Austin Dragon Boat

15th Annual Austin Dragon Boat Festival
Festival Beach at Lady Bird Lake, Austin
April 27th 2013

This started last year when I joined Dallas Delite family (now DUC Delite) . I met Jovin at White Rock Lake and we started practicing at the white rock deck. Day 1 was pretty boring as I was continuously practicing for an hour. And I remember the next day after that practice when I woke up, I was like I’m done with this,  as my lower back was hurting me.  But now that’s not the case or else I would not have been paddling till now 😉

Coming back to Austin Dragon Boast Festival 2013. This was my first race at Austin. We started driving on Friday along with Serey and Archi. The drive was not bad as half of the way I was sleeping 😉 . So kind of Serey for driving us every time 🙂 Reached around 11.30 and crashed soon. Saturday morning woke up at around 5.30AM and reached at race site on time. The weather was gloomy for sometime but who care’s, we all were there to get the 1st trophy of 2013.

It was a 500 meter competition. Our first heat had the time of 2:24. We secured the 1st position in the 1st race which boosted all the paddlers. Our second heat had a time of 2:19. After the second heat we had a break for around 90minute. We knew that we will make into top 5 ;). The final competitive race was against Austin Coolers, Houston Heats, Tora and Samsung Fire. The race was intense and I think everyone gave their best in the final race. With every stroke we were moving towards victory. We were waiting for the result and the output was- DUC Delite 3rd, Tora 2nd and Heats 1st. We defeated our biggest competitor which is Coolers. Winning takes talent and the result proves it.

After we came back to the house, everyone was tired but with a smile on every face :). Aaron, Bob, Jason were motivated to cook for the team. The food was delicious. Thanks guys was making such an awesome food after spending the entire day at the race. Followed by few drinks and food we went for the beer pallooza party at Molotov bar. The after party, dragon beer pong and dance was crazy. Jovin, Serey, Shirley and Angie were burning the race floor 😀

Thanks to Jovin in believing in us. This is a good start to the year. With every stroke we will bring smile to our team.

Blogger: Akhil Jain
DUC Delite family: Jovin, Eddie, Andy, Jason, Jennifer, Shirley, Randy, Aaron, Angie, Akhil, Archi, Serey, Natalie, Natalie, Gustavo, Sue
Team Moto: Give it our all with every stroke.. Take a win through every effort.. Leave a smile in every wave.. Make a friend on every ride
Check-in: foursquare
Pics: Dragon Boat