Swimming with Dragons
More Lunatic Fun in My Village
On my most recent trip to the US, I bought a Nikon AW120. I didn’t do this because of all the fancy settings (someday, I’ll figure out what those do 
). I got it for one reason. I wanted to take pics of Dragon Boats while in the pond. I don’t mean just while getting splashed while sitting in a boat. I mean I wanted to go swimming with dragons. 
I am definitely crazy, but I’m not quite as stupid as those observing from the shore and bridges might think. To begin my adventure, I would jump out of my boat near one of the support columns for the last of the 3 main bridges over the pond. Sometimes, the carefully laid plans of Lunatics don’t quite work out. I had to make everyone on my boat aware of the plan or they’d stop to rescue me. Instead of the perfectly timed exit which would put me only 3 meters from the column, one of my friends gave me a helpful shove overboard about 15 meters too soon. At least the people on the bridge got a good view of me swimming towards my destination. I headed to where the lane marker’s cables were tied around the column, giving me something to hold onto.
Hey! What’s that Lunatic doing in the pond?
Having something to hang onto worked out well since I haven’t yet located swim fins in China. As far as safety goes, pretty much it came down to this:
If a dragon boat hits me, it also hits a very thick concrete column, shatters, and sinks. Since no boats have done this during any of the previous years, I felt like there was little risk of being run down by a dragon boat while having the column be the next thing the boat would hit. The less-than-clean water was a little worrisome. I usually get a bit ill with pond sickness each year after the first time I get any of the water splashed in my face. 
Happily, this progressed from 3 days in the hospital in 2007 (from a single round of practice) to only feeling slightly sick last year. (UPDATE: Other than a minor case of heat exhaustion one day, I didn’t get sick at all during Dragon Boat season this year. I guess I’m finally immune to pond sickness. ).
The camera is waterproof, but the delay between pics is a little long – means I get one chance at an action shot. (UPDATE: After consulting with a photographer in the village as well as my Uncle Steve in the US, it turns out that I just needed a MUCH faster card for the camera to cut the time spent writing the image to the card to a reasonable fraction of a second.)
There was ONE pic I really wanted. A longboat blowing by at full speed close enough that I could reach out and touch it. This meant risking life and limb (and who knows what strange and hideous tropical diseases) by hurling myself into the pond while 30 meter boats rip past.
So, after contemplating this for several years, there I was in the water. Then the dragons came.
The first boat that got close was a short Dragon Boat
At last, I’m in the water next to a 30 meter long Dragon Boat
This also meant convincing all the passing boats that I didn’t need to be rescued. My pathetic language skills actually made this easier. A big smile and pointing to the camera worked far better than trying to shout “I’m fine. I’m just taking pictures. Don’t stop to rescue me.” over the sounds of drums and gongs.
I’m very good at non-verbal communication
I knew sooner or later, someone in charge would try to have me dragged out of the pond, so I was taking pictures whenever any boat got close.
Another long Dragon Boat – but not at full speed
The crew of this short Dragon Boat decided I needed more water 🙂
One person was doing his best to convince me to come to shore, but I wasn’t happy enough with the photos I’d taken so far. Some were good, but I wanted something a little better. My lovely wife did her best to run interference, but somehow, if a foreigner gets hurt, the paperwork someone gets stuck filling out is more complicated. It was only a matter of time before someone decided to call village security and dispatch a motorboat to forcibly retrieve me. I was considering giving up, but saw one more longboat heading my way at full speed.
I hung there on the cable with my feet braced against the column, waiting for the right instant. I pressed the button, waved at the guys in the boat as it passed, and then swam to shore.
Waiting for that perfect shot
As I was climbing the steps out of the pond, I checked the photo – it looked good on the camera’s screen. but I still needed to see it full sized. (I just checked – I like it!).
Checking the last pic before I even got all the way out of the pond
I would have preferred it to be one of the boats from my sector of the village. Still, I think this is probably the best action photo I’ve taken. Some of the shots above are good, but I think this is the best of the group.
Long Dragon Boat, full speed, and very close – perfect!
All that was left to do was run across the bridge and catch the next North Gate sector boat. The drawback – Cantonese helpfulness is sometimes a little . . . too helpful. 
I was attempting to simply climb into the boat, but was helpfully dragged in. Ah well, at least it was only a few bruises – a small price for the fun I had swimming with dragons.
After swimming with dragons, there was still time to paddle
NOTE: After I told him about this adventure, my Uncle Steve also alerted me to the “Sports Mode” that takes 5 pics in quick succession (someday I’ll Read The Friendly Manual. Now all I need is a good pair of swim fins and I’ll have much better pics of Swimming with Dragons if I can ever talk village officials into letting me jump overboard again.
NOTE 2: I also took some video while in the pond. Getting it edited and uploaded is on my never-ending to-do list.
