Dragonboating begins

This week we began our training as a dragonboating team. 'We' means a number of people from my department at the University of Alberta. I don't know that much about the history of dragonboating, but it involves 20 paddlers, 1 steersperson, 1 coach and 1 drummer. We went onto the North Saskatchewan River for an hour and were taught the basics of paddling and water safety by a lady from our department who has paddled for several years. We will be practicing once a week until we race in a big tournament in August. It was really quite fun and very pleasant on the water, but it's definately a task to coordinate 20 people with paddles and strokes. We simulated our race day with a practice sprint, which is surprisingly demanding aerobically. I was a little sore the next day, but not too bad. Here's our team, plus or minus a few people.
I'm in the front on the right and Joelle is sitting next to me. Joelle is responsible for organizing the whole team.
Next time we practice, I will be learning to be the steersperson. This means that not only do I steer the boat, but I also yell commands to the paddlers and they HAVE to listen to me - a perfect job for me! As well, since I have the best view of the water (I stand at the back of the boat) I am in charge of keeping us from crashing into the shore or other boats, and thus am responsible for the safety of us all. Important task, but I'm up to the job.