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After 18 months of COVID-restrictions, the time finally arrived for Mako to compete in their very first regatta of the 21-22 dragon boating season. And it was a regatta to be remembered for many reasons.
The Weather
“Try dragon boating” they said. “It’ll be fun” they said. “It’s a summer sport” they said. Hmmm let us just say the weather gods were not in our favour on the weekend. After a month of consistent rainfall, the venue turned into a swampland of mud and floodwater. Add to that a 30-40km headwind, rain and a maximum temperate of 9’C; let us just say the Jervis Bay coastal crowd shivered and shuddered through extremely challenging conditions.
The Rookies
We had a record number of new paddlers at their first regatta and understandably some nerves to go with it. When Mako was called to the Admin tent, Captain Angie was amazed to learn that one of the rookies was wandering around in circles at marshalling muttering ‘Haemorrhoids, Ice Cream, Haemorrhoids, Ice Cream, Haemorrhoids, Ice Cream, Haemorrhoids, Ice Cream’ in her pre-race mantra. And it worked. Gina and all the new paddlers smashed the starts, transitions and race distance.
What an amazing performance (in super challenging conditions) in your first regatta to all our cherry-poppers Gina, Heidi, Jules, Kez, Shelley, Andrew, Matt, Mickey. You raced like beasts and earned the love and respect of not only your club, but all spectators on the day.
The Numbers
Coach Chicki usually warns us that she prefers us to arrive breathless and exhausted at the end of a day, dragging ourselves to our cars with our gums (the only part that doesn’t hurt and is still working). Well maybe it was the enormous tick lodged in her frontal cortex affecting her even more than usual, but the game of Jenga was on with a vengeance. With only 28 paddlers total, Mako fielded a massive 5 crews, which saw Old Dog Kiwi leaping in and out of boats like Mikhail Baryshnikov in the Bolshoi trying not to get his feet wet and sometimes even trying to sweep empty boats.
The Racing
Oh yeah, and there was loads of racing.:
Mako Women were up first and smashing out the very first 500m x 10s race they have ever attempted, and then fronted up for a smash-em-up, crack-em-out b*&*(&tchfight for the next race where they fought 2 crews down the entire course to take second. Well deserved ladies.
Mako Bitey and Mako Snappy were into the Opens competition and vying for honours with only a hair between them. Both Opens crews had solid races and improved times throughout the day, which is the Mako mission.
Mako Hungry and Mako Angry were our Mixed crews, competing with each other in the Mako way. While Angry took the first race, Hungry deserve full credit for not transitioning out of the start and running a 500m 10s race at 85 spm. Our hats are off guys nice one. With the winds increasing, the danger tenfold, only Angry got a second race and were nearly travelling backwards against the tornado.
With racing cancelled, Mako shivered out of wet clothes and hit the pub for their bodyweight in schnitzel and beer.
What a fabulous regatta of memories, stories, boat craft, intense racing, camaraderie and belly-laughter. If rookies are any measure of a club, then Mako is the best damn dragon boating club in the world.
The Farewell
To our amazing Fi Goodman (aka Animal due to her drumming expertise), that may have been your last regatta with Mako, but you will always be a Mako and you have our respect, love and hearts. Thank you for being the penultimate team player always, and being the heart and soul of Mako for the last 18 months. You are an amazing paddler, drummer, sweep and best of all teammate. We will miss you gorgeous but you will always have a seat in a Mako boat for life.
And that’s a wrap. With Mako Open Day kicking off this Sunday 5th Dec, there is sure to another story coming soon.
Paddles Up
