Here be Dragons

Happy Tuesday. If you’ll indulge me I’ll share a bit about my paddling race last week.

At this time a week ago I was paddling down the Missouri River from Kansas City to the town of St. Charles, near St. Louis. The journey was part of the MR340, a storied paddling race of that mileage. References to the Lewis and Clark expedition were all round, so it was easy to sink into history while enjoying the scenic river. In addition to being part of the 500+ boats in the race, we were attempting to set two world records for dragon boats, one for distance in 24 hours on moving water (our goal was 200 miles) and one for total distance (a lofty 380-mile goal) regardless of time.

I had to Google what dragon boats were when I was first invited to be part of this adventure. If you’re unfamiliar, ours was a typical sort at about 41 feet long and carries up to 20 paddlers, including one steersperson and one drummer who beats out time. Fortunately for any potential drummer we skipped that part. Dragon boats are designed for short sprints while our total time paddling was expected to be over 50 hours.

So 17 of us set out and paddled hard for the first 24hrs through flat water and waves created by barges. We paddled through headwinds that tossed waves and various floating debris into our laps. And after only a couple of very short breaks, we paddled straight through the evening, the night, and into the next morning before going right into a prolonged (and painful) sprint toward that first record goal.

We got the record, so that’s great. However, we immediately pressed on to our longer distance goal and paddled all that second day before getting pulled off the river when the race was stopped due to a large storm coming in. The river was expected to rise at least several feet throughout the night and would generate large amounts of debris (fallen trees, broken limbs, etc). That, coupled with a moonless night and a lot of lightning made continuing seem too risky for the race director and the decision was made to get everyone off the water. So our journey ended at about 38 hours and around 280 miles.

From my perspective, the whole experience was worthwhile even though I had to sit on a 1 x 6 piece of deck board the whole time. I still feel it in my glutes and hamstrings, and it took a few days to get past the sleep deprivation. That’s what espresso is for, right?

All that said, I enjoyed having a common goal and shared suffering with 16 other people, 15 of which I’d never met before. We all came to the boat with different backgrounds, endurance capabilities, and different paddle strokes in most cases. But we adapted, meshed, and ultimately were able to push as hard as was possible under the circumstances to achieve a world record.

Would we have accomplished our second, longer goal? We lost four team members as the storm approached, but I feel the rest of us would have made it, although it would have been a tough slog.

Would I do it again? I’m inclined toward endurance sports and, as some of you know, have spent time running races from marathon distance and longer, often in mountainous terrain. All my years of running inspired a sense of adventure but, admittedly, I was turning into a one trick pony. I enjoy paddling and participating in this event kindled a similar desire to expand the range of what’s possible in the watery realm. And paddling creates the potential for teamwork that’s simply impossible while running. Okay, but maybe not on a dragon boat for that long again. Ouch!

You can look up pictures of dragon boats on the internet if you’re interested, but here are a couple pics of our boat. As you might imagine, my seat (and thin foam pad) grew to have an outsized significance even as it seemed to shrink. I’m used to running and standing up on a paddleboard, so sitting down for that long had me dreaming of ways to somehow squeeze a hot tub and massage chair into a dragon boat. Maybe next time.

Here's a picture of our boat prior to heading out.

And here’s a picture of my seat, the second row from the front. It’s literally a Trex-type board like you’d buy at a home improvement store. I’ll never look at my deck the same way again. The tire and cooler didn't come with us, fortunately. 

We’ll return to our regularly scheduled programming next week.

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