On April 11, in the SCDBC Treasure Hunt, the irrepressible members of boat 8 proved that it wasn't youth or brawn (although 90% of female paddlers involved agreed that they wouldn't have minded losing if they had those brawny youngsters on boat 5 to look at), but teamwork, intelligence and an overwhelming desire to take the gold (or chocolate w/sprinkles...however you want to look at it). Members from several SCDBC teams gathered on Saturday in a show of dragonboating camaraderie and cooperation in order to paddle their way through the waterways of Long Beach and Naples. Each team was given a different set of clues (or so they tell us!), and they all used different strategies to find the answers to those clues. Steering the intrepid paddlers of boat 8 was the lovely Em, who with her team of treasure-hunting geniuses, used special strategies to throw the other teams off track.
At the sound of the horn (or maybe it was just a lazy wave of the hand), all boats surged ahead and passed boat 8 who was sitting dead in the water. Other teams mocked and heckled the patient paddlers for their lack of forward movement. What they didn't know was that boat 8 was carefully planning its route before they started. With their route set, boat 8, like a bolt out of the clear blue sky began to paddle their way past the other boats. Everything went off without a hitch (except for the guy 1/2 way through who drunkenly(?) decided that he didn't need his PFD anymore), and boat 8 gracefully glided back to the beach with 10 minutes to spare in the hour they were given. Once boats reached the shore, one person from each crew had to correctly identify each member of their team in order to gain more points. As each boat returned to the beach, teams began to mix and share stories of their experience. After all the boats had been pulled up, cleaned, and points tallied, came the exciting news of the treasure hunt standings. Awarded to the winning team was a box of "Joe says no," delectable doughnuts! All agreed that this was a fun opportunity to meet and interact with teams that normally we are competing against. One Space Dragon was quoted as saying, "This was as much fun as watching Kenny get his toes painted in Tempe!" A job well done to the planners of our treasure hunt, and many thanks to the Space Dragons involved for representing our team so well!!
Thanks SCDBC guys for putting on a successful event! We appreciate all of your hard work and look forward to the next Long Beach Bonding Event!
Loves and kisses,
-Kat
