Stroke, stroke, stroke, stroke! Golly, that word sounds weird after a while.
For those you you who haven’t heard about it, Day of the Longboat is a UBC REC event held at Jericho Beach. Basically, you form a team with whomever you like (I went with a faculty team) and you race against other teams in an oversized canoe. It’s more fun than I describe it to be, I promise!
Here’s how my day went:
- I got up at 6am this morning. Yes, on a Sunday (the horror!). There was no sun, and the moon was still high in the sky (and it was really, really bright).
- I drove to Jericho Beach, which took me half an hour. It was a lovely drive because all the lights along my route were pedestrian lights, and since no-one was out at 7 in the morning… What? Of course I didn’t speed!
- Paying for parking at the lot was a pain for three reasons:
- Today, you have to pay for parking; tomorrow, parking is free.
- $3 an hour. Seriously, why so outrageous?
- I had no coins, which meant I scrambled around for twenty minutes looking for people who had change for a $10 bill.
- I met up with 8 other first-year kinesiology students. Our team name? The Kintagious Kinky Kinners! …Oh boy, do Kinners love their puns.
- We went out in our
oversized canoe longboat and paddled hard. I’m pleased to say that there was no capsizing of any sort, although we came close. There was, however, lots of screaming, splashing, cheering, and laughing.
- We did not come in last place. 😀
- We soaked in the (really, super-duper-ultra-hot) hot tub for a bit, and then went out for lunch and cheered and heckled incoming teams from other heats. There were a lot of kinesiology teams out there, and we cheered for them all!
The KKK: After the race!
What disappointed me (a little): after we finished up, it felt like there wasn’t much to do. There was a feeling of “What now?” once we got out of our lifejackets, and there seemed to be no incentives for us to stick around. (Maybe that’s good, because we all had to study for our physiology midterm).
Still, I’d say Day of the Longboat is one event that all UBC students have to do at least once. If you’re looking for spirit, you’d find it here! It’s definitely a team bonding activity, so I’d recommend that you gather a group of friends, or people from your floor, or your faculty. And for goodness’ sake, not that kid you really can’t stand.
Can’t wait for next year!
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