This past weekend I went up to Ithaca for the Finger Lakes Dragonboat Festival and just to hang out at Cornell. The festival was pretty fun and the water on Cayuga Lake was clean. The Ithaca race is the most I've paddled at a dragonboat festival but it felt good, and both our boats placed in our division. I was the pacer for my boat and it was the first time I've paced in a race. It was a good experience and it felt good being the pacer and winning. We had three 500meter races and a 2000meter race, and overall Wall Street Dragons got 2 gold, 1 silver, and 1 bronze. I really enjoyed racing the 2k, even though it was 11 minutes of hell, but it was fun fending off the other boats and stay ahead of everyone else.
Besides the dragonboat festival, I also went gorge jumping at Second Dam. The place was much nicer than the gorges by Beebe Lake because the water was much cleaner so it felt pretty good swimming around in the lake. There were several 15-foot jumps, which were all doable, and then there was a 50-foot or so jump. I stayed on the lower jumps because they were easier and weren't as scary. I've jumped the tall one at Beebe Lake freshman year so I didn't want to do it again.
It was a good weekend spent away from the city. The weather was perfect for all the outdoor water activities I did too.
Gold and bronze for my boat!
Gorge jumping!
