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BAD Successfully Defends PDBA Open Title |
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Written by John Herrera
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Thursday, 10 September 2009 |
 Despite what has been characterized as a rebuilding year for BAD, a retooled BAD open team successfully defended its PDBA title that was won two years ago in a very hard faught win over San Diego in the battle for the right to go to Penang. This time it was an all or nothing, one race for all the marbles versus Wasabi and Sail Point that would determine if BAD would keep the PDBA trophy and qualify for Macau in 2010.
The open final was the second race of the entire weekend so there was no warm up nor was there any time to stumble out of the blocks while trying to clear out the cobwebs and shake off the jet - lag. BAD lined up in lane two, a lane that would make things interesting for the steersperson, but more on that later.
The race started with BAD coming out of the gates quickly as BAD would
get off to a wonderful start and surge past the competition. Halfway
through the race, Wasabi and Sail Point closed in on BAD, literally.
Being in lane 2 gave BAD's steersperson no way out because Wasabi was
approaching from the right and Sail Point kept getting closer and
closer on the left. The only way to avoid both boats was to stay
straight and surge past both of them. This is exactly what happened as
BAD was lead by Luis Bacayo, Alvin Wang, Shaun Vidal, Rich Altamirano,
and Sid Tao as the BAD boat stayed ahead by half a boat length.
With Sail Point and Wasabi approaching BAD and squeezing us from both
sides, the drummer called an early finish. BAD gave it everything it
could muster as Nick Lee, and Rodger Ng, went long and strong. The
finish line was crossed with a clear cut BAD victory, but
unfortunately, the finish line was just the beginning of some crazy
shenanigans that would follow as BAD was struck by Wasabi a couple
meters after crossing the finish line. The momentum then made BAD's
boat careen into Sail Point's boat, making the PDBA open championship
look more like a dragon boat demolition derby.
Fortunately, none of the boats capsized and everyone was all right. In
the end, BAD had for the second consecutive time qualified for the
World Club Crew Dragon Boat Chapmpionships. Even more importantly, the
holy grail of West Coast dragon boat racing, the PDBA trophy, would
stay in BAD's possession for at least another two years.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 10 September 2009 )
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