Sweeping is one of the most demanding roles in a dragon boat. The sweep must be a master of multi-tasking, from steering the boat, to calling commands, to watching everyone's timing. It may look easy to the inexperienced, but once you give it a go, you may be in for a shock! Read about our newest L2 Sweep, Sue Phung, recount her first race sweep experience at Nagambie Lakes Regatta. 

The week before race day – No way I’m going to sweep at the Nagambie race even if I pass my L2 course on the day before. 

Night before Sweep Course – Getting nervous about the test, studying over the guideline a second time trying to remember everything. I am still not going to sweep at the race.

Day of L2 Sweep Course – 4 hours of theory, thinking ok, most of the stuff sounds like common sense. Passed the theory test. One thing done, now onto the water. Nerves come right back up again. Too scared to go first. Just kept reminding myself what Jack said, “you are the boss of the boat” so I have to project my voice, loud, strong and clear! I also need to remember what we were taught in the last 4 hours “always safety of the crew first”.  Managed to pass the test and get my L2. Yay! But I am still not going to sweep the next day for the race as it will be my first time doing reverse parking into a pontoon, I’ll be too nervous to do it tomorrow with everyone depending on me. 

Back at the hotel that night, Captain Palmy was going through race formations for the next day and he was explaining to Mango and myself how it works, looking at people’s body weight, balancing the boat left and right, then front and back. I never knew how much background work and thought process was involved in deciding on who to race. It was not as simple as just everyone getting on the boat and racing! It made me more appreciative of those that do all the work that is required to organise a regatta, but I tell Palmy, “I’m still not sweeping tomorrow” and he is fine with it.

After all the talking I was doing some stretching and reflecting back on the day, thinking out loud, that maybe it would be a good regatta to sweep for the first time as I was already on the water today, the water was calm and there would be good weather tomorrow. There would also not be too many people due to it being regional. It would be more nerve racking if my first sweep race was at Vic Champs or Aus Champs! Palmy straight away responds with “it’s not too late if you still want to sweep, I can still change the formations and the mix 10s would be a good one with only 10 people in a 20s boat, not as powerful as a full crew.” This was the softest I’ve heard him speak compared to his usual strong tone of passion when he is trying to push people to believe in themselves and excel. I can sense that he really wanted me to go for it, but did not want to push it too hard, understanding that I just got my accreditation and it can be nerve racking to race already. I decided to say “yes”.

Race Day – Found out I was sweeping the first race of the day “OMG!! What?!?!” Is it too late to back out? But everyone was so supportive and reassured me that I’ll be fine. So, I thought “ok just go with it, get it done with, whilst the weather is so nice and the water is calm”. Again talking to myself “remember to breathe, keep the boat in line and use commanding voice, you are the boss and they will respond”. All nerves had to be left aside and I had to look like I was confident on the outside even if I wasn’t on the inside. My team had put their faith and trust in me and I was not going to fail them! Horn goes off and we were racing down the track. I made it to the finish line, I made it still in control and the team still intact, what a relief! 

Until I took on sweeping and after this race, I did not fully understand the magnitude of responsibility a sweep has and what it truly meant to be a sweep. So much multi-tasking involved like calling commands, steering the boat on path, watching the stroke timing and strength, being alert for surrounding boats, etc. It definitely was not as easy as I initially thought when I see how cruisy and relaxed our L3 sweeps are when paddling during training. They just make it look easy. I can now say that I have full respect to all our sweeps for keeping us safe and always watching out for us! Thank you Sweeps!