To Outpaddle And Outparty
Perhaps it’s the unfailingly hedonistic nature of Boracay that turns even a pivotal race into a riotous party. The Fila International Dragon Boat Festival held May 1 and 2 in the country’s summer break capital generated two days of tension-and-spirit-fueled competition, and when the last dragon tail had crossed the aqua finish line, the dance remix of We Are the Champions playing on loop was fitting, if only to signal the windup of the event and reinstate its hoisting of festivity over competition. The militant dragon boat drumbeat that rumbled from across the Boracay Regency’s shore — where more than a thousand rowers vigorously paddled to the pounding of their respective drummers — was now replaced by synth-solid electronic beats pulsating from giant speakers; everyone from the captivated spectators who’d witnessed all the sea action with their ankles deep in the Boracay blue to contenders who’d just disembarked from their boats in exhilaration, gyrating in unison, raising their San Mig Pale Pilsens to a god of camaraderie, and hooting and cheering even after the final men’s heat had unveiled Germany’s Wansee Dragons as its winner.
The concept of winning and losing seemed lost on everyone, especially when the fluorescent coral sunset gave way to night and all participants gathered — some, like the acclaimed Lamma Dragon Boat ladies from Hong Kong, decked out in pink Afro wigs and feather boas — once more at The Regency’s beach for a mardi gras-like ceremony awarding the winners of the 300- and 500-meter Men’s, Women’s and Mixed Open races. Though the alpha-Vikings of the competition were, as expected, the homegrown teams of Bugsay Boracay (first in the Women’s Open, reverberating its second and third honors in the International Dragon Boat Races held in Hong Kong in 2006) and Tribu Camarines Sur (first in 300-meter Mixed Open), crews hailing from neighboring Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia, to outlying countries like Germany and the United States, were clinking brewskies and trembling their torsos to the house music that intermittently blared between awarding announcements; the prerogative to party hardy outshining the need to place for trophies.
Sporting The Best Fun… and Suntans
It’s the same celebratory vibe that dominated the cocktail reception two nights before — an opening ceremony ignited by fire dancers flipping flames by the sea followed by Repertory rep Rem Zamora serenading Cris Albert, alternative sports patroness of title sponsor Fila, as participants — the flush of their tans offset by the ruddiness of their inebriation — gathered around the stage, waving their arms dramatically and frolicking about in mock relish.
“For us, this is not our number one race in terms of priority,” says the captain of
‘Course, the after-hours liquor-lubricated merriment and prestige that comes with downing 15 shots (and still standing) at the legendary go-to bump, grind ‘n’ puke joint on the island isn’t the only reason crews boarded their Seair and Asian Spirit planes bound for Boracay. The morning after the opening ceremony, the high heat of the sun reflected the competitive intensity between teams, the zenith of which was manifested when the demarcation line between lanes used by the spartan Aqua Aero Fortis Dragons and steely Manila Dragons turned into a combat arena on the sea — paddlers assuming the stance of gladiators as one boat swiped the side of another and oars thwacked against each other — prompting a re-heat later in the afternoon. Sure, the races did have their razor-sharp rivalries, which impelled throngs of onlookers to scamper into the water and a lot of toes to dig into the sand in anticipation of which of two adversarial boats in ultra-close proximity to each other would cross the finish line just a dragon snout before the other; but along with the zealous unity each crew needed to brandish on the sea, the overall diversity of the 50 teams that participated tied everyone into a federation extolling the different strokes of every crew — sometimes even literally.
“This is the first time we’re racing together,” gasps Pauline Yeong after her team, the Singapore Barbarians, finally emerged victor in one heat of the Mixed Open after a succession of third and fourth placers. “It’s a challenge ‘cause there are about 50 of us from different expat teams living in
Even for a gold-bagging team like the Philippine National Police (PNP) Patriots (first in the 500-meter Mixed Open), the lure of Boracay’s annual Dragon Boat Festival was more about close camaraderie, as in the essence of dragon boat racing, where the pounding of a drummer at the boat’s bow is the rhythm by which a standard 18 paddlers try to synchronize the digging of their oars in the water. “Ito kasi yung pinaka-community relations na nagagawa namin, para maiangat naman yung PNP sa sports,” says Makario Sumaliling, Jr., the steersman and assistant coach of the PNP Patriots, a team that has been flying in — packing their Lycra water suits instead of their blue uniforms — for the festival since 2005.
Boats Of Confidence
In fact, a lot has changed since 2005 — much more so since 2001, when Bugsay coach Jeff Galindez dragged two elongated boats out to sea and introduced the island to what would be considered its rightful sport. But it was only last year, however, that Boracay would get a grip on the event and hold the first official International Dragon Boat Festival with the island’s Boracay Island Paddlers Association (BIPA) at the helm of operations. “We started organizing it ‘cause we felt the event needed a local core,” explains Nenette Graf, president of BIPA, of the event that, this year, was able to wrack up heavy-hitting sponsors (Smart, First Metro Securities, Coconut of the Body, Rush Fitness Water, and Mentos Iceblast Chewing Gum), not to mention become the “biggest annual international sporting event in the country” now championed by the Department of Tourism. “The community support is most important. Now, the event is owned by people here and we’re popular around the region ‘cause (participants) know they’ll get great racing, camaraderie, and fun on and off the water, in one of the best beaches in the world.”
And the annual dragon boat festival is indeed a community effort — local resorts like The Strand, Crystal Sands and the Boracay Regency extending their hospitable best while restos like Lemon Café, Ariel’s House, Dos Mestizos and Zuzuni serve up veritable feasts to participants and press after a day of heavy-duty action under the sun.
You can sure as hell count on Boracay’s Dragon Boat Festival for that annual outpour of action, of course. For every heat pitting four man-powered sea serpents, utilizing that much-needed vigor and esprit de corps, is the irrepressible heartbeat of the island. And its rhythm is certainly gonna get you — not just in every bump ‘n’ grind spot serving head-ringing shooters, but, as with Boracay’s ceremonial sport, from its waters as well.
