History of the Wasabi Paddling Club
The name "Wasabi" first appeared in a dragon boat competition at the
Portland Rose Festival races in 1993. However, the history of the
Wasabi Paddling Club goes back to the first year of dragon boating in
Portland, 1989. In that first year, two cousins, Vernon Lee and Kent
Lee were asked by the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association
(CCBA) to paddle on their new dragonboat team.
VERNON LEE
However, through some miscommunication, they ended up on a
team called "Cohen and Wu" sponsored by Portland lawyers David Wu
and Stuart Cohen. Kent and Vernon paddled on that boat for three years
until in 1992 David andStuart decided that they no longer wanted to run a
dragonboat team.Kent and Vernon decided to create their own dragonboat team and asked
6 other paddlers from the 1991 Cohen an Wu team to be the core of a
new team called Abra Kazam after the main sponsor, a local t-shirt
manufacturer. This core of 8 former Cohen and Wu members were joined
by about 14 other people that had never paddled a dragon boat before.
The first Abra Kazam practice in 1992 showed the inexperience of the
new team....the boat was unable to reach the Ross Island bridge in an
hour of paddling!
In the early days of Portland dragon boating there were no experienced
coaches and Cohen and Wu, like many other teams, had a "technique of
the week". No one in Portland really knew the correct technique or
what it took to make a good dragon boat crew. Kent and Vernon,
recognizing the lack of local coaching expertise persuaded a coach
from Vancouver,B.C. named Adrian Lee (no relation!) to come down to
Portland for a weekend and coach the new Abra Kazam team. It was from
Adrian that Abra Kazam first learned about rotation, reach, recovery
and other factors that lead to a good stroke.
Abra Kazam combined Adrian's coaching with some good athletes
surprised the Portland dragon boat community with a victory in the
mixed division. At that time there was only 1 mixed division. Some
of the people on Abra Kazam that paddled several years for Wasabi
include Tom and Dorothy Atwood, Lori Leach, Connie Flesuras, Bob
White, Phil Smith, Joe Restic and of course, Kent and Vernon Lee. At
that time the winner of the local Portland division raced the winner
of the "International" (non-Portland metro teams) division. Abra
Kazam was beaten badly by the international teams and it realized then
that there was a lot of room for improvement.
The next year, 1993, the Abra Kazam Company pulled its sponsorship
from the team and asked that the name not be used so the name was
changed to Wasabi. The name Wasabi (hot and spicy) was the idea of
Vernon who by this time was becoming the head organizer and coach of
the team. Wasabi also decided to add an Open (men's) team that was
captained/coached by Neil Lee with help from Kent Lee. For a variety
of reasons Wasabi Mixed was not able to defend its coed title and
placed second. The final race in Portland was actually rerun (Wasabi
finished second in the first race) because of a collision between two
other boats. Wasabi Open just missed reaching the finals. In 1993
the Open division was much larger than it is now and was very
competitive. One of the teams that Wasabi did beat, however, was the
Longshoremen who had been a power in the Open division.
1993 was the first year that Wasabi traveled north to compete in the
Vancouver, B.C. races. The dragon boat festival and races in
Vancouver, B.C. were at that time and continue to be possibly the
premier dragon boat race in North America. Located in Vancouver, B.C.
is the very large False Creek Canoe Club which by 1993 had produced a
world champion dragon boat team. Wasabi Mixed competed in the
International division.
The last race of the festival was between the top 5 international
teams and the winners of the top two local divisions. This was the
first time that Wasabi competed against Vancouver's Team Aspiration.
Team Aspirations beat Wasabi in that race by 30 seconds!
Wasabi was third but so far behind the two Vancouver teams that Wasabi
realized that it had a lot of improvement if it was to be considered a
top dragon boat team.
1993 results:
Portland: Mixed, 3rd
Open, no place
Vancouver, B.C: Mixed, 3rd in local/intl. combined
In 1994 Wasabi continued with two teams, the Mixed and the Open. The
Mixed team was essentially the same as the previous year but the Open
team was strengthened by the addition of several of the members of the
Longshoremen team. One of those members, Pat Mullen, became a strong
organizer of the open team and used his experience to provide coaching
support to Neil Lee. The Mixed team continued its winning ways with a
first place and the Open received its first trophy with a third place
finish behind the powerful Dragon Power team. In this year, there was
a local championship and an International championship. This was the
first year that a Portland team had won the international championship
when Wasabi Mixed beat the Canadian teams in the international final.
Wasabi traveled again to Vancouver, B.C. but had a disastrous first
race finishing fifth and being relegated to the consolation round of
the second-level Pacific Rim division. This race was the first time
that Wasabi had paddled in the teak boats and it did not respond well
to the low riding boats. Wasabi did, however, easily win the
consolation bracket and came away with a trophy.
1994 Results:
Portland: Mixed, 1st local
Mixed, 1st international
Open, 3rd
Vancouver, B.C.: Remax Consolation Cup
In 1995 Wasabi added a third team, the Women's team captained by
Rhoda------. The Mixed team was very similar to the original Abra
Kazam team but the Women's team was new. Like the Open team, the
Women's team was strengthened when such strong Wasabi organizers as Debra Schratz, Heidi Elliot and Sue Gawlick joined the club.
This year was the first year of two consecutive "Wasabi Sweeps" where
Wasabi won all three divisions (Mixed Competitive, Women, Open). This
year Wasabi entered 14 races and won 13. The only loss was the
Women's team loss to the Washington, D.C. based National Capitol
Women's team. Wasabi Mixed was able to beat the strong Mountain Home
team, the Open team beat the perennial powerhouse Dragon Power and the
Women team beat the long time champions the Dragon Flies.
The races in Vancouver, B.C. were not successful. Wasabi again
entered the Pacific Rim races but had trouble getting together a full
team. Unfortunately, the team just missed out on the finals.
However, there was romantic moment to the event. Paddler Fred
Walsavage proposed to Rene Winsor at the end of the Friday practice at
the venue. Of course, she accepted.
1995 Results:
Portland: Mixed, 1st local
Mixed, 1st international
Open, 1st
Women, 1st local
Women, 2nd international
Vancouver, B.C.: Mixed, no place
1996 was similar to 1995 in that Wasabi won all three divisions. The
Mixed also won the international division but there was not such race
in the women's division. The Mixed win was over Mountain Home by only
a second. By this time the Open team was being run by Neil Lee and
the Mixed boat by Vernon Lee. Leslie Hammond was providing coaching
for the Women's team and Debra Schratz a key organizer. Vernon Lee
was also the general team leader but the club had no formal structure
and recruiting and training was done on a by boat basis. The
techniques, calls, and strategies on the three boats varied quite a
bit as there was not a unifying team structure.
In Vancouver, B.C. this year were held the World Club Crew
Championships. Teams from Germany, New Zealand, Australia, China,
Philippines, Canada and the U.S. were present. Wasabi was able to
make it to the finals and placed seventh just behind Mountain Home.
The winner of the competition was False Creek Original Mixed and
second was Team Aspirations. This seventh-place finish in the World
Championships was the proof that Wasabi was finally becoming an elite
team.
Wasabi entered the Vancouver Lake, WA. race for the first time. The
result was a second place behind Mountain Home by less then a second.
Wasabi also entered races in Seattle and Redwood Shores (Northern
California Championships). In Seattle the Mixed team was third and at
Redwood Shores the Women's team (the only team Wasabi entered) was
second.
1996 Results:
Portland: Mixed, 1st
Open, 1st
Women, 1st
Vancouver, B.C.: Mixed, 7th, World Club Crew Championships
Seattle: Mixed, 3rd
Vancouver Lake, WA.:Mixed, 2nd
Redwood Shores, CA.:Women, 2nd
1997 was the last year that the core of the Wasabi Mixed was composed
of the original Abra Kazam team. By 1998 the Mixed team would be very
different. 1997 was also the first year of the new Wasabi
Recreational team. This was a mixed team of new paddlers that was
entered in the recreational division in Portland. By this time the
Portland races had broken the mixed division into three groups,
novice, recreational, competitive.
Wasabi was not able to match its success of the previous year but was
able to achieve three second places. Wasabi Mixed lost to Mountain
Home, Wasabi open lost to False Creek of Canada, and the Wasabi Women
lost to Dragon Ladies of Canada.
Again, Wasabi sent a mixed team to Vancouver, B.C. This time Wasabi
Mixed made it to the elite Cascadia Division Finals and placed fourth,
only about 5 seconds behind the winner, Team Aspirations. Wasabi Rec.
also was entered and performed well in the Pacific Rim division but
did not place.
Seattle was a heartbreaker for Wasabi Mixed. Wasabi faced the
powerful False Creek team three times that day, winning twice.
However, the False Creek win was the final so Wasabi Mixed came in
second. Wasabi Rec. just missed making the finals.
The next race was a very disappointing race at Vancouver Lake. Wasabi
Mixed was just nipped by upcoming Portland power DBI (Dragon's Breath
International). This was the first loss by Wasabi Mixed to a Portland
team besides Mountain Home since 1993 and the results hurt but it
spurred on the team for the next race. Wasabi Rec. had a good race
making the finals and finishing fourth.
Wasabi sent a mixed team and a women's team to Redwood Shores. The
mixed team combined with DBI to also form an Open team. The result
were three first place finishes.
The Mixed team was able to revenge the Vancouver Lake results, the
Women were able to take the Women's division and the DBI/Wasabi
(WasabiBreath) team was able to win their division. It was a good
weekend of racing and a good chance for Wasabi and DBI members to get
to know each other a little.
1997 was also the year that Wasabi moved from being simply a dragon
boat club to being a true paddling club. Five Wasabi members
contributed money to supplement club funds to buy a six-man outrigger.
All Wasabi members are eligible to paddle the outrigger and are
encouraged to do so to improve their paddling technique and their
strength. The outrigger was put in the water for the first time in
August and was used by members until October. The hope is that 1998
will be the first year of a concerted effort to enter Wasabi teams in
local and non-local outrigger races. Wasabi members that contributed
to starting the outrigger program include Vernon Lee, Tom Atwood,
Brian Powers, Steve Getsiv and Rolando Aquilizan.
1997 Results:
Portland: Mixed, 2nd
Open, 2nd
Women, 2nd
Rec., no place
Vancouver, B.C.: Mixed, 4th
Rec., no place
Seattle: Mixed, 2nd
Rec., no place
Vancouver Lake: Mixed, 2nd
Rec., 4th
Redwood Shores: Mixed, 1st
Open, 1st
Women, 1st
1998 was the year that Wasabi became recognized as one of the premier
dragon boat teams in the U.S. Many of the core Wasabi Mixed members
"retired" and were replaced by the core of the Open team and by some
members of the Women's team. Thus while the team has promise the team
had not paddle much together. Wasabi also welcomed four former DBI
paddlers (Taz and Ann Lee, Robin McKnight and Kim Ketchum). The Open
team took a hit with several of its members moving to the mixed team.
Also, the Portland division had no entries that could match Wasabi so
instead they entered a "Men's" division that was made up of paddlers
that could be on other teams. Some of the Wasabi Mixed men paddled
with this "Men's" team. Wasabi also fielded a "rec" team that was
entered in the newly named Division II. They changed their name to
More Wasabi to lose the perception that our second mixed team was not
as competitive as our first team.
The results in Portland were mixed. This year a fifth lane was added
for second chance teams to make the final. Also, an attempt was made
by the organizers to correct inequities in the past for lane 4.
Historically lane 4 has considered a handicap because it seemed to be
longer and affected by an eddy current that slowed the boats.
However, this year lane 4 and especially, lane five were given large
staggers that proved to be much greater than they should have been.
Basically, the top teams in the finals were placed in lanes 1 and 2
which proved to be handicaps. All final races in all divisions were
won by the teams in lane 5 which were all second chance entries in the
finals.
The Men's team was third behind two powerhouse Canadian teams,
including Team Aspirations. Unfortunately, third place did not
warrant a trophy. The Women's team was third after being placed in
lane 1. The Mixed team was second from lane 2. The Mixed team,
however, did beat Team Aspirations for the first time but lost to new
comer Alcan Team Success. More Wasabi just missed reaching the
finals.
The trip to Vancouver, B.C. was a coming of age for Wasabi and
atonement for the embarrassing race in 1993 when Wasabi lost by 30 seconds. This time Wasabi Mixed reached the finals of the Cascadia division and placed third only 1.1 seconds out of first. Again, Team Aspirations was first followed by a predominantly outrigger team called Global Securities.