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

Sunday 500s

No medals for psurgers today. Fought hard though and I ended up with lots of new jerseys. Word is Hungary in 2013. Let the training begin!