Movies & Media Clips
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Dragon Boat Teams Slice Across Mission Bay, By Peter Rowe Reporter
MISSION BAY — The air horn sounded — blaaaaaat! — and the San Diego boat leapt past its two rivals. In this 500-meter race, a good start is critical. “You want big, deep strokes to get the boat up,” said Lisa Stangl, coach of the San Diego Dragon Boat Team.
The 20 women rowed in a controlled frenzy, 72 strokes a minute. Soon they were a half boat-length ahead of Bridge City, a club from Portland, Ore. Then Wasabi made its move.
A perennial powerhouse that’s also from Portland, Wasabi had set a fast pace, but not too fast. “Comfortable,” explained Wasabi assistant coach Suzi Cloutier, “so you can pull a lot out at the finish.”
On Sunday, the final rounds of the second annual San Diego Dragon Boat Races were held on Mission Bay. For the 41 teams competing in the two-day meet, the stakes were high — winning men’s, women’s and mixed teams qualified for the 2012 world championships in Hong Kong. Losers? They enjoyed a weekend on the water, hanging with friends.
“We have a lot of affection and camaraderie with the San Diego team,” Cloutier said. “They’re good people and a damn good team.”
If tradition means anything, Mission Bay should be this sport’s Yankee Stadium. Narrow 20- and 10-man canoes with carved dragon heads mounted on their prows, dragon boats are rooted in ancient Chinese custom. But the U.S. had never hosted a competition until 1983, when Singapore sent San Diego three boats and a challenge.
Organize a tournament, the locals were informed, and the winner will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to the ‘84 world championships in Singapore.
“We put together a local outrigger team of firefighters and paramedics,” said Les Hopper, an organizer of this year’s San Diego meet, “and they won. Then they went to Singapore and won there, too.”
In 1988 global finals, again in Singapore, San Diego defeated Shanghai. “They hadn’t been beaten in 25 years,” said Mike Johnson, a San Diego Fire Department captain, member of that victorious ’88 squad and still a dragon boater. “For me, that was it.”
Club teams and corporate teams sprang up in San Diego and held small festivals, but the big West Coast races migrated to Los Angeles, Long Beach and San Francisco. Hopper and others on the San Diego Dragon Boat Team finally hosted a major tournament last October, promising out-of-towners sunny San Diego weather.
“It drizzled on them all weekend,” Hopper said. “At least for the Portland people, it was like summer anyway.”
This time, there was no rain but little sun. Dragon boaters, though, are tough — typical T-shirt: “Damn the Pain, Paddle Hard!” The meet drew corporate teams (Sony, Sanyo); university teams (UCSD, USC); squads of cancer survivors (or, to cite the Morro Bay club, Survive Oars); and clubs with colorful names (the San Diego deputy sheriffs of Don’t Tase Me, Row!).
“It’s like one big family,” said Marisa Singpradith of Tempe’s Killer Guppies team.
Teammates need to be close, as the rowers must synchronize their actions. “You’ve got 20 people that need to act like one person,” said Michelle Yu, a San Diego Dragon Boat paddler.
After surging into the lead, Yu and her 19 teammates settled into a midrace pace of about 68 strokes a minute. They held the lead until, maybe 50 meters from the finish buoy, Wasabi sprinted past, winning by a serpentine nose.
This time. “San Diego and Portland, we’re always racing against each other,” Wasabi’s Cloutier said. “We’ve got such a strong bond.”
-Posted at SignOnSanDiego, Sunday, October 23, 2011 at 4:54 p.m.
MISSION BAY — The air horn sounded — blaaaaaat! — and the San Diego boat leapt past its two rivals. In this 500-meter race, a good start is critical. “You want big, deep strokes to get the boat up,” said Lisa Stangl, coach of the San Diego Dragon Boat Team.
The 20 women rowed in a controlled frenzy, 72 strokes a minute. Soon they were a half boat-length ahead of Bridge City, a club from Portland, Ore. Then Wasabi made its move.
A perennial powerhouse that’s also from Portland, Wasabi had set a fast pace, but not too fast. “Comfortable,” explained Wasabi assistant coach Suzi Cloutier, “so you can pull a lot out at the finish.”
On Sunday, the final rounds of the second annual San Diego Dragon Boat Races were held on Mission Bay. For the 41 teams competing in the two-day meet, the stakes were high — winning men’s, women’s and mixed teams qualified for the 2012 world championships in Hong Kong. Losers? They enjoyed a weekend on the water, hanging with friends.
“We have a lot of affection and camaraderie with the San Diego team,” Cloutier said. “They’re good people and a damn good team.”
If tradition means anything, Mission Bay should be this sport’s Yankee Stadium. Narrow 20- and 10-man canoes with carved dragon heads mounted on their prows, dragon boats are rooted in ancient Chinese custom. But the U.S. had never hosted a competition until 1983, when Singapore sent San Diego three boats and a challenge.
Organize a tournament, the locals were informed, and the winner will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to the ‘84 world championships in Singapore.
“We put together a local outrigger team of firefighters and paramedics,” said Les Hopper, an organizer of this year’s San Diego meet, “and they won. Then they went to Singapore and won there, too.”
In 1988 global finals, again in Singapore, San Diego defeated Shanghai. “They hadn’t been beaten in 25 years,” said Mike Johnson, a San Diego Fire Department captain, member of that victorious ’88 squad and still a dragon boater. “For me, that was it.”
Club teams and corporate teams sprang up in San Diego and held small festivals, but the big West Coast races migrated to Los Angeles, Long Beach and San Francisco. Hopper and others on the San Diego Dragon Boat Team finally hosted a major tournament last October, promising out-of-towners sunny San Diego weather.
“It drizzled on them all weekend,” Hopper said. “At least for the Portland people, it was like summer anyway.”
This time, there was no rain but little sun. Dragon boaters, though, are tough — typical T-shirt: “Damn the Pain, Paddle Hard!” The meet drew corporate teams (Sony, Sanyo); university teams (UCSD, USC); squads of cancer survivors (or, to cite the Morro Bay club, Survive Oars); and clubs with colorful names (the San Diego deputy sheriffs of Don’t Tase Me, Row!).
“It’s like one big family,” said Marisa Singpradith of Tempe’s Killer Guppies team.
Teammates need to be close, as the rowers must synchronize their actions. “You’ve got 20 people that need to act like one person,” said Michelle Yu, a San Diego Dragon Boat paddler.
After surging into the lead, Yu and her 19 teammates settled into a midrace pace of about 68 strokes a minute. They held the lead until, maybe 50 meters from the finish buoy, Wasabi sprinted past, winning by a serpentine nose.
This time. “San Diego and Portland, we’re always racing against each other,” Wasabi’s Cloutier said. “We’ve got such a strong bond.”
-Posted at SignOnSanDiego, Sunday, October 23, 2011 at 4:54 p.m.
Click above for YouTube video of SDDBT in San Diego & Arizona
NBC Morning News
At 6:15am Oct. 20th, 2010 SDDBT members Sandra Chong & Les Hopper appeared on San Diego's NBC morning news showcasing the Dragon Boat Race weekend, Oct. 23-25, 2010 on Mission Bay.
Click Here to Watch!
Click Here to Watch!
SDDB Team gets on the Morning News!
Les Hopper, Sandra Chong, in 2009, explain the sport of dragonboat racing to the NBC morning news crew. Click to download the movie file, below...
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2010 Race Movie
Click here to watch this great little movie made by one of our Corporate Team members.
Come Race in San Diego!
Charity of Choice
Proceeds to benefit finding a cure for cancer and providing a better treatment program. City of Hope, An NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, is an innovative biomedical research, treatment and educational institution dedicated to the prevention and cure of cancer and other life-threatening illness.
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