Longboat town employees practice for dragon boat race vs. local rivals

“I want everyone to start paddling together. Ready? Go! One. Two. Three. Four. Five. One. Two. Three. …”

With that encouragement from their instructor, town of Longboat Key employees paddled into the distance, away from the shore of Palma Sola Causeway Park and into relative solitude.

This newly formed team, nicknamed Longboat Oar Bust, will compete against teams made up of town employees from Anna Maria Island and Holmes Beach on Saturday in the first annual Anna Maria Island Dragon Boat Festival at the eastern end of Palma Sola Causeway Park. The three towns will also have a practice race earlier in the day.

Because the race is part of an event that also features 40 club teams from across the southeastern United States, there is no set time for Longboat’s competition. The entire dragon boat racing event is scheduled from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m., with divisions ranging from premier to seniors to breast cancer survivors. All races will double as food drives, with contestants providing nonperishable items to be donated to The Food Bank of Manatee.

Longboat Oar Bust consists of volunteer participants Joe Brunory, Paul Dezzi, Patti Fige, Barry Gaines, Tom Harmer, Daniel Heath, Jason Keen, Michelle Lowe, Allen Parsons, Savannah Schield and Sue Smith. According to Harmer, everyone on the team is racing a dragon boat for the first time, which means they had to lean on their instructor for direction.

“It's a little bit of teamwork for us, because we have to practice and work together and we have to follow a certain lead. And then also be in sequence.”

Harmer said the team-building lessons learned on the water could be applicable in the workplace as well. And there were surely lessons learned after spending an hour on the water practicing an entirely foreign sport together.

Harmer described the upcoming race as a friendly competition. But make no mistake. Longboat Oar Bust wants to earn the title as “champion of the island cities.”

“We want to represent the town well, and we want to bring back the trophy,” Harmer said. “We’re optimistic for sure… we expect to win.”