Dragon Boat Races

[innerspace]

Hey guys! (and gals!) 

It didn't occur to me to post anything about this till just now, but have you ever heard of or participated in Dragon Boat races?  Usually they're done for some type of charitable cause.  In the case of the , it benefits SMDC's breast cancer program.

Last year I was watching my niece do some dance recital thing.  If you are like me, you just LOVE watching these things  :-X  Fortunately, there was a beer garden nearby so I excused myself to get some liquid refreshment.  I wandered around a bit and watched the races and it was like, "huh...they're paddling some big canoes that look like dragons...cool..." nothing too exciting, and I wandered around some more but found my self in need of a refill, so back to the beer garden I went.  Anyways, long story short, I was convinced to enter a team by a group of bagpipe-playing, kilt-wearing Thunder Bayers. 

Despite my first impression, this thing was just a blast!  It was seriously the most fun I've had near and above the water in a long time!  Here's a clip from our website (innerspacescuba.com)

~Innerspace Scuba Center's Dragons with Tanks~
Our first year participating in the Lake Superior Dragon Boat Races was a fantastic success! Not only did we support a great cause, but we won both our races. Out of 85+ teams we placed 26th overall and made it to the bottom of the "Gold Division." Unfortunately, this position did not allow us into the finals, but everyone involved had a great time. We did win our class though, and recieved a small paddle trophy for our paddling efforts.

We were also one of the upper fund-raisers, raising over $1500 in the fight against breast cancer. A member of our team, Rick Fry, was the fifth highest fund raiser out of the 85+ 24-member teams (about 2,000 people!) Way to go Rick!

A HUGE THANK YOU goes out to all out team members, people and businesses who donated money to the SMDC foundation, my next-door neighbor Cliff, who let us use his tent for our team site, and everyone who came out to cheer us on!

There's  a bit of a party, teams presentation, and set-up time Friday night, race and post event activities on Saturday, and Sunday is free!

So anyway, all you other dive stores out there, a Challenge: Get a team together, and take us on! 

We could make a big to-do about it and get some exposure for Minnesota/Lake Superior scuba diving.  How about doing a collective discover scuba and we'll invite the press on Sunday? 

Anyone interested?  Call me (Yan) at Innerspace (218-726-1010) and lets talk about it, we have a year to figure out something!