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SPORTS
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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.
Write her at ephany@myexcel.com.
DAVID W . OW ENS
P. C. & A S S O C I A T E S
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at
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t licensed O regon, W ashington, and Colorado
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