Pics courtesy of Lisa N

Lisa, a Dennis, and Valerie at the paddlers party. Despite an otherwise gorgeous week of sunshine, pouring rain and a semi-enclosed venue meant I had to bust out the parka. The Canadians were amused to see down in Arizona.




Wasabi Women prepare for a race at the Arizona Dragon Boat festival. We took gold in the 500M and won the 250M race.




San Diego men saved the day by joining the Desert Paddle Green (camp mix-up crew) for our races. They were great guys. Big thanks to Les for helping us put together a good crew, and to these guys for lending us some male muscle!




Lisa Neilson from Vancouver - a paddle camp participant and lead stroke for Desert Paddle Green's mix-it-up crew.




Jackie and Cat, coach and Water's Edge staff, enjoying themselves after a seriously long week of coaching, organizing, and hosting the AZDBA races.




Many thanks to Lisa N for the photos above. Click the link at the right to her photo album for the camp for more images.

More on Dragon Boat Starts - from Jackie

First 6 Strokes
-- The goal is to get the boat moving, with maximum power, efficiently.
-- Your first stroke should start from completely buried and vertical, at about half your normal stroke length from the front.
Important note: Your arms should be slightly bent, not straight. If you were at full stretch position the load wouldn't be stable for you at this point since the boat is still.
-- The next stroke get a little longer - 3/4 of your normal length (starting 1/4 back from where you will be able to reach at full extension.)
-- The third stroke should be at full extension.

Next "Up" Strokes
-- The up strokes are performed in the forward portion of your usual stroke. They should end at by your knees, as opposed to normal/full length strokes that end by your mid-thigh.
Important note: You should not lock your body forward and only rotate in these up strokes. This will deprive the boat of your power. You should still be hinging. Try to perform the full body mechanics of a normal stroke, but end it by your knees.
-- The boat will perform a series of these to lift the boat and get it gliding on top of the water. The number to be performed depends on the team, maybe 10, maybe 16, maybe more.
-- Another important note: when transitioning into the up strokes, transition by doing the front 3/4 or so of the stroke on the first "up" (in other words, end the stroke just before mid thigh), then do a little shorter and end just after your knee on the second "up" stroke, then end your next up stroke and all subsequent ones at your knee.
-- The goal is to get full forward extension but end the normal stroke mechanic at your knee.

We didn't get to the transition today, I'll add it tomorrow.