What can I say Komodo.
Wow, wow and bloody wow!!! What a fabulous weekend.
Day 1 – Saturday
Cool, overcast morning, there could be a chance of rain and some wind, but the start of the day is looking good for a paddle or two.
Roll call done and dusted, now time to grab a coffee. Where is the coffee van? Uh oh, coffee van was a no-show last regatta are they going to turn up today?
The usual bit of mad re-configuring teams going on by the coaches to get the teams running to perfection. Need a coffee now. But the coffee van is not here yet.
Warm up time, greatly appreciated as there was a bit of a cool breeze – tossing the spotted quoll today. There is a great buzz in the air as we come together in our huddle, do the Komodo chant and wander back to camp with the music still pumping out.
So, after a few people start to get a bit twitchy as they have not had their caffeine fix our fabulous coach goes off to investigate where the coffee van is, returning a short time later with an announcement. “The coffee van is on its way!!!”
Now to cool our heels before the racing starts and the coffee van arrives, we decide to apply the war paint, thanks to Ang. Nail polish a plenty. Of course, it is glittery Komodo blue. The women expertly apply their polish and hope that we don’t get called up too soon and smudge our nails. We then convinced a few of male team members to line up for a nail job! Coops goes first followed by Millsy, Mr T and Tom to name a few. Others are not convinced that this a such a great idea and resist the nagging from their partners. Karl!
Time to start thinking about the 2km races coming up – Men’s and Women’s teams. This is Paula’s first regatta with the Komodo family, so welcome to the Blue and White family Paula.
After fantastic 2km races by both teams, its full swing into the 200Ms. There are teams of 10 and 20, Women, Men and Mixed. Plenty of racing for everyone. Heat after heat and then into the finals, great work everyone!! By 4:00pm we are all dead beat and ready for a shower, sleep, food, hydration (Word from the Coach – please include some water) and get ready to do it again tomorrow.
Day 2 – Sunday
Overcast 15’C lake looking beautiful and expecting to get to a top of 27’C!
Roll call, then warm up. Today’s furry animal to toss is a tiger! Everyone pumped and ready for a second day of racing. 500Ms all day, again there are teams of 10 and 20, Women, Men and Mixed.
So, it’s off to a slow start again, not because of the lack of caffeine but due to the lack of walkie-talkies for comms between the start boat and the officials at the tent.
To pass the time and keep warm a game of mini frizzby kick off. The players are Millsy, Coops, Mr T, Karl, Lorraine, Rob S, Alyssa, Tom, Zoe and Willo. You know that saying “it’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye”? Well thankfully that didn’t happen, but we did try to take out some of the competition hurling the mini frizzby into a number of Griffin Team members and to top it off, someone (who shall remain nameless) almost took out the Chief Official. Whoops! Sorry! Meanwhile Griffin decided that a throwing game was a good idea and tried to outdo Komodo by starting a game of zucchini toss. Needless to say, they didn’t keep it going too long!
Racing gets underway and the lake is just superb, no wind, no strong currents, just the occasional wash from the ferry or other boats on the Kingston side. Racing was fantastic with all crews pushing hard and trying to improve in every race. My favourite race of the day was the Women’s 200M 20s final. It just felt like everything went right from the start to the transition, to the sprinters push, big 10 now and the power home. Thanks ladies.
During the day we had another odd announcement from the Chief Official. “Due to the excess hydration of the paddlers, the porta loos have run out of flushing water”. After a fabulous day of racing, it’s back to camp to relax.
Some words from the Coach, Kim, thanking everyone for their efforts over the two-day event and for the great attitude that everyone had throughout the competition.
A few words from the President, Millsy, thanking everyone for being part of the Blue and White family and for their commitment throughout the whole season. Also, a big thanks to the family and friends that volunteered for Komodo that volunteered at each of the regattas. To the coaching crew, thank you for getting us this far and to all the other committee members for all that they do in the background.
Enjoy, a celebration tunnel for Liza, Mr Liza (Aka Paul), Willo and Mrs Willo (Aka Beth). Congratulations to you all.
And one last thing, is it down, is it up, is it on 3 or after 3?
One, two, three, Komodo!!!
See you on the water,
Sonja
What was forecasted to be a stormy and a wet day, nothing was stopping the Komodo warriors from racing. The day turned out to be perfect!
We had almost forgotten the feeling of doing a 200ms race in a 20s boat. The boat was powerful, heavy, but we churned through the races by remembering to ‘twist and thump’. The reinforcement calls from our sweeps – “Yes, crew”, “One machine”, “I want more” helped overcome the lactic moments and reminded us to finish the race with exhilaration.
Nobody confirmed these stories, but that does not mean they could not be true. Was it aliens, or simply the lack of caffeine?
By Captain Coops
Wahoo!! What a Trip! Last weekend saw the Club pack up and head North to Northern Narabeen to participate in the annual Bei Loon 8 km Dragoon Boat race around Scott Island. But this year it turns out there was no Scott Island because of high winds, instead participants were confronted with four 2km “out and back loops” that actually worked out to be 9 Km. What’s an extra kilometre thrown in at the end of an 8 Km race among friends, actually a fair bit as it turned out!
The Komodo advance party set off on Friday to attend the renowned smash hit Broadway production of Hamilton at the Lyric Theatre. What a great night, sitting in a dragon boat configuration in the theatre, humming and at times singing along to this magical stage production. And on our journey back from the Theatre we were in awe with the Club’s number one Hamilton fans; Thea, Sarah and Laura as they demonstrated an amazing ability to rap to almost the entire stage production – Eliiizaaaaa (those who attended will understand 😁).
News update from Komodo’s reporters on the ground: John Shanahan and Alyssa Velnton
Well what a Regatta that was! Sinkings and capsizes at “chaos corner” on the 2 Km race that involved many of us. The safety elements were fully tested and as ever, some improvements can be made, but everyone got back safely – albeit very wet and cold. 
