Another Letter from Dragonboat Camp

Thursday

We had two good practices yesterday with the afternoon playing leap frog with two other boats. The leapfrog really spent me but I toughed it out during the hard pull sessions to pass the other two boats, but did easy paddles while they were passing us.

Today we crossed the causeway for a round trip of 17k. We rested on the shore after the first 8k and took the longer route back through the channel. We were supposed to be videoed but the wind was blowing pretty good and the water was rough. We had to bale the boat 3 times from the waves sending in gushes of water. Our coach has Lisa doing continuous bailing as we got closer to shore and the shallows made the water a little rougher. All in all our boat did well and held the boat pretty steady through the waves. Taking the calm channel back added the extra 1k for a return trip of 9k. For our efforts we all received aqua wrist bands signifying our membership on the Causeway Club. We have the afternoon off so we can recover and be ready for tomorrow’s practices.

Last night Ben and I cooked some pasta and chicken parmesan and we had a gathering of all our Pfish as well as a number of the Steel City team. The female Pfish brought a fruit bowl, ice cream, and Hershey Kisses for dessert. We had a nice social event and good food to prepare us for the long distance paddle we had today.

I am still having a great time and still learning. The weather has been fantastic.

See you soon,

Rich