Steering the Course

Three intrepid Dogpaddlers headed out onto the Gorge this afternoon to get certified as dragon boat Steerspersons. This was rather like closing the barn door long after the horse is gone, but GO insisted it was mandatory. For Brianna, with four years of steering experience (and 40 races), this was a slam-dunk. She did her bit and then was unceremoniously dumped at the dock to watch the rest of the afternoon's proceedings from a distance. They weren't being nasty to her—it's just that she can't physically paddle (which is why she became a steersperson in the first place), so she would have been just dead weight in the boat. Not to mention bored to tears as well. At least from shore, she could watch all three boats meander here and there and provide her own internal commentary to the spectacle (and perhaps develop her own scoring system while she was at it). Unfortunately, after a bit of milling about the island, all three boats departed from easy viewing distance, thus leaving Brianna the sole and lonely task of 'feeding the meter' until George returned. However, there was one brief flurry of excitement when Peni and George's boat played Chicken with one of the other boats—giving both boat crews the opportunity to practice emergency stopping/evasive manouvers.