Dragon Boating mea culpa

Sorry for a week of no posts. Adding to the downsize nightmare was volunteering for the Victoria Dragon Boat Festival, a yearly event that features 90 teams (of 20-25 paddlers plus coaches, managers, friends, family and groupies) from as far away as LA and Toronto. It also features me exhausting myself, every year, and losing my voice, every year. Here are some pictures; here too.

I am the Crew (or Race) Marshal, in charge of getting the right teams lined up in the right order with the right equipment on to the dock at the right time. Every twelve minutes from 8am to 4-5pm. Standing on hot pavement the entire time, in the hot sun.

I do this a LOT!

I am also on the Race Committee and privy to the inner workings of the festival. I commit my time, energy and increasingly-frail body to the festival not because I like dragon boating. Fra from it: the one and only time I was in a dragon boat was in my student days in Taiwan, on the Danshui River. I looked at the black, fetid water and decided d-boating was not for me.

I participate because of dragon boating's association with breast cancer. Huh? Breast Cancer? That's pretty much out of left field I admit, so let me explain.

In the mid-90s a Vancouver cancer doctor in wanted to help his breast cancer patients exercise., so he started a dragon boat team of patients and survivors. Before this the conventional wisdom was that sufferers should stay away from exercise, but his team exploded that myth. The rest is, as you say, history. Read more here.

There are now many breast cancer teams, worldwide, and even breast cancer d-boating world championship festivals. The effort and spirit from the ladies is remarkable, palpable, uplifting. They know I am there for them, and we now have a special bond: I cheer for them and they rub, pat and kiss my head for luck. This also has become a ritual for most teams. Sigh.

"Don't forget to rub his head for luck."

I offer all this info about dragon boating for two reasons. First, and least, to let you know where I was when I wasn't posting. Second, and key, is that I saw things during the festival that fit right into this blog. Two areas stand out, leadership and business processes.

But for now describing the festival and uploading a few pictures is all I can do before my energy level drops and a nap beckons. TTFN.