Becoming A Sea Lion
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| Photo Credit: Maurie Rohloff |
‘Believe me… there is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.’ – Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows.
“I must be fucking mental,” I thought to myself, as I walked down the hill in a swirl of heavy rain and notorious chilly Wellington wind, “Why the hell did I say I’d do this?!”
The next hour of my life is one I would rather forget. As I clambered from the boat at roughly 7pm that grey, cold Wednesday evening, it felt like every single muscle in my body was screaming with pain and I knew I’d be aching hideously the next day.
“How was it?” M asked, as we walked towards his truck for the short ride home.
“Okay,” I lied, “I guess I’ll soon get the hang of it.”
“Definitely,” M agreed, nodding vigorously, “You did okay today and we’ll soon have you paddling properly in no time.”
Too exhausted to reply, I merely nodded as we climbed into the truck and headed home.
I had agreed to be a member of the FCC Sea Lions Dragon Boat team partly because S had said he didn’t think I would do it and I wanted to prove him wrong and partly because it was something new, something to challenge me and something that would keep me busy in the evenings for a couple of months. Now, aching, cold and tired, I was wondering if my decision had been a bit foolhardy.
Dragon boating originates from China and has more recently emerged as a competitive sport in many countries, including New Zealand. Every year, a Dragon Boat Festival is held in Wellington at the end of summer and this was our goal – all our training throughout January and February would lead to the day of the festival.
Over the coming few sessions, my muscles grew stronger and my technique improved considerably. I even got used to paddling through the pain, pushing myself further than I thought I possibly could. We were lucky – apart from the first training session, we had blue skies, golden sunshine and mirror-flat water in the harbour almost every time we trained.
R spoke to us a lot about our timing and technique. To make a dragon boat move efficiently, it is crucial that all twenty paddlers (yes, twenty, it’s a lot I know) move in unison – their paddles going in, through and out of the water at the same time. Get out of time with the other paddlers and you slow the boat down. R wanted it to come so naturally to us that we could do it with our eyes closed and on a couple of occasions we paddled during training sessions with our eyes tightly shut to ensure we could remain in time with one another.
Twenty paddlers moving together, when it’s achieved, is something beautiful to watch. You can feel it in the boat too. It glides more easily through the water, the whole thing feels more effortless. Get in a good start (“bury that paddle in the water, anchor it there, you want to feel like you’re pulling it through cement, remember it’s a boat race, not a paddling race, go longer after a few strokes, build up to it…”) and your boat feels like it is flying along the course.
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| Photo Credit: Maurie Rohloff |
As the weeks progressed, I could feel the initial pains lessening off. I no longer felt like I’d been hit by a bus after every training session and my shoulder, which had been playing up, calmed down after a massage and quite a large number of painkillers.
With race day fast approaching, we ramped up the number of training sessions we had each week, going from one a week to two and finally three in the last week. R really put us through our paces, keeping us paddling for most of the hour, testing our stamina to the max. We learnt to grit our teeth, swear if we needed to (it turns out that muttering ‘fuck’ repeatedly under your breath whilst every part of your body is telling you to stop paddling really helps with the whole mind over matter thing) and just push through. Keep going. Don’t stop. No one wanted to be the one R shouted at because we paused for a single second to catch our breath.
With race day fast approaching, we ramped up the number of training sessions we had each week, going from one a week to two and finally three in the last week. R really put us through our paces, keeping us paddling for most of the hour, testing our stamina to the max. We learnt to grit our teeth, swear if we needed to (it turns out that muttering ‘fuck’ repeatedly under your breath whilst every part of your body is telling you to stop paddling really helps with the whole mind over matter thing) and just push through. Keep going. Don’t stop. No one wanted to be the one R shouted at because we paused for a single second to catch our breath.
Race day dawned bright and sunny, but with a northerly wind blowing straight across the harbour. This resulted in some amazing swells rolling diagonally across the race course and some extremely choppy conditions with white caps on some of the bigger waves. I could feel my nerves mounting as we arrived at the Sea Lions tent and began preparing for our first race.The day’s schedule went like this: one practise race (almost like a warm-up), three qualifying heats (five points awarded to the winner, four to second and so on down to fifth place, where you won only one point) and much later on that afternoon, the final. The corporate final that we were aiming to be in was the last race of the day. We had a long way to go yet!
If you’ve ever been at the start line of any race, you’ll know what goes through your head before the starting gun goes off. In my case, my stomach churned with excited nerves, I had to keep taking deep, calming breaths and remind myself constantly to relax my grip on the paddle. As we locked in to begin the race, I kept my eyes focused on the paddle blade, my mind utterly on the task in hand. With the big swells to contend with, there was some shuffling at the start to ensure all boats were aligned before the gun went off, but finally, there was the “paddles ready” call, followed quickly by the gun and we were away.
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| Photo Credit: Maurie Rohloff |
Our first race was messy, and although we were elated to win, we were also grateful it was only a practise race. We re-grouped and performed reasonably well in the first two heat races, winning both. The commentator began talking about us, telling the watching crowd that we were a team to look out for in the final. He was proved correct when the team really hit its stride in the third and final heat race and cruised it, making the whole thing look effortless (R didn’t pick me for this race and I watched from the side lines, cheering for the Sea Lions to finish first). The boat looked amazing as it flew over the water, M fighting the swell constantly and doing a fantastic job keeping the vessel on a tricky course. No one missed a stroke and the timing was perfect. It was a fantastic triumph and with three wins under our belts, we went into the finals on a massive high.
“It’s not over yet,” R said, eyeing every one of us as we stood around him, listening to his final pre-race pep-talk, “That last race was good but don’t get cocky. The other four teams in the final all want that win too, they’ve got nothing to lose. We’re the best team out there, but they will be on us the whole way, looking for a win. It’s happened before – a team has won all their heats and then lost out in the final race. We don’t want that to be us!”Our final was delayed and the familiar nerves clawed at my stomach again as we tried to stay focused and keep clear heads. About twenty minutes later, our race was eventually called and we loaded into the boats. We paddled out to start line and came under starter’s orders. We locked in, focused, tense, ready. The boat rocked on the swells, we put our paddles into the ready position at the starter’s call and… Boom. We were off.
I’d like to be able to end this post by telling you that of course we won, we were always going to win, we’d won all four of our other races that day, it was a given that we would win the final. But that’s not how sport works, and unfortunately, I think it’d be a little bit more than poetic license if I told you that we did win. Sadly, we were pipped at the post by another team and came second in the final race.
It was a huge disappointment. We were silent whilst the other team celebrated their win and slowly paddled back into the lagoon and landed the boat without much noise. We congratulated
the other team on their win and made our way disconsolately back to our tent to dry off, pick ourselves up and eat some of the BBQ that had been prepared for us (because nothing makes you feel better like an NZ barbie does!).
the other team on their win and made our way disconsolately back to our tent to dry off, pick ourselves up and eat some of the BBQ that had been prepared for us (because nothing makes you feel better like an NZ barbie does!).
Although I am sad that we missed out on first place in the final, I am immensely proud to have been part of such a good dragon boat team. It was tough, training killed me some days and my friends would laugh if I said I never moaned about it. I did moan, a lot. But deep down, underneath the cold and the tiredness and the aches and pains, I also really enjoyed myself. I liked being part of the team and I liked how I felt when I finished a training session – satisfied and pumped up.
I am particularly pleased that I pushed myself out of my comfort zone and dug deep to uncover my stubborn, gritty side, the determined part of me that more often than not gets hidden behind the more dominant lazy part of me. It’s good to be reminded that I’ve got it in me if I ever need it – just how I’ve been reminded in the past when I climbed Snowdon, hiked the Abel Tasman Great Walk or the Tongariro Crossing. So yes, it was new and yes, it challenged me, but I did it. Not only did I prove S wrong (he probably doesn’t even remember saying that he didn’t think I’d do it!), but I also proved to myself that when I set my mind to something, I can do it and that’s the best feeling of all.This post goes out to all the FCC Sea Lions – what a fantastic team! Special mention to T, my rowing partner for much of the time – I’m really glad we were paired up together! I’m pleased to have met some other really awesome people during this process too. A massive thanks to R and M for teaching me the ins and outs of becoming a dragon boater. I’ve already been looking at clubs in the UK and thinking about maybe joining up once I’m home, so cheers guys for introducing me to this cool sport.
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| Above: our awesome team. Photo Credit: Maurie Rohloff |
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