Therese works the video, Lou tries to stay warm. He should have a cool dragon hat.

Coach Chris, well, coaches Joey (hiding in her hood).

October? WHAT-ever. Does that look like October to you? Maybe in Finland.

Everyone was cold; 50F with rain? Yeah.

A lonely steerperson waits.

Nobody got a tan this year.

Dave and Sue smile for the camera.

With the winds blowing at 20-30mph, poor Denise was stuck against the tent wall most of the morning.

Arturo and Geoff work strategy, while Bill manages.

Bill takes in the first race of the day.

The Wyeth Team HQ on the river.

The added plastic kept some of the rain out.

Geoff Stuart, Christine Innes, Mike Gregor, and Jack Tierney.

Jerra, Sue, and Vicki.

Mike, Arturo, Geoff, and an unsuspecting bag about to get torched on the grill.

Patricia, Geoff, Chris, and Denise do their eskimo impersonations in the early AM.

One out of five have had coffee. Guess who?

Our paddles had somewhat slightly simpler accomodations.

Now THIS is a POC (see race report for definition of POC).

Jarra shows us what a good cup of joe can do for one's mood on a cold morning.

Jennifer Kershner warms the tent with that smile!

Getting changed pre-race is a tricky matter when everything is either wet or muddy.

Joey works on the starting count with Coach. Three more, Joey!

J.R. Hildreth, Wyvern Emeritus.

Karenlee didn't want me to take the picture, but with 23 layers on, like she'd chase me?

Lou and Nanette hang by the seawall.

We should have built a campfire, or something.

Denise has had coffee. Not sure about Bill. Can you tell?

Steffenhagen Profile Study.

It's tough to spectate and wait for your team on such a rainy, cold day.

Team Picture, before the Pharmaceutical Cup Race.

Yes, we've all seen "March of the Penguins." It works!

The traditional Bill Donnelly Heat Sheet.

Four years running, nobody else has a hat even remotely as cool as our Ms. Stephens.

Therese and Nanette stay out of the early morning rain.

Vicky, Mary Kay, Linda, and Yvonne work on staying warm.

Jarra shows the side we want to show everyone else on the river.

Brrrr!

The Wyeth Team Tent and Paddle Storage Facility.

If you somehow go hungry at the festival, it's your fault.

Coach holds the meeting before the Pharma race.

Seat assignments, final instructions.

The moments before the first race are always very tense.

Pharmaceutical Cup Race - Wyeth leads!

Moving into a bigger lead...as the camera phone beams our race live to, somewhere.

We've got a boat length!

We raced in the second heat of the Pharma Cup Race, so now we had to wait...

Even though we won the heat, was our time fast enough to win back the Pharma Cup?

Not only was it fast enough to win the cup, but our 2:09 would be the fastest time of the day!

Back to the tent; dry clothes, some food, and time to wait until the afternoon schedule comes out.

I think Patricia was happy with the Pharma Race!

I had the privilege to paddle with the 'Eyes of the Dragon' team, the only visually impared team on the East Coast.

Why am I wearing a blindfold here?

So when racing, I'm blind like the rest of my teammates.

When the rain falls, you hide wherever you can.

When you need to dry your gear between races, you need to improvise.

A-Division Semi-Final. The Pittsburgh Paddlefish come over to say, "Hi!"

You know what sound a wood paddle makes when it hits carbon fiber?

BBRRRAAAACK! BRRRAAACCK! BBBRRRRAAACK!

This is not distorted by the telefoto; the drummers were that close. Joey shows our lead in Lane 4.

Joey works the sprint, the Main Line drummer begs for more, while the GSK drummer tries to spot the finish line tower...

After getting dinged by the Paddlefish and somehow winning the semi-final by 0.20 seconds, we were one relieved boat.

For the 4th year in a row...

...we're going to the big dance!

See you in the Grand Final, again!

Wyeth would be the #1 seed in the Championship Race for the first time ever.

What's Rule Number One? Here, Coach seems to be trying to remind us.

One race to go now.

To celebrate our semi-final win, Joey models a race course buoy on her head.

Arturo told me he was just concentrating here.

What's funny, is that he did the same exact thing last year.

Therese's view of Arturo's deep state of concentration.

"Mom! You rule!"

Mom knows it, too.

The boats of Great White North wait by the loading docks.

When it's race time, the tent scene is pretty busy.

But never so busy that some of our friends from the Schuylkill Dragons can't come visit.

Sue and Jerra model the 2006 shirts and paddles.

Patrick and Mrs. Conboy model the survival apparel needed to get through the day.

When we heard that J.R. and Jennifer were going to be manning a grill for us, it was great news.

But once we learned how warm that grill could be? It became THE place to hang out.

Thanks, J.R.! Can we put down a deposit on this baby for next year?

Coach goes over the race plan before the Grand Final.

Chris has been racing Dragon Boats for 20+ years.

When Coach talks, everybody listens.

Coach reminds us of the start and plan, while Bill readies the last Psych Sheet update for the day.

That's my father filming with the video camera in the back.

Patricia takes it all in.

Grand Final Start!

475 Meters to go. Did we listen to the plan?

We've got a slight lead...

Despite what it looks like, we're actually head-to-head with pretty much the entire field here.

The timing is good, as the daylight disappears.

THIS is what it felt like.

The Wyverns in 4 fight to stay with Steel City in 5.

The sprint is on - we're closing in!

Steel City leads by a Dragon Head...

Another look at rush-hour at 6:30PM on the river.

Unfortunately, we didn't know the ending yet!

The officials made no announcement - we didn't know where we'd finished.

At first, we thought we were second to Steel City...

But as we paddled back to the docks, the officials consulted, made their call, and that was that.

As Billy steered us for home, we were the champs!

The 2006 Wyeth Wyverns.

Philadelphia International Dragon Boat Festival Champions, Pharmaceutical Cup Champions, and fastest team on the water.

We ended up winning by about the length of one of these.

Geoff Stuart and his wife, Patti.

Geoff shows us how he would have defended the boat from the Paddlefish.

4 out of 5 people were ready for this picture. Can you guess who?

Another look at the Donnelly Psych Sheet, with our fastest time of the day!

Coach Chris shows off the hardware for winning the Pharma Cup.

J.R. Hildreth and Mike Gregor, with the Pharma Cup Plaque.

Patricia skates with the cup! Well, not really, but still...

Wyeth Wyverns - 2006 Champions!

The phone Arturo is holding? That's Carlos Moscol, from Madrid (we missed you, Carlos!).

"Hey man! We WON AGAIN!"

Everyone wants to say "Hi!" to Carlos.

Post-race celebration at Jack's Firehouse.

Arturo shows his Wyvern pride - keep that hardware on, man!