About Dragonboat
Dragon boat racing is one of the largest participant sports in the world today, boasting upwards of 50 million paddlers around the world each year. Although most well known in Asia, its popularity is quickly spreading throughout the US and the rest of the world. Our neighbor Canada hosts two major races each year in Vancouver and Toronto, drawing hundreds of teams and upwards of 250,000 spectators each race.
The sport has an ancient history, dating back to China in the 3rd century BC. A poet, philosopher, and politician of great popularity named Qu Yuan, after enduring political persecution, ridicule, and disillusionment, committed suicide by diving into the Mi Lo river on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. in an effort to save him, local fishermen along their river in search of his body, beating their paddles to ward off the river spirits.
Sadly, their efforts proved futile and the locals chose to commemorate the occasion by having a festival each year in Qu Yuan's honor. The people would prepare glutinous rice "tamales" called zongzi and cast them into the river to feed the river spirits. In addition, the fishermen would hold races in their boats, beating drums and gongs to create enough noise that the river spirits would leave Qu Yuan in peace.
Ancient races were considerably more intense than they are today. it has been said that competing boats would physically ram each other in the scramble to the finish. It was even deemed good luck when a participant fell into the water and drowned!
Modern day dragon boat racing dates back more recently to 1976, when organized racing began as a competitive sport in Hong Kong.
The dragon boat itself comes in a myriad of styles, colors, and shapes. The boat featured predominantly in the international competitive circles is the "Hong Kong" style dragon boat, seating a minimum of 20 paddlers plus a drummer at the bow and steersperson at the stern. Traditional racing boats were manufactured from teak wood, but modern boats have evolved into sleek creations crafted from wood, fiberglass, and plastic. Full-sized racing boats are up to 48 feet long and weigh up to 1000 pounds without paddlers. All dragon boats share colorfully painted dragon heads and tails, with scales painted on the sides to match. All dragon boats have a drum fastened to the bow, and some feature a gong set in the center. World-class dragon boat crews can propel these massive craft on a 500m course in well under two minutes.
Some other styles of dragon boats include the much more massive Taiwanese "flycatching" boats and longer, more graceful "swan" boats (seating upwards of 50 paddlers!
About Team DRD
It all began when Jeremy Wong, a 3rd year UCD student and 6th year paddler on a Bay Area team Ripple Effect, met up with Lisa Huynh, a recent graduate of Lowell High School, at the end of Spring Quarter 2004. Together they recruited a team of then-nonexperienced Aggie paddlers. A month after starting practice, the team received its first trophy in the 2004 Long Beach Dragon Boat Tournament, thus marking the establishment of the first official UC Davis dragon boat team. We finished our inaugural season by ranking 20th out of the 95 teams that attended the 9th Annual Northern California Dragon Boat Championships and 2nd in the College Division. Such an achievement normally takes a crew of novice paddlers two to three years to complete, yet the Davis Racing Dragons proved that where there is a will, there is a way.
Since most of the dragonboat season takes place in the summer, DRD offers a chance to beat the boredom and the heat. During the year, we keep it exciting with BBQs, the annual ski trip, and interclub activities.
Our team is always growing. We hope you come and try out paddling with us! Please contact our president John Yu and coaches Austin Ngo, Hilland Chiu and Alex Pham for more information about weekly practices and club meetings.
About the DRD Board
President: John Yu
VP: Heidi Chang
Secretary: Tiffany Phan
Treasurer: Jiro Dominguez-McKinnis
Historians: Connie Chao & Tela Cheang
Fundraiser: Chylene Wong
Coaches: Austin Ngo, Hilland Chiu, Alex Pham