San Francisco Lightwave Dragon Boat

2012 Bay Area Race Dates

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 06:31:57 -0800

Less than three months until our first race!

CDBA Regional Regatta: May 5
CDBA Sprint Race (Quarry Lakes, Fremont): July 8
SF International Dragon Boat Festival (Treasure Island, SF): September 15-16

Now is still a good time to invite others to attend weekly Sunday practices!

Start the Year of the Dragon with Dragon Boating

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:27:00 -0800

…And we’re back! Happy belated Lunar New Year!

We’re officially starting the 2012 season with our first practice at Lake Merced on Sunday, January 29, 10:00-12:00.

Bring your signed CDBA waiver forms, bring your gear and water, and get ready to use those upper body and core muscles we all neglected during the holidays.

Now’s also a good time to ~~drag~~ bring your friends with you to experience the awesomeness that is dragon boating.

Paddles up!

Photo

Sun, 04 Dec 2011 10:30:00 -0800

New Officers for 2012

Sat, 05 Nov 2011 23:27:00 -0700

Lightwave held its end-of-year celebration dinner at Silver Lake restaurant in San Mateo, where everyone had a fun time in the Babes of Lightwave contest to identify teammates from their baby pictures.

New officers for the next season were also announced. Please welcome the following:

Captain: Carol L.
Manager: Justin K.
Coaches: Preston C., Jackie Y., John H.
Treasurer: Gary W.
Social committee: Julie L., Bernie L., Ray J.
Food committee: Amelia K., Sylvia Y., Belinda C., Jason T.
Fitness coach: Andy L.

Happy Halloween 2011!

Sun, 30 Oct 2011 21:35:09 -0700

Happy Halloween 2011!

Lightwave members carved some pumpkins after today’s open...

Sun, 30 Oct 2011 21:32:29 -0700

Lightwave members carved some pumpkins after today’s open practice.

Open Practice on October 30

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 10:24:00 -0700

Want an easy costume for Halloween? How about pretending to be a dragon boat paddler?

On Sunday morning, Oct. 30, Lightwave will host an open house practice in Redwood City for anyone interested in giving the sport a try. Veteran team members will be there to welcome and paddle alongside newcomers as the team introduces them to this intense water sport. All the equipment is provided, you just need to bring sunscreen and a water bottle, and dress in comfortable clothes and shoes that can get wet. And no prior experience is needed!

Sunday, October 30, 2011
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Bair Island Aquatic Center (map)
Redwood City, CA

RSVP via e-mail or on the Facebook event. Spread the word and get your friends to come out with you, the more the merrier!

All two minutes of exciting race footage, plus the results...

Sat, 24 Sep 2011 19:35:00 -0700

All two minutes of exciting race footage, plus the results reveal and ensuing elation.

Gold is Lightwave’s best friend!

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 22:16:39 -0700

Gold is Lightwave’s best friend!

Lightwave Takes Gold at 2011 Treasure Island

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 14:41:00 -0700

A big congratulations to all members of Lightwave for a spectacular effort at the 2011 San Francisco International Dragon Boat Festival. What better way to close out the racing season than with some hardware, and gold hardware, at that!

Lightwave started off strong in the seeding heat with a second place finish, losing to the San Diego Dragon Boat team. A lapse in overall timing contributed to a disappointing fifth place finish in the quarterfinals. After a night’s rest, the team came back strong to take first place in the Recreational Division A semi-final. Finally, with a long, slow stroke rate set in everyone’s mind, Lightwave pulled together for an amazing first place finish, just 0.44s ahead of Dragon Hearts Beat.

In the gender and specialty races, Lightwave Mens learned a new technique to try from their cooperation with the River City Dragons (Winnipeg, Canada); Team Moochy fostered an even stronger bond of friendship between the women of Lightwave and friendly rival DieselFish; and the Masters continued to show the junior paddlers how it’s done.

With an abundance of paddlers on the Lightwave race roster, some of the paddlers were given paddling time with other teams. Nevertheless, they are still members of the medal-winning Lightwave family! Thanks for the dedication and determination they show to Lightwave.

Races are over, but practices are not! Keep coming to Sunday practices to keep up with your paddling or give steering or drumming a try. And now is a good time to bring your friends along; we can always use a second boat next season!

Stay tuned for more practices and more social activities to come. This post was made possible by the letters G, O, L, D, with additional support from the exclamation points, !, !!, and !!!.

This year’s watermelon eating contest at Long Beach was an...

Sun, 07 Aug 2011 16:14:16 -0700

This year’s watermelon eating contest at Long Beach was an intense three-way between Lightwave, DPW, and Arizona Dragon Riders. Lightwave won, even with the rule about having to eat a hard-boiled egg, a thousand-year-old egg, and a balut egg after the last slice of watermelon.

We look forward to bringing more shame and punishment on DPW when they visit us at the San Francisco races!

Long Beach 2011: Return of the Watermelon Piñata

Sun, 31 Jul 2011 18:06:00 -0700

After a year’s absence, Lightwave traveled to Southern CA to meet its sister team, DPW, for the Long Beach Dragon Boat Festival. Despite disorganized race starts and tough heats against the likes of Suen Feng Loong, Space Dragons, and Dragon Warriors, Lightwave made it to the Division II-A finals.

Lightwave placed fourth against some really strong teams, and were awarded medals! In addition to bringing home hardware, the team took comfort in knowing that their time in Div. II-A final beat everyone in the Div. I-B final. Furthermore, Lightwave competed in the 200 m sprint races, and did not win a medal, but did beat (by time) competitors like Lincoln High School, Mountain View High School, and Dragon Warriors 2!

In the annual watermelon eating contest, DPW thought they could scare teams by requiring the last member of the team relay to eat hard-boiled, thousand-year-old, and balut eggs. That may have worked effectively against fellow visiting team Arizona Dragon Riders, but Lightwave eats just about everything on this Earth, and decidedly won the three-way contest. We expect DPW to come ready for more punishment when we host them at the Treasure Island races in September.

Video footage from this past weekend’s races revealed that Lightwave has developed an affinity for rushed paddling that yields an S-curve of paddles from front row to back row. It’s a beautiful spectacle, but it’s a major indicator of timing issues that the team needs to fix. With less than two months to go, let’s work hard to end the season with a bang!

Over the many years that we’ve known each other, Team DPW...

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 15:08:00 -0700

Over the many years that we’ve known each other, Team DPW and Lightwave have shared plenty of good memories. We would like to dedicate this video to our crazy and fun loving brothers and sisters from Southern California. We look forward to seeing you at Long Beach this coming weekend. And we hope that you are ready for some watermelons!

0.04s Thwarts Lightwave Efforts at Fremont

Sun, 10 Jul 2011 22:31:00 -0700

A great job to Lightwave for placing 4th in the Competitive B division at the CDBA Regional Sprint Races in Fremont!

Lightwave teamed up with Dragon Warriors to win first place in the Masters Cup.
The women had an outstanding time paddling with Dieselfish in the Women’s Semi-Finals [post results here], while the men showed in their Semi-Finals just how much power they had in them before our steersperson “pulled a Ray” to keep everyone safe.
Lightwave also volunteered a few paddlers for Team Evolution’s boat, who had their best finish ever at Fremont; congrats to Evo, we’re honored to have shared in your achievement.
This year’s Mixed heats proved to be some of the closest competition we have seen: Lightwave missed the cut for Competitive A Division by only 0.04 seconds, and missed medal contention in the Competitive B final by a mere 0.16 seconds.

Despite the close timings, we had a great time catching up with friends, holding our traditional watermelon-eating contest (with a new addition this year, shaved ice), and best of all, showing ourselves just how much stronger and competitive Lightwave has become! Now that sprints are over, it’s time to focus on endurance as we return to 500m races in two weeks at Long Beach!

Fastest Time For Lightwave In Vancouver

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 16:33:00 -0700

The team traveled to Vancouver, British Columbia for the 2011 Rio Tinto Alcan Dragon Boat Festival, and after two days of racing, placed fifth in Recreation Division A!

Highlights include:

First place in the qualifying heat
Last place in the competitive seeding (with a time of 2:04.68, a team best!)
Sixth place in the Competitive/Recreational Semi-Final?
Fifth place in the Recreational A Championship
Fifth place in the Visitors’ Cup

No medals this year, but a vast improvement from last year’s Vancouver results, and plenty of accomplishments to tout. Good job, Lightwave! Next up, Fremont Sprint Races in July.

CDBA Regional Regatta Changes Date and Location, Does Not Affect Lightwave

Sat, 21 May 2011 22:31:00 -0700

Moving the Regional Regatta from Paragon Point, Redwood Shores to Lake Merced, San Francisco (and rescheduling it to May 21) did not faze Lightwave, who paddled to a first place victory in Mixed Competitive Division C. Fighting windy conditions and relatively empty stomachs, the team pulled it together in the Division C finals with the strongest finish of the day. The first place finish awarded members with tastefully designed, commemorate CDBA mugs that will be perfect for team member Duc’s special coffee blends at future races.

Lightwave also teamed up with Stanford to participate in the gender semi-final races, where the men’s boat edged out DieselFish to advance to the finals. Though they did not wind up first, they did not wind up last, either :-)

Overall, a great start to the race season. Go Waves! Next up, Vancouver in June!

Projected 2011 Races

Thu, 24 Feb 2011 15:31:00 -0800

There are a number of races we are considering going to this year:

May 14 21, 2011: CDBA Regional Dragon Boat Regatta Race (~~Paragon Point, Redwood Shores, CA~~ Lake Merced, San Francisco, CA)
June 11-12, 2011: Rio Tinto Alcan Dragon Boat Festival (Vancouver, BC, Canada)
July 10, 2011: CDBA Regional Dragon Boat Sprint Race (Quarry Lakes, Fremont, CA)
July 30-31, 2011: Long Beach Dragon Boat Festival (Marine Beach, Long Beach, CA)
September 17-18, 2011: San Francisco International Dragon Boat Festival (Treasure Island, San Francisco, CA)
TBD, Mid-October 2011: Rose Regatta Dragon Boat Festival (MonteLago Village, Lake Las Vegas, NV)
TBD, October 2011: South Florida Dragon Boat Festival (Haulover Beach Park Marina, Miami Beach, FL)
TBD, October 2011: San Diego Dragon Boat Race (Mission Bay Park, San Diego, CA)

Stay tuned for more updates. Only 3 months until our first race at Paragon Point!

Open Practice on March 13

Thu, 24 Feb 2011 15:20:00 -0800

It’s time to welcome newcomers to the sport of dragon boat!

Spread the word that Lightwave is holding an open practice for anyone interested in having fun and paddling hard. Coaches and team members will be there to introduce the sport to all. This is a perfect time to jump in a boat and get wet; if you like it, stay on board for the upcoming season!

Sunday, March 13, 2011
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Bair Island Aquatic Center (map)
Redwood City, CA

Paddles and life jackets provided, no prior experience required.
We recommend wearing shoes, any type of gloves, and layered clothing that you can get wet. Bring a water bottle and sunscreen.

We’re back for the 2011 season! Our first practice will...

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 19:00:00 -0800

We’re back for the 2011 season! Our first practice will be on Sunday, January 30, 10 AM at BIAC.

To inspire everyone to come back, and for others to join, enjoy watching this 2010 highlight video by Lightwave member Gary. See you on the water!

Happy 2011!

Tue, 04 Jan 2011 07:29:00 -0800

The team is on hiatus during the winter season, and will resume weekly practices once the weather gets better come late January or early February. Here’s to another successful year for Lightwave!