anybody does it? (i searched for this topic and i only found two posts about it o_o) it's a really difficult sport, and i've been doing it only like a month it's kinda intense too during races >> crazy stuff =D (i live in the bay area, in SF, so there's like a team everwhere) but in taiwane i think, this is very popular o_o
i've done it a couple of times b4... its hard... that's all i can say... my arms werent' meant to paddle at those insane rpms... worst part about it is the need to trust the other side to keep up with the pace...-pirate
heh the thing is, it's not about the rpms, that's what i learned -.- it's more about the pulling and the techniques power is important, but not as important as the right formation which will make paddling easier and also increase ur strength w/o you even knowing it
my workplace put together a team to race in my city, but i have to work at my other job that day so im not able to go, it suckz
hhmm .. i thought the coordination is through the drums. i have never been involved in dragon boats; but have done a lot of rafting.
did ur team practice noasia? o_o a lot? it takes practice to know that ur team is on the same boat, and yeah the drummer is incredibly important although it's entirely up to the boat to do the coordination down
dch dragons representing from new york! r u kidding me that the drum master is the key?!?!? during a race, you can never listen to the drummer drumming because of all the splashing. the person who sets the rate and speed is the stroker. the stroker is the first person of each side of the boat. he or she sets the pace and start of the race. teams who depend on the drummer to set the pace by listening to the drumming are just wrong. dragonboat isn't about strength alone. it counts on technique and timing also. if every person is just arming it during a race then they'll be tired out quick. of course strength does play a role but that's after you get your technique and timing down. technique plays a role of you using your whole body to pull the water. that's when you get more power than just arming it alone. as my coach always tells my team, "power before rate". when you get the power of the stroke, you'll get the speed of the boat. if a team can work together with a good technique and timing then it doesn't matter how big the other teams are. they can overtake them. just look at the hong kong paddlers. they're smaller than lots of other paddlers from other countries and they can still kill them in a race. all it takes is one or two person in a race to mess up the timing and your team can lose within seconds.
"power before rate" SO TRUE,. my highschool dragonboat team, CYC, got first place in long beach division A this weekend and it was all bbecauise they were able to pull with power, usually on the setttle they suck tho =] oh and yeah the first row is always the rate person, everyone always looks infront when they're paddling to make sure they are in sync, anything else such as looking in front of in the partner will cause possible chance of fallin apart
sikfonhupla is right. I participated in 2 Dragonboat races and our team didn't practice much, almost none at all. Before the race, we would practice for about 2-3 weeks everyday and that was enough for us. We never won a race but we kept up (and pretty damn close) with the teams that practice year round, but our team had really good chemistry. It was a lot of work but it was fun.
never done it before, kinda wanted to participate but can never find enough people to participate in it with me....
dragonboat is being auditioned in the olympics next year so it might become an olympic sport in the future. let's spread this sport to everyone guys! if ping pong can be in the olympics then dragonboat definitely can!
hey pastrami i do it =] i just graduated, so i was only in it for a very.. very short time) how about you? i'm on an adult team now (/college) ripple effect =P
