Dragon boating

Our most recent Dubai adventure has been dragonboating.  A teacher at school (Crystal) got into the sport when she moved here 6 years ago, and decided to create a teacher team for February's Dubai Dragonboat Races.  Erik and I volunteered.  If you're not familiar with the sport, 14-20 people sit in pairs in a long canoe-like boat.  The key is coordination.  As a paddler, you have to stay on stroke with your partner and with the people in front and behind.  Weight distribution is also important, therefore, Erik and I are not partners.  :)  We've had two practice sessions to prepare for the competition that will take place next weekend.  The first was with Crystal's coach who lives and works in Dubai.  It wasn't very intensive...just learning the basic stroke.  However, our second practice was with a coach from Canada who has coached the Manitoba team regularly for the Canada games, and has coached 3 olympic teams!!!  Needless to say, he worked us a bit harder!  We felt proud when he told us that our team was paddling "quite well."  Especially when 19 of the 20 are doing this for the first time.  We'll be competing in a 200 meter race, and can't imagine the physical endurance necessary for 1 or 2 kilometers.  So, think of us on Friday as we're splashing our way to victory and attempting to not swallow the salty gulf water that may or may not contain human waste.  Yum!