Did you participate in a race recently? Did you go out on water to train? Share a photo of you paddling here and give us some background information. (Where was it? When was it? How was it?)

Hi everyone! I started paddling with a new Dragon Boat co-ed team here in Kansas City, the “SLAP Dragons KC,” in May 2023. It began with a casual invitation with a coworker at the time, who invited me to one paddle after work. Coincidentally they were only a few weeks away from a small race. So I decided to give it a shot and practice for the race, and of course I fell in love with the sport! I discovered how much I enjoy the competitive nature of paddling and found it incredibly motivating to share that drive with my teammates. The team also inspired me to adopt healthier habits. I started incorporating cardio and weightlifting into my routine, something I’d never done before, and eventually invested in a Concept 2 with the KAHA attachment. Paddling has truly transformed my life, improving not only my physical fitness but also my overall quality of life. I do have my challenges though. My biggest challenge, like many of us, has been managing my time more effectively to balance training, fitness, family, and work. As I head into my third year of paddling, my goal is to be in the best shape possible, both for myself and my team. I joined this community to stay focused, motivated, and to learn from you all. I’m excited to continue growing, pushing my limits, and making 2025 a fantastic year! *The photo is from today, our first paddle of 2025! (I’m in the red, and that’s my good friend and DB teammate Gary in the blue.) The hats are part of an inside joke with a group of local paddlers who brave the cold in the winter and call themselves “Team Viking.” 🥶

As we near the end of the season for most dragon boat paddlers, what do you have planned for these next few months?

If you were to choose a favorite craft, which would it be and why?!

- Keep hull speed high so that getting on waves will be more effortless. - When attacking, still need to be deep at the catch first - If you're in seat 1, you gotta keep the body looking aggressive to model it for everyone behind you I was in a spec oc6 with Ethan, Tek, Nick, Makena, Taishi, Ron. The workout was intervals. 20 sets of 2 mins on and 1 min active. Inside the channel, it was windy but no conditions. Outside the channel, it was bumpy! There were a few waves going upwind where we dropped down and water rushed over the front. All 5 OC6s did great. On the upwind, we focused on deep long strokes which helped to carry speed. We called a few "shorts" to burst forward. Unfortunately when we did it the first time, our shorts ended up with slapping the water so it worked against our objective. The next time, we focused on deep short stroke and grabbing first. That made a big difference. On the downwind portion, it was important that we gained higher hull speed first to get onto waves. Then we had a few where we pushed late which caused us to fight upwards onto the wave, tiring ourselves out and resulting in missing the wave still. On the next few pieces, we adjusted to having higher hull speed first, and then calling the pushes slightly earlier to allow us to slide onto the next waves more effortlessly. What questions do you have about upwind/downwind conditions?