Redwood City Dragon Boat | BIAC Clean Up Day 2015

DieselFish Dragon Boat Team cleaned up its home

On August 21, a group of paddlers and rowers joined together to clean up BIAC, our training facility in Redwood City. Together, we stripped old carpet from the boat house, bailed out dragon boats filled with stagnant rain water and disposed of algae-encrusted trash. DieselFish Dragon Boat Team is proud to have contributed to this community effort. BIAC is more than our training site. It’s also been our home for over a decade.

The team is now actively searching for an official hand sanitizer sponsor.

- Alex, your Minister of Newbie Happiness

Got rid of all the rain water that accumulated in the boat...

With this handy tool made from a detergent bottle.

Scraped this funky mass of algae from a section of dock.Whole Foods is selling something like this for $20 a package. #organic #artisinal

Coach Claro from Mountain View Dragon Boat cuts up a section of our old floating dock.

Email me today at dfcaptains@gmail.com for more information about fun and free dragon boat paddling adventures at BIAC!

Redwood City Dragon Boat | San Francisco Dragon Boat Festival Fun and Adventures 2015

Redwood City dragon boat team DieselFish had a blast racing and hanging out at prestigious race

It was an honor to compete at the 20th annual Kaiser Permanente San Francisco International Dragon Boat Festival. We paddled hard, ate good food and hung out with old friends. Check out these some stunning photos from the event, courtesy of Phillip Ma, Marynka Rojas and Hui Wa'a.

This view never gets old...

DieselFish paddles out to the starting line.

"PADDLERS ARE YOU READY? GO!"

"UP, UP , UP!"

"BURY THOSE BLADES INTO THE WATER!"

Fun times under the tent.

It was a pleasure paddling with you!

Season 18 is over! Off-season practices begin Saturday 10/17 from 10-noon in Redwood City. Let’s go Diesel!

- Alex, your Minister of Newbie Happiness

Email me at dfcaptains@gmail.com for fun foodie adventures and free dragon boat lessons!

Redwood City Dragon Boat | Powering Through Sandwiches and Races

8/29 dragon boat practice log

What We Ate

DieselFish went to Ike’s Lair of Redwood City for lunch. I felt adventurous, so I ordered the Kryptonite, a massive beast of a sandwich filled with [deep breath] avocado,bacon,beer-battered onion rings,EXTRA pepper jack,ham,mozzarella sticks,pastrami,pesto,roast beef,salami,stuffed jalapeno poppers and turkey. [gasp].The Kryptonite is so big, the staff can’t fit all the ingredients into a single sandwich! 

I knew I was in for a challenge after I ordered. “Wow, you ordered the Kryptonite?” my friend Jen asked. "I want to see it!" said a random stranger. My friend Marynka offered to drive me to the emergency room after I finished. That's when the adventure began.

I started munching away, and it was fun… All those flavors: tangy, creamy, meaty, oily. All those textures: crunchy, soft and chewy… Wow… I lost track of time,,,

I forced myself to stop eating after discovering I had only plowed through half the Kryptonite. I could have eaten more, but I didn’t want to take Marynka up on her offer. It was a fun experience. Next time, I’ll pace myself better and skip breakfast.

What We Learned

The big race at Treasure Island is coming soon, so we focused on race pieces. We had some newbies on the boat, so Marynka took the time to explain the different parts of our racing sequence. She explained that during races, we focus on acceleration at the start, emphasize power during the middle and switch to a sprint pace near the finish line. Our old friend Brian, who coached the Galileo Celestial Dragons, also paddled with us. It was great having him in the boat again because he’s a part of the family and a veteran instructor. He showed us how to improve our power and surge the boat forward. The newbies caught on quickly!

SEE YOU NEXT PRACTICE!

- Alex, your Minister of Newbie Happiness

Email me at dfcaptains@gmail.com for fun foodie adventures and free dragon boat lessons!

Woking on Water: Redwood City Dragon Boat Team Cooked with Celebrity Chef

DieselFish appeared on TV

I came across this old recording while clearing space on my DVR. A while back, DieselFish appeared on Cooking Channel’s "Easy Chinese: San Francisco". The series was a cooking show that focused on Asian food in the Bay Area. The producers asked DieselFish to appear on the seafood episode because we’re a water sports team based in Redwood City and we paddle to eat. The episode aired on November 12, 2011. You can read about our experience here. What a great time! We had fun, ate good food and paddled with friends.

Tonight, I rewatched the show for the first time in many years. The experience brought back many happy memories, but I should be living in the moment. I should be focusing on our upcoming practice sessions and foodie adventures. Also, the big race at Treasure Island is coming up.

(Wow, do I really look like that?)

- Alex, the Minister of Newbie Happiness

Redwood City dragon boat team offers free dragon boat lessons. Email me at dfcaptains@gmail.com for fun, good food and new friends!

Redwood City Dragon Boat | Special Sashimi Lunch

Special Sashimi and Fast Finishes with DieselFish

What We Ate
Alfred really likes Yokohama, a Japanese restaurant located in downtown Redwood City. “I’d eat at this place all the time if I could,” he said. “I wish there was a place like this near my office or home.” Why does Alfred like Yokohama so much? The big pieces of sashimi! “They cut the slices thicker,” said Alfred. He then ignored my further questions as he began to tuck into chunky slices of ruby-red tuna at a quick pace. Attaboy. You earned it after paddling, Alfred.

What We Learned
The most exciting part of a dragon boat race occurs during the last 100 meters. That’s when the crew summons its remaining energy and initiates the finish, a sudden and intense sprint that hurtles the boat towards the finish line. The finish is a beautiful sight to behold, but it takes work. Coach Sean had us work on our finishes on Saturday.

Fortunately for us, Sean is a veteran instructor. He showed us how to improve our synchronization and tweak our body movements in a way that generated maximum speed for a minimum of effort. By the end of practice, our boat was flying!

SEE YOU NEXT PRACTICE!
Alex

Set your own paddling and eating records! Email me at dfcaptains@gmail.com for free dragon boat lessons!

Redwood City Dragon Boat | Hawaii BBQ Power

What We Ate

After practice, we went to our old hangout, L&L Hawaiian Barbeque. I ordered my usual: the BBQ beef plate (hold the veggies) and a spam musubi. But what I really wanted was an espresso and throat lozenges.

During lunch, we got to know Ray and Bonnie, the newbies that joined us for practice. They had just completed their first dragon boat experience. They looked like they were in high spirits. (I’m not sure if their good moods were the result of their endorphin rushes after paddling or the BBQ.) We look forward to seeing them again!

What We Learned

Wow, what a day out on the water! Coach Sean asked us to focus on power. We paddled some endurance pieces—but with a twist. The new technique seemed to work and help us synchronize our strokes. We achieved greater power for longer durations. 

SEE YOU NEXT PRACTICE!
Alex

San Francisco Bay Area Dragon Boat Team DieselFish offers free dragon boat lessons. Email us at dfcaptains@gmail.com for details!

Redwood City Dragon Boat | The World Championships Are So Close...

From Darren Louie, DieselFish Youth Team Coach (who coaches our group of teens):

As you know I've had the wonderful privilege of coaching DFY now for five years and this year is special as we have four of our young athletes competing for the U16 Team USA at the world championships in Welland, Canada in August 2015.

On the team are Kiana, Nathan, Jet and Orion all of whom who are 13 and 14 years of age respectively. These four are very young but have incredible potential and have earned a spot on Team USA.

I'm writing this message to ask for your financial support to help fund their trip to Canada.

Unfortunately, in the sport of Dragon boating, there is no funding or scholarships for junior athletes and this is why we need help. The trip is estimated to be $1,800 to $2,000 per athlete, and I was hoping you could make a small donation to help offset some of the costs.

The kids have set up a RocketHub crowdfunding project site where you can read about their stories and easily make a donation.

Thank you so much for your support. Any help that you can provide would be very much appreciated.

Paddles up,

Darren