Dragons in Lake Merritt A Team Sport Long in Tradition By: Justin Lok

Dragon boating dates back over 2,000 years to the legend of Qu Yuan.  Qu Yuan was a revered Chinese poet, scholar, and statesman who was beloved by the people but was expelled from office by unscrupulous ministers of the Chu Dynasty.  In protest of the government’s corruption, Qu Yuan drowned himself in the Mi Lo River.  The local fishermen raced out in their boats in a failed attempt to try to save him.  They beat their drums and thrashed their paddles in the water in hopes of scaring away the fish from attacking Qu Yuan's body.  The fishermen also threw rice dumplings into the water to appease the spirits of the water.  Today, dragon boating has become a re-enactment of that rescue attempt and a tradition commemorating Qu Yuan and his heroic spirit.

Modern day dragon boats consist of a human-powered boat composed of 20 paddlers, a drummer, and a steersman.  Paddlers are paired in 10 rows with 10 paddlers per side.  The objective is to have all 20 paddlers working together with well-timed, synchronized strokes to reach top speeds.  Each team has its own drummer to facilitate the race and to keep the strokes in time and to ward off the evil water spirits.

The boats used can range in various sizes, shapes and materials.  The boats we use are canoe-shaped, fiberglass boats that are approximately 48 feet in length.  They have a unique concave design originating from ancient Chinese fishing vessels.  Often, these boats are ornamented with scale-like designs on the sides and elaborate dragon heads and tails carved from wood.  In this boat, teams complete anywhere from a 250 to 1000-meter race starting from a dead stop in the water, reaching peak speeds of approximately 3-5 meters per second.  Professional teams can compete a 500-meter distance in a little over 2 minutes, while recreational teams usually finish around the 3-minute mark.
 

As stated earlier, where’s there’s water, there’s often dragon boating; Oakland is no exception.  Oakland regularly has a dragon boat race every year sponsored and facilitated by the International Dragon Boat Association (IDBA), which is a community-based, Oakland organization.  Their goal is to promote dragon boating to bring people of the community together with this interactive team sport.  It’s interesting that three of the most common concerns of participating in a sport are age, lack of strength, and lack of stamina, are not restrictions of dragon boating.  It’s an easy to learn activity, which appeals to both recreational and competitive, and young and old alike.

IDBA’s mission takes their goals and objectives one step further in encouraging community youth to participate in dragon boating as a team building exercise and an opportunity to develop leadership skills.  It takes all 20 paddlers with good coordination and leadership to move the boat forward efficiently.  

IDBA is in its 5th year in existence and is going strong. This year, Oakland will actually have two races: IDBA’s annual cultural festival and a May race. This year, the 5th Annual California International Dragon Boat Festival will be held August 11th & 12th, 2001, at Jack London Square, Oakland, CA.  The festival aims to foster cross cultural understanding through the race on the water as well as by the display of cultural art and artists along the waterfront streets of the site.  The festival also features a cultural stage with musical, dance, and martial arts performances throughout both days. Some teams from previous festivals have included community-based teams such as Oakland Police, Oakland Fire, the City of Berkeley, the City of Alameda, EBMUD, BART, Asian Community Mental Health Services (ACMHS), and many more teams from a diverse array of interests. 

This Saturday, May 26th, is a preview race event at Lake Merritt geared towards the development of youth. The August festival recruitment usually occurs in July when school is not in session, which makes it difficult to get youth teams together.  The focus of this May race is to introduce dragon boat racing to youth and begin to develop a structure within the local schools and develop teams. The hope is that along with our summer youth development program, IDBA will get stronger youth interest and participation in this fast-growing sport.

The youth teams registered so far are Piedmont High. Oakland High, Lincoln High, Washington High, and possibly a youth team from Alameda and another from Oakland.  This weekend’s event will also include several competitive Bay Area teams as a modeling example to aide in the demonstration of form and team work.  Come out and cheer on your local schools and or see what all the fuss is about dragon boat racing.  Races will run from approximately 9am-4pm.

 I think beyond the exercise and fitness benefits, dragon boating offers a strong sense of teamwork and camaraderie among your own team and allows for participation from people of all ages and athletic ability levels.  It holds a lot of potential to bring people together and facilitate team building.  Personally, I have been paddling recreationally for the past 2 years and enjoy it a lot. And if you think age matters, I have taken both my parents out on the water and they continue to paddle when they can.  I invite everyone to give try it at least once.  Hope to see you out on the Lake with the dragons.