Dragon Boat Race

Richard's firm raced in the Dragon Boat Festival a week ago. The Dragon Boat festival is a national holiday where teams race boats about 200 yards into the beach. The race took place on the island of Hong Kong in a town called Stanley. Some of the race teams are very good, competitive teams. Other teams are company teams (like Richard's) and are not as serious. Some companies even have their teams dress up. We saw teams dressed as babies, supermen (and women), prisoners, and bumble bees.

Along the race course, companies and sponsors will rent yachts (called junks here in Hong Kong). The boats line the course and are very close together. You could jump from boat to boat (if you are brave...I am not). Richard's team did pretty well, which means they didn't come in last in either of their races. It was a very successful day :)

Richard looks very handsome in his uniform! He did very well in the race!

A member of the team beats this drum, located on the front of the boat. They beat the drum to the rhythm they are supposed to row at. The teams that were really good looked amazing as they rowed. They were so synchronized.

The dragon head is located at the front of the boat. There was a very long ceremony a few days before the race to place the dragon head on the boat.

Here is Richard's team rowing out from the beach to the starting point of the race. Their form looks very good :)

Another picture of the team heading towards the starting point of the race.

Here are the 11 teams in the heat lined up and waiting to race!

The 2nd race! I took this picture from the firm's junk. The teams look very close together. I'm surprised they didn't hit the other team's paddles!

It was a very hot day, and unfortunately, Richard got a little sunburn on his head. He is growing his hair in again (he is going to shave it again though...he likes it better :)) and didn't think to put sun screen into his hair. Because his hair is so short still, it didn't protect his little head. By Friday afternoon, his head was itchy and peeling. Very uncomfortable...so the lesson learned is to wear sunscreen!