The inaugural Brooklyn DBNSW regatta was held on the 6th November, 2011. Traditionally, this race was held at Roseville, otherwise known as the ‘Roseville Demolition Derby’ due to last year’s high rate of boat crash incidents. This year however, the regatta was moved to Brooklyn, aka the "Brooklyn Rodeo". Why? Read on…

Our team was short a few paddlers due to prior commitments and a few last minute illnesses. Nevertheless, we were out to do our best and enjoy a beautiful day with mates on the shores of the Hawkesbury River.

Coming into the race, we were told that the race distance was to be 500 metres. However, after the first race of the day, where the masters crews all completed the course in under 1:20min, we soon realised that either the 500m world record had been broken or the course was actually just over 300m... we figured it was the latter.

After a long wait at the start line, the horn hooted and we were out of the gates in a flash, finishing 1st in our first Mixed heat. A big congratulations to JJ (aka Levi) for paddling in his first ever race. As the morning went on, it became apparent that this course had some surprises in store, with various currents running through the race course and speed boats zipping by, causing choppy conditions. This course was going to reward the teams with the best sweeps and most focused paddlers.

With an Opens Team a row short and consisting of six committed girls, we were out to play with the big boys. Off to a great start, we soon found ourselves being hit by chop. With the boat wash pushing us from side to side, it felt like being at a rodeo and riding a raging bull… I mean boat.  All that was missing was for Tony to yell "Char! Char!" as we went head first into the chop. But we powered through, determined not to let it stop us and finished 2nd in the heat.

In the 2nd Mixed heat, we got hit by side chop at the start but finished our start sequence in style and powered through our race longs to again finish in 1st place.

In the 2nd Opens heat, a special guest paddler stepped in to help a depleted team - Daniel Kong, president of DBNSW and ACCA Life Member! With DK temporarily out of retirement and getting his paddle wet again for the first time in years, we burst out of the gates, but soon found ourselves being hunted down by the crew on our left. Despite their dragon head coming within centimetres of the fingers of our engine room paddlers, we were not deterred and thanks to everyone in the boat continuing to paddle hard and Koach Keg's skill with the sweep oar, we were out of trouble and finished 1st in the race.

We ended up making both the Opens and Mixed Major Finals, an amazing achievement for the team. With the mercury soaring past 30 degrees by the afternoon, our team was in need of cool refreshments (other than Gatorade). Matt and Steph came to our aid with a few six packs of cold beer as a reward.

But the beers would have to wait just a little longer. Paddling up to the start of the Mixed Major Final, an ominous smoke cloud started to descend upon us. But few of us noticed, such was the focus of the crew. We started strong, but with the chop pushing us around, we were out-muscled by a full strength Sloths crew at the start and soon found ourselves paddling through a large swell. In the tradition of never giving up, our valiant crew finished just outside the places.

The Brooklyn Rodeo will definitely be on of my list of most memorable regattas out of my five season dragon boat career. My highlights of the day included the water fights and food incidents involving jelly bears and spring rolls, and being knocked around by boat wash during each race, the scale of which I had never previously experienced.

But what I take away from this regatta is the belief that ACCA as a team has proven that we can l handle any conditions or situation thrown at us. With this new found confidence and determination, we are well on the way to achieving our goals in Melbourne.