Luna New Year - Darling Harbour 

Yen's report

30+ Sandy Point Dragons paddlers set off bright and early on Saturday, February 5^th, to participate in the 2022 Sydney Lunar Festival Dragon Boat Races in Darling Harbour, the largest event on the NSW dragon boating calendar. We entered boats in the Senior B Mixed, Premier Mixed, Women and Open, and Junior Mixed (combined with Danebank) and Women (Danebank) categories.

In a very competitive category, the Senior B Mixed team started the day really well, finishing 2^nd in both their heats and progressing onto the Senior B Mixed Major Final. In very close racing, we place 5^th, with only 1 second separating places 2 to 5. Great work everyone. Thanks goes out to Caitlin (drummer) and Harry (sweep) for waking up really early and being part of the Senior B boat.

The Premier categories afforded us more racing opportunities. Combining our senior paddlers with our younger paddlers, including juniors, it was an opportunity to gain more racing experience together, and introduce our many newer members to dragon boat racing.

It was great to see our senior paddlers racing in a category more suited to their experience, and to see a women’s boat on the water. Many thanks must go out to our senior paddlers with some paddling up to 9 races for the day.

Harry's report

On Saturday 5^th February, Danebank participated in the annual Lunar New Year regatta held at Darling Harbour. The girls competed across three categories: Junior Women’s, Premier Women’s and Junior Mixed, with the help of some junior boys from Sandy Point. As one of the biggest regattas of the year, the competition was tough in the junior races. Despite the windy conditions, the girls remained very strong, taking out first place in both the Junior Women’s and Junior Mixed categories, with some of the girls competing at their first regatta! It’s a testament to their hard work, commitment and teamwork over the last few weeks, and provides a positive platform to build on for upcoming regattas. I would like to congratulate all the girls and boys for their efforts on the day.

All in all, it was a long but enjoyable day of racing, with fantastic results from our Senior B and Junior crews.

On behalf of the board and all involved a big thankyou to Yen and Harry for their dedication and coaching support.