The 2025 Grandmaster Dragon Boat Teams season kicks off with a RODEO  v1.0

 

On March 8th, the Natures Coast Team hosted their annual  Homosassa Dragon Boat Rodeo which drew quite a few regional teams, and  five from the Villages Grandmasters Club.  It's a unique event where each team has three, 750 meter races against the clock, for the best cumulative time.

 

Ron Dufresne, one of the event organizers, said, “ We want to give the racers three things, a true sprinters challenge, a course that tests your steerer skill, and finally, a boat full of renewed friendships and good times to take home. AND WE DID!”

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Jane Spellacy, the steerer for the Village Dragon team, said,”it is a steerer’s race. We have to control  a 40 foot boat  down a narrow channel, dealing with current off the Gulf, then execute a tight 180 degree turn around a marker, and sprint back to the start/ finish line.”

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Crowds lined the narrow course and watched each boat sprint and then try the radical 180 degree turn. Mary Lou Bremmer, captain of the Blackheart Racing Team said; “ We have a really experienced team of seasoned paddlers. But only a few had ever seen this type of a steerer and paddler’s test. After our 1st race we had figured out the turn and after that we looked forward to it.”

 

“As the current increased during the event the water level dropped at least 24”.  So boats that drifted outside the narrow channel saw their paddlers losing valuable time because their paddles would crash into the river-bed on each stroke,” said John Townley, captain of the Silver Dragons.

 

In the end it was all about teams of ten paddlers  executing “ The Turn” and from start to finish, applying exceptional  speed for 750 meters in heavy boats.”We basically sprinited all the way” said Paul Curcio, a powerful paddler in the Leatherneck Warriors mens boat. “Sheer Power” that's what it was all about” said Susan Ridgeway of the Leatherneck Warriors women's team. 

 

After racing for 5 hours in what can only be described as a really inviting, exciting and well run event, the times were tallied and the awards announced.

Gold went to the Heat premier level team. Silver to the Leatherneck Warriors men's team. And bronze to the Leatherneck Warriors women's team.

Blackheart posted excellent times and most agree, executed the best turn in the event with a 20 person boat.

The regional Dragon Boat Regatta season is in full swing with the Villages Racing teams headed to Inverness and the New Port Richey over the next three weeks.