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1. |
Pick a Team Captain for your team. Make it someone who has a loud, commanding voice but won’t let the position go to his or her head. The Team Captain is responsible for getting the team to the marshalling area 30 minutes prior to a race, setting seat assignments, lining up team for loading, and serving as the “voice” of the team. |
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2. |
In a mixed gender team, we are referring to a mix of men and women. Make sure that you have 16 paddlers to a boat, with 4 of them females. The drummer does not count as one of your 4 women. |
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The Team Captain needs to plan for the weight distribution in the boat. The lightest people should be seated in the front and the very back of the boat. The heaviest people should be placed in the middle. |
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4. |
Choose a 17th person on the boat to serve as your drummer. This person should be lightweight and not afraid to sit high up on a drum seat. This person needs some rhythm, because they we will be following the strokers’ lead. The drummer beats the drum in time with the strokers. |
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5. |
The drummer always takes the cadence from the lead paddlers (strokers) to maintain a smooth stroke in the middle part of the race. |
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6. |
Choose a Team Manager to serve as the “go to” person of the group. This person will make sure the team gets all the information needed to race—registration, photo, team shirts, practice times, and Race Day specifics. He/she will make sure that the registration forms, team roster, waivers, and team photo and profile are completed and turned in. |
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7. |
Choose a Team Cheerleader. This person is the energetic and dynamic one, who can come up with a song or cheer for the team. |
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8. |
The community race course is tentatively set for 250-300 meters in length. The race is fast and furious. Believe it or not, the race is over in less than 2 minutes —1 minute if you are REALLY GOOD! |
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9. |
Be safe. Be smart. Be kind to your muscles. Do some warm-ups before paddling and some cool down exercises after paddling. |
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10. |
Many teams bring a canopy to provide shelter from the sun and camp chairs to sit on. Sunglasses, sunscreen and a hat are helpful, too. |
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11. |
Drink lots of water on race day to keep hydrated. |
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12. |
We provide the boats, paddles, and life jackets. You might want to bring some seat pads since the dragon boat seat is downright hard. A butt pad can be your best friend. Some people sit on a gardening knee pad. It is best to wrap it in a non-slip cushioned shelf liner (the kind used for your wine glasses) and duct tape it in place. Others only use a folded up piece of this cushioned shelf liner. |
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13. |
The team who has the best start usually wins the race. A start usually begins with at least 8 fast choppy strokes to get your boat up on plane. After 20 more long, deep strokes, the team settles into race mode. |
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14. |
Teams will want to practice “‘power 10s.’’ These strokes are needed in the last third of the race when the steersperson can see that people are starting to tire. This is the point when the team needs to sharpen their technique and re-synchronize their timing. It is done by keeping in sync with the lead paddlers (strokers) and counting with them—1 through10-- all in a strong cadence. Your team keeps counting 1 through 10 until the team settles on a paddling level for your final sprint. As the end nears, paddlers need to gear up to do a short sprint to the finish line. It’s over in a flash! |
