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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (June 7, 2002)
A ¡linn 7, W J— W 37 SPORTS .............. v .............. JU Amazon for a day ragon boat paddling is not : for the faint of heart. Good Just Out thing the Amazon Dragons, Portlands lesbian dragon boat team, are not the b y K r o n d a A d a ir fainting kind. in a while [I] think, ‘OK, this During the June 8 and 9 Rose Festival Dragon Boat Races, 16 members of the team will paddle a is my last year’. . .especially brightly painted wood and fiberglass boat weigh me, ’cause I’m old...and then ing up to 4,000 pounds as hard as they can for it’s like, ‘Well, I can do one more year.’ ” three minutes. It’s an impressive display of drive, To see what all the fuss is teamwork and coordination that will leave them about, the team generously gasping and sore— but feeling accomplished. allowed me to accompany “When you actually get to race...that’s the Poised for victory: The Amazon Dragons are ready to win the Rose them on a practice run. I epitome,” says Sandra Lutz, three-year paddler Festival Dragon Boat Races climbed onto the front of the with the Dragons. “For me, it’s a very spiritual boat, where I stood clutching the colorful wings. ting up.... Dragon boat racing is a sprint, but it’s thing. The first time 1 really paddled in a race, I was not comforted to know that tiller (the per three minutes long so you can’t do 100 percent I thought I’d die.” the whole time. You have to vary your strokes.” son who steers) Jen Perez had fallen off the boat Despite the pain, it’s clear these women find Later in the practice, they put me on the last in choppy waters just a few weeks before. rowing to be addictive. Eight-year veteran paddler bench and I got a 30-second crash course in pad After some warm-up cruises, which included Barb Pal lari can’t seem to get away. “Every once dling. Though the Dragons make it look easy, an aiming for and scooping up any floating incredible amount of coordination is required. garbage in the river, the women got down to business. Sixteen paddles Contrary to instinct, I worked to use my arms less and the rocking motion of my body poised above the water, then launched more to pull the paddle through the water. I’m in one explosive hurst while coach Les also told it’s important to use my legs to push Kingsbury shouted out the cadence and my body upward. encouraged individual paddlers, some While concentrating on all that, I had to times offering technique advice. Just when I thought we were mov watch the paddler on bench five for the cadence of the strokes. And in barely a minute, ing pretty well, she called out, “KISS— I had to try to forget about my back and shoul IT— N O W !” and the boat went into der muscles, which were already starting to turbo speed. Kingsbury explains, “Kiss It is one bum— and this was taking it easy! Then, suddenly, I noticed I was having a Coach Les Kingsbury hollers instructions while writer of our power strokes— you’re getting down and kissing your knees then sit great time. I was part of something bigger than Kronda Adair holds on for dear life w riter gets a paddling (lesson) from the Amazon Dragons myself (an inefficient, winded part— but still a part), working in rhythm with 17 other women toward a definite goal— and it was fabulous. No wonder several team members describe paddling as a spiritual as well as physical experience and cite camaraderie as a main reason they keep coming back. The Lesbian Community Project formed the Amazon Dragons in 1992 as a vehicle for visibility. The team went competitive in ’94, which is when Kingsbury became involved. After paddling for six years and tilling for two, she’s now at the head of the boat, liter ally and figuratively. She is helping spear head an effort to turn the seasonal Dragons into a year-round club. “After last season, we felt that we needed to make major changes and move forward or it might fall apart,” she explains. “One of our goals with the club is to do more things in the community and involve more people.” She says this will allow for women who just want to come out and paddle occasionally and will result in a larger pool from which a roster of paddlers is chosen for each race. The group is also working on getting nonprofit status and gaining new sponsors to facilitate traveling to races in other states. jn Cheer for the AMAZON DRAGONS June 8 and 9 at the Rose Festival Dragon Boat Races on the Willamette River in front of the RiverPlace Hotel. For information about joining or sponsoring the team, contact coordinator Eilien VanPatten at 503-762-4742 or eavanpatten@attbi.com. KRONDA A dair is a free-lance writer and flash- in-the-pan paddler who’s grateful for hot tubs. 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