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early 300 rowers in 14 boats took to the Neuse River this Saturday to compete in Oriental’s second annual dragon boat race. This year’s event drew a wide range of competitors, from last year’s winner, the team from Deatons Yachts, to 2 boats filled with Cherry Point Marines. Raising the competitive level a notch was a team of Raleigh dragon boaters. The mixed entries had competitors and spectators wondering… how would the varied strengths of veteran dragon boaters, novice enthusiasm and military brawn play out?

The Raleigh Dragons early in the day’s racing. At festival’s end, they walked away with the top prize and a new course record.

Heartworks crew members pouring on the paddle power

The premise behind dragon boat racing is simple. Twenty paddlers, seated in pairs in a long, narrow boat, row as hard as they can over a course roughly 250 meters long. Orchestrating their strokes, so they paddle in unison, is a drummer seated on the bow. Maneuvering the vessel to and from the race course, and up the lanes the boats race on, is a steer person standing on the stern.

What makes the sport so challenging to predict is how differing combinations of crew strength, weight and experience can dictate race outcomes. While it would appear that a strong, regimented team would have a definite advantage, Saturday’s events proved otherwise. In some cases, a dragon boat filled with toned young Marines proved victorious. Other times, though, a vessel powered by older, more experienced rowers was first over the line.

Puff and the Punishers: In the foreground, team Punishers, composed of Cherry Point Marines, takes on Puff. Puff carried a half male, half female crew – and won.

In addition to more boats – entries were up 5 teams from last year’s event – this year’s race played out under different weather conditions. During last year’s race, the wind blew down the course, from finish line toward staring line. That made it relatively easy for paddlers to line their boats up at the starting line.

This year, the wind blew from exactly the opposite direction – down the race course. This led to some sprightly paddle work, especially as boats lined up to compete. As the vessels approached the starting line, the wind pushed them ahead. This called for lots of paddling in reverse, along with some deft steering oar work, to keep the dragon boats from over-running their starts.

Watching from the town pier. This was the perfect vantage point from which to observe paddlers responding to the starter’s orders.

Practiced drummer Nol Engel keeping the beat. Nol plays regularly with the Wednesday evening Oriental drum circle. He says that the key to being a good dragon boat drummer is “having rhythm and following the first paddler in the boat.” “Staying in the boat” helps too.

During the morning, winds were relatively calm, with occasional gusts to 10 knots. By afternoon, though, they had risen into the low teens, sending a sharp chop down the race course.

The dragon boats racing in Saturday’s event are designed to carry 20 paddlers. Flat-water craft of narrow beam and low freeboard, they are suited to calm conditions. They do less well in wind and swell. As the wind increased, race organizers had to make a decision. They decided that, to increase the vessels’ buoyancy, teams would remove 4 paddlers from each boat, 2 men and 2 women. This allowed the boats to float higher in the water, thereby reducing the chance of capsize.

Empty seat: the gap in front of the steer person would ordinarily be occupied by 2 paddlers.

This combination of down-wind racing and lighter loads lead to some fast times, including a new course record. In their third race of the day, the Raleigh Dragons paddled the roughly 250-meter course in 58.48 seconds. This was over 6 seconds faster than the quickest elapsed time at last year’s event.

Team Heart Works drives the bow of their dragon boat, and drummer Cheryl Thompson, nearly under water. Racing against them is team Leviathans, one of the 2 Marine Corps entries.

During Saturday’s event, each team raced 3 times, twice in the morning, once after a noon break. The day’s final race pitted the first and second place teams against each other to determined festival champion and runner up. This format, unlike an elimination tournament that eliminates competitors during the course of competition, allows teams maximum participation.

In the end, it was practiced muscle, not brute strength, that carried the day. Team Raleigh Dragons, who paddle regularly together, claimed the first place oar that served as the top festival prize. The PCS Fossil Floaters finished second with team Pirates for PAWS coming in third.

The Raleigh Dragons accepting their first prize trophy

Because their dragon boats contained mostly men (rather than half male, half female crew powering other competitors’ boats), the two Marine entries faced off against each other in their final race. In the end, it was the Punishers that out-stroked the Leviathans to claim the first place trophy in the “Marines Division” – a red oar adorned with a dragon motif.

The Leviathans and Punishers go bow to bow in their final race. The reefed sailboat and speeding windsurfer indicate how much the wind had risen by late in the event.

Additional Oriental Dragon Boat Race Entrants

Blazing Paddles
Dragon Riders
Row with the Flow
Axelson’s Well-Adjusted Warriors
Team Heartworks
Riverkeepers
Draggin’ Tails
Blackbeard’s Crew
Leviathans
Punishers
Puff

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The crew of Puff reacts moments after defeating the Punishers – a dragon boat full of Cherry Point Marines.

Axelson’s Well-adjusted Warriors charging up the course.

A closer look at the Axlelson’s Warriors drummer. Behind the mask is Jessee Perrotti who says he’s “still working on the secret to good drumming.”

With races run downwind, the dragon boats ran over the backs of the waves they encountered. This kept most of the water out of the boats. Heading onto the course, however, they encountered a stiff chop which lead to lots of water in the bilge and vigorous bailing. Here, the Deaton team dewaters their vessel.

Puff ships a wave

The Deatons meet the Dragons. The Deaton team, Draggin Tails with Fran Deaton on the drum, crosses in front of the Raleigh Dragons boat. The boats were maneuvering between races.

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Spectators looking to witness minor racing mishaps were well rewarded during the day’s final races. The second to last race featured the Fossil Floaters taking on the Raleigh Dragons. The race started cleanly, with both teams teams getting away to a clean start. Then events strayed from the script.

Moments after the start, the Fossil Floaters are paddling hard, dead even with the Raleigh Dragons.

Suddenly, the Fossil Floaters boat swerves hard to starboard, seemingly on course to collide with the Raleigh Dragons’ boat….

…moments later, the Fossil Floater’s steer person is in the water. The two boats avoided contact and the Raleigh Dragons boat speeds on.

Within seconds, a stand-by watercraft is on the scene to fish the out the floating steersperson. Assisting with the recovery are Eric Kindle and, in front of the red buoy, Will Flannery.

It was the Cherry Point Marines that race watchers can thank for the day’s only capsize. The day’s final race saw the Leviathans taking on the the Punishers. It was an outcome that produced two winners. The Punishers took home first prize in the all Marine dragon boat division. The Leviathans took home the “Most Time in The Water” award.

The floating Leviathans moments after their dragon boat capsized. Speeding toward them is a support vessel….

…. whose assistance wasn’t needed. These are marines. Instead of bailing their vessel with provided scoops, they lifted the flooded boat out of the water and poured its contents back into the river. Then they climbed back in. (John Reiswig Photo)

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Though the dragon boat races took place on Saturday, the event actually started a day earlier with team practice and a parade. Friday, the plan had been to launch the dragon boats and have teams practice their strokes the day before the race. But mother nature had different thoughts. A stiff wind, with gusts over 20 knots, produced more wave action than the dragon boats could handle. A few of the boats that ventured out capsized, leading organizers to reschedule practice on the town beach. There, with boats sitting on the sand, crews practiced rowing in sync, if not in water.

The Deaton team about to dig in. Some minor tweaks in technique, like the upside-down paddles, were necessitated by Friday’s dry land practice session.

Supervising Friday’s beach training session

Team Dragon Riders with their parade entry. Noted coach K “We can’t paddle but we can make a dragon”. After a quick rethink, she added “we’re going to win!”

A resident Oriental dragon (there a few of them in various lairs and garages around the village) entertains the crowd. Following the performance, dragon boat teams participated in the team parade.

Saturday morning, race preparations began in earnest. Some paddlers applied temporary tattoos for luck while others looked to face paint or matching team wear for inspiration.

The Blazing Paddles looked to virgins for good race day luck…

….while others went with war paint.

The Fossil Floaters, representing PCS Phosphates, took the chance to have a group photo taken. In addition to team spirit, the paper sharks’ teeth stapled to their hats offered a modicum of much needed ear shade.

The Raleigh Dragons warm up on South Avenue prior to one of their heats. While most teams counted socializing and picnicking as adequate race prep, the rowers from Raleigh took this phase, as well as race training, more seriously. Member Michele Rivera says “we practice two times per week, two hours per day”. And it payed off. In their second race, they paddled the course in under 60 seconds, the first sub-one minute time in Oriental event’s history. (Kathy Enzerink photo)

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While spectator boats anchored in the river just off the race course enjoyed a superb view, shoreside watchers were able to get close to the start and finish lines. This made for fine boat and people-watching.

July dragon boat racing calls for an appropriate hat.

Eyeball start: Rachel Roman, whose hat and two-way radio are visible in the foreground, served as official race starter. She says her job is making sure racing boats start together. “You gotta give each team a fair race” she says “because these races are won by hundredths of a second”. This proved challenging given Saturday’s down wind starts as the wind tended to push boats over the line before they were perfectly lined up. To make sure competitors got an even start, Rachel said she sighted down the two boats’ bows, lining them up with a landmark on the far side of the Neuse River. When the two boats and the mark lined up, the race was on.

Video finish: a video camera is set up on the finish line opposite a red ball on the far side of the course. In this photo, the dark object at the bottom of the photo is the camera. The first boat across the line – or more precisely, the first dragon nose across the line – wins the race. In the case of a close finish, the video footage can be reviewed on a laptop computer to determine the winner.

Third place finishers Pirates for PAWS

The PCS Fossil Floaters with their second place oar

Representatives for the Marine Corps team Leviathans and Punishers accepting their trophy oars.

Teams and their times after the second heat of the day.

Until next year: organizers Flora Moorman and Jeff Aydelette embrace at day’s end.

Other Awards

“Most Creative Headgear” Draggin Tails
“Best Kiss up to a Judge” Draggin Tails
“Most Team Spirit as Demonstrated in the Parade” Dragon Riders
“Team that Came the Farthest” Puff
“Most Audaicious and Sartorial” Pirates for PAWS
“Best Drummer” Fran Deaton of Draggin Tails
“Best Parade Banner” Neuse River Keepers
“Most Colorful Booties” Row With the Flow
“Most Time in the Water” Punishers

Posted Wednesday July 27, 2011 by Bernie Harberts