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Frequently Asked Questions
| When is dragon boating season? |
| Dragon Boat season starts in early November
with "on the water training" although the more dedicated
teams may start conditioning training early (eg at public pools
or in the gym). |
| Practices continue till just before
Christmas and resume a week or so into the New Year. |
| Teams have a first opportunity to put
their training to a test at the "earlybird" regatta
- this coincides with Chinese New Year in early February. |
| South Island's major regatta for the
season is at the start on March. So for 2008 this is Saturday
1st March (for Corporate and Open teams) and 2nd March (for School
teams). |
| How much does it cost? |
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Aoraki is very keen to grow the sport in Canterbury, and the
de-motivator for most teams is the cost. Aoraki charge entry
fees to Regattas on a cost recovery basis (we are a not-for-profit
organisation), as follows (excludes GST):
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Team Fees:
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| Corporate, or Breast Cancer Survivor |
$2,500 (2 regatta) |
| Open grade (eg Clubs) |
$2,500 (2 regatta) |
| Chch School |
$500/regatta |
| Other NZ School |
$500/regatta |
Adult teams from other cities
(Auckland, Wellington etc) |
$550/regatta |
| Overseas |
$600 (typically) |
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| An annual Subscription is also levied,
as follows (excludes GST): |
| |
Aoraki |
NZDBA |
| Corporate, or Breast Cancer Survivor |
$150 pa |
$150 pa |
| Open grade (eg Clubs) |
$150 pa |
$150 pa |
| Chch School |
$75 pa |
$75 pa |
Aoraki pass NZDBA subs direct to NZDBA. |
| Where does dragon boat practice and racing take
place? |
| In the past, practices have been on
Lyttelton Harbour out of Magazine Bay into neighbouring Cass and
Corsairs Bays. And up until 2007 Christchurch races were at Lake
Roto Kohatu near the Airport. |
| But from 2007, races are on the Avon River (Kerr's
Reach near Porritt Park), Lake Pegasus (North Canterbury), or Lake Hood (near Ashburton)... |
| ... while practices
are at Owles Terrace near New Brighton. |
| So what's a Dragon Boat? How big is it? |
| Boats are about 12.5 metres long and
about 1.16m at their widest. They weigh between 250 and 300kg.
They have ten seats for paddlers, one for the caller ("drummer") at the front,
and the sweep stands at the stern. |
| How many are in a dragon boat crew? |
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The standard crew is 22, made up of:
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- 20 paddlers in pairs facing toward the bow of the boat,
- a caller (or drummer) at the bow facing toward the paddlers,
and
- a sweep (aka steerer, tiller or helm) who stands at the
rear of the boat.
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| What does the caller do? |
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The drummer or callers may be considered the "heartbeat" of
the dragon boat, and leads the crew throughout a race with the
rhythmic beating of a drum to indicate the timing and frequency
of paddling strokes (that is, the cadence, picking up the pace,
slowing the rate, etc.)
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| More experienced crews like to set their
own pace, so the Caller's role is to issue commands to the crew
through a combination of hand signals and voice calls, and also
generally exhorts the crew to perform at their peak. A Caller
is mandatory during racing events, but if he or she is not present
during training, it is typical for the Sweep to direct the crew. |
| Good Callers should be able to synchronize
the drumming cadence with the strokes of the leading pair of paddlers,
rather than the other way around. The Caller remains aware of
the relative position of the dragon boat to other boats, and to
the finish line, in order to correctly issue commands to the crew
as to when to best surge ahead, when to hold steady and when to
peak for the finish. |
| An expert level Caller will be able
to gauge the power of the boat and the paddlers through the sensation
of acceleration, deceleration, and inefficiencies which are transmitted
through the hull (ie. they will physically feel the boat action
through their feet and gluteus maximus muscles). |
| Do the paddlers have different roles? |
| The paddlers sit facing forwards, and
use a specific type of paddle. The leading pair of paddlers (called
"pacers", "strokes" or "timers")
set the pace for the team. It is critical that all paddlers are
synchronized. Each paddler should synchronize with the paddler
diagonally in front of them. This ensures that the paddling pace
is balanced and all energy is spent on moving the boat forward.
The direction of the dragon boat is set by the Sweep, not the
paddlers. The lead paddlers are responsible for synchronizing
themselves. See Training Tips. |
| If paddlers are not synchronized, each
successive pair of blades hits the water a fraction of a second
behind the blades in front of them. To an onshore observer, this
effect resembles the movement of a many-legged caterpillar or
centipede; thus, a coach may discipline a team for "caterpillaring."
During a race it is difficult to stay in sync as the sounds of
other drums make it confusing or unreliable to time off the drum
beat. |
| Very experienced paddlers will feel
the response of the boat and its surge or resistance through the
water via the blades of their paddles, and will adjust their reach,
and the catch of their blade tips, in accordance with the power
required to match the acceleration of the hull through the water
at any given moment. |
| How is the boat steered? |
| The Sweep (or steerer, helm, steersman,
or tiller) controls the dragon boat with a steering oar similar
in function to a tiller which is mounted at the rear of the boat.
|
| The responses of the oar are opposite
to the direction they take - if the Sweep pulls the oar right,
or into the boat, the boat will turn left, and if they push out,
or left, the boat turns right. |
| The Sweep may work with the Caller
to call out commands during a race. In fact the Sweep has the
power to override the Caller at any time during the race (or the
coach during practise) if the safety of the crew is threatened
in any way. |
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| History of Dragon Boating: |
| Dragon boats are believed to have originated
in southern central China more than 2,500 years ago, along the
banks of the Chang Jiang, also known as Yangtze.
So that dates it to the same era when the games of ancient Greece
were being established at Olympia. |
| Dragon boat racing has been practiced
continuously since this period. |
| They first used a "dragon boat"
to save a local scholar from drowning in the river and went to
save his life. They now honour this feat on (or around) "the
5th of the 5th Lunar Month" every year (actually June in
our calendar). |
| Sources: Wikipedia
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