dragonboat sellwood

the varnish on my paddle dried just in time to use the New and Improved paddle on the waters during this weekend's sellwood race. the Castaways sported both a women's and a mixed team this year, and what a workout for the ladies! our first race was almost unbearably sluggish (were some of the men holding the back of the boat at the dock just so that we would appreciate them more during the mixed races?). our second race was almost 30 seconds faster, and we ended up with respectable times considering we had practiced as a group only twice before the competition.
the double duty definitely had a number of us huffing. a few times we stepped off the boat of one race and turned around and marshelled straight into the next one. no one can ever call us whimps! the stars of the day were, of course, Captain Darrell and Coach Fev, both sporting huge hearts and winning smiles straight through to a drinking foray at the Black Cat.
wanted to die sunday evening. very nearly did.