Great paddling at our first dragon boat race of the season at the CDBA Regionals in Redwood Shores. Here are the divisions where we medaled:

Mixed Division A (top division): 3rd Place, BAD 1
Mixed Division D: 1st Place, BAD 3 (Independence High School)
Master's Division: 2nd Place
Women's Division: 3rd Place
Open (Men's) Division: 2nd Place
Notable: BAD 2 took 4th in Division C

Bay Area Dragons Wins 3 of 4 Adult Championships at the CDBA Regional Dragon Boat Sprint races at Quarry Lake, Fremont, CA.

BAD won the Mixed, Open, and Mixed Masters Championships.  Kudos goes out to BAD Barracudas (Masters Women), who competed in the Mixed division and were short paddlers.

Race Results:
BAD Penang Mixed (BAD1) - 1st in division A
BAD Merril Lynch (BAD2) - 5th in dvision A
BAD Foster City (BAD3) - 2nd in division D
BAD Barracudas (BAD4/Masters Women) - 5th in division E, 5th in Women's division
BAD Masters - 1st in Master's division
BAD Penang Men - 1st in Open division
BAD Women - 2nd in Women's division

Download full race results here:  http://www.cdba.org/documents/race_results/2008/2008_sprint_race_results.pdf

BAD now heads to Penang, Malaysia to compete in the 2008 Club Crew World Championships July 31 - Aug 3, 2008.  We are fielding 3 teams that will compete in the Premier Mixed, Premier Open, and Masters Women divisions.

The SF Bay Area Dragons nearly sweeps at the 8th Annual 2008 CDBA Regionals in Redwood Shores.  BAD wins Gold in three out of the four major championship races and brings home the championship paddle.  We hope this is a start to a successful season for BAD as we prepare for the World Club Crew Championships in Penang, Malaysia in August 2008.  

 
Championship Race Results:
1st in Mixed
1st in Open - Mens division
1st in Mixed Masters
3rd in Womens division (BAD "Barracudas" Masters Women team)

Download the full race result by clicking here . 

The next San Francisco Bay Area Dragon Boat race will be the 2nd Annual Paddle For Life Dragon Boat Festival on June 7-8th at Jack London Square in Oakland, California.  It's a charity race to raise money to help fight against cancer.  Please support us and get more information by visiting paddleforlife.org .

 
Videos from Rodger of DragonMax: 

BAD Masters Women and Men's team:

Open "Mens" Final:

Bay Area Dragons Take First Place in the 250 Meter Sprint Race

By John Herrera

TEMPE - After being beaten from pillar to post all weekend long in the 500 meter sprints by the likes of LARD, San Diego, Space Dragons, and Wasabi, the Bay Area Dragons picked themselves off of the canvas and exacted some revenge on their Southern California foes as BAD sprinted its way to victory in the 250 meter sprint championship.  It was yet another first place finish in an event that has become BAD's specialty.  The victory was a much needed one, as it started the march to Penang on a very positive note.

The Bay Area Dragons presents the 2nd Annual Paddle For Life Charity Dragon Boat Race to be held June 7-8, 2008 in Oakland, California at Jack London Square.

The Paddle for Life race is a community event organized by Bay Area teams to raise money for charity , raise awareness of the dragon boat sport and create a fun time for spectators and paddlers alike. Food and commercial vendors will be on-site, as well as live entertainment. The race site is at Jack London Square in Oakland, CA. Teams consist of 20 paddlers, a steersperson and a drummer. All teams will be provided with a race-day steersperson and if needed, a drummer. There are mixed (co-ed) teams consisting of at least 8 women, open teams (i.e. Mens) consisting of all men or having less than 8 women, and women's teams consisting entirely of women paddlers. Several teams from all walks of life have signed up already to pit their novice paddlers against the other first-time paddlers. You can also sign up as an individual paddler and a team will be found for you. Race registration also includes full equipment usage, free  practices and one-on-one coaching from dragon boat experts.

For more information, please go to the Paddle For Life web site at paddleforlife.org . 

Semi-Final Races

 Uploaded and edited by Richard Sah

John

By John Herrera

The Bay Area Dragons sent a crew of twenty-one paddlers to Montreal to compete in one of the biggest dragon boat festivals on the continent.  After the dramatic world cup qualifying victory in Washington the week before, BAD was hoping to build on the big win and bring back some hardware from Quebec's jewel of a city.  Perhaps suffering from a world cup qualifier victory hangover, or from a bout of some serious jet lag, BAD failed to place in the top twenty and would go home without any medals.

John

PDBA Premier Open Gold

The Bay Area Dragons traveled to Vancouver Lake, Washington for a showdown against the defending PDBA champions San Diego.  At stake was a birth in the Dragon Boat Club Crew World Championships to be held in Penang, Malaysia in 2008.  The result was a thrilling come from behind victory by BAD that earned us the coveted premier open entry to represent the West Coast of the United States in the Club Crew World Championships.

Marco

Quarry Lakes, Fremont:  That's racing...

By Marco Gabbiani

Finally, I was involved in some real on water excitement at the Fremont 2007 races. Mind you, not quite the excitement I had in mind.  I was looking forward to an even better medal haul than Redwood Shores. The performances of BAD in the heats were very promising. We were leaving all our competitors in our wake, but the real contest would only emerge in the finals. As the wind picked up, so too did the number of odd events.  Here is a selection: