Overview of Dragonboating

The sport of Dragon Boat racing originated in China over 2500 years ago. Now, over 60 countries have teams dedicated to Dragon Boat racing. They are all organized under the International Dragon Boat Federation (IDBF) and compete at many races, culminating at the World Championships. Over 2000 competitors from all over the world come to race at Worlds.

A Dragon Boat crew consists of 22 people. Twenty paddlers, sitting in pairs and seated forward, provide power and speed. The paddle is a straight bladed paddle, derived from the paddle shapes from early China. Paddlers only paddle on one side of the boat. There are special “sections” dividing paddlers in the boat. The two lead paddlers set the pace and are called “pacers” or “strokers”. The middle section is called the “engine room”, where the strongest paddlers are in the lowest part of the dragon boat, where they have the best reach and catch. The last few rows of paddlers must paddle with a faster recovery because the current created by the paddlers in front makes the water move faster in the stern. They are called “rockets”.  All paddlers in the dragon boat must paddle at exactly the same pace to maximize speed and efficiency. The drummer, who sits in the front of the boat facing the rear, beats a drum to indicate the cadence of the paddlers’ pace. They drum in time with the two lead paddlers to help the rest of the team keep the pace. The steersperson stands in the stern of the boat with a 10 foot steering oar. They are responsible for keeping the boat going straight inside the narrow racing lanes and dealing with wash from other boats.

United States Dragon Boat Federation trials

The weekend of May 22^nd, 2011, Midwest trials for representing the United States at the IDBF World Championships took place in Duluth, MN. There were other trials held across the country, such as California, Florida and Philadelphia. Ron Deters, a long-time paddler and coach for the Wiki Wiki Wahine (A club dragon boat team based in Duluth, MN, which has made good showing in the Club World Championships) organized the trials, to be held at the Ship’s Store marina. The course was a little more than 500 meters long.

Early Friday afternoon, Io Harberts and I started the trip up to Duluth. It was incredibly rainy on the drive. We were first going to attend and volunteer at the Wiki Wiki Wahine (Io is a team member) benefit dinner and silent auction, to raise money for the team to go to Hong Kong for the Club Championships. They served delicious Chinese food, which was organized by Belissa Ho (another Wiki member). That night, we stayed at Belissa’s house rather than camping.  In the morning, the fog was thick and it was difficult to navigate to the canal where the trials were being held. The Team USA coach, Bob McNamara, was unable to get a flight up to Duluth because the airport closed due to weather. We made it to the marina, where we started the trials without him. The entire day was videotaped and timed, and then sent to the coach.

The trials consisted of an all-out sprint in a solo Outrigger Canoe (OC1) for a little over 500 meters, by yourself. You were only allowed to paddle on one side the entire race and you had to use a dragon boat paddle. To steer, you use peddles (much like a kayak). You may think that’s not so bad… until you get 15 seconds into it and have to fight the urge to switch sides! The start was at the Marina dock. Two organizers with radios held the boat and gave you directions. The fog was so thick you couldn’t see the finish; it was just white in every direction. The only thing you could do was point in the general direction of the finish and hope you stayed in a straight line. The starters counted down, and the gun went off. Never having used a dragon boat paddle before (for that matter, never been in an OC1 before either!), I had accidentally taken a too-short paddle and I really felt that mistake in my forearms. After just 15 seconds, the instinct to “hut” was overwhelming, and I really had to concentrate on not doing so. My lungs were burning and I had to concentrate on breathing and keeping my pace up. I finished, and I was disappointed with my time (3:29). I decided that I would recover and try again after everyone else had done their trial. My second time I drank plenty of water and ate and I chose a longer-shafted paddle. That race went much more smoothly, and I was much happier with my time (3:15)! The fastest woman (Emily Peterson) finished in 2:59, and the fastest man (Al Rudquist) finished in 2:38, for perspective. Each race was videotaped by Julie Deters.

The second part of the trials consisted of everyone getting into the actual dragon boat and getting videotaped. This was to see how well everyone could adapt to the calls and pace. Being the fastest paddler is great, but you must be able to keep absolute perfect time with everyone else in the boat. If not, the boat goes slower. Ron and Julie Deters acted as the strokers, and Io and I were the rockets. We didn’t have a drummer (they are mostly ceremonial and used for races) but a woman named Megan came and was the steersperson. Everyone else was engine room. We went back and forth in the canal, with different paces and starts, while everyone got taped. We switched sides also, to see how we paddled on both sides. Paddling a dragon boat at first was like trying to paddle a barge, but as soon as we got the momentum going, the boat was going fast and smooth and it was very fun!

The footage and times were sent to Bob McNamara. He reviewed the tapes and considered the times, though with different situations for each trial in the country, times are not a good indication. He was looking for paddlers who were strong and could keep time. 

Aftermath

I received an email a week after the trials, informing me that I had qualified to paddle with Team USA at the IDBF Dragon Boat World Championships in the U23 age category. Most of the other U23 paddlers are from the west coast. U23 Team USA is entered in the open and mixed divisions. All women selected would paddle mixed, and all men would paddle open and half would paddle mixed. Each division races 200m, 500m, 1000m and 2000m distances. The entire team is expected to arrive in Tampa a few days before the races for practices. Opening ceremonies are on August 2^nd, and the races will be held August 3-7^th. I am very excited to participate in and watch Dragon Boat races at the highest level of competition in the world!