Awakening the Dragons
Commanding a Freshly Awakened Dragon
Awakening the Dragons – because it’s time to race!
For the first couple of years, I missed out on awakening the dragons. Finally, when some new boats were built a few years back, it took a lot of people to get them moved into the water. The next year, I helped get the boats out of storage and rode the last one out of the shed. The next year, there was an error in communication and/or scheduling. I reported to the pond only to see all the dragon boats had already been awakened and deployed. 
I decided I wanted to do something a little more impressive this year. If at all possible, I was going to captain a long boat out of storage. 
Step 1. Find the Keeper of the Keys, because anyone else might have incorrect information about when the boats would be taken out of storage. Since he’s the guy with the keys, none of North Gate sector’s boats were going anywhere if he didn’t unlock the boat shed. Unfortunately, it turns out he’s one of about 20 people in all of China without a cell phone, so I had to chase him around the village to get updates every few days as Dragon Boating season approached.
Step 2. Finally find the correct date and something resembling a planned time for the boat shed to be opened, then show up early.
The shed with my sector’s pair of long boats also has one of our short boats inside.
Three dragons about to be awakened
The short dragon boat was sitting on sawhorses a little above the water. It weighs only a fraction of what a long boat weighs, so getting it launched was quick and easy. Lift the end closest to the water gates, remove the sawhorse on that end. Next, lower that end into the water, push towards the gate, and the second sawhorse falls on its side freeing the dragon boat.
The short dragon awakened and successfully launched
The long boats were a bit more complex. There were sawhorses and support poles below. To lower them, there’s a pair of chain hoists above. The hoists were first used to lift the first boat just enough to remove the poles and sawhorses. Then, the direction was reversed and the boat was slowly lowered down, all to the mixed sounds of firecrackers and shouted localized Cantonese commands – mostly about one hoist or the other coming down too fast or too slow, I think.
Low low lower the boat, gently to the pond
Since the dragon was just waking up, I petted it’s head once it got within reach. Finally, it was safely afloat and had about 8 or 10 crewmembers ready to take it out into the pond.
First long boat awake and heading out of the boat shed
For the second long boat, as soon as the chains started getting lowered, I positioned myself near the dragons head. This was both to pet the awakening dragon as well as putting me in the right place to seize command.
Setting up the chain hoist on the second long boat
At long last, the second long boat was afloat in the boatshed. I grabbed the front and helped to guide it forward. As the nose was about to clear the water gate, I leapt aboard and took up my position on the command platform. My valiant dragon continued to slowly glide forward as a handful of crew climbed into their seats. I turned forward to make certain that the nose was angled far enough to port to clear the land on the other side of the bridge.
Captain’s view looking aft during launch of a dragon boat
We were clear. My long-awaited moment of glory had finally arrived! I triumphantly raised my arm, to point outward.
At last, I’m captaining a ship out of dock. Onward into the pond!
Then as I turned back to direct the crew to head slowly forward and noticed something very odd:
For some reason, we’d come to a total stop with the dragon boat only part way out of the shed. 
Then I noticed a second odd thing:
My mighty ship was completely lacking the dilithium crystals paddles needed for propulsion. The children who helped to undock the first departing long boat had taken all the remaining paddles with them. 
It’s really bad if Captain Lunatic does a facepalm
So, there I was, fully in command of a dragon boat only able to follow 2 commands, All Stop and Drift. A couple of the guys still standing in the water were already firmly holding my freshly awakened dragon in place, so I didn’t even get to make that choice. 
Undocked, Check! Enough crew to move, Check! Paddles, ???
As expected, there was quite a bit of loud discussion in localized Cantonese going on towards the tail of the boat about how to resolve this unfortunate dilemma. After a lengthy delay, some paddles finally showed up.
Paddles – pretty much a necessity on a dragon boat
Finally, it was possible to move, so I started attempting to direct the action. Off we went, making a staggering graceful turn in the small pondlet where the boat sheds are located before getting lined up to take our mighty vessel beneath the small bridge. From there we’d head out into the main pond. I was reasonably pleased to get us past the small bridge with no incidents.
Captain Lunatic vs. The Small Bridge
All we had to do next was get into one of the marked lanes, go under the #2 and #1 bridges and get parked. This should have been easy. I’d occasionally commanded boats during two previous Dragon Boat Festivals and never had anything worse than a few minor scrapes on parking. What I’d never done before was command a boat with so few crew members and a very inexperienced guy on the rudder. As I directed a simple turn to starboard, he managed to smack the boat into a lane marker flag and almost clipped another one. My shout of “Mr. Sulu! Are you drunk?” fell on ears lacking the language and cultural background to get the reference. 
We’re free of the lane markers and cruising under the #1 bridge
Docking was also a bit off-kilter, but fewer crew members also considerably reduced my boat’s momentum. This made it easier for me to have one foot on the boat and one on the landing to prevent any scraping as my dragon was parked.
One dragon awakened and safely parked
Now that the dragons had been successfully awakened, the next task was feeding them. For this, there’s a “Mouth Stuffing Ceremony“. This involves jamming ALL of the village’s boats into a tight area as well as quite a few strings of firecrackers being lit and thrown by the captain on the way to and from the ceremony. Normally, commanding a single boat while not speaking the language isn’t nearly as hard as it looks. Trying to not blow my hand off while directing my boat and simultaneously trying to discuss how not to get into a collision with the captains on either side in a very tight cluster of boats is an honor I’ll skip for the time being. Instead, I retreated to my favorite spot for paddling – the back row. This had the added advantage of greatly reducing my chances of having a stray pack of exploding firecrackers landing on top of me.
Sitting in the back of the boat during the Dragon Boat Mouth Stuffing ceremony
Next year, when it’s time for awakening the dragons, I’m going to make sure to hide a few paddles in the second long boat while the first long boat is being lowered. 
The two big dragons about to be awakened
