THOUGH Jamaica’s mixed 200m team failed by 1.1 seconds to retain the bronze medal historically won on debut at last year’s Bahamas International Dragon Boat Festival, helmsman Neil Yap Sam cannot help but beam with pride at the national record of 1:01.82 minutes set in the final at Goodman’s Bay, Nassau, Bahamas, on Sunday.

Yap Sam, 67, can safely be described as the patriarch of local dragon-boat racing, which first gained attention locally at last year’s Jamaica Dragon Boat Festival.

“Myself and a family friend, Franco Sui Chung, president of the Pan American Dragon Boat Federation of which Trinidad was a member, tried starting the sport in Jamaica from as far back as 2010 but couldn’t find a home from which to run the boats,” Yap Sam recounted, naming Vincent Chang from Purity Bakery and Sandy Chung as part of the search party.

“We tried getting Gunboat Beach, Buccaneers Beach and the old seaplane port, which is now the Dry Dock at Harbour View. We just couldn’t find a suitable base to set up the sport. An attempt was made to establish the sport in Panama, which didn’t work either, before a home was found in, ironically, Nassau, Bahamas,” which now has the best teams in the region,” Yap Sam said.

Yap Sam and Sui Chung thought they had struck gold when what appeared to be advanced negotiations to launch from Grand Hotel Excelsior Port Royal, formerly known as Morgan’s Harbour Hotel, fell through.

“It’s funny because life has come full circle and the Grand Hotel Excelsior is now our home,” Yap Sam said.

“About three years ago, David Wong Ken, a supervisory committee member of the Chinese Benevolent Association (CBA), said a friend of his had bought Morgan’s Harbour. I was already acting on behalf of CBA, trying to find a home. It was on that note that CBA decided to buy the boats from China under Siu Chang’s advice,” he recounted.

Yap Sam, who officiated at dragon-boat races, was soon forced to abandon his comfy seat on shore for the helm of dragon boats launched from the Grand Hotel Excelsior.

“I didn’t start paddling or helmsing until Jamaica. All the time in Trinidad and Nassau, I was an official. However, the CBA’s supervisory committee said I was the one with experience so I started teaching everybody how to paddle and steer,” Yap Sam explained.

neith age nor gender guarantees success in dragon-boat racing.

“At 66, last year, I went to the Bahamas and won a bronze, representing my country. This year, in the Bahamas there was an 84-year-old paddling, as well as a phenomenal young woman with a titanium prosthetic leg, made specially for the sport.

“Dragon-boat racing is about technique and being in sync with each other. You have to paddle as one,” Yap Sam said.

“When we started in Jamaica, it was to promote Chinese culture. However, dragon-boat racing is now the fastest-growing watersport in the world,” he added.

Jamaica will stage its second festival, now upgraded to international with two Bahamian and a Trinidadian team already confirmed. North American teams at the weekend’s Bahaminian festival have also expressed interest for the event on June 13-14.

“The team that went away twice and medalled afterwards lowering the national record is sanctioned as Team Jamaica. Any local team looking to unseat them will have to do so in June,” Yap Sam said.