragon boat stories of all time. The officials from Uganda took a particular liking to me. They would really love to have a Wasabi team race at one of their events. Can you believe that there are Dragonboat races in Uganda?!?! Just goes to show why there were 144 club crews competing with over 4700 athletes in attendance making this the most competitive Club Crew ever. Looking forward to life back home. Loved ones, work, food I can pronounce... All I can say is that now that I've steered Victoria Harbor I'm sure the heck not too worked up about some wake boarders or jet boats anymore. See you all soon. Hope you have enjoyed my blogging. Until next time COACH, HELM, MANAGER, SATINA

Saturday's 500m Sr B 10

Sunday 5:42 am We raced the Sr B team in the 10-man boats yesterday. Took 2nd in the minor final. Best Way to describe the feel of racing a 10? They are akin to the Rose Fest boats when it actually comes down to it. Our clubs 10 man is much lighter. The water is still crazy. In the 500m course you have this "pillow" effect even stronger than in the 200m. Imagine you take a bunch of throw pillows and lay them on top of your bed. Now take your comforter and gently let it fall on top of them. It just looks like one mound, until you run your hand over the comforter and realize there are all these dips and peaks you go over. That's what this water is like. From a distance it looks okay until you are right up on it. Then you have the washing machine effect and some great blowback from the sea wall, throw in 8 dragon boats racing and you have got yourself a party!! The crew is fighting it and doing their best to own the water, not let it own them. 500m standard for SrA and premier racing today and then our week of racing will be done. I'll post results tonight.

Friday 200m Sr A women

1st race we did an adequate job of racing. Regrouped and we were ready to lay it out in the second race. Just like Penang and Macau the helm holds a bar on their right and the drummer holds a floating toggle on their right. The idea is to have these items On opposite sides so the drummer and helm can keep the boat lined up straight. All the boats are in the chute. Bring up boat 3. Take it back boat 6. Paddles are holding. The cannon booms and we are off. Pounding out a strong start.  Connie and I calling presses. The crew making ground with each set.  Press press press press press A-N-D LAUNCH for power now!  The crew is moving great water. We are in a washing machine out there. SNAP! My steering oar snaps in half. I almost get launched overboard when it does. I yell let it run as our boat pulls hard to the left. I yell hold so that we don't put our dragon head right in to Quebecs helm. We all sit there is shock for a second. The crew has no idea what happened until I pull the half of the oar I do still have-- the handle and t-grip out of the housing and throw it away. The safety boat then comes up to us at full speed giving us a nice wake that I cannot turn into or away from and offer to tow us in. We politely decline and I steer us in using a dragon boat blade to poke like an OC blade. We are Wasabi. We may not finish the race but by George we damn well will make it back to the dock on our own thank you very much. They let me keep the broken oar. It's coming home in the paddle bag. They look on people's faces as we came up the gangplank was priceless. I had to pose for pictures four times before I cleared the launch. We did file a protest even though we were beyond the 50m mark. It was their equipment malfunction after all. They wouldn't re-run the race or allow us into another heat to put a time in but they are using our time from our third race as our time for our second race as well. Our third race was we nailed it so it very well may have worked out better for us. I have never had an oar break. One second  you're fighting wakes --a little pull here and a little push out with the oar there and then it's just gone. GONE! You never realize how much pressure you are putting on it until it goes out from under you. I'm just glad I stayed in the boat, we didn't crash, and we won't have a DNF next to our crews name. I'm going to make the crew autograph it and we are hanging it in the boathouse. Hopefully we'll make some medals to hang on it while we are here. That's my story for the day! And hopefully for the week.

Day 2 of racing- 200m

8:15 pm Thursday Wasabi Sr B women raced 200m races in the small boats today. Each race was better than the last. We will take what we learned from their experience and apply it to our races tomorrow. The rates applied by some of these teams is stunning to watch. I only got to watch our races since I am not old enough to helm them. With a 200m race you really only have a long start and a finish and boom you are done. We finished 2nd in the Minor final by .026 Heartbreaking to lose it that closely, but it was truly a barn burner of a race to watch. Our women's finish really was awesome. Tomorrow Sr A and Premier women race their 200m races. Hopefully the thunder, lightning, and typhoon like rains will not delay the races like we encountered today. The last race of the day went off at 7pm tonight due to the 2 hour delay. The races are being run pretty well considering they only have wifi about 25% of the time. Luckily the finish camera doesn't need wifi! As always the other racers are friendly with the exception of a few countries. We just ignore their behavior and are thankful they are not from the USA. San Diego made it into the Sr A Major Final. Didn't medal but still it's great to qualify for the Major final. LARD made it into the Premier Minor final but with the delayed schedule their Minor final was cancelled. Both teams looked good and represented the west coast well none the less. The Philly teams have yet to medal as well. There is a team here from Florida that the Wasabi mixed crew raced against in 2005 when we won US Nationals. One of their paddlers remembered me. He came up to me and said "hey Wasabi you raced us in Florida for Nationals and slaughtered us" I thought he just remembered the jerseys but for the love a Pete he actually remembered me specifically. Reminds you to behave oneself at these events,right!?! Which I am doing. Promise. With a Managers meeting every night and Crews I coach racing every day I don't have time or energy to misbehave. Hope you all had a great fourth of July. SaTina

2000m day

Thursday July 5th 6:32 am Yesterday was the 2000m races for Masters Women and Premier. Wasabi Power Surge - 7th place 9min 38 sec Wasabi Team Huge - 12th place 10 min 01 sec Really fun races from a helms perspective. Janet D helmed Huge and I helmed Surge. We have been discussing our turn strategies since before we left Portland. And we NAILED THEM! To the point of oohs and aahs from the grand stands. Can you say hot dogs? The water was the craziest I have ever been in. It already has big pillows, really big rollers-- the course is located between a sea wall and a row of crane barge - we are getting constant blow back, then you throw in the churning roil from 2000m crews and it's a rodeo! In the second turn of the Surge race Outer Harbor from Canada tried to overtake us in the turn and I wouldn't let hum inside. Please understand that at no point did they have right of way. I hugged it so hard that they actually had to slow their roll. Their coach came up to me on the dock and said "you were supposed to give way and that he wouldn't file a protest this time." I said " I technically still had right of way and kept my line since it was mine to keep" He sad, "yes but you should have given way out of respect" can you believe that guy?!?! Here I had the call at the 50m mark of having the right of way and at no time did their drummer even come close to being as far up as me. Their Dragon head wasn't even in our "air space". For the love a..." out of respect--puh-lease! Anyhoo the crews raced great races. Stayed stong and focused the whole way. Never let off for one stroke. We have some amazing athletes here representing the USA, Portland, and Wasabi. They are behaving as good ambassadors and generally just really nice people. Power Surge GM women race the 200m races in the 10 man today wish us luck!! SaTina

10:39 am Tuesday July 2nd Wasabi's practice had a mix up so we will try again at 6pm. The women are looking forward to a day of touring the city and being tourists, not just athletes. A lot of teams here from all over the world. Some are really friendly, some not so much. The club as usual is given the "Oh there goes Wasabi" when we walk by at the race venue. I personally feel a bit of pride when that happens. Watching the German Coach interact with the race official in charge of the practices makes me wonder why the Americans are considered the rude and crass people. He was raging because the team change outs were shaving 6 minutes off his crews practice time. I felt like saing, "uh, dude, if you quit yelling at this nice man you can go load your boat thereby not shaving any more time off your teams time slot" I kept my mouth shut like a good girl. It only hurt a little bit to do so. Looking forward to the 2000m races tomorrow. I did get a chance to practice my turns with the San Diego crew- wild water and tight turns- every helms favorite! The SD team lost their helm at the last minute so if it is approved as extenuating circumstances I will be helming for them as well this week. Fingers crossed,eh? I'll check in again later. Hope the weather is nice in Portland it's really really hot and humid here in case you were wondering. SaTina

It's 6:30 am in Hong Kong, Sunday July 1st. The ten of us that got delayed in Vancouver BC will never ever need an alibi for Saturday June 30th, since we boarded the plane at 9:30pm on Friday night and landed in Hong Kong at 2am on Sunday morning. We can all honestly say that we were not even on the planet that day. Looking out of the plane as we were flying into China airspace our altitude had us higher up than the moon. I can now say that I have seen the moon from above and it's a great feeling. The rains that started right after we landed have stopped and the sun is coming up. I forgot that feeling of shock at the difference in air pressure when you take that first step outside in this humid climate. We took a walkabout at about 4am to look at the harbor and the city lights at night. This is probably the quietest we will experience the city. Even in the dark you can still see a lot of refuse in the water. Quite sad really. I should try to nap now. Hope the OC teams made a great showing at rooster rock! G'night...technically good morning here but I should get some sleep- so good night. -SaTina

So a tropical storm has kept 10 of us in Vancouver BC. A mere 10 hour delay and then we will be off, hopefully. The weather sites all differ on what to call it - some say typhoon, some say cyclones, some just call it a tropical storm. I'm sticking with tropical storm, seems less intense that way. I just want to get to Hong Kong in time for my rufa therapy (fish pedicure) appointment on Sunday. Figures right? We leave a sunny day in Portland to head to big rains in Asia. Yay! We won't get homesick. Does anybody smell sarcasm? - SaTina

Another International traveling experience in on the horizon. Wasabi Paddling Club will be sending 3 teams to the 2012 World Club Crew Championships in Hong Kong.

The race and associated festival is being held the first week and weekend in July.

Representing the West Coast of the United States will be 3 teams from Wasabi, 2 teams from Los Angeles Racing Dragons (LARD) and 1 team from The San Diego Dragon Boat Club.

Watch the blogspot for updates and articles of travel adventures and race results.
Larry