Sync or Swim was started as Dragon's Choice in 1998, sponsored by Planned Parenthood and featuring the slogan, "We're Pro-Choice and We Boat!" Popular as that was, however, there were no more Planned Parenthood folks on the boat the next year and we sought out a new identity.
That's when we became Sync Or Swim, the team formerly known as Dragon's Choice. It was also in 1999 that we started to figure out what our goals were as a team -- having fun while also winning races -- and decided to go to Vancouver BC, Seattle, and Victoria BC to race in an international forum.
In 2000, the Portland/Kaohsiung Dragon Boat Festival started a new bracketing system, entering all mixed-gender teams into one field and using the first day's races to sort them into three tiers. SOS unexpectedly qualified for the top tier, giving us the opportunity to get our butts kicked by some of the best teams from the US and Canada.
The following years have proven that wasn't a fluke as S.O.S. has acheived similar results in Portland in 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2005.
In 2005 Sync
Or Swim earned two bronze medals - in the Recreational B division in Vancouver's
Alcan Dragon Boat Festival, and at Portland's Sellwood Park Races in August
Saturday 11 June 2005
Heat #12 - 1st Place 3:04:04
Heat #42 - 1st Place 3:07:61
Seeding: 7th, Division 1
Sunday 12 June 2005
Quarterfinals Heat #72 - 3rd Place 2:52:97
Complete
Portland 2005 Mixed Division Results
