Houston Heat Members, Family and friends!

The Long Beach crew has returned safe and sound with tons of stories to share. I'm sure you have seen and watched the countless pictures & videos that have already been shared amongst the crew. Enjoy it while we'll be planning for the next event.

As a recap, definitely from one's perspective, Long Beach is definitely one to place in the books. Our energy was high and judging from Saturday's 500m performances Houston Heat wasn't looking too hot. The venue was absolutely gorgeous! Just imagine clear blue skies with temperatures from the low 70s to mid 80 throughout the day. The water was clear and cool, definitely a view that Houston Heaters are not used to; that might have caught several of our paddlers off guard. As you walk around, you can see teams upon teams with their colorful team logos getting ready to paddle for the day. It is a great sight to see and one where you just have to be there to appreciate. We parked ourselves right along side the waters edge next to our buddies LA Thunder Dragons and the Arizona Gila Dragons . What fantastic hosts! They provided the tents and chairs, ice chests, ice, drinks, food, etc. You cannot ask for better hosts! Thanks! As you look around, you can see many teams next to us who have a strong dragon boat history such as the Killer Guppies and Dragon Warriors . This is a good sign!

Saturday Races:

The mixed 500m started out tough with many of the competitors leaving us to consecutive bottom half place finishes; We had many new and nervous paddlers who have never experienced true competition in a dragon boat and THIS was the test!

Thunder Heat, our men's combination with LA Thunder Dragons and the Arizona Gila Dragons, demonstrated our lack of paddling together as a team. Although our results are not too appealing, our men battled tough against the likes of LARD and SF Dragon Warriors.

MAXimum Heat, our lovely ladies' combo with Dragon Max defintely lit a spark under our belt! They were the highlight for Saturday's results! They made a HUGE turnaround to participate in Sunday's "A" bracket amongst the best women in the event with just one day of practice! That ought ta teach the Boys!

Sunday Races:

MAXimum Heat, again reigns Queens!!! All hail them for quite an effort to bring home the bronze! It was a tough one competing with ladies who have had their share of practices but this led to a series of Houston Heat results to shock the presses!

Thunder Heat, well..., didn't get to paddle again but I'm sure the men were quite jealous that the women got to paddle an extra heat. Let it boil Men! Let it Boil!

Houston Heat's Mixed 500m was where the beasts were unleashed! Being categorized in the "B" bracket didn't suit many but being that it was, First place was the ONLY answer to satisfy our thirst for a victory. Our paddlers were celebrating with the ladies' fourth place title and the buzz carried on! As we marched onto the marshalling area, we knew that this opportunity to medal in the 500m was NOW! Our steersman, Rodger from DragonMax, guided us through the trenches and pushed us hard! We've always had fantastic starts but it was the endurance that got to us on Saturday. NOT this time! We started and finished strong through the entire length to a first place victory. Second was approximately 10 seconds behind us and Boy were we thrilled! It seems that the BOILing inside exploded! It was what we needed in order to realize that we have a chance.

Mixed 200m was incredibly exciting. To move on, your team had to be the top three places to advance into what would become the FINALS. The first was the Quarter Finals and with a strong second place showing we moved onto the Semis. Everything was fast paced so when we couldn't find our steersman, we luckily ran into Gary from the Gilas, who steered our first 200ms. We were seconds from being disqualified which would have been a damper BUT we weren't. In fact, we decided to stay in the marshalling area and have our support bring us drinks and Power snacks. We love our support crew! They saved us the hassle from walking to/from and possibly missing our next heats. Back to the semis.... Our new starts were a bit rocky, but our strategy was incredibly strong. Our paddlers held and had a third place finish against our Miami Buds, Puff. Close, very close....Now onto the Finals!

The 200ms were intensifying and listening to our DragonMax pals, I decide to combine our effective 6-12-6 starts with our strong 200ms strategy and off we did. This change couldn't outdo our weaning endurance from back to backs but we did manage to medal a bronze for the fourth place! Celebration time!

It was simply amazing! Our team left Saturday's event somber and quiet ONLY to leave Sunday with a BIG BANG! That's the good nature of dragon boating because you never can tell what'll happen next, just paddle your hardest and put into play what you've learned from hours upon hours of training. You can never have enough and you'll see that you will always learn something new! Congratulations to Houston Heat's Long Beach crew!

Oh yeah, as you can see from the pictures, we did a lil' bit of celebrating! Birthday paddling, coach dunking, dancing and drinking! Well, you can't always paddle, right?

Your President,
Minh "I'm the one on the left" Nguyen