May New Member Alert

from: The Minister of Newbie Happiness

to: DieselFish Dragon Boat Team

subject: [DieselFish Blog] New Member Update!

[GONG! I’m going to sell the New Member Gong to take advantage of the recent uptick in industrial metal commodity prices!]

Hi Fishies:

DieselFish’s recruitment boom continues unabated! I’m pleased to report an additional five new members have joined our ranks.

*Julie Ballard is the only newbie that Coach Tiffany ever told me to work on. Probably because Julie has a lot of grit hiding underneath her pleasant demeanor. She just completed her first time trial, and managed to pull a boat through the water all by herself despite her newness to our sport.

*When Emma Choi isn’t burning the midnight oil watching Korean dramas (안녕하세요!), she’s paddling hard at BIAC. Even when it’s raining hard! Emma was referred to us by our friend Adrian, but she coincidentally went to school with our very own Christine Lee.

*Dennis Cheung decided to give paddling a try after witnessing the power and grace of our sport at last year’s Treasure Island festival. Unlike most jaded New Yorkers, Dennis is capable of showing enthusiasm, and made it a point to attend every single practice he could. From now on, to avoid confusing him with Coach Dennis Chen, we shall refer to Mr. Cheung as “New York Dennis.”

*Ellen Reichert is recent transplant from Minnesota. She moved to the Bay Area for a job, and decided to try paddling with DieselFish to meet new people and stay physically active. Did you know there’s dragon boat racing in Iowa? Ellen competed in the Dubuque Dragon Boat Festival a couple of years ago with colleagues from a Girl Scout camp.

*David Liu, like myself, is a fellow son of San Mateo. This seasoned veteran paddled for four years with Boston’s Living Root team while studying at M.I.T. He came out for a practice session with us a few years ago, but couldn’t join because he was still in school at the time. This reunion truly proves the adage that nothing good gets away.

Please welcome these new members to the DieselFish family!

-The Minister of Newbie Happiness

Hello Internet friends! Doesn’t dragon boat racing with DieselFish sound like fun? Go to http://dieselfish.org/ now to sign up for a free practice session!

Pub Trivia Night

DieselFish is all about defying expectations! The team strives to push its limits and evolve. This burning desire has even spilled over into our social activities off the water. We’ve been playing a lot of pub trivia lately, which is surprising because trivia games test your intelligence, not your brawn. Maybe we play because we don’t like being stereotyped as a bunch of dumb jocks. Or maybe we play because we enjoy hanging out with each other over drinks, food and games. Whatever the reason, we always have a fun time. I just wish the games had more questions about ancient Chinese water sports. -The Minister of Newbie Happiness

Hello Internet friends! Doesn’t dragon boat racing with DieselFish sound like fun? Go to http://dieselfish.org/ now to sign up for a free practice session!

Rowing Machine Philosophy

from: The Minister of Newbie Happiness
to: dieselfish team
date: Fri, Mar 23, 2012 at 12:10 PM
subject: Rowing Machine Philosophy

Last night, I had a brief conversation with Dan about the team’s session with the rowing machines. We agreed that mental toughness – pushing yourself to pull harder when your arms and back are giving out – is a critical part of this workout.

This morning, it occurred to me this ability is related to mindfulness – the act of living and thriving in the present. The challenge is finding a way to acknowledge the weariness and channel it into powerful and efficient pulls.

Hello Internet friends! Doesn’t dragon boat racing with DieselFish sound like fun? Go to http://dieselfish.org/ now to sign up for a free practice session!

Meet the Team

Dragon boat is the ultimate team sport! Nothing compares to the feeling you get when you work with your friends to hurtle a boat through the water! Here are some of the faces you’ll meet when you show up for a free practice session with DieselFish!

-The Minister of Newbie Happiness

*NAME: Patrick Ahyow
*HOMETOWN: Irvine, CA
*RESIDES: Sunnyvale
*PROFESSION: Scientist
*HOBBIES: Volleyball, basketball, triathlons, working out, working on cars, cooking and eating, snowboarding, surfing, trying new things.
*OTHER SPORTS I PLAY: See above
*HOW I FOUND OUT ABOUT DRAGON BOAT: My fraternity brother kept trying to recruit me. I finally decided to give it a shot during the summer of 2011.
*YEAR JOINED DIESELFISH: July 2011
*FAVORITE DIESELFISH MOMENT: Introducing the Dice game to DF at the 2011 Holiday Party
*FAVORITE AFTER-PRACTICE EATING SPOT: Pho after a cold night practice
*ADVICE FOR NEWCOMERS: As you first start it may be tiring or frustrating and you might be sore afterwards but don’t let that stop you. Put in the effort and the hard work, and you will be greatly rewarded.
*I PADDLE WITH DIESELFISH BECAUSE: I paddle because it’s a great workout, and I miss being on the water. I paddle with DieselFish because my teammates make all the difference. The camaraderie and sense of family amongst each other are an important part of any team sport. It also doesn't hurt that my office is down the street from BIAC.

¸><((((º> .,,.•´¯`•.. ¸><((((º> .,,.•´¯`•...,,.•´¯`•.. ¸><((((º> .,,.•´¯`•.. ¸><((((º>...,,.•´¯`•.. ¸><((((º>> .,,.•´¯`•...,,.•´¯`•..

*NAME: Faith
*HOMETOWN: Riverside
*RESIDES: Redwood City
*PROFESSION: Professional bleeding heart
*HOBBIES: Obsessing about food
*OTHER SPORTS I PLAY: Power Pilates (hugest chick crush on my teacher at the Page Mill YMCA)
*HOW I FOUND OUT ABOUT DRAGON BOAT: Paddled for a month with the expat team while teaching abroad in Yilan, Taiwan
*PREVIOUS TEAMS: See above
*YEAR JOINED DIESELFISH: Oct. 2010...I remember many rainy practices that winter!
*FAVORITE DIESELFISH MOMENT: Narrowly beating the team behind us (by ~.12 seconds) to claim 5th place out of over 50 teams at the Boston Dragon Boat Festival
*FAVORITE AFTER-PRACTICE EATING SPOT: New Mongolian BBQ in Mountain View
*ADVICE FOR NEWCOMERS: Just come out! I never participated in organized sports before dragon boat; paddling with DieselFish has challenged and stretched me in more ways than I can name.
*I PADDLE WITH DIESELFISH BECAUSE: It’s all about my fellow DieselFishies. One team, one stroke.

¸><((((º> .,,.•´¯`•.. ¸><((((º> .,,.•´¯`•...,,.•´¯`•.. ¸><((((º> .,,.•´¯`•.. ¸><((((º>...,,.•´¯`•.. ¸><((((º>> .,,.•´¯`•...,,.•´¯`•..

*NAME: Ben
*HOMETOWN: Hayward
*PROFESSION: Artist in the video game industry
*HOBBIES: Publishing comics and designing toys
*OTHER SPORTS I PLAY: Basketball, rock wall climbing
*HOW I FOUND OUT ABOUT DRAGON BOAT: Facebook
*YEAR JOINED DIESELFISH: 2010
*FAVORITE DIESELFISH MOMENT: Finishing first in a race in Portland rose festival in 2010 in a giant Taiwan boat
*FAVORITE AFTER-PRACTICE EATING SPOT: The kitchen at my work :P
*ADVICE FOR NEWCOMERS: Just have fun!
*I PADDLE WITH DIESELFISH BECAUSE: ... It’s fun. The feeling of being part of the “force” that is pulling the boat forward feels amazing.

Hello Internet friends! Doesn’t dragon boat racing with DieselFish sound like fun? Go to http://dieselfish.org/ now to sign up for a free practice session!

The Adventure Begins

From: The Minister of Newbie Happiness
Date: Sat, Jan 21, 2012 at 11:40 PM
Subject: Shackleton
To: dieselfish-team

“…Shackleton…”

That’s the first thing that came to mind after I climbed into the boat this morning. The weather, after all, was treacherous. The wind was so intense, Coach Dennis couldn’t steer his chase OC with his foot pedals. The water was so cold, my hand went completely numb. And then it started raining on us. But we saw it through. We were given the option to disembark and do land training inside the boat house, and we refused. This act of bravery further reminded me of Ernest Shackleton, the famous Antarctic explorer from the early 20th century. Shackleton and his crew didn’t have GPS, radios or even GoreTex. All they had were adventurous spirits and the toughness to endure.

These traits will serve us well in the coming weeks. The Tempe race is just around the corner, so we need to continue to train hard. Today, we pushed ourselves to the limit, and it paid off. I was glad to hear Dennis tell us our timing was good (despite the heavy sheets of rain that fell on us) as was our surge (despite the bone-chilling temperature). If we train like this at every practice, we will accomplish great things this season.

I’m proud of you. When I was Head Captain, I always worried that we wouldn’t be able to scrounge up enough paddlers to move the boat. But today, the coaches had to scrounge up room in the boat to accommodate all the paddlers that showed up, despite the inclement weather. DieselFish’s milestone Season 15 will be an adventure, and I’m glad to share it with such a dedicated and tough crew.

I remain your Minister of Newbie Happiness

Hello Internet friends! Doesn’t dragon boat racing with DieselFish sound like fun? Go to http://dieselfish.org/ now to sign up for a free practice session!

Paddling to Eat - Red Crawfish

Here’s a chant from the DieselFish songbook:

WHO ARE WE?
DIESELFISH!
WHY DO WE PADDLE?
TO EAT!
HOW MUCH DO WE EAT?
A LOT!

I'm not crazy about this old chestnut anymore, because it ignores all the gains we’ve made in fitness and competitiveness. But damn it, there’s an element of truth to it. DieselFish does eat a lot. The trick is to burn off the calories with a good workout. The team recently got together for a dinner outing at Red Crawfish, a Cajun/Asian fusion (?!) restaurant that recently opened in our neck of the woods.

We didn’t bother with anything from the Asian side of the menu. A group of us ordered a set meal that included boiled crawfish and shrimp, Cajun fries, fried calamari, gumbo and beignets. Everyone had a steamy, spicy and messy good time (even the guy with the life-threatening shellfish allergy!), but the conversation lulled slightly after we began the delicate task of extracting meat from the crawfish.

You’d think restaurant outings like this would be the bane of our existence, but I think they're beneficial. On one level, the act of sharing food with your teammates creates a bond, and that bond is especially important for a sport like dragon boat paddling which is based on synchronization. On a more basic level, hanging out with your buddies is fun. Next time, I’m going to get one of my teammates to shell my crawfish – all in the name of team harmony and morale.

-The Minister of Newbie Happiness

Hello Internet friends! Doesn’t dragon boat racing with DieselFish sound like fun? Go to http://dieselfish.org/ now to sign up for a free practice session!

DieselFish Season 14 By the Numbers

Dear Gentle Reader:

DieselFish Dragon Boat Team is proud to present its latest performance report. Season 14 was one of the most exciting periods in the team’s history. Our energy, fitness and headcount exploded, resulting in breakthroughs in speed and power. DieselFish racked up an impressive series of wins across the country, and our momentum accelerated with each victory.

Key Strengths
Energy: A couple of years ago, we had to cancel some practices due to lack of interest. But everything changed! These days, the coaches complain about finding room for everyone that shows for offseason practices. Morale reached a fever pitch during Season 14, due to the continued success of our veteran “Salty Fish” members and the enthusiasm of our beginner “Fresh Fish” members. Soon, everyone was working out harder and longer, volunteering to help with administrative tasks and bringing their friends and family to practices. It was as if somebody dropped a live wire into the water.

Fitness: Is that a bulging bicep under your uniform, or are you just glad to race me? The team focused on improving its fitness level in Season 14, and it really showed. Uniforms became tighter in all the right places, waistlines shrank away and cardio levels went through the roof. One guy lost 15 pounds! The secret? We worked out together in a fun and challenging environment. The boat has never been faster and more powerful!

Headcount: DieselFish experienced a recruiting boom during Season 14 that doubled the team’s size! Our newest generation of paddlers was probably the best we’ve had in ages, because they were excited about the sport and eager for a challenge. Some old friends rejoined the team as well, and it was if they had never left. We’re going to need a bigger boat!

Thank you for your interest in DieselFish. The team will return in 2012 for its 15th season of fun, fitness and competition. We look forward to paddling with you during this milestone in DieselFish’s long and storied history.

With thanks,

The Minister of Newbie Happiness

Season 14 by the Numbers
*Competitions: 6
*Farthest distance traveled: 2,695 miles from Redwood City to Boston
*Members of Team USA: 3 (4 if you count past members)
*Paddles broken: 3
*New Paddler Days: 3
*New members added: 28
*Returning long-lost veterans: 3
*Families paddling together: 4
*Media appearances
-TV: 2
-Online media: 4
*Official DieselFish Blog posts: 31
*Cakes with spinning motorized parts: 1
*Official social events: 6
*Karaoke outings: 2
*Perfectly good songs destroyed during karaoke outings: N/A
*Marriages: 1
*Your lucky numbers: 6, (power) 10, 25, 30, 31

Hello Internet friends! Doesn’t dragon boat racing with DieselFish sound like fun? Go to http://dieselfish.org/ now to sign up for a free practice session!