Dragon Boats
I can’t say I expected this to end up on here. I knew what dragon boats were. But, with my accepting my fear of the things in the water, this really wasn’t even a thought.
The opportunity came up! I kept going back and forth – “It’s a new experience” , “It’s in the ocean”, “How scared are you REALLY of the ocean”
…… imagines boat tipping over and hands reaching up to pull me under …..
“Yes! I’m scared of the ocean! but…. are you going to let that get in the way of you trying something new? “……. pause for dramatic effect…… “NO!” — “Hi! Can I sign up for the Dragon Boats?”
Yeah… We went on a short ride before we even got on the boat! There was a bit of a wait before loading up. When we came back to check the time, there were some people that hadn’t shown up so I was bumped up and was able to ‘strap in’ for my new experience.
I’m going to pause here for a brief moment to provide a HUGE “THANK YOU” to a certain archivist that told me about the free boat rides. They also were the drummer on said ride, keeping us rowing on pace.
Walking down the pier towards the boat and water, I kept staring at the water, waiting to see something that was going to make me change my mind. Nope! Nothing stopped me! I still got in. Awkwardly as I do.
Almost used the seat to step down into the boat and was promptly corrected. (Good thing, Girl has packed on some unwelcome weight and I don’t need to be breaking boats!)
Things I learned on my dragon boating experience
- Weight is a huge factor in being able to balance the boat properly. Moving people around to ensure that weight on the left and right side of the boat is as equal as possible.
- Dragon boats can be wobbly MF’ers
- Paddling behind a kid makes keeping rhythm challenging (but he was super cute and could tell he was trying)
- Paddling to the beat of a drum is therapeutic and relaxing
- Getting OUT of a dragon boat is much easier than getting in
- The person at the way back of the boat steers
- It’s beautiful when everyone is in sync
- I REAAAAAAALLY need to get some of this weight back off!
I really enjoyed the experience. I would absolutely do it again. There was a short moment of wobbly boat as we were turning around that gave me moment of pause… okay more than pause… but we didn’t tip over and I know I’d be fine if we did, I would just be working to get away from the creatures of the deep dark ☺
