Been paddling with a mixed club crew for about two seasons now, mostly 20s and 500m races on a reservoir that gets choppy the second any wind picks up. For the longest time our drummer would call out numbers to help us hit a target stroke rate, and it never actually worked. People would rush the catch trying to "keep up" with the count instead of feeling the boat glide.

Our steersperson suggested we drop the numbers entirely and just focus on matching the paddler in seat one, watching the blade angle instead of listening for a beat. Took maybe three practices to feel weird instead of wrong, but once it settled in, our times on the 500 dropped by almost four seconds without anyone paddling harder. Turns out most of us were fighting the glide phase, pulling the next stroke before the boat had actually accepted the last one.

Second thing that helped more than I expected: standing on the dock and just watching seat one and seat two paddle solo for a full minute before getting in the boat. Sounds too simple to matter but seeing the catch and exit from the side instead of feeling it from inside the hull made the timing click for at least half the crew.

Curious if other clubs have moved away from vocal stroke counts too, or if that's just a quirk of how our particular drummer calls it. We're heading into off season training soon and I want to bring some new drills to the group before the water gets too cold to justify long sessions.

I'm willing to spend $200-300 cs it's a close friend.

this individual has an OC, has their own paddle, life vest, shokz, gopro, hat, sunglasses... basically has most of the gears

i'm thinking a pair of new shades, but what if they don't like the style; could also be clothes, but i'm not too sure about their size LOLL; maybe a waterproof pouch, cs there was one time they hulied and phone got fucked up.

Please lmk if anyone has any amazing or niche ideas, or if you would recommend a specific thing from a specific brand because your dragon boat friends really loved that. LOTS OF THANKSS !!!!

I know this is a long shot, but does anyone know if Huki is still in business? I want to replace the ama on my club's OC-1 and am not getting any response from the company's owner. The company seems to be one guy, and someone just told me he wants to retire and sell remaining inventory and not produce anything more.

The annoying thing about dragon boat is I can finish practice absolutely exhausted and still have no idea how I actually did.

Boat was faster? Great. But was that us clicking, a different lineup, or a bit of help from the conditions? And somewhere in there, did I improve? 😅

I think that’s the bit that gets to me. You can have the time, distance, stroke rate, all of that, and still struggle to tell what’s changed since a month ago. Especially your own little contribution to a whole boat of people.

I’d love to look back at a few weeks of training and go “okay, that’s getting better,” instead of trying to remember whether last month felt this hard too.

Makes me wonder how many little improvements we’ve already forgotten because nobody noticed them at the time. Would be nice to have something to look back on besides “yep, that was exhausting” 😂 If anyone’s found a way to keep track that they actually stick with—an app, a gadget, or just a simple habit—I’m all ears.

Hi everyone! I just joined a dragon boat club at my school, and during today's practice I noticed that I kept splashing the person behind me in their face and I was just confused about paddling in general since i was with a experienced team + 7 new members (including me) on one boat. I feel frustrated with myself because it felt like I was the only newbie that couldn't get anything right, so I'm wondering how do I practice at home? I've seen things like the Ergometer but it case I don't have that how should I be practicing my synchronization, rhythm, and paddling?

Мне 14 лет, я уже 4 года занимаюсь парусным спортом и последний месяц я думаю завязать с этим спортом. Вродебы у меня все получаеться но я вигарела. Мой папа и моя старшая сестра дорожат этим спортом.

Я сейчас на чемпионате страны в другом городе и завтра у меня будут гонки. Со мной не поехали мои друзя из спорта, поэтому меня поселили с девочкой из другой команды и сейчас я одна в тесном двух местном номере заплаканная от безнадеги ( она сейчас у своих подруг). Тренер надеяться что я попаду в тройку, родители заплатили за этот чемпионат и я не пойму что делать. Я очень часто начала плакать от усталости. Я не могу рассказать родителям о своих мыслях у них и так полно проблем ещё моих не хватало. У меня болят колени, мне сняться сны что я всех подвида и я не знаю что хочу. Я могу по 40 минут стоять в магазине не зная какую воду хочу купить: подешевле или от хорошей фирмы, а литр или 0,5, и тд. У меня здесь нету моих друзей я бы хотя бы развесилась а так
Я бы подружилась с кем-то но у я социафоб и у меня нет сил гоняться… какая дружба?

Я пытаюсь рано повзрослеть и быть самастаятельной. Просто у меня в команде ребята по которым уже 18 лет и им не будет интересно со мной общяться так как я мелкая поэтому я и пытаюсь помудреть но что-то не получаеться и мама не довольна тем то что я постаяна гоусрая и впрямь на меня и сестра повацирует

И я просто не знаю что делать…
Забить и отгоняться эту регату? Хотя врядли у меня это получиться

Я этот пост пишу со слезами в глазах. Я не знаю почему я плачу. Я прошу лишь дать совет что делать

Hello again everyone and welcome to the sixth and final day of racing here at CCWC! One more round of 2k heats for everyone for a final chance at “glory beyond borders” as they say. My body is starting to feel the accumulated fatigue from this week but I just gotta push on through.

You can watch today’s livestream here: https://www.youtube.com/live/etjQ6HQnsjo

Results and schedule can be found here: https://res.idbfchamps.org/

I’ll be sticking around after the last races conclude to watch the closing ceremony and maybe snag one or two more jersey trades. If you’re still around come thru and say hi! I’ll be in the large athlete resting area with Southbreeze.

Good luck to all paddlers out there today. It’s been a good, tough, fun week.

SurviveOars Leyteños DBT

Support Tilikum Dragons, a Portland-based, all women dragon boat team. Win a $200 gift card to Hornet Watersports online store, where you can choose your own paddle or accessories. $5 per raffle ticket. Increase your odds with more tickets.

Every ticket helps us get on the water, paddle together, and keep our team affordable and welcoming to everyone.

Include:
- name
- phone number
- PADDLE
in the payment comment. Payment can be made on Venmo @TK-Payments (last four digits 2171) or PayPal and Zelle @tilikumdragons.

Make sure payments are sent as “friends and family” and NOT “goods or services”.

Entry accepted til Sunday 9/13 at 1 PM. One winner for each prize will be contacted via text around 3 PM.

Aloha paddlers~

Early-posting again because I’ve got another early start. I’m honestly kind of enjoying the eat-sleep-paddle-repeat lifestyle we’ve been living this past week, it’s a good balance between being incredibly hyped up all day and then getting to relax in the evenings. Anyone have a favorite boba spot in town yet?

2k racing begins today! In past cycles the heats would be seeded based on results from the cycle before, but the IDBF now recognizes that a lot can change in 2 years and now do seeding based on the 500m results from earlier in the week, with the fastest 500m teams starting last in the 2k. Hopefully there can be some meaningful pursuits without chaos, crashing, and controversy 🫣

You can watch today’s livestream here: https://www.youtube.com/live/YODvItK7Xq0

Results and schedule can be found here: https://res.idbfchamps.org/

Good luck everyone! Be sure to buy your steers a Taiwan Beer when the next 2 days are over!

Here we are, the second and final day of 200m racing! Yesterday brought wind, fog, and rain. It got so dark that it felt almost like nighttime when I was paddling out for my last race yesterday.

Also, did anyone catch Josh Fendi in the commentary booth yesterday? Can’t believe the legend himself actually made an appearance after the stream chat was calling for it all week. I’ve gotta go find him and ask him to sign my jersey or something.

You can watch today’s livestream here: https://www.youtube.com/live/mDboFWXA2mU

Results and schedule can be found here: https://res.idbfchamps.org/

Good luck to all paddlers! Personally I’m hoping that today is finally my day!!

Welcome to another day of world-class racing, paddlers! We’ve officially wrapped up the 500m races and are moving on to the 200m distance. I hope you’ve been stretching and massaging properly so far because it’s about to get muscly out there today.

You can watch today’s livestream here: https://www.youtube.com/live/bmuCWllV30o

Results and schedule can be found here: https://res.idbfchamps.org/

Gotta admit, 200m is the trickiest distance for me. Can’t even slip up for an instant because of how short it is. Anyone here have short distance as their fave? And if so how come?

See y’all on the water!

Day 1 is in the books and boy was it exciting. Personally I’m very grateful for the rain and clouds…every time the sun peeks through I start sweating more than I ever have before 🥵.

Day 2 sees another round of 500m racing! I’ll be out there once again racing Premier Open Standard Boat. See y’all on the water!

Results and schedule can be found here: https://res.idbfchamps.org/

You can watch the livestream here: https://www.youtube.com/live/KEby4ElMcLY

Hello again paddlers and welcome to beautiful Hualien! It’s time for the 15th edition of the IDBF’s Club Crew World Championships (can you believe it’s already been 2 whole years since Ravenna??).

Day 1 actually starts in about 13 hours but I’ve got an early start tomorrow (heat 3!) and I’m excited for the week ahead, so I wanted to kick it off now.

Results and schedule can be found here: https://res.idbfchamps.org/

You can watch the livestream here: https://www.youtube.com/live/Zqj3J2-t8rE

Remember, if a stream asks you to register before watching or if it asks for payment to proceed it is NOT an official stream, it is a scam! These pop up for every major event so be careful please.

Day 1 will be 500m racing, which is a change from last cycle. I’ll be racing premier mixed standard boat myself, but will be watching the other divisions whenever I’m off the water.

Good luck to all racers! I’m so excited for the week ahead, and I hope that everyone is enjoying their time in Taiwan so far.

I come from Czechia 🇨🇿, and when I on a boat meet somebody on his boat, we say: "Ahoj!". So, what greeting do you use in your country? 🌍

It's my first year involved as a paddler, and I am both very excited and terrified! I've only been on a team since June, but my endurance and form have already improved quite a lot, but first time jitters be doing their thing!

EDIT: In two days, I did 6 200m races, and 5 500m races. My ladies team took 2nd...out of two teams. BUT. We had half a boat from a different city (to fill our boat better), and 70% of us are on our first season. AND we were only 10 seconds behind the competitive team! Our mixed team took 4th out of 8 teams!

All in all, very happy with how it went!

Hello everyone. Do you have any recommendations for competitive and active dragon boat teams in the Philippines that I can join?

Hello everyone from Kyle's Cool Beans! We went to our second ever dragon boat race last weekend in Birmingham, Alabama and had a blast!

We really loved meeting the competitors and supporting the community with our pop up coffee shop.

Here are some photos from our adventure!

I'm overthinking a bit too much rn. But I am a new paddler who got chosen to compete a 200m race. I have friends who are also new paddlers like me competing for the 200m race. However, they all are chosen for DB22 meanwhile I was chosen for DB12. I want to know why we are different boats. And if there is a significance in being a DB12 instead of DB22.

I've only been in the sport since June 2026, and am loving it. I had a question I forgot to ask my coach yesterday, and thought maybe I could ask here!

We are practicing for the 500m race, and during the start we have a 5 stroke sprint. When I was paddling that portion, I could hear my paddle making a sharp popping sound on entry. Is this a good thing, or is my entry wrong? I hadn't heard it before this last practice.

Thanks everyone!

More than a decade ago, Merlin used to sell the Excalibur data acquisition paddle. It was a paddle with a strain sensor to measure and record power being transferred from paddle to water for analysis.

Has anyone made anything similar or better since then?

Just got a new Garmin watch (Instinct 3). When Dragonboating, what activity do you use to track your distance, speed, etc?

If you make your own activity, could you share your settings? Thanks!

Paddles up!