Last weekend, NAC members (mostly from our Outrigger Team!) competed in the 2025 USDBF Club Crew National Championship in Sarasota, Florida. The members are spread across Rising Tide, Southbreeze, and Adaptive Fusion Dragon Boat clubs. They competed against other US teams from NorCal, Boston, New York, Arizona, and Texas in multiple race distances: 200 meter, 500 meter, and 2000 meters which includes turns.Southbreeze and Rising Tide teams placed 1st and 2nd place across the board in all 3 mixed divisions (co-ed). There was super tight racing where the gap came down to sometimes thousandths of seconds! And even more importantly both teams secured their bid for Club Crew World Championships in Taiwan next August/September where they will be competing on an international level!
Allison Lee said that the highlight of the trip and races were seeing the team’s hard work pay off… “and daily Publix fried chicken and Smoothie King runs!” While Joanne Lin said she loved seeing old friends and making new ones from all over the country “Plus asking a million teams to collaborate on silly social media content!” (Be sure to check out her team’s socials @risingtidedragonboat – the content is gold!)
NAC Members Taylor, Chester, Joanne, Kristen, Kayla, Ondrian, Becky, Joseph, Allison, Albert, Jackie, and Calvin. (Just missing Danny!)
Rising Tide on the Podium
NAC Member Josie Badeaux paddled for Adaptive Fusion, a paradragon crew in the PD1 and PD2 categories earning 6 gold medals and a berth to the CCWC! NAC’s President of the Board Chris Blank paddled and steered for the Adaptive Fusion PD2 crew, earning 3 gold medals for his efforts. He also paddled on the Southbreeze Senior A (40+) crew, earning 2 gold, one bronze and also earned berths to the 2026 CCWC. The racing was fierce! One highlight was the Adaptive Fusion PD2 crew beating all of the Senior C mixed crews in their 500m heat, including perennial powerhouse Philadelphia Dragon Boat Association which took 1st place in their category. Another highlight was the Southbreeze Senior A mixed crew catching and beating all of the other competitors in the 2000m final on the penultimate race of the event in a time of 9:08.521, faster than several of the crews in the Premier Mixed division.
Southbreeze Senior A crew receiving their gold medals in the 2000m category. Chris Blank – top row 4th from left. Other NAC paddlers include Mary Tran – top row 5th from right and Lisa Santos – bottom row 3rd from left.
Adaptive Fusion PD1 crew receiving one of their 6 gold medals. Josie Badeaux – bottom row 3rd from right. NAC paddlers Julius Schram – top row 3rd from left; Michael Yu – top row far right (with Devo).