Mother of Dragons - The Dragon Boat Book

Dragon boat racing has experienced a dramatic boom in popularity worldwide in recent years. The number of people participating, including spectators, currently is estimated at an amazing 50 million. There are even thoughts of making it an Olympic Games discipline.

Although a lot of information can be found in magazines, on the Internet or sometimes even on television, there doesn’t appear to be a comprehensive book about the sport and its origins.

Because Hong Kong has played and continues to play the most important role in the modern development of the sport, this book is about Hong Kong itself, its dragon boats and its racing community. In pictures and words, it aims to give insights on all levels.

Here are all the basic tools you will need to appreciate dragon boats and their myths – no matter if you are a spectator, tourist or an active sportsmen. Hopefully, this book will also draw to the sport
people who haven't had a connection before.

When in Hong Kong, you should look out for a chance to see some racing. It doesn’t have to be a big event; smaller Fishermen’s races will often get you more closely connected to the spirit of this unique team sport and its very, very old traditions. And don’t be shy! Once you open up to the local people, who might be as worried as you about language barriers, you’ll find a truly warm welcome.

If you can’t make it to Hong Kong, try to find a race in your own country. Most likely you will be successful because dragon boat races are run all over the world. Very likely all races will have a similar sense of team spirit and spectator enthusiasm.

Even if you don’t paddle yourself, it’s really worth taking in the atmosphere of dragon boat racing. Somehow you get a feeling of ancient Chinese tradition hidden in a still-developing modern sport. And the team spirit among dragon boaters goes far beyond an “all-in-one-boat” commitment; it builds deep friendships.

Try it out and remember, without Hong Kong as the “Mother of Dragons”, you wouldn’t be having this much fun!

Hong Kong - traditional and sparkling

... Today, Hong Kong is a truly sparkling world city. It is a well-balanced mixture of cultures, races and creeds, who all manage to coexist peacefully. The city never sleeps and you can go out at any time for food or entertainment. In Hong Kong, time really flies! In certain places, you might think the entire suburb is populated by Europeans, or by Indians, or Filipinos. But never doubt that 95 percent of the population is Chinese, and that they have maintained over centuries the culture and traditions they brought with them from the "Mother Country". Indeed, Hong Kong is host to a unique concentration of Chinese traditions.

One of those traditions is dragon boat racing, which reaches its traditional zenith every year with the Dragon Boat Festival...

Tradition becoming modern sport

Although dragon boats have been around for about 5000 years, used in rituals to please the river dragons during a festival of "rain-making" at the beginning of the summer, the legends of Qu Yuan spread the traditions and celebraions as we know them today.

Qu Yuan lived during the Warring States period, about 2300 years ago, and drowned tragically in the Mi-Lo river in Hunan province. At the time, China consisted of six kingdoms, with the Chu and the Cin the biggest. After several wars, the Chin emerged undefeated and formed an empire. It is believed Western languages settled on the name "China" from that time ...

Dragon Boat Community

...With Hong Kong as the “Mother of Dragons”, the HKDBA has a unique and important responsibility. On one hand, the sport needs to be developed and organised at a local level and run within the international structures and regulations of the IDBF. Those structures are the basis for dragon boat racing to become an Olympic discipline. On the other hand, the HKDBA must also support the very local dragon boat scene that preserves the traditions of the sport without worrying too much about international rules and boat-size standards...

Objective, Rules, Regulations

...There’s another form of dragon boat racing, too. It hasn’t been adopted in Hong Kong, but takes place mainly in Taiwan and a few other places such as Iowa and Portland in the United States. These are the so-called Flag-Catching races.

For these races, another person is housed on the dragon boat – the flag catcher, who sits on the dragon head. He has nothing at all to do until the boat crosses the finishing line. Then he has to catch a flag mounted on a buoy. If he fails to grab the flag, the boat is disqualified, it gets a penalty or it must return to try again – depending on where the race is held. However, only when the flag is caught is the race completed. That means it’s possible for the fastest boat to lose if the catcher misses his target first time around.

Training

...That means his muscles won’t get out of the critical anaerobic phase. Logically, then, our paddler needs bigger muscles so that he has more muscle fibres. Under race conditions, those muscles won’t be challenged to reach maximum power and the fibres can take turns resting, allowing them to maintain enough stores to delay the power fadeout.

The third training variable comes from athletes who have been paddling for many years. They want to preserve the benefits of their training and to maintain them over the off-season. As noted previously, muscles need to be challenged regularly at level of about 30% of maximum possible power output to keep their strength...

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