Dragon Boat Dreaming

You know that old saying “be careful what you wish for, you might just get it”? Well, here’s some more proof!

A few years ago I had been fantasizing about coaching a dragon boat team from scratch. My dream was to take a group of people with no idea of how to paddle a dragon boat and mould them into a competitive team. What a fantasy!

Then one day in early 2007 I received a phone call from my former Gold Coast coach telling me that a new club had formed in my area - Manly, Brisbane (Australia). By that stage I had been out of competitive paddling for a year and was chafing at the bit to get back on the water and here was a new club being set up five minutes from where I lived. I jumped at the offer.

I arrived for my first paddle and what a motley crew they were – all keen but without a clue. I had been paddling dragon boats for about four years and during that time had done some coaching over one season but I soon discovered what it meant to be thrown in the deep end!

After the first half hour I was wondering what I’d gotten myself into! The only person in time was the sweep and nobody got out of that boat dry... but it was a start. I got home worried sick about what it would take to turn these passionate people into passionate paddlers. I slept on it and the next morning awoke with an idea... I reverted to the best rule of all “keep it simple, Stupid” – after all, it was really simple and I was just being stupid! I decided to introduce the tap between strokes and they picked it up easily.

By keeping it simple we could also make it fun. We had jokes during the rests, we laughed at ourselves, and I watched them evolve from hackers into enthusiastic hackers.

We laughed, we sweated and we swore our way through four months of training and all of them found a place in my heart.

After five months they entered their first regatta and came 2nd! They surprised a lot of people but not me – I could see the way they worked together in and out of the water. I knew they could do it.

Sadly, I never got to see them race because we moved here (Tonga) in June 2007. While I now enjoy a totally different life in this Tongan paradise, I think about that crew of paddlers quite a lot.

In less than a year, the Manly Dragons have gone from a crew of 18 hackers in a hired boat to 72 financial members, two brand new boats, generous sponsors, great facilities and an attitude that anything is possible, you just have to want it enough.

I enjoy hearing about their successes and I hope they will all head over here for a holiday to do what we all love... paddling.

There is talk here in Vava’u about starting an outrigger club and maybe even a dragon boat club. Tonga used to be the Pacific champions in outrigger racing. I don't know what happened.

Maybe someone with a dream and the crazy fantasy of starting a club might happen along – it could be you, it might be me, so just be careful what you wish for...

Bruce Haig