By John Herrera
VANCOUVER: The Bay Area Dragons made their much anticipated return to Vancouver's ultra competitive Alcan Dragon Boat Festival last Saturday. In returning to this festival BAD had three goals: The first was to get a taste of the extreme competition that Vancouver's 160 + teams offer in order to get a sense of what it will be like next year in the World Championships at Penang, Malaysia. The second was to get a taste of Vancouver's legendary Sushi. The third goal was to make new friends in order to nurture the growth of our sensational sport. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
BAD was hoping to make it back to the Guts and Glory race which we participated in two years ago. The Guts and Glory race is a 2,000 meter race that features three turns. Only the top 18 finishers out of the pool of 160 teams qualify for this race. BAD's first place finish in the second race on Saturday helped pave the way for that ever sought for top 20 finish. BAD finished 18th overall, a 2nd place finish in Comp. C division, but it was the 1st place teams in Comp. C and D divisions that made it to the Guts and Glory race. The agonizing wouldn't last long however, as BAD would gain a wild card birth into the Guts and Glory after the Portland Paddling Club had to forfeit their entry after leaving the race early in order to catch their bus ride for home.Portland's paddlers were not the only paddlers who had to leave prematurely as several of BAD's paddlers had to leave as well. The end result was a motley crew of BAD1 and BAD2 in what can truly be described as an epic team uniting experience. The patchwork crew used a combination of precision timing, several power pieces and a strong finish to earn a respectable placing in the Guts and Glory.
BAD did earn hardware for finishing second in the competitive C division; however, the medal ceremony took place while BAD was still racing in the Guts and Glory. With no one to spare for retrieving medals, BAD wouldn't receive their hard earned silver medals until the following week and would go home empty handed.
Despite going home empty handed, BAD certainly did not go home with an empty stomach. Following the Guts and Glory, BAD literally ran to the hotel, showered, and walked to an all you can eat sushi restaurant in twenty minutes in order to get in to the Mecca of Sushi before it closed. BAD's insatiable appetite for Sushi was appeased as BAD members consumed multiple plates of a wide variety of sushi. "Marco (Gabbiani) ate 18 oysters," said Martin Poon.
BAD also hit it off very well with their hosts which go by the alias of DWW (Dangerous When Wet). BAD's gracious hosts treated BAD to a buffet dinner on Saturday night and then played a game with BAD which involved dropping quarters into a glass. The way in which you had to drop the quarters into the glass is too crude to describe on our PG - 13 rated website. The only thing more surprising then our hosts playing this game was the fact that several BAD members agreed to play along as Armaan was BAD's hero. "I'm not going to do it!" exclaimed an astonished Achim Karger after witnessing where the quarters were being placed before being deposited into the glass. Don't worry Achim; I wouldn't have done that either.
-JH
Photos by Justin Lien
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