San Francisco’s Rainbow Koi Team- a wide ranging team consisting of many colors, encompasses of homosexuals, transgender and the straight alike. As it appears, the team is as unique as its name, harbouring still the same strong bond of a dragon boating team. The team was put together with Gay Asian Pacific Alliance along with the Asian Pacific Islander Queer Women and Transgender Community last 2004. Michael Ellis was its first coach, along with Jean Danao as its first captain.

Rainbow Koi became San Francisco’s Rainbow Koi dragon boat team last 2004 when they were discovered by a 10 year veteran coach Jeniffer Eng at their novice race at Lake Merced, San Francisco. On its second season, the team became a part of the Recreational Division. With it’s motto: “Fierce and Fabulous!” the team was able to bring home a silver medal in 2006 at the first out games in Montreal, Canada. They later snatched a gold medal at Kaiser Permanente San Francisco International Dragon Boat Festival in the Rec C Division.

On its 4th season as a dragon boat team, the team’s goal this year: ‘to have fun’ later evolved into ‘to win’. Of course, now that they have paddled hard and got the gold, the team is reportedly saying that they would still aim for gold all the way.
The team’s mission is also almost close with its motto. With the goal to liven up and increase the involvement of LGBT athletes in this fast-growing sport: dragon boating. This only proves that the team’s fighting spirit could not get dampened by anything. Apart from having fun, the team is letting their ‘fellow brothers and sisters’ have the opportunity to be their selves once in a while without gaining the occasional ‘raised eyebrows’ from other people.

As the team glides in the waters of Bay Area, San Francisco Rainbow Koi is looking forward on a much stronger team while being fierce and fabulous all the way with recruiting more members.

There are a lot of things to see in Dragon Boat races and the most thrilling part of the festival is the crowd of people that are there to witness and participate in the event. Generally, Dragon Boats are brilliantly painted and decorated with some shades of Chinese old ancient tradition. It varies from 40 to 100 feet in length, including their heads which shaped-like a hearty dragons, while the firm end has a flaking tail. It has the capability to handle 80 powered rowers including drummer and a flag-catcher. Before the start of the festival, a dragon goes through a certain ritual called “brought to life”. This is done by painting the eyes in a sanctified ceremony. Races have no definite numbers of boats that wants to participate and compete, with the winner being the first team to grab a flag at the end of the course. Once a year, dragon races are held all over China, Macao, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and other countries around the globe.

Zong zi is a glutinous rice ball, wrapped in corn leaves with fillings which are the traditional food for the Dragon Boat Festival. The fillings can be steamed beans, egg, fruits, dates, sweet potato, mushrooms, walnuts, meat, or a combination of them.
Another part of the Double Fifth Day is the timing: at the beginning of summer, when infections are possible to strike, talisman is being worn by the people to dissuade evil spirits. At the doorsteps, you can find Zhong Kui’s picture, an evil spirits protector. During these days, adults can taste Xiong Huang Wine, while children can bring scented silk pouches, because they believe that these acts can avert evil. Some people believe that balancing a rare egg on its end at exactly noon on Double Fifth Day will bring you prosperity for the whole year.

Indeed, Dragon Boat Festival is filled with excitement and thrill. Not to mention the reflection of Chinese traditions and cultures that are so wealthy and interesting revealed through this festival.

Be sure to continue to checkout my dragonboat blog regularily for the latest Dragonboat news.

For more information, visit: http://www.azdba.com/Festival/festival_index.htm

Dates: March 28/29, 2009
Venue: Tempe Town Lake

The festival is held between the 5th – 7th June 2009.
Venue is at the Man made lake of Putrajaya, Malaysia.