Pirates of the South China Sea

High Noon under the mercyless blistering sun - boy did we have a HOT raceday. Blue skies, 34 degrees and even low humidity, we were really lucky. 208 teams and 4.000 paddlers were competing and a couple of thousand spectators were watching which was the hugest turnout in Stanley ever. The news reported that the International Stanley Dragonboat Race is the biggest one day dragonboat event worldwide which is quite impressive.

You can't even begin to imagine the noise level and the crowds, you simply will have to come here and and see for yourself. Each race consists of 9/10 boats and while one race begins the next paddlers are already sent on their way to row to their starting lane. The race course is surrounded by at least 100 junks with partying teams or spectators and from every junk you were bombarded with the hottest but deafening pop & rock tunes while you had to be focussing on the starting signal - difficult task - specially if you rather feel like singing than rowing ;-) I have to admit, I envied the people on the junks, they were really having a blast and that's hopefully where I will be next year, tell me where the party is, I ll be running....

18 Ladies teams were competing. We had to absolve 2 races which turned out to be pretty tough since our 1st race was at 10:30 in the morning and the 2nd one at 4:30 in the afternoon (same waiting periods for our competitors of course) - it's hard to stay motivated and pumped up when you have to wait it out for 6 hours sitting around in the heat and nowhere to go. The 1st heat was satisfying over all, the boat was moving effortless and we managed a place in the midfield. The 2nd one was already ill-fated right from the start since the race was interrupted for 25 minutes while we had to hold out at our starting position - by the time the announcer said "Ready" we were anything but - we were already dripping from sweat, some not focussed anymore and therefore we totally tanked it - we didn't end up last but anyone who is interested in the result of the Desperate Housewives will have to look it up at:

www.dragonboat.org.hk

This is also the Link for the official reports and event photos - everyone who is interested in further details can check it out, the race updates should be in the website by this weekend...my pics should be ready by then too.

Anyway, it was a great experience and although I failed to build up expected muscles like "The Hulk" I loved the physical exercise and can't wait to continue next year. The race will be on june 8th and this time I will captain the boat of the American Women's Association which didn't enter the competition for the last 2 years in lack of a coach. It'll be a huge time commitment (visitors be prepared, I won't have much time starting march 2008) but besides the organisation challenge I also will be having tons of fun.

Following, once again the official Event History:

AIA Stanley International Dragon Boat Championships
Stanley itself had long been an important settlement for fisher folk and dragon boat racing has always been a very popular way to celebrate the annual Tuen Ng Festival. As far back as the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) East and West seemed to mix well here.

In the late ‘60s the local races started to attract the interest of several expats living in the Stanley area and by the early ‘70s the expats were racing against the local Chinese. The Chinese teams always dominated the races so to make the races fairer for all in 1975 the organizers divided the races to allow the expats to compete in a category of their own. This was followed shortly after by the introduction of a Ladies' Competition.

The early races were originally held at Stanley Bay facing Tin Hau Temple and Murray House creating a strong community festival atmosphere. However, to accommodate the ever-increasing scale of the event, the Championships are now run from Stanley Main Beach.

The diverse nationalities of Expatriate Men's Teams remain a feature of the Stanley International Dragon Boat Championships. The event also holds the record for always having the highest competitor turnout as well as the highest company team turnout. Over its 40 year history Race Day has evolved into an amazing festival with competitors and spectators enjoying themselves in a wonderful party atmosphere.