The Lincoln Log

After a long and tiresome season of willpower, determination, and perseverance, the Abraham Lincoln High School dragonboat team came out victoriously at the annual Treasure Island race, sponsored by Kaiser Permanente.

Treasure Island’s Clipper Cove was loaded with fancily decorated dragonboats and anxious paddlers of all ages from all around the world. Races were held from October 4 – 5, but the high school divisions only raced on October 5.

Lincoln paddlers arrived as early as 6 a.m. to prepare for the day’s race, shivering in their signature dragonboat sweatshirts and talking excitedly between friends.

The sun rose beautifully on the Eastern horizon, and thus the day of races began.

Several intense races for Lincoln’s Gold, Red, and Black boat were held scattered throughout the day, and in the end, Lincoln’s famed Gold boat won first place, beating out Community Youth Center’s (CYC) A boat by a few fractions of a second, with Galileo High School’s boat trailing behind in third place.

The results of Lincoln’s A boat race was completely unexpected, as doubts were cast heavily over the team this past season, as close to all of their power paddlers had graduated the year before. The leaders on the team, however, never lost hope.

“This year we had to do a lot of rebuilding for our dragonboat team because twenty seven Lincoln paddlers graduated in 2008,” said co-captain senior Sainie Huang.

“It is difficult to place a group of paddlers together and make them mesh right away, but I feel our current team has the potential to be a great team.”

The team had started fresh, with only six seniors on the team (of which only four are on Gold boat).

With so many inexperienced paddlers, there was a lot of work to be done in a matter of weeks.

“Just getting to know each other is really important,” said captain senior Elijah Chan.

“We have a lot of young paddlers on Gold boat, and it’s hard to paddle with one another when you don’t really know each other. I hope for them to work hard and to be really dedicated to this team.”

And indeed they were. Lincoln’s Red boat may not have won a medal at Treasure Island, but they took the competition one step further by moving up into A division.

The same went to the Black boat, who managed to move up to B division. The teamwork and effort put in by this year’s team was visible at Treasure Island, as jokes and laughs were exchanged by the team during their breaks, showing how well the team has been able to bond in a matter of weeks.

“Dragonboat is very much a team sport in that it relies on one another being in sync with each other,” said coach Chester Lam, a former Lincoln paddler.

“To help bring about this, my goal was to strengthen the feeling of community within the team and the unique role that each individual plays within this team. I’m here to help them build character to be good people.”

In the genders portion of the race, the Lincoln girls dominated once again, winning first place against Lowell High School, who came in second, and CYC, who came in third. Captain Crystal Cheung was visibly ecstatic when their boat passed the 500-meter mark, and was all smiles as she made her way on dock.

The Lincoln mens’ boat made second place in a tight race against CYC, who surprised the competition with their unexpected speed and power.

After practicing 2-3 hours three days a week, Lincoln High’s dragonboat

team has ended this season successfully, crushing all former doubts.

“You said we needed a miracle – we proved you wrong,” said Chan to alumnus paddler Casey Chow, after the placings were announced.

“Now where’s our pizza party?”

Chow better get some pizza ready soon, because once next season starts up around February, this team is ready to win it all – and that would mean a whole lot of pizza.