Dragon boating is a sport known through out the world. Its ancient oriental tradition provides for racing in large, originally wooden but now mainly composite, boats. Each boat is adourned with a dragon shaped head and tail and in total measures about 12,5 meters.

These boats are characteristical driven by between 18 and 20 paddlers, whose strokes are taken in time with the rhythm of a drummer who is perched on the bow behind the dragon head. A helmsman or sweep is required for control of this large vessel. It takes great skill to maintain control of such a heavy, but powerful craft. This is all done with a sweep oar fixed to the stern of the boat.

Races are held over varying distances and in various categories. The longest race distance in this event being 2000 meters and the shortest 200m. The long sprint will be 430 meters. The 2000 meter race is a semi "cross-country" course taking in the sights and sounds of the harbour. Though you can be sure the competitors will see none of these things as the power their way around!

The three main racing categories are: Open, Mixed and Ladies. The Open being called such as is gives crews the option to include women on their boats. The mixed category is reasonably self explanatory, with one main requirement being that there are a minimum of 8 women on each boat.