A more specific term for dragon boat as a sport is dragon boat race, which is a team paddling sport on water, using very long and very narrow painted boats to which are attached decorative dragon heads and tails. The length of the race can be 500 meters to 100 kms long distance (eg. Three Gorges Dam Rally from Yichang on the Chang Jiang (aka Yangtze River)) and the normal crew complement for an international racing crew is 22, including 20 paddlers, 1 steerer and 1 drummer. International class crews are small due to the costs of travelling to overseas races. Authentic dragon boats have upwards of 50 paddlers, plus drummer and steerer. Chinese dragons The Chinese dragon (龍; pinyin: long2; Cantonese: loong; Hokkien: leng) is a mythical creature. ... Offshore inflatable racing (Thundercat class) at Ilfracombe, north Devon, England. ... Crew, the first regular Czech international comic magazine started publication in 1997. ... A drummer is a musician who plays the drums, particularly the drum kit, marching percussion, or hand drums. ...

Dragon boats are not a kind of canoe, nor a type of rowing craft, although there is a sweep oar used to steer the dragon boat. (Rowers sit facing backwards, while dragon boaters sit or stoop or stand facing forwards. Rowers' oars and sweeps are connected to their craft, while the paddles of dragon boat competitors are not joined to the boat. The steering sweep oar is, however, flexibly supported by the hull.)

Canoes are derived from hollowed out tree trunks (either single log, or single log supported by one or a pair of outrigged float pontoons); or from birch and other deciduous tree bark shells stretched over wooden frames. Dragon boats, however, derive from rafts of three lashed-together logs which have been hollowed out and are like bamboo rafts consisting of lashed, hollow bamboo stalks which can still be seen in China today. It is the three large, lashed, rafted logs of old that give the Hongkong style of dragon boats its characteristic hull form cross section unmderwater seen today, which is like a "W". The keel (plank) is higher than the two outboard chines formed by the rail planks, so a kind of tunnel effect running down the centreline (keel) of the boat is present due to this construction and design.

Ancient Origins to Modern Amateur Sport

Dragon boat racing originated in China more than 25 centuries ago (same era when the games of ancient Greece at Olympia were established) and is still associated with the traditional Chinese dragon boat festival or Tuen Ng Festival in Hong Kong (cantonese chinese dialect) or Duan Wu Festival in south central mainland China (mandarin chinese dialect). Unlike the Olympic Games, which ceased then were rejuvenated as the "modern games" by de Coubertin at the end of the century-before-last, annual dragon boat racing celebrations (not a sport) and veneration of the dragon water diety have been practiced continuously without interruption in south central China to this day, from 2,000 BCE to 2,000 AD.

Two dragon boat teams competing. The drummer, steerer and paddlers can be clearly seen.

A typical western Dragon Boat will hold 20 paddlers, seated in pairs and facing forward. A Drummer sits at the front of the boat, while a Steersman is positioned at the rear. http://www. ... http://www. ...

Drummer, also referred to as the heartbeat of the dragon (boat), leads the team during a race. They can be men or women, usually chosen for their strong leadership skills and loud voice. The Drummer is there to make all the calls necessary to react to changes during a race through a combination of hand signals, voice calls or the beat of the drum.

Steersman, also referred to as Helm or Steerer. They control the Dragon Boat with a steering oar that is mounted at the rear of the boat. Steersmen will also usually relay the Drummer's calls for the back half of the boat during a race.

Paddlers sit facing forwards, and paddles are used in a canoe-like fashion. The leading pair of paddlers, or "Strokes", set the pace for the team. All other paddlers synchronize their strokes to the paddlers in front of them and the drum beat which they can hear. Canoe at El Nido, Philippines A canoe is a relatively small human-powered boat. ...

A good drummer will actually synchronize their drumming cadence to the strokers, not the other way 'round. The strokers can feel the response of the boat to their strokes through their paddles (if they are very expert) and will adjust their reach and catch of the blade tip to the acceleration of the hull through the water. The drummer keeps aware of the position of the crew relative to other crews and to the approach of the finish line, and calls out tactical orders to the strokers and crew as to when to surge ahead, when to hold steady and when to peak for the finish in a tightly contested race, since the athletes will be going anaerobically in a sprint and will "die" if the finish is called prematurely. Tactics and strategies (race plan) differ for longer distance racing.

Origins and festival

The history of dragon boat can be traced back to more than 2000 years ago along on the banks of the life-sustaining rivers in Southern China such as the Yangtze. There are two main legends popularly related to the custom of racing dragon boats: History is a term for information about the past. ... Length 6,380 km Elevation of the source  ? m Average discharge 31,900 m³/s Area watershed 1,800,000 km² Origin Qinghai Province and Tibet Mouth East China Sea Basin countries China The Chang Jiang (Simplified Chinese: 长江; Traditional Chinese: 長江; pinyin: Cháng Jiāng; Wade-Giles: Chang Chiang...

Firstly, it was primarily held as a rite to awaken the hibernating Heavenly Dragon, which plays a most venerated role among the Chinese zodiac mythology and was traditionally believed to be the ruler of rivers and seas that dominates clouds and rains. Sacrifices, sometimes humans, were involved in this ritual, and for this reason it remains a violent clash even centuries later as the crew members of the competing boats throw stones and strike each other with cane sticks. Originally, paddlers or even an entire team falling into the water could receive no assistance from the onlookers as it was considered to be due to the will of this Dragon Deity and could not be interfered with. If people drowned it was considered to be a sacrifice. Chinese dragons The Chinese dragon (龍; pinyin: long2; Cantonese: loong; Hokkien: leng) is a mythical creature. ... Chinese astrology (占星術 pinyin: zhan4 xing1 shu4; 星學 pinyin: xing1 xue2; 七政四餘 pinyin: qi1 zheng4 si4 yu2; and 果老星宗 pinyin: guo3 lao3 xing1 zong1) is related to the Chinese calendar, particularly its 12-year cycle of animals (aka Chinese Zodiac), and the fortune-telling aspects according to movement of heavenly... A ruler is a person in charge of a country. ... Sacrifice (is a Middle English verb meaning to make sacred, from Old French, from Latin sacrificium : sacer, sacred; sacred + facere, to make) is commonly known as the practice of offering food, or the lives of animals or people to the gods, as an act of propitiation or worship. ... Binomial name Homo sapiens Linnaeus, 1758 Subspecies Homo sapiens idaltu (extinct) Homo sapiens sapiens Human beings define themselves in biological, social, and spiritual terms. ... A ritual is a formalised, predetermined set of symbolic actions generally performed in a particular environment at a regular, recurring interval. ... Crew, the first regular Czech international comic magazine started publication in 1997. ... A deity or a god, is a postulated preternatural being, usually, but not always, of significant power, worshipped, thought holy, divine, or sacred, held in high regard, or respected by human beings. ...

This belief coincides well with the time of this festival, which is annually held on the 5th day of the 5th Chinese lunar month (varying from late May to middle June), which is traditionally reckoned as a month of death and disease, a period of evil and darkness due to the high summer temperatures. Thus venerating the awakened Dragon was meant to avert misfortune and encourage rainfall which is needed for the fertility of the crops and thus for prosperity in an agricultural way of life. Belief is assent to a proposition. ... A festival or fest is an event, usually staged by a local community, which centers on some theme, sometimes on some unique aspect of the community. ... The Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar formed by combining a purely lunar calendar with a solar calendar. ... In meteorology, precipitation is any kind of water that falls from the sky as part of the weather. ...

Some other rituals also serve as evidence of this theory, one of which called Awakening of the Dragon involved a Daoist priest dotting the protruding eyes of the dragon head carved on the boat, in the sense of ending its slumber. Another ritual required red paper being cut into the shape of the five most poisonous animals - the snake, centipede, scorpion, lizard and toad - those that lure the Evil Spirits, and which were placed in the mouth of the wooden dragons that formed the prows of the boats. Evidence is: Any observable event which tends to prove or disprove a proposition, see scientific method and reality. ... For other uses of the words tao and dao, see Dao (disambiguation). ... Roman Catholic priest A priest or priestess is a holy man or woman who takes an officiating role in worship of any religion, with the distinguishing characteristic of offering sacrifices. ... Families Acrochordidae Aniliidae Anomalepididae Anomochilidae Atractaspididae Boidae Bolyeriidae Colubridae Cylindrophiidae Elapidae Hydrophiidae Leptotyphlopidae Loxocemidae Pythonidae Tropidophiidae Typhlopidae Uropeltidae Viperidae Xenopeltidae Snakes are cold blooded legless reptiles closely related to lizards, which share the order Squamata. ... For the arcade game called Centipede see Centipede (video game). ... A scorpion is an invertebrate animal with eight legs belonging to the order Scorpiones in the class Arachnida. ... This page is about Lizards, the order of reptile. ... Genera Ansonia Atelopus Bufo Capensibufo Crepidophryne Dendrophryniscus Didynamipus Frostius Laurentophryne Leptophryne Melanophryniscus Mertensophryne Nectophryne Nectophrynoides Nimbaphrynoides Oreophrynella Osornophryne Pedostibes Pelophryne Peltophryne Pseudobufo Rhamphophryne Werneria Wolterstorffina The true toads are amphibians in the Bufonidae family. ...

Another main legend connects this festival with a touching saga of a famous Chinese patriot poet named Qu Yuan. He lived in the pre-imperial period called the Period of the Warring States (475-221 B.C.) during which time the area today known as China was torn into seven main states battling among themselves with unprecedented heights of military intrigue. The author Sunzi (Sun Tzu) wrote the famous The Art of War during this period, for example. Qu Yuan was a minister in the government as well as a poet of the southern state of Chu, a champion of political loyalty and truth eager to maintain the Chu state's sovereignty. The Chu king, however, fell under the influence of other corrupt, jealous ministers who slandered Qu Yuan as 'a sting in flesh', and banished his most royal counselor. In his exile, so the legend goes, Qu Yuan produced some of the greatest poetry in Chinese literature expressing his fervent love for his state and his deepest concern for its future. His body of work is contained in an anthology of poetry known as the Chuci or the Odes of Chu. In the year 278 B.C., learning of the upcoming devastation of his country from invasion by a neighbouring warring state, he is said to have waded into the Miluo river in today's Hunan Province holding a great rock in order to commit ritual suicide as a form of protest against the corruption of the era. The common people, learning of his suicide, rushed out in their fishing boats to the middle of the river and tried desperatedly to save him. They beat drums and splashed water with their paddles in order to keep the fish and evil spirits from his body, and later on, they scattered rice into the water to prevent him from suffering hunger. However, late one night, the spirit of Qu Yuan appeared before his friends and told them that the rice meant for him was being intercepted by a huge river dragon. He asked his friends to wrap their rice into three-cornered silk packages to ward off the dragon. This has been a traditional food ever since known as zongzi, although they are wrapped in bamboo leaves instead of silk. In order to commemorate him, people held Dragon Boat Race every year on the day of his suicide. A festival or fest is an event, usually staged by a local community, which centers on some theme, sometimes on some unique aspect of the community. ... Saga can have following meanings: Norse Sagas, a type of literature In Norse mythology, Saga is a goddess of the Aesir. ... Patriotism is a feeling of love and devotion to ones own homeland (patria, the land of ones fathers). ... Poets are authors of poems. ... Qu Yuan (屈原) (340 BC - 278 BC) was a Chinese poet from the southern state of Chu during the Warring States Period. ... Alternative meaning: Warring States Period (Japan) The Warring States Period (traditional Chinese: 戰國時代, simplified Chinese: 战国时代 pinyin Zhànguó Shídài) takes place from sometime in the 5th century BC to the unification of China by Qin in 221 BC. It is nominally considered to be the second part of the Eastern... Military strategy in the Waterloo campaign Military strategy is a collective name for planning the conduct of warfare. ... Sun Tzu (孫子 also commonly written in pinyin: Sūn Zǐ) was the author of The Art of War, an influential ancient Chinese book on military strategy (for the most part not dealing directly with tactics). ... The Art of War (Chinese: 孫子兵法 sūn zi bīng fǎ) was a Chinese military text written during the 6th century BC by Sun Tzu. ... A minister or a secretary is a politician who heads a government ministry or department (e. ... State of Chu (small seal script, 220 BC) Chu (楚), originally known as Jing (荆) and then Jingchu (荆楚), was an independent state that existed during Chinas Spring and Autumn period and, subsequently, the Warring States period. ... This article needs cleanup. ... A monarch is a type of ruler or head of state. ... See Exile (disambiguation) for other meanings. ... Poetry (ancient Greek: poieo = create) is an art form in which human language is used for its aesthetic qualities in addition to, or instead of, its notional and semantic content. ... Ancient texts The Four Books (四書, Sì shū) are The Great Learning, (大學, Dà Xué). ... Not to be confused with the unrelated provinces of Hainan and Henan Hunan (湖南; pinyin: Húnán) is a province of China, located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of the Dongting Lake (hence the name Hunan, meaning south of the lake). Hunan is sometimes called... Wrapped Rice Dumpling The rice dumpling (粽子 or 糭子, pinyin: zòngzi, WG: tsung-tzu) is a traditional Chinese food. ... Silk (< OE sioloc probably < L. SERICVS / Gr. ... Suicide (from Latin sui caedere, to kill oneself) is the act of intentionally ending ones own life. ...

Becoming an International Sport

Dragon boat racing has been practiced in China by around 20 million people. But over the past 25 years it has spread beyond Asia to Europe, North America, Australia and Africa, to become an international sport with a huge following. Nowadays it is among the fastest growing water sports and remains amazingly the largest team sport, with over 60 million participants in over 50 countries. Main racing federations includes the International Dragon Boat Federation (http://www.dragonboat.com), the European Dragon Boat Federation as well as the Asian Dragon Boat Federation. An International Dragon Boat Racing contest is held in Hong Kong annually. A federation (from the Latin fœdus, covenant) is a state comprised of a number of self-governing regions (often themselves referred to as states) united by a central (federal) government. ...

IDBF member associations exist in many places, for example China DB Assn, Hongkong DB Assn, Chinese Taipei DB Assn, Macau DB Assn, Singapore DB Assn, Australian DB Federation, United States DB Federation, Dragon Boat Racing Council of Canada, British DB Racing Assn, Italian DB Fed'n, German DB Assn, Swiss DB Assn, South African DB Assn, Danish DB Assn, etc. The IDBF holds world championship regattas on alternate, odd numbered, years (Yueyang Hunan PRC 1995, Hongkong 1997 (2 weeks before return to Chinese sovereignty to become HKSAR), Nottingham England UK 1999, Philadelphia Pennsylvania USA 2001, Qingpu County Shanghai PRC 2003, Berlin Germany 2005, Sydney Australia 2007. In honour of the 2008 summer Olympiad in Beijing, the China DB Assn and the IDBF will stage a major international dragon boat regatta.

The biggest dragon boat festival racing events outside of Asia are in Canada. Vancouver and Toronto each host races featuring more than 180 25-person crews. These races take place over two days in mid-to-late June in correspondence with the 5th Day of the 5th Month custom. As co-operation plays an important role in successful dragon boat racing crews, Dragon Boat Racing has also become a very popular corporate and charitable sport, during which friendship, strength and endurance are developed among the participants. {{Canadian City/Disable Field={{{Disable Motto Link}}}}} Motto: By sea, land and air we prosper City of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Location. ... }|135px|City of Toronto, Ontario Official Flag]]|Coat Image=[[Image:{{{Coat Image}}}|135px|City of Toronto, Ontario Coat of Arms]]}} {{Canadian City/Disable Field={{{Disable Motto Link}}}}} Motto: Diversity Our Strength {{Canadian City/Location Image is:{{{Location Image Type}}}|[[Image:{{{Location Image}}}|thumbnail|250px|City of Toronto, Ontario, Canada Location. ...