by 
Every Mako Lunar campaign has its share of stories, but 2026 yielded the motherload. 37 intrepid souls descended on Darling Harbour in the middle of Mardi Gras in a David -v- Goliath battle, determined to represent the small coastal town of Jervis Bay amongst the biggest metropolitan city clubs in NSW and beyond. And boy did we. But before we get to the racing results, let’s recap the notable events of the day.
Ornithologist’s Dream
In an exciting turn of events, two rare feathered beasts were spotted at Darling Harbour. The endangered Spectacled Owl featured is usually a nocturnal beast found in Mexico, however in a surprising turn of events clearly this bird wanted to check out the urban prey of Sydney. Who knew?
..… as for the seagulls, they breed them big up there.
Bear gets Electrocuted
The coxmate is a great tool for sweeps, commanding the crew throughout a race and saving a sweep’s voice. But the waist-mounted strap on power unit and 13m electrical cord can prove problematic when using the bathroom. Bear emerged from the toilets mid-morning ashen-faced and shaking after a pee went wrong. Thank you DBNSW for mandating the closed-toe rubber shoes, we didn’t realise that electrocution at the urinal was also in the risk management matrix
Lex’s IBS on Display
Poor Lex paddled so hard she flared up her IBS and spent the whole day trying to hide the dark brown stain at the back of her singlet. Luckily she is such a fierce competitor we were mesmerised by her muscular arms instead.
Jacqui Smith’s Silver Birthday Cake
With opens, womens and mixed crews covering many ages, the most outstanding performance came from the old gals in the Senior A. Jumping between Prems and Masters crews with 18 paddlers only, no reserves, and no recovery time, the ladies smashed out perfect heats to be the only regional club in the Grand Final. And what a final it was, popping out of the start, the ladies stormed down the line behind legendary and first time stroke Jacquie ‘Jax’ Smith and her bestie Valerina to pull off second. At the medal presentation, the crowd of hundreds sang Happy Birthday to Jax. A pretty cool birthday present for her, a Silver birthday cake.
Cherries Popped
There were many firsts at Lunar. It was clear that 2026 was Bernie, Kaz and Suzes’ first Lunar Festival if the enormous smiles, brilliant racing and copious celebration beers were any measure.
The most notable cherry popped with our beloved sweep Babs, who swept up a ladies’ storm at her first Lunar, wrangling windy start lines and undercurrents like a boss. Babs we salute you, you nailed it every time.
Sleeping Spouses & Hammered Husbands
It was brilliant to see so many spouses watching their ladies race at Lunar, especially as dragon boating may not be the best spectator sport and it’s a lonnnnnng day. Hats off to Perry and Daz who stuck by the waterside like glue cheering on their partners. Trent had different ideas though, and was seen sneaking into the IMAX theatre where he reportedly snored for 45 minutes and emerged covered in popcorn thrown at him in disgust. Lex’s hubby Mick had an alternative approach to get through the day, involving a waterside bar and multiple pina coladas. Nicely played gents.
Mango Madness
Our beloved Court-Schmourt is building the Mako family and still racing like a demon while she grows the rapidly growing little one. While it was a peanut two weeks ago, allegedly it has popped to mango size, which made squeezing into seat 10 with Charlie a challenge. She managed with the grace and dignity that only Court can conjure. Thanks for working on our new drummer babe.
Region Represents
Mako trusted our technique and our Season Plan, paddled technically and professionally and pulled off some extraordinary results against the biggest city clubs in NSW. We were the only regional team in every Grand Final, and are unarguably in the Top 6 clubs of NSW.
The little not-so-white singleted club from the coastal town of Jervis Bay just dig paddling, and dig paddling with each other. The success of our campaign is never measured in medals, but by the smiles of our paddlers and the #makomojo on display.
….So as the napisan soaks, the sharpies are put away and the weary Mako have a well-earned beer, we can only marvel at our club and the people in it doing unexpected things.
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