Sixth on the Fifth
May Race is over and with it, the official start of the mixed dragon boat team season in the Bay Area. In a series of heats true to form, the SFL Dragon Boat Team once again demonstrated itself to be a team not to be ignored. With a single crew comprised of 75% SFL paddlers and 25% Lightwave paddlers, the team managed some of the most competitive race starts in the field. Credit goes to the Lightwave paddlers for quickly adapting to the SFL starting count with just a single practice start prior to the Seeding heat. Our token Cardinal paddler, Brendan, also did a great job at meshing in with the crew for our later races and showed us how much more in shape we could be if we could only reverse the sands of time.
Special thanks goes out to Katherine, Jeannie, Rebecca, Ashes, and Hon for helping to carry the SFL crew into A-Division 6th place.
A big thank you also must go out to those SFL paddlers who made the commitment to keep the team racing this year at May Race: Huy, Erica, Cory, Megan, Christine, Marissa, Will Huang, Will Lam, Jerome, Henley, Jacky, Allen, Jon, Marissa, Solongo, Shelley, and Derek. Thank you to short-haired Bonita for offering to paddle when we were in need.
The team of “Smooth Wind Dragons” breathes again!
SFL Origins
The 2003 San Francisco International Dragon Boat Race marked the very first appearance of the Suen Feng Loong Dragon Boat Team. About half of the team comprised of completely new paddlers, with only two or three practices under their belt. The original founding members of SFL that are still on the team as of today: Brian, Derek, Erich, and Huy.
The two people who played a significant role in putting the team together were, as most of you know, Shelley and Lily. A few other notable figures of the dragon boat community helped create SFL, but most would later move on to paddle with BAD. At the time, Shelley and Lily were both students at UC Davis, which led to the misunderstanding that SFL was a college team from the aforementioned university (even though the team also comprised of students from UC Berkeley, CCSF, Skyline College, SF State, San Jose State, and others).
I still remember the first time Shelley and Lily explained to me what dragon boat was:
Them: “Its 20 people, trying as hard as they can, to paddle 500 meters, in a grueling match of strength, strategy, and willpower, to get to the finish line first.”
Me: “Oh hell yeeeeeeeaah, let’s do it!”
Then I went home and cleaned my pants.
My next memory is ordering our brand spankin’ new paddles, and when they finally arrived in Davis, we taped ‘em up with our favorite colors. I took the blue tape and made my paddle sexy as hell, while also getting every color and making Huy’s (who was back in San Francisco) as gay as I could possibly make it. Finally race ready!!
The final results of our first festival:
Mixed Recreational A Consolation: 5th Place
The top dogs of the festival:
Check out the Mixed Competitive B Division: 2009′s champion, LARD, finished 3rd place, while 2008′s champion, Jet Start, finished 2nd place.
Sound familiar?
In the following year, SFL would become a year-round team and establish itself as a college crew. SFL’s very first college championship came at the 2004 CDBA Regional Regatta in May.
The final results of SFL’s first race as a college crew:
Go SFL!
2006 San Francisco International Dragon Boat Festival
The 2006 season was one of the most successful and eventful years SFL has ever had. A sponsorship from Under Armour provided the team with brand-spankin’ new jerseys, as the team welcomed some new faces and some long-time dragon boat vets. As for the race itself, this was the first year that the CDBA welcomed a slew of international teams, truly making the event a worldwide affair.
The lineup:
Ready to take on the world!
Quite a few of this “Dream Team” would later move on to coach other teams, assisting in the growth and development of dragon boating in the Bay Area.
Though at the young, tender age of 4, SFL had achieved quite a lot:
Four years of excellence.
2006 was the first time SFL took 1st place in the College Division at Long Beach, and we kept the momentum going into TI:
Under 2:10, as we edged out the ever-strong Cal team and take 1st place. SFL would maintain that momentum heading into the 2nd Annual College Championships a month later, with one of the team’s most impressive outings ever.
As far as the Mixed Division goes, the 2006 Treasure Island race welcomed international newcomers from Canada and Germany, bringing the competition to new levels. However, despite all odds, SFL finishes strong:
Mixed Competitive B Champions!! A step up from last year’s second place finish in the same division. It was a very remarkable achievement, considering the increased difficulty of the competition and the wide margin of victory.
Post-race celebration:
Getting out that last bit of energy before we nap at the tent.
Other ways of killing time until/during the awards ceremony:
“Whoa!!!”
My personal favorite:
“How many people does it take to measure Leslie’s height?”
And finally, after the long wait, our moment of glory finally arrives:
Yippee!!!
After receiving our awesome medals, the boys rejoice with glee. The celebration jump was fun:
… but the landing… not so much.
The celebration continues, as the team attempts to douse Jeff…
… but he darts like a true champ!
Later in the evening, we held a farewell dinner party for Jeff, who was leaving the team to study at Cal Poly:
To this day, nine of the 2006 squad still remain. Can you guess who’s missing from the picture?
And, of course, a farewell wouldn’t be complete without awkward man hugs:
And thus, the captain/coach Jeff Ma era came to an end, but Jeff would return and continue as our steersman (the best damn steersman dragon boat has ever seen, actually). When it comes to SFL, goodbye never means forever.
- Mixed Competitive B Championship: 1st Place
- College Cup: 1st Place – College Champions
2005 San Francisco International Dragon Boat Festival
The year was 2005: Huy still had hair and, yes, SFL actually had one white dude. The 2005 SF International Dragon Boat Festival marked many firsts:
- The first time the race was held at Treasure Island, where it has taken place for the past four years. Previously, the race was held at Lake Merced.
- The first (and only) time the race was held in August; we only had about 3 weeks of practice between Long Beach and TI.
- SFL’s first time racing in the competitive division at this international race. Previously, we competed in the recreational division (before we were a “year-round” team).
- Coach Geoff’s first race with SFL.
The lineup:
Courtesy of SFL’s drummer: Shelley’s older sister, Stacey.
It was also one of the first times that SFL combined forces with CCSF – the now-defunct City College of San Francisco Dragon Boat Team, led by Coach Bryan of Washington High School – to enter into the gender races.
SFL Women:
SFL Men:
Both squads would finish 5th in their respective heats, but it would be the beginning of an alliance with CCSF that culminated in the domination of the 2006 College Cup gender races.
Despite being SFL’s first year in the competitive division for the race, we finished with a strong second in the B Division Championships:
Top 3 with Killer Guppies and DW? That’s good company.
And, of course, we saw continued success in the college division, as we edged out a powerful Cal team to claim our fourth 1st place college championship:
And so, on to the ridiculous on-stage celebration:
I don’t remember why there was a dogpile. Also, some nut thought it would be cool to throw his shirt into the audience:
Let’s just say that SFL wasn’t known for being classy, but there ain’t nothin’ wrong with that.
And finally, any flashback wouldn’t be complete without the team photo:
- Mixed Competitive B: 2nd Place
- College Cup: 1st Place – College Champions
