i have my first race coming up in 2 weeks! we did a short one against a couple of teams yesterday during practice and we totally spanked them. and here's the reason i like it sooooo much:

Deep Water Bay Regatta 2007

That looks fun, I know we have similar club here in Boston I may try that next year.

good luck!

creamofcow on this site is really into that.

It's pretty cool

Good Luck also. Btw, about how fast does a dragon boat with a good crew go?

Races outside of Asia usually go in 500 meter heats, an average good crew will finish a few seconds shy of 2 minutes (a great crew will go even faster with varying technique and depending if the race allows those techniques). A less fine-tuned crew will finish in 3.2 minutes. A totally novice team will go for a painstaking 4 minutes +, sometimes they shorten the races to 250 meters for new corporate teams.

Dragon boat practices on the other hand usually go for about 90 minutes several times a week. My crew as we approach the big races at the end of the season go for 3-7 days of training a week depending on how dedicated of a crew we have.

It's surprising how popular the sport is, particularly amongst non-Asians, but even more surprising how many people don't know what it is despite attracting hundreds of thousands of spectators over the course of a weekend at some of the more popular races. Even Kate Middleton (on and off girlfriend of Prince Williams) paddles and steers for her crew...

http://justjared.buzznet.com/2007/07...n-dragon-boat/

Hey good luck! You'll have a ton of fun, there can be a lot of dead time between heats so stay out of the sun -- I didn't race with my crew yesterday but felt just as drained at the end of the day because of the UV exposure and noise. After all these years of paddling I'm going to finally wise up and start wearing ear plugs, long sleeves and pants between races.

Good luck with it!

just make sure you don't get too distracted by all those asian muscle boys!

if you're gonna have one, have a big one!

Good-Luck SE. This looks like a ton of fun, not to mention, all that arm strength you'd build up. Have fun!!!

"Live Free or Die"

Kick butt and have fun!!

"Love is like a friendship on fire" - Bruce Lee