home

T

he Third Annual Dragon Boat Festival may be remembered for enduring the kind of weather only a dragon might like. Most of the races planned for Saturday along the Oriental waterfront had to be scrubbed because of stormy skies, rain and lingering windy conditions on the race course. Festival organizer Flora Moorman says she’s looking at how to avoid that in the future.

After two hours of racing, forboding skies rolled in as the dragon boat team from Charlotte paddled toward the starting line Saturday morning.

Three rounds of racing had been planned through the morning and afternoon for the 20 teams who came from Miami, Raleigh, Charlotte, as well as from Oriental, Pamlico County, New Bern and the military. One team was comprised of Navy and Coast Guardsmen. Several boats were made up of Marines from Cherry Point and other Marines filled out the ranks — “embedding” — in boats needing more crew.

From Miami, the Dragon Slayers team which raced in an early heat when the sun was shining and any clouds were far off. It was the only race they got in that day. They completed the 250 meter course in less than a minute and won the Open Division.

The morning started out deceptively clear and relatively calm for the first hour or so of the Dragon Boat races. Seventeen of the twenty teams competed in about a half dozen races in those first two hours.

A half hour before the storm came, the Deaton’s Draggin’ Tails rowed out to the race site. Octogenarian Fran Deaton, now in her third year of drumming on the boat. The sky, meanwhile, gave a signal of what might be coming.

Team Weyerhauser — the Pulp N Paddlers — get some of the wave action during their race.

But as the last cluster of teams paddled out to take their shot at the 250 meter course along the Oriental waterfront, storm clouds approached more quickly than expected. Those running the race called off that heat and told the boats and crews to head back to the Oriental Town Beach.

Ironically, in order to reach the Town Beach, the boats and their teams of 20 had to paddle the race course anyway. On the way back, the winds stiffened, the waves built and two of the boats tipped over.

The crew from the Charlotte Dragon Boat Club/Wells Fargo stay with their boat after it – and they – flipped in to the Neuse River.

Even a home-town team, the Gnarly Pirates from Oriental, got swamped in the increasing wave action. As with the Charlotte team, the Gnarly Pirates were unhurt and walked their boat to the Oriental Town Beach.

No one was hurt. The same shallow waters that cultivated the chop also made it possible for the crews to stand up and walk their boats several hundred yards to shore. A pelting rain began to fall, drenching even those who didn’t fall in to the river. Reminded that dragon boat racing spectators as well as participants — everyone scattered for a few hours.

At 1pm the rains had stopped but by then organizers had cancelled the rest of the racing. The awards ceremony took place at 3p under a shining sun but with a stiff breeze still blowing white caps out on the Neuse. Fine weather for a sailboat race, but not necessarily one involving long skinny boats with little in the way of freeboard.

The weather made itself felt not only in scuttling much of the racing Saturday, but afterward. The rain went away but the winds cropped back up for the afternoon awards ceremony. There, Elizabeth Buckman of Oriental held down a corner of the otherwise windblown scoreboard while Jeff Aydelette posted the scores.

Team Gnarly Pirates as they left the Oriental Town Beach toward the race course. They would return in a more drenched condition after their boat tipped over.

[page]

At the awards ceremony Jeff Aydelette, whose wife Flora Moorman organizes the Dragon Boat Festival, indicated that safety concerns were a factor in cancelling the rest of the planned races. He told the several dozen who turned out for the mid-afternoon ceremony that even before Saturday, Oriental and its winds were earning a reputation in dragon boat circles for having one of the most challenging courses.

Flora Moorman and her husband, Jeff Aydelette brought the Dragon Boat Festival to Oriental for the past three years.

The cancellation of the races on Saturday had several people — connected with the race or running businesses in town — musing about what might be done in the future to avoid a repeat of the scuttled races. Flora Moorman said on Monday that “I’m going to work and see” what can be done to find the “best venue” and have “a back-up plan” for next year’s race.

One key topic is whether a more protected patch of water might be found, one less prone to getting hit with several miles of fetch from across the Neuse River.

The dragon boat with the Raleigh Dragon Boat Club team on board. They took top honors in the mixed division — meaning at least 8 of the crew were women. At the helm is 70 year old Jan Montero with Pan Am boats, the company that ran the race and provided the boats.

Moorman says that over the weekend she spoke with one of the hired dragon boat steerers, Jan Montero, who recently traveled to a dragon boat race in Hong Kong. Moorman says he reported that Hong Kong’s race was also situated on a river with some chop to it and that organizers there strung a series of barges together to serve as a temporary breakwater. Moorman says she’ll look in to whether that’s feasible along the Oriental waterfront.

The Oriental-based team, Pirates for PAWS nears the finish line in their heat, mid-morning. The Neuse was throwing in some chop even then. (Jane Tigar, perched on the bow as the designated drummer, reports that it was pretty bouncy up there.)

Several people have suggested that the creeks bordering town could provide a more sheltered race course. The challenge, Moorman says, is finding a 250-meter long course in town that would also have a place for spectators to stand and watch.

She stresses that she doesn’t want to move the event outside of the town limits of Oriental because she wants it to be a benefit to the businesses and restaurants here.

Staging area at Oriental’s Town Beach. Before a new team got in the boat, there was bailing to do.

Aboard the dragon boat with Team Dragon Riders, made up of paddlers 40 and older.

Having the dragon boat festival here has been something Moorman champio nedfor several years before she brought the first one to town in 2010. That first year, 9 teams competed. Last year, 14 did. This year, there were 20, several of them comprised of Marines from Camp Lejeune and one boat, a combination of Coast Guardsmen and Navy sailors. She’s hoping more will compete next year.

Awards Ceremony Photos From The 3rd Annual Dragon Boat Festival, just ahead….

[page]

The Miami Dragon Slayers who won the “Open Division” by running the 250 meter course in less than a minute. The team, which has been together for 8 years, practices 2 times a week and typically runs courses of 500 meters. Usually though, their captain says, it’s on flatter water than what cropped up Saturday after their heat.

Part of the crew from the Raleigh Dragon Boat Club who returned from last year’s win and took top honors in the “Mixed” division. They say they’ll be back next year. (Two members of the team – who didn’t make the trip to Oriental – have been picked to be on the American team in the world Dragon Boat competition coming up in Milan, Italy.)

Kathryn Garcia of the Dragon Riders, the only boat made up entirely of the paddlers who were 40 and older, about to accept the trophy — a decorated paddle — from Dragon Boat Race organizer Jeff Aydelette. The Over 40 team had the 7th fastest time overall. (Faster, even, than some boats made up of military crew.)

Larry Baldwin, whose Waterkeeper Alliance team — which had a lot of Cherry Point Marines “embedded” on the boat — won Second Place in the “Open Division.”

Ethan Dunn, who grew up in Oriental, assembled “Team Shipwreck” among friends from his hometown and from the Triangle where he now lives. Filling out their ranks, he says, were some Marines from Camp Lejeune. Team Shipwreck took fourth place in the Open Division. Ethan says the team never paddled together before Saturday. With him at the awards ceremony on South Avenue was his dog, Skittles.

At the awards ceremony some of the representatives of teams that won or placed. From left, Michelle Rivera of the Raleigh Dragon Boat team, Cindy Ellis of Pirates for PAWS, Kathryn Garcia of the Dragon Riders and Fran Deaton of Deaton Yacht’s Draggin’ Tails.

The trophies were paddles made by Ben Reese and Tonya Smith. Away from the Festival, the two have been part of a core group that has worked to develop competitive dragon boating in Oriental. The Oriental Dragon Boat Club purchased its own boat this year and There was talk Saturday of Oriental sending several teams to competitions elsewhere in the state.

Results of the racing on next page.

[page]

Racing Results from Oriental Dragon Boat Festival, August 11, 2012

OPEN DIVISION:
1) Dragon Slayers – Miami, Florida TIME: 0.56.98
2) Waterkeeper Alliance – New Bern TIME: 1:04.60
3) The Immortals – Cherry Point MWSS-271 Engineers TIME: 1:04.86
(Partner: GOP Candidates Norman Sanderson & Mike Speciale)
4) Team Shipwreck -Cary TIME: 1:04.92
5) Chesty Pullers – Cherry Point MCAS TIME: 1:05.21
(Partner: Yachtsman Canvas & Sail)
6) 28 Spartans – Cherry Point MCAS TIME: 1:05.96
(Partner: Hurricane Jack’s Nautical Consignment)
7) Neuse Riverkeepers – New Bern TIME: 1:06.87
8) Row with the Flow (Flowserve – Raleigh) TIME: 1:06.99
9) Neuse River Dragons – USCG Sector NC & Navy HMCM USN TIME: 1:07.18
(Partner: Denton Pharmacy of Oriental)
10) The Ironmen – Cherry Point MCAS MWSS-274 TIME: 1:07.64
(Partner: Carolina East Medical Center)
11) The Titans – Cherry Point MCAS MWSS-271 Engineers TIME: 1:07.95
(Generous Residents of Pamlico County)

(Open Division Boat means there are no stipulations on gender balance on the boat. Can be all male crew.)

OVER 40 DIVISION: 1) The Dragon Riders – Oriental TIME: 1:05.26

 
MIXED DIVISION:

1) Raleigh Dragon Boat Club TIME: 1:04.32
2) Pirates for PAWS — Oriental TIME: 1:05.64
3) Draggin’ Tails – (Deaton’s) Oriental TIME: 1:05.68
4) HeartBeat of HeartWorks – Bayboro TIME: 1:06.92
5) Pulp & Paddlers (Weyerhaeuser) TIME: 1:08.42

(Mixed Division Boat means at least 8 female and no more than 12 male crew members.)

*** Fossil Floaters (PotashCorp Aurora) NOT RECORDED (Event suspended due to weather – all paddlers accounted for)
*** Charlotte Dragon Boat Club /Wells Fargo AquaBeasts CAPSIZE (Event suspended due to weather – all paddlers accounted for)
***Gnarly Dragon Pirates – Oriental CAPSIZE (Event suspended due to weather – all paddlers accounted for)

Posted Tuesday August 14, 2012 by Melinda Penkava