by 
Recipe: Mako Magic
Mako Magic calls for simple ingredients, but it’s a stunner. With meltingly brilliant ingredients, a zesty finish and robust flavours, this recipe is a winter must-have.
Ingredients
- 1 x11m dragon boat
- 35 dishevelled, motley, gangly-looking knuckleheads
- 1 dash of experience
- 500GL of rough water
- 4000kg of neoprene, beanies, and ear warmers
- 50km wind gusts
- Seasoning to taste
- Support from our awesome sponsor, Club Jervis Bay
Method
- Preheat temperature to 5’C for best results.
- Liberally coat an 11m long, 50cm deep x 1m wide vessel in water and weed
- To prepare the crew, coat in neoprene thoroughly and dab beanies and ear-warmers on for effect.
- Garnish the boat with one small adornment on the front and a larger one on the back.
- Add 20 paddlers of various sizes into the boat (note: for best results some of the ingredients should be well-aged for depth of flavour)
- After a brief stir, set aside and stand for 5-10mins
- In an explosive action, mix in a water shaker thoroughly to combine
- Cook on high for 2-2 ½ minutes and after a brief resting phase, spoon magic from the vessel with an egg-flip as it will be soft and wobbly.
The Tale of the Tape
Today marked the day when the recipe for Mako magic was created. We delivered and then some. For a toddler club barely on our first steps, it was our first ever State Championships and our first official season as an AUSDBF-affiliated club.
With only 35 paddlers and 4 categories to race in, we were facing a huge workload stretching ahead of us throughout the day.
- First up was Premier Mixed (and when I say Premier it’s a loose term, with only 9 paddlers under 40 in the crew) and with Courtney and Ang unleashing hell in seat 1 we were bound for great racing. Our crew got tighter and more professional each race. Our boat craft was superb, holding pontoon lines in 50km wind gusts (nice one Bear) and nailing the starts each time. With times improving throughout the day, we were just pipes for the Major Final into the Minor and by GOSH did we make our mark. The Premier Mixed Final was one of the most insane races I’ve been in for a long time, the crew pulling an amazing time that would have landed them 4th place in the Major Final and beating the field by a boat and a half.
- Premier Women was next on the menu, with only 18 paddlers and no reserves we were up for a fight in the strengthening wind. Lyn and Janine took the stroke seats and ladies hunkered in for the ride. Amazing, gutsy racing by the ladies landed us in the MAJOR FINAL – our first in NSW. Holy shit. Unfortunately the cold and wind had taken out a few, so with 16 on boats against crews of 20 we took to the Final. Never before as a Coach have I seen such heart and guts as the plucky 16 paddlers of Mako. While the result on the scoreboard didn’t have the gold, I certainly would hang something shiny over every one of the ladies who dug deep and fought the entire way down the course. Heart like that will always win, and watch out NSW, the Mako ladies are certainly coming for some scalps next season.
- Onto Premier Opens, with only 13 men and the rest ladies who had not stepped on land for the last 4 hours. Wow lads. Just bloody wow. With a slightly dodgy first race (and by that I mean S-bending down the course, barely staying in the lane and almost T-Boning crews on either side), Bear stepped up on the stick and things started to settle. The Mako Opens crew improved the next heat and again, there we were in another MAJOR FINAL. OMG I was hopping around giggling with delight trying not to pee…..are you freaking serious? And ended up the 5th fastest premier opens crew in NSW. Gulp.
- Senior A Mixed was our final crew of the day and the exact same paddlers changed thermals for the 12th time that day and headed to marshalling. With the majority of crews in our first heat having just arrived fresh and warm, Mako knew we would be up for a fight. And fought we did. With speaker malfunction on the start meaning our first heat was half a boat-length behind others, we weren’t happy with our result. So dammit, we did it, and we did it better – fighting tooth and nail to snag an amazing 3rd place in the heat. Was it enough to get into the Final? Dammit no. But guess what Mako, with a time of 2.21.29 in a raging headwind for our heat, we would have won 2nd Place in the Major Final. A spectacular finish to the day.
Noteworthy Mentions:
One Armed Bandit Award: a huge thanks to Janelle Prout our designated volunteer on the ground, with enough plates and screws in her arm to make the highlight reel on Border Security. She travelled to Penrith with no other mission than to support her team. That’s team spirit folks.
Golden Falcon Award: goes to Tye Goodman whose beanie lodged over his face in Stroke 1 of the start, paddling an entire 500m with a black hoodie over his head to the chagrin of MattyG sitting behind him.
Pinball: goes to me, possibly the worst sweep in the world, S-bending the entire length of the opens heat. Eek, sorry team.
John Holmes Award: without doubt goes to Ron Casey, who has to tape his 2-balls together before a race to stop them swinging around and rocking the boat.
Gunnery Sargeant Hartmann Award: goes to Bear for unleashing a tirade on the engine room of epic proportions, unheard of since Full Metal Jacket.
Anusol Award: goes to Whitey, for stepping up and stepping in to soothe the raging Bear and take control of crew lists.
Village People Award: undoubtedly goes to Jac Smith, sporting her Cowboy ass-less chaps in the boat and proudly working her YMCA on the drum.
Terminator: is proudly awarded to Courtney, an absolute MACHINE smashing 9x500m races and still looking like a supermodel.
To all Mako, you should be proud. I am so very proud. To turn heads is brilliant. To win the love of the commentators on the day is awesome. To back up again, and again, and again, without reserves or rest and pull off some of the greatest upsets seen is pretty freaking amazing. If this is what we can do in our first year Mako, look out Australia.
