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Please note: This introduction is part of the article about dragon boating in the USA, written by Jeff Campbell and published in the DBWI-Magazine No. 3 – July 2008
The website link however has been updated in 2021.
Wasabi was formed in 1991 by Vernon Lee. He and his brother had formed a team for the Portland Rose Festival races and were discussing the team while eating sushi. The hot and spicy nature of the sushi condiment seemed like the perfect name for a hot dragon boat team.
Wasabi quickly grew from one mixed crew to two and then three crews by adding a men’s team and a women’s team. By 1994 Wasabi was over 75 members strong and winning festivals from Canada to Southern California.
The Wasabi members are passionate about the sport and have been instrumental in expanding the sport. In 1996, Wasabi member Dorothy Atwood helped form the Pink Phoenix, the first BCS dragon boat team in the United States. Wasabi members have also been instrumental in organizing high school and special needs teams that participate in multiple dragon boat events in the Pacific Northwest.
In addition to owning multiple dragon boats, the club also owns outrigger canoes (OC-6, OC-2 and OC-1) making them a true paddling club. But the club’s activities are not just limited to paddling. The reason they are so successful is that the members are active in many different ways. They draw heavily from water sports like rowing, swimming and synchronized swimming and from team sports like softball.
Another special element of the club is how Wasabi members give back to the community. Wasabi regularly collects hundreds of pounds of food for local charities, mans the donation kettles for Salvation Army in the winter and is part of every river clean up in the area.
Wasabi today has over 300 members including the elite women’s championship crew -Team Huge; a world championship BCS team -Team SOAR (Survivors on a River); an elite senior women’s crew – Wasabi Power Surge; as well as multiple mixed and junior crews. Like that hot, green condiment, a little Wasabi goes a long way!
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