Hi, Everyone!

I am happy to announce that we will have our annual beach day/bonfire on Saturday, September 3 at Corona Del Mar. This is a new location for us and I don’t have the specifics, in terms of which fire pit we will be at because we won’t know until we get there but the beach is much smaller than Huntington Beach so it won’t be too difficult to find our location. A kite will be flown in the sky so that you can locate our spot by looking up and using your internal GPS to find your way to us. Our plan is to arrive by noon after we’ve eaten breakfast after practice and then head south to the beach. We will have a tent set up for the food tables. Please bring something you’d like to eat/drink and a little more to share. Bring beach gear and whatever you’d like to have to entertain yourself at the beach (volleyball, Frisbee, football, music, kite, etc.) as we will be there the entire day so if you can’t come until later, join us when you can; we’ll be there until 10pm when the beach closes. Keep in mind that it will get chilly at night so bring something warm to wear if you’re staying for the bonfire. Friends and family are welcome so feel free to invite them.

If you have firewood (without chemicals because we will roast food), please let me know, as we tend to burn quite a bit of it to last through the evening.

Location: Corona Del Mar State Beach @ Ocean Boulevard, Central Coast, CA 92625

Click here for directions from Practice site.

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Simplified directions from Willy: “Corona Del Mar State Beach. For most of you...take the 405 south, exit Jamboree, left turn on PCH, right turn on Marguerite, right on Ocean. The entrance to the beach is on the left side (down ramp). Park along the streets of Larkspur, Jasmine or Iris.”

Some additional info from Tim Moe: “Parking is $15 and if you get there early enough you will be able to park close to our fire pit. If you come later in the day the parking lot may be full but you will be able to park above the beach in a residential neighborhood for free. Obviously if you’d rather not pay $15 then just park in the residential neighborhood to begin with. If you park outside the parking lot then you will need to walk “down” to the beach area. There are public bathrooms and showers and there is also a food/snack bar place. Once you/we are camped out around our fire pit the ocean is only a few steps away, there is a jetty that you can walk on, and there is also a little cove area located adjacent north of the fire pit area which is fun to check out. If you have any water craft that you want to play on/with you will be able to launch it from the cove area.

The fire pits are located on the north end of this one mile wide beach. There are only about ten pits so once you make it to the north end of the beach (Which is to your right as you face the ocean) you will be able to find us easily.

This beach area is also known as Big Corona. Remember that you have to drive or walk “DOWN” a street/driveway to reach this beach.”

Here’s my mobile number if you need to reach me: (626) 315-3272 or E-mail me Mychi@teamdpw.org

I hope to see you all there!

Mychi Hoang

 

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Thanks!

There are four more weekends of practice before the San Francisco International Dragon Boat Festival. For those who are available, Friday practices have been added along with our regular Saturday practices.

Please contact Jenn Edo here for more information or to RSVP.

Thanks!

Before a competition I ask myself, "How am I going to get through this weekend?" I think about how exhausting it will be and how tough the competition gets every year.  I worry about how we perform at practice when the boat struggles to move, either because we lose the power halfway through a race course or we forget synchronicity is critical to efficient movement of the boat.  I remind myself that when doing the starts I need to gradually increase the rate and that the transition between starts and long strokes needs to be perfect.  I go through a list of items that I need to incorporate at every heat and whether I can accomplish them.  The list includes breathing, digging my paddle at the catch, squaring the blade, using my legs to kick the boat forward. A key lesson that I am still struggling to learn is being conscious of everyone; sensing the response of the boat and knowing how to adjust my stroke to surge forward.  In addition to all the above mentioned, I think the biggest challenge during the Long Beach Festival was whether Crysy and I would be able to lead our women to the podium.  After having won medals both in Canada and Arizona as a composite women's team, having an all Team DPW women's boat win a medal would be extraordinary.
Fortunately, after the first race of the competition I realize that I am part of a team that I can rely on to accomplish a common goal which is to work together and finish the race strong.  All of a sudden my doubts and worries subside and I do not think about how many races we have but only about how to win the next race.  I see everyone's excitement and feel the energy and that fuels the rest of the day.  No matter what happens at practice, during race day the adrenaline kicks in and we perform well.  During the Long Beach Dragon Boat Festival I felt everyone's effort with every pull, especially when our boat was struggling to avoid hitting another boat that was cutting into our lane.  We did not back down instead I could feel everyone inject more power with every stroke.  This experience is what makes us stronger as a team, knowing that we won't give up and will unite against our opponents.  The biggest reward for me aside from the medals is knowing that even after the half way point of the races we were still pulling our weight and did not surrender to the pain; this was especially true in the women's boat. 
Building our endurance and perfecting the 70 starts for our upcoming races will prepare us for our competition.  If we apply ourselves we can win some gold medals at our next race.  I look forward to competing in the San Francisco race, see you there

Sunday, July 31, 2011, around 10:00 am, Team DPW Mixed Boat B’s crew awaited boarding at the marshalling tent for Division IIIBB finals. As I looked at the crew’s faces, I saw in them enthusiasm and not apprehension.  I told myself, this is a good crew and this race is winnable. As we loaded the boat and eventually paddled all the way to the start line, the mood was relaxed and confident.  I even tried to open up a conversation with Olivia, but she refused to engage and told me to shut up and just listen to Beverly, our caller.

We were in Lane 3, to our right were Southern California Edison Electric Dragon which has the fastest time for this heat, Arizona Dragon Riders and URS Dragoneers. To our left were So. COW and Team Taiwan.

The horn sounded off and away we went with frantic starts.  Our boat was ahead of the field right off the bat.  We started to pull away but not much.  The other boats were giving us a good fight.  Halfway into the race, Beverly called for a power injection.  The boat pulled away and kept it.  In the last 150 meters of the race, Olivia noticed Edison’s boat creeping up on us.  She told me “ Let’s do it, Dan. Let’s take this”.  We executed our last kick. To my surprise the crew reacted positively and we pulled away some more all the way to the finish line. We finished first with 0.64 second lead over the Electric Dragons and 1.25 seconds over the Arizona Dragon Riders.

To the crew of Team DPW Mixed Boat B, Beverly, Olivia, myself(Tito Manok), John, Isaac, Judith, Eileen, Daniel, Christine, Mark Buising, Laurie, Miguel Sanchez, Tom, Eric, Ernest, Spring, Fong, Monique, Brenda and Vannie.  We did it !  !  !  !…Gold !  !  !  !

My Dragon boat experience has been fun, even if I just began and I am still learning the sport.  My experience as a novice has taught me to learn from my coach and always work on improving my stroke technique. When I reflect back on the last couple of months since I started, the main thoughts that come to mind are the core values of teamwork, discipline and resilience. I have practiced all of these in order to prepare for my first races, which were probably the hardest thing I have ever done! 
My last few months have been broken up into three phases:  Practice, Cross Training, and Racing.  Together, these phases have been a fun but challenging experience.  It has brought out my competitiveness as well as drive to succeed on both a personal and team level.
I have learned that teamwork is a huge part of Dragon boat.  This is done by effective leadership from our coach and the contribution of all to our common goals.  The tone of Team DPW is set with an effective coach, Coach Nathan.  His toughness and dedication during practices towards the team creates an inspiring yet challenging environment that has helped me prepare for my first races in just a couple of months.  His leadership is evident and the passion he has for the sport of Dragonboat inspires his teammates to want to win.
Any effective athlete must constantly work on their craft.  As I learn about Dragonboat, I understand that a good paddler must practice paddling as well as cross-train to build up strength and agility.  Gym sessions in between practices have been essential to do this.  My favorite cross-training activities include swimming, cycling, yoga, and weight training.  Weekly practices and daily workouts take discipline and dedication which don’t always come easy.  What keeps me going is my end goal.  Winning gold and be a winner for my team.

I never knew resilience until I finished my first race.  That was knarley!  I fought through the pain and got a sweet victory at my first Dragonboat Festival.  Even though women’s team didn’t win gold, getting back out there and giving my all again proved that it can be done!  The second race – Team Booyah – ended up winning gold.   This taste of success has made my Dragonboat experience worthwhile and has me itching for more!  Our next race will be tougher than the last, and the resilience to get through the race – and win gold – will be harder.  I’m preparing for a tough fight!
My Dragon boat experience has made me a better person overall.  I have made new friends and set new goals for myself.  I love the water and feel at peace when I’m out there.  I plan on winning many medals with Team DPW.

Team,

Congratulations to our DPW women for winning silver in the Women’s B-division!!!  Woot woot!!!  Our composite women’s team is a combination of DPW and AZ Gila Dragons women.  Congratulations again!!!

                Our mixed team did a good job as well qualifying in the competitive division in the semi-finals together with the best of all the bests in the festival.  Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough to sustain the competitiveness of the tough teams and ended our racing in the Recreational A – consolation no medal finals.  Our mixed team also won 2nd place in the “First Time Racers” specialty race but there were no medals given for this event. 

                Our OPEN team was a composite team mix of DPW and Dragon Hybrids, our host team.  We qualified in the OPEN Competitive division, the top division. In fact, they referred to our finals as the 24-hour open competitive finals. We finished 6th among 8 teams in the finals beating LARD and SPACE Dragons, 7th and 8th place respectively. 

There were lots of good memories and fun times on this trip.  I wish we were competing with 2 mixed boats like we usually do. Maybe next year, right?

                Many thanks as always to our officers who work hard in making all our events a success!  I am grateful to all the things you do for this team.  Thanks too, to our guests which I will include the injured ones: Marcie and Janet. Plus Bailey, Jacky (reyna’s sister), Annaliese’s boyfriend and Dan Livesey (Janet’s husband).  Thanks too to our host, Team Hybdrids, especially to their captain Thony who gave us an awesome experience in Vancouver! 

COOCH NATE

 

Team,

                Congratulations for the GOLD medal in the Adult Mixed Division B-500m Division!!!  Also congratulations to our new team, the DPW KIDS, for winning silver in the elementary division.  Another addition to our overflowing trophies at the dragon boat shrine here at the 10th floor. 

                I didn’t have a copy of the race results, but I was told that our other mixed team that did not qualify for medals in the mixed A division.  Most of its members are either newbies or veteran paddlers who just joined us back a couple of weeks ago.  That is an impressive performance to qualify in the A division.  Our mixed team that won is our Vancouver bound boat, so this is a feel good race in preparation for our race next month. 

                We were also joined by our friends from Arizona, the Dragon Riders, who apparently had some unfortunate events in both 200m and 500m races.  The good thing though is that they are motivated to come back strong in July and prove their competitiveness on the water.  They are impressed by our hospitality and well organized hosting.  Thanks to all of you!

                For the first time since Team DPW was formed, we had to put up 8 tents with an overflowing crowd.  The kids brought everyone from their grandparents to their uncles, cousins, friends, etc etc.  It was fun and crazy!!!  We also had the presence of Booyah sponsor (Joe Bustamante), Tim Moe, Mychi and Cindy Ma.  Nice to see you with us!!!  By the way, I am a very proud dad because 2 of my kids are already paddling in the dragonboats!  Maybe they can be in Team USA in the future! Ha ha ha. 

                I would like to thank all those who helped in the preparation from food, tents, tables, chairs, and all the stuff needed to make it a well organized event.  Thanks to you!!!! 

COOCH NATE