BREAKING NEWS: DieselFish Dragon Boat Team Wins at NorCal Race

The team earned a medal at the big race

When you win a medal at NorCal, you get to do stuff like this

San Francisco Bay Area dragon boat team DieselFish paddled away with a silver medal at the Northern California International Dragon Boat Festival!

I’m so proud! Many of our crew members are brand new. This was their first race.

DIESEL! DIESEL! DIESEL!

➡ If we can do it, so can you! Email me now at DFcaptains@gmail.com for free lessons in Redwood City.

-Alex, the Minister of Newbie Happiness

The team shows off its hardware

Fun Times and Fast Races at NorCal

DieselFish Dragon Boat Team had a blast at the Northern California International Dragon Boat Festival!

Showing off our new uniforms

Conely and Angeline gave it everything they got!

We played Pictionary between races. Guess what the answer is?
(It's "Coach Marynka")

POWER 10! GO!

Upper management strategy session

Our newbies, Senta and D-Jae, paddled like pros. 

Q: Is it safe to eat sushi from a food truck? A: You first, Alex

Captain Alex swears the Hello Kitty sticker wasn't his idea. 

Team dinner at Shandong. Delicious dumplings and hand-pulled noodles.

Dragon boat racing is a fun way to shape up and meet newpeople. Email me at dfcaptains@gmail.com now for free lessons in Redwood City!

- Alex, the Minister of Newbie Happiness

Thrills and Chills at Lake Merritt | DieselFish Dragon Boat Team

 DieselFish braved the elements and won another medal

The weather at this year’s Halloween Howl race was scary. A storm system swept through Lake Merritt on race day and battered the race course with three-quarters of an inch of rain and wind speeds that reached 25 miles per hour.

“It was wild out there! The rain was coming down hard and the wind was strong. Everyone got drenched,” said Marynka Rojas, DieselFish Dragon Boat Team’s coach. Bryan Lee, one of the team’s newest members was shocked by the intensity of the winds. “One of the tents blew away and landed on top of a building!” he stated.

Luckily, DieselFish was prepared. Many of the team’s veterans had experience racing in similar weather conditions. “The race at Treasure Island was like this every year, so we got used to it” recalled team member Sivagar Natarajan. Iris Fung agreed and noted that “whitecaps are exciting!”

This experience and sense of adventure helped DieselFish win a medal in the 1,000 meter race. “We kept calm and fought with everything we had,” said Coach Rojas.

“We got another medal! Our second in two months at Lake Merritt!” exclaimed Conely Chan. “It was worth getting wet!”

Email us at dfcaptains@gmail.com today to learn how you can join our outdoor sports adventures!

The 3 P’s of DieselFish | Redwood City Dragon Boat

Dennis shares his thoughts about DieselFish’s experience at the Northern California International Dragon Boat Festival

Every time I think about this past weekend, I smile.

Yes, we got gold medals. Hurray! But we also got to enjoy the 3 P’s of DieselFish life: Paddling, Phamily, and Phood. (I have an MBA - I'm required to do stuff like that.)

Paddling: Our boats got stronger throughout the festival. We poured our hearts and souls into each stroke and it showed – we got faster in every single race, shaving off seconds! Congratulations to our new teammate Bryan! This was his first festival, and he rocked it.

Phamily: We had lots of downtime between races. It was fun hanging out with the team under our tent, getting to know everyone better. I am super glad I got to meet so many new people over the weekend like Angeline, Brian, Rosie and our new friends from the TAP Chicago Dragon Boat Team.

Phood: You’ve got to make up for those calories burned on the water, right? On Saturday, we went to Oakland’s historic Chinatown for dumplings and hand-pulled noodles at Shan Dong. On Sunday, we celebrated our win with cocktails and steaks at Tribune Tavern. And who can forget the amazing wonton tacos that some of my teammates got from the food trucks at the festival. Maybe we got the gold because we ate so well!

I’m happy that DieselFish grew stronger, closer, and became more of a family during the festival. Because that’s what’s always been at the core of Dieselfish.

- Dennis

Come join our family! Email us at dfcaptains@gmail.com today for free dragon boat lessons!

This is Dennis

At the award ceremony

Rosie, Dennis and Conely

Love this crew!

Kent and Marynka give it their all.

Anna and Angeline show off their bling.

Angeline and Anna fly through the water!

Coach Marynka's new toy

Alex probably wore his medal to work the next day!