Dragon boat racing is a team paddling sport which utilises the dragon boat. During race events dragon boats are festooned with decorative dragon heads and tails. For activities involving paddles, see canoeing. ... Chinese dragons The Chinese dragon (龍; pinyin: long2; Cantonese: loong; Hokkien: leng) is a mythical creature. ...

A length of a dragon boat race may be anything from several hundred metres (500 metres is typical in many international races), or in some cases, up to 100 kilometres (eg. the Three Gorges Dam Rally from Yichang on the Chang Jiang (ie. Yangtze River)). Offshore inflatable racing (Thundercat class) at Ilfracombe, north Devon, England. ...

In international racing the standard crew complement is 22, comprising 20 paddlers seated pairs facing forward, 1 steerer (or "sweep") 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. 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. ...

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

The dragon boat crew

The drummer who is 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.

A good drummer will actually synchronize their drumming cadence to the strokers, not the other way around. The paddlers can feel the response of the boat to their strokes through their paddles (if they are experienced) 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.

The sweep, also known as the helm, steerer or steersman, controls the dragon boat with a steering oar that is mounted at the rear of the boat, and will also usually relay the Drummer's calls for the back half of the boat during a race.

The paddlers sit facing forwards, and use paddles. 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. A paddle is a tool for mixing or pushing against liquids, typically in order to propel a boat. ...

Origins

The history of dragon boat racing originated in southern China more than 2,500 years ago, along on the banks of such iconic rivers as the Yangtze (ie. around the same time the ancient Olympic Games were established in at Olympia in ancient Greece). Dragon boat racing as the basis for annual cultural festivals celebrations, and the veneration of the dragon water diety, has been practiced continuously since this period this. 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... For months before the Olympic Games, runners relay the Olympic Flame from Olympia to the opening ceremony. ... Olympia is an ancient city in Greece, in antiquity site of the Olympic Games. ... Ancient Greece is the term used to describe the Greek-speaking world in ancient times. ...

There are two main legends popularly related to the custom of dragon boat racing.

The Heavenly Dragon

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. ... Superfamilies and Families Henophidia Aniliidae Anomochilidae Boidae Bolyeriidae Cylindrophiidae Loxocemidae Pythonidae Tropidophiidae Uropeltidae Xenopeltidae Typhlopoidea Anomalepididae Leptotyphlopidae Typhlopidae Xenophidia Acrochordidae Atractaspididae Colubridae Elapidae Hydrophiidae Viperidae 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. ...

Qu Yuan

The other main legend concerns the poignant 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. 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; pinyin: ) was a Chinese military text written during the 6th century BC by Sun Zi. ... 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. ... Bust of Homer, one of the earliest European poets, in the British Museum Poetry (ancient Greek: ποιεω (poieo) = I 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. ...

Today, dragon boat festivals continue to be celebrated around the world with dragon boat racing, although such events are still culturally 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 modern Olympic Games, which were revived by Pierre de Coubertin in 1896, For months before the Olympic Games, runners relay the Olympic Flame from Olympia to the opening ceremony. ... Baron Pierre de Coubertin Baron Pierre de Coubertin (January 1, 1863-September 2, 1937), born as Pierre de Frédy, was a French pedagogue and historian, but is best known as the founder of the modern Olympic Games. ...

Dragon boat racing as a modern 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. ...

See also

• canoeing
• Outrigger Canoe racing

Canoeing is the recreational or sporting activity of paddling a canoe or kayak. ... Outrigger Canoe Racing is a team paddling sport which utilises the outrigger canoe. ...

External links

Governing organisations

• International Dragon Boat Federation website (http://www.dragonboat.org.uk/idbf/)

Sporting clubs

• Pacific Dragons (Sydney) (http://www.pacificdragons.com.au/)