How to Paddle a Dragon Boat

Like all good things, this is a sport that's easy to learn but difficult to master.

For beginners, pretty much anyone with a reasonable level of fitness is able to at least get into the dragon boat and learn the basics. After all, there are twenty other people paddling in nearby who you can develop friendships with and pick up tips from (especially since they're doing pretty much exactly the same thing for pretty much exactly the sames reasons), the actual races are only two minutes long (and maybe a little bit extra depending on the skill level), plus you get to sit for the whole time.

Who could ask for anything more.

But for those of us who would actually like to paddle competitively the first thing to do is to learn a little bit about the appropriate technique. Here's one example as presented by a paddler from Team Kraken.


 
Of course, paddling in a practice pool is entirely different from paddling outdoors during practice or during a race. So here's what the paddle stroke looks once you get in the boat, along with a little commentary courtesy of the Roger Rafters U-Tube channel.



Good luck to everyone intent on perfecting their technique. We'll see you on the water.