Hey Melanie, welcome to the group. We do monthly spinjams and will try to keep you posted here. We also post up on Facebook. Our next meetup is this Sunday 1/15 from 3pm-9pm at Hollywood Young Circle Arts Park. We have about 50 people confirmed at the facebook page. I'll set up an event her for the members now and include a link to the FB event page. See you soon.
Dragon boat is an exciting water sport that is one of thefastest growing sports in the country. The difference between winning and losing is a tenth of a second.
PUFF MISSION STATEMENT
Our mission is to cultivate a team environment that is conducive to each member’s discovery of his or her own personal best. Besides having fun, making friends, exercising our butts off, and working together to beat the living daylights out of the competition while promoting the international sport of dragon boating, we are here to develop and perform at our highest levels.
We come from all walks of life, all ages, and all backgrounds. We are made up of different shapes and sizes and we each have distinct (and for some, crazy) personalities. Some of us have been paddling for eons; for others, it is our first venture on the high seas. Even so, we treat each other as equals, and celebrate our unique strengths.
Puff is a community of individuals with a common goal: to better ourselves as athletes while contributing to team unity and excellence. We do so by adhering to the following values:
Sportsmanship: We compete to win, but in the process, we play fair, and display courtesy.
Team Spirit: We give 110%. We are only as strong as our weakest link. So we paddle together - in sync and as a team - and in return we learn that together, we are more than the sum of our individual strengths.
Respect : We appreciate and maintain high regard for one another. The pacers, the engine room, the terminators, the drummer, the steersman, the captain, the coach … everyone counts, everyone matters.
Outrageousness: We laugh, poke fun, socialize, and we do so together, reveling in our friendship.
Never Give Up: As buoyant as our boat, we recover quickly from ‘off’ practices and races and continue focusing on future wins.
Guts: We brave the rough currents, wind, rain and hail and we even brave the power boaters and jet skiers – because nothing will stop us from training our bodies and our minds (except for lightning, of course!)
What is a Dragon Boat Race?
The video below shows exactly what racing on a dragon boat is like. The different stages of the race include lining up of the boats at the beginning of the race, start sequences, following every call made by the steersperson, and a finish. Every member is in perfect synch with the other, moving the boat as one unit, one team. If one member does not pull their weight the race could be lost entirely as races are won or lost often by less than a second. The race starts at 1:45 below.
What is Puff all about?
Practice Winter 2012 (Held at Oleta State Park)
Learn more on our team by visiting our about page. Also, take a look at the recent article on Puff written by the Biscayne Times.
