Myth Comes Alive

October-November 2001

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.
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Elle Andra-Warner

Last summer I signed on as a paddler on a dragon boat thinking it would be an easy Saturday afternoon paddle. I came away with a new respect for the sport.

Dragon boating requires teamwork, as Elle discovered.

Dragon boating evolved from an ancient Chinese tradition dating back more than 2400 years to ensure bountiful crops. It was enriched by the legend around Chinese poet Qu Yuan, the popular political dissident, who lived in central China 327-248 BC. He threw himself in the Mi Luo River when his homeland was invaded. People raced out with their boats to save him but arrived too late.

Dragon boat racing is a re-enactment of those vain rescue attempts and was traditionally held on the fifth day of the fifth month according to the Chinese lunar calendar (which equates approximately to the western world's summer solstice).

Today, dragon boat race festivals are celebrated globally in cities and towns spanning over 40 countries. Almost every major city in Canada has a dragon boat race during the summer that welcomes paddlers, whether beginners or veterans.

A dragon boat in motion is a stunning sight. Propelled by twenty paddlers cutting the water simultaneously to the beat of a drum, the boat glides through the water at speeds that can reach over 4 metres (13 feet) per second. As a paddler, it is exhilarating. As a spectator, it is mythical literature come alive.

The boats, similar to the great canoes of First Nations peoples of North America's Northwest Coast, are multicoloured, slender and range between 30 to 100 feet in length. A spectacular carved dragon head is at the bow and tail at the stern, with dragon scales patterned all along the hull. The mythical dragons of Asia are considered to be good, and are venerated, unlike the demonic and evil dragons portrayed in Western folk culture that breathe fire, have wings and
are something to be slain.

Historically, dragon boats (which are not war canoes) have been raced for thousands of years in Southern China and throughout the inland, island and coastal regions of South East Asia.

In North America, most teams have 22 people: 20 paddlers sitting in pairs facing forward, one steerperson astern (who guides the boat from the steering station using a sweep oar) and one bow-seated drummer (who commands the crew while beating out the paddling stroke rhythm). The first row of paddlers (2 paddlers) are referred to as 'Strokers' as they are responsible for setting the stroke rate for the rest of the team; Rows 4 to 7 (8 paddlers) are the 'Engine Room' (as they are generally the bigger, stronger paddlers); and Rows 8-10 (6 paddlers) are called the 'Back Six'.Paddlers use single-ended paddles (similar to canoe paddles). The
object is to move the slim dragon boat down a straight line course in the best time.

The growth of dragon boating has been extraordinary. It is a fast and exciting sport, where style and rhythm is more important than power. It can also be a great team-building exercise, bringing together management and staff of one business or agency in friendly competition against others. Paddlers work for team pride and
charitable causes with entry fees going towards different charities.

There is a unique dualism to the dragon boat racing phenomena. On one side is the sports aspect-demanding, challenging and for some, highly competitive; the other is its role as the cross-cultural symbol for camaraderie, co-operation, friendship, goodwill and good times.

It was in the mid-1970s that dragon boat racing began to evolve into a global competitive watersport, with the first world competitions held in 1976 in Hong Kong. A world sport governing body, the International Dragon Boat Federation (IDBF), now develops racing rules that incorporate international standards with the preservation and promotion of the cultural tradition of dragon boat racing. The first IDBF World Dragon Boat Championships were held in 1995 in China; the recent 2001 Championships were held this summer in Philadelphia, USA.

Almost everyone can participate in dragon boating, from a young person to someone in their 70s or older. But, after last summer on a dragon boat team, I have advice to newcomers: Don't miss those practices!

Let me explain. No slouch in paddling, I was confident of my abilities. The team practices were scheduled for when I was on a six-day wilderness sea kayaking holiday in British Columbia's Johnstone Strait/Inside Passage.

I did not place much importance on missing the practices-after all, I would be paddling a kayak five hours a day on my trip.

I was wrong.

On the day of the race, besides the general bother to my teammates as I tried to decipher the strange lingo of 'engine rooms', 'strokers', and the like, I quickly discovered that paddling as a team was very different from solo kayaking.

Teamwork was key and the member roles of 'manager' and 'staff' melted with concentrated paddling efforts. Paddlers became peers working side by side to power our 40-foot dragon boat past the finish line.

I was surprised at how much collective stamina, concentration and co-operation was required-rather than brute athletic strength-to power the dragon boat. The intensity of the teamwork kept me totally focused on thrusting that paddle in and out of the water in synchronization with the paddlers in front and beside me.

And in the last thirty seconds of the race, the pounding rhythm of the drum accompanied by shouting commands from the drummer, fuelled that final adrenaline rush that pushed me to expend every bit of my energy to keep on paddling.

It was heart-throbbing raw adventure.

© Elle Andra-Warner is a freelance writer/photographer now living in Canada's North West Territories.