Many, many blogs ago we talked about joining a Dragon Boating team. Well, you know how it goes – you start salsa classes, do a bit of travelling and generally find a multitude of interesting ways to spend your weekends which don’t involve thrashing around with oversized wooden spoons in the Kallang River. Eventually though, we succumbed, thanks to a bit of beer-induced bravado at a night out with some committed dragon boaters on Friday. So on Saturday afternoon, slightly hazy from the previous night, we found ourselves in the Kallang Riverside park, about to have a crash course in dragon boating. Not literally, I hoped.
In fact, there were so many newbies that the team brought out their new boat especially for us. Marvelling at the folly of giving a brand new boat to twenty people who had never paddled before, I tried to forget about the unfortunate incident in Peter Pan Park some 25 years ago, when my brother and I got stranded in a canoe on the boating pond and had to be rescued by our mother. Due to the amount of water piling into said stranded canoe, Mum suggested that David sit on her shopping bag – forgetting that the bag contained some lovely ripe bananas. I don’t think we were ever allowed to go canoeing after that.
So I was quite surprised that our newbie boat took to paddling like a duck to water. Yes – there was the odd clash of paddles and crushing of thumbs, but all in all we were fair whipping through the water and it was easy, oh so easy. Of course, what we didn’t realise is that when our esteemed leader said “we’re going to take it easy today and just paddle for 30 minutes”, what he actually meant was “we’re going to do about twenty sets of 30 paddle strokes with a nice break in-between – and then we’re all going to paddle non-stop for 30 minutes.
As someone whose sum total of serious rowing is 5 minutes on the rowing machine at the gym, this came as a bit of a shock. Not least as the blisters grew on my hands from where I gripped onto the paddle for dear life and the tepid water of the river smashed into my face with every stroke, threatening to remove my contact lenses. Still, however exhausted I was, stopping was not really an option – and it was gratifying that our newbie boat finished four lengths ahead of the other two boats. It was a short-lived victory as we then found out that our boat weighed only half as much as the other boats.
I tell you what though – I wish I had had my Mum’s shopping bag to sit on – with or without the bananas. You’d think that the after-effects of rowing would be stiff arms – but in fact, by far the worst symptom is a sore backside. So sore in fact, that I have two painful red welts across my buttocks. I kid you not - last night I had to sleep face down and today I can sit up only with the aid of a soft cushion under my derriere. Worse still, I have a sinking feeling that we have now been officially signed up to the team, so next weekend, we’ll have to do it all again. Only if I can find some padded cycling shorts though!
In fact, there were so many newbies that the team brought out their new boat especially for us. Marvelling at the folly of giving a brand new boat to twenty people who had never paddled before, I tried to forget about the unfortunate incident in Peter Pan Park some 25 years ago, when my brother and I got stranded in a canoe on the boating pond and had to be rescued by our mother. Due to the amount of water piling into said stranded canoe, Mum suggested that David sit on her shopping bag – forgetting that the bag contained some lovely ripe bananas. I don’t think we were ever allowed to go canoeing after that.
So I was quite surprised that our newbie boat took to paddling like a duck to water. Yes – there was the odd clash of paddles and crushing of thumbs, but all in all we were fair whipping through the water and it was easy, oh so easy. Of course, what we didn’t realise is that when our esteemed leader said “we’re going to take it easy today and just paddle for 30 minutes”, what he actually meant was “we’re going to do about twenty sets of 30 paddle strokes with a nice break in-between – and then we’re all going to paddle non-stop for 30 minutes.
As someone whose sum total of serious rowing is 5 minutes on the rowing machine at the gym, this came as a bit of a shock. Not least as the blisters grew on my hands from where I gripped onto the paddle for dear life and the tepid water of the river smashed into my face with every stroke, threatening to remove my contact lenses. Still, however exhausted I was, stopping was not really an option – and it was gratifying that our newbie boat finished four lengths ahead of the other two boats. It was a short-lived victory as we then found out that our boat weighed only half as much as the other boats.
I tell you what though – I wish I had had my Mum’s shopping bag to sit on – with or without the bananas. You’d think that the after-effects of rowing would be stiff arms – but in fact, by far the worst symptom is a sore backside. So sore in fact, that I have two painful red welts across my buttocks. I kid you not - last night I had to sleep face down and today I can sit up only with the aid of a soft cushion under my derriere. Worse still, I have a sinking feeling that we have now been officially signed up to the team, so next weekend, we’ll have to do it all again. Only if I can find some padded cycling shorts though!
Pictures: The boats; the team
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