Dragonboat Blog | The Dragonboating Resource

dragonboat talk for dragonboaters.

As important as it is to warm-up before your dragonboat training session or race, cooling down is also a very crucial part in recovery and minimising future injury.

Why cool down?
The practice of cooling down after exercise means slowing down your level of activity gradually and these are the reasons for cooling down:

* helps your heart rate and breathing to return towards normal gradually;
* helps avoid fainting or dizziness, which can result from blood pooling in the large muscles of the legs when vigorous activity is stopped suddenly;
* helps prepare your muscles for the next exercise session, whether it’s the next day or in a few days’ time; and
* helps to remove waste products from your muscles, such as lactic acid, which can build up during vigorous activity.

You may see conflicting advice as to whether cooling down prevents post-exercise muscle soreness, also known as delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS). However, even if cooling down doesn’t prevent DOMS, the other benefits of cooling down outweigh that.

Ensuring an effective cool-down

* perform low intensity movements for a minimum of 5 to 10 minutes; and
* follow this with a stretching routine.

Cool-down options
1. Gradually slowing down the pace and exertion of your dragonboat session over several minutes can seem a natural progression. Usually your team will paddle a lap around at a very low intensity just before you get off the boat and this will help you slow down your heart rate.

2. Slow jogging or brisk walking. Another option is to jog or walk briskly for a few minutes with your team, making sure that this activity is lower in intensity than the paddling you have just performed in the boat.

Stretching after your cool-down
The best time to stretch is after your cool-down, as at this time your muscles are still warm and most likely to respond favourably and there is a low risk of injury. Stretching helps to relax your muscles and restore them to their resting length, and improve flexibility (the range of movement about your joints).

As a guide, allow 10 minutes of stretching for every one hour of paddling. Include the warm-up stretches mentioned in the previous post and make these stretches more thorough. Stretch each muscle group for 20 to 30 seconds, 2 to 3 times. Additionally I would recommend putting on something warm straight after you have dried yourself and finished stretched e.g. a sports jacket and long pants.

I can not emphasize more on how important the cool down period is as it will help you recover faster and also minimise injury. Therefore allowing you to enjoy your dragonboat training sessions and races pain free!

I believe that setting up a crew properly is a very crucial factor that makes or breaks a team’s racing time, and it has been proven time and time again through results. Let me explain below how the boat can be setup:

The boat crew is broken into three sections, the front which is the first six paddlers, the engine room which is the middle eight paddlers and the back which is last six paddlers. Weight of the paddlers must be taken into consideration when setting up the boat. Any serious weight distribution problems will adversely affect how the boat tracks for steering. The biggest paddlers are placed in the middle or engine room and lighter paddlers at the front and back sections.

The front six paddlers set the pace and should be reserved for paddlers with good long paddling strokes. The rest of the boat needs something visual to follow. The rest of the boat will have short choppy strokes if the front has short choppy strokes.

The middle eight or the “engine room” is usually reserved for the heavier, stronger paddlers. During the middle of the race the engine room dictates the pace. The stroke rate of the crew is usually determine by the engine room. The stroke rate is not too fast as long as the big engine room paddlers can twist and reach. Once the engine room paddlers start shortening up on their stroke, you know the pace is getting too fast.

The back six paddlers of the boat should have the strongest people in the boat. It is not uncommon for a novice crew to setup the boat with weaker paddlers who get out of stroke. For an intermediate crew or an advanced crew this would be a missed opportunity. A series which is a sequence of more powerful strokes meant to advance the boat and is initiated by the back six paddlers and ripples to the front of the boat.

Side to side and front to back weight distribution must be taken into consideration when setting up the boat. The steersperson must have the knowledge of how to move paddlers around to improve the balance of the boat. Having the boat off balance can seriously affect how the boat tracks. The steersperson is 100% responsible for the safety of the crew. The steersperson has the best view of any obstructions on the water and must make the required commands to the crew to maneuver the boat. In race situations the steersperson must also be able to read wind and be knowledgeable of how the boat reacts in certain conditions. It is not good enough that the steersperson can just keep the boat straight, he or she must be able to bring the boat to the line in whatever wind conditions and make the maneuvers or commands to hold the boat on the line. (This is why steersperson have to be take official courses in order to be qualified to steer a boat).

Overall, setting up a Dragonboat crew is not the easiest task as well, because teams chop and change paddlers every session, every race and every season. I admire good team coaches and steersperson who are flexible and have the ability to work with the resources they are provided as this is not the easiest job for any team. Feel free to comment below about your experiences in this area.

I have been very encouraged to see thousands of visitors come to read the Dragonboat blog in the recent months and this blog is continually growing with new articles and reviews about Dragonboating.

Last night I was listening to an interview that was Podcasted from another blogger on a totally different topic and she gave me the idea to ask what readers wanted. So far, since the inception of this blog I have been writing about everything related to Dragonboating, from Dragonboat equipment, events around the globe to general fitness and it has been great for me to express my views and opinions and also receive comments from others. Though I believe that you (as a reader) would be interested in many different areas of Dragonboating and I am more than happy to write about stuff that you want.

So please, feel free to comment below and considering these questions:

1. What do you like most about Dragonboating?
2. How would this blog help you in your Dragonboat journey? (whether you are a beginner or an expert in this field, everyone wants to improve)
3. Would it benefit you to hear from experience Dragonboaters and other people in the fitness field?

Lastly I would love you to write about some of your experiences in Dragonboating whether it was good or bad. These comments will help us as a community to improve the sport better and also for us to write good stories for you to read about.

I am very excited to read your comments and I will reply back to them as soon as I can.

If you’re an enthusiastic paddler and have a team who loves to train all year round, but it’s too cold outside (especially during those winter days….), then this Dragonboat Pool boat is ideal for those situations. It is the middle 1/3 section of a standard Dragonboat and is approximately 15 feet or 4.57m long allowing for 10 paddlers. You’ll get exactly the same spacing, sitting height and best of all you won’t be freezing in the cold! As it’s designed to be used inside a pool environment you won’t need a steersperson and the boat is simply tied to the edge of the pool. You will need to provide your paddlers with paddles that have appropriate holes to stimulate a similar resistance and paddling rate for still water.

I think this is a great idea and clubs should consider getting them for off season training sessions. Now you can train all year around and be inside with warmer conditions!

With any dragonboat team you paddle with, there will be the standard paddling commands that any member of a crew will know to follow. Here are commands below:

SIT UP
Part of what is important here is that all paddlers in the boat are sitting up in the same position with their paddles held in the same position. This gives a comment start point for all team members in the boat. When the next command is given all paddlers are making the same coordinated movements. This gives the team a faster response time, organised with no confusing movements and almost as important you look good as a team, when you look good you feel good, this is empowering.

Common sit up positions are paddles in the relaxed position, parallel over the water pointed at 90 degrees to the side of the boat. Most teams sit with their paddles pointing forward to the front of the boat at about a 45 degree angle. The water side hand resting on the paddle shaft which is on the gunnel rail. This puts the paddle closer to the paddles up position reducing response time and simplifying the movement from sit up to paddles up.

REACH
Extend your body further up on your reach towards the water.

PADDLES UP
Paddles above the water ready to take a stroke. Commonly used for starting the movement of the boat.

TAKE IT AWAY or GO
Command to start paddling. Paddle in sync with the person in front of you and also look up the boat at the stroker (1st paddlers at the front of the boat) to keep timing.

LET IT RUN
Paddling stops and boat coasts to a stop on its own.

HOLD THE BOAT
Bringing the boat to a full stop with the use of the paddles. Most commonly the whole crew would dig their paddles into the water until the boat stops. Keep holding till the steersperson says let it run/ride.

READY or ATTENTION
Race command in a start situation for paddles to be placed in position for the first stroke (submerged or out of water).

BACK PADDLE
Paddle backwards to back up the boat from the dock. Always look forward and time the paddle in front of you.

TIMING
Timing is very important, when you hear this it means someone is off and everyone must refocus on the Timing Box / or call of the Cox.

SERIES
A combination of strokes during a race, often a set of 10 or 20 strokes that are quicker and more forceful.

COXSWAIN (koksn)
Steers person of the boat who stands at the back of the boat holding a long oar, often incorrectly referred to a Cox man. For short, most people call them the “Cox”.

DRY START
This is when everyone starts the race with their paddles out of the
water at around 45 degrees

WET START
Paddle is in the water with outside arm straight just before the start.

There you have it, a common standard list of commands used in Dragonboating. So next time when you’re in the boat, pay more attention to these commands as they are crucial to your success in Dragonboating.

Olympic Torch on a Dragonboat

This photo above was featured on the US-Edition of the Financial Times on 3rd May 2008. It shows the Olympic Torch on a Dragon Boat during the Olympic Torch Relay in Hong Kong. It was a great reminder as Dragonboat paddlers that we could share in the spirit of the Olympics, even though Dragon Boating is still not qualified as an Olympic Sport as yet. (I believe it will be one day in the near future).

I know that this picture has been already posted over the Internet and on other sites already, it was just a great reminder of how joyful a moment it was to see this happen.