The Double Fifth site is not currently set up to provide team discounts, but that is an upgrade we are working towards. We do offer discounts at the following quantity breaks: 10 or more, 20 or more and 50 or more. Call USA Dragon Boating at 1-877-872-3211 in the USA or 1-971-222-3679 Internationally for team discounts.

A dragon boat is a long boat, similar to a punt or gondola, that generally seats 20 paddlers who sit in pairs in ten rows Mini dragon boats seat 10 paddlers in 5 rows.  Some boats seat 16 and some boats in Asia seat 50 or more!  There is a stylized Chinese dragon head on the front and a dragon tail on the back.  The boat is controlled by a person who stands in the back who uses a fixed steering oar (like a rudder) - or in some styles of boat uses a paddle.  There is a drum on the front and a raised seat for the drummer.

There are probably hundreds of different styles of dragon boats, especially in Asia where many villages make their own.  There are two main styles of dragon boats used in the U.S. today, Taiwan and Hong Kong.  Taiwan boats are typically heavier and vary in length.  The standard Taiwan boat seats 20 and sits low on the water.  The ceremonial Taiwan boat seats 16 and is extremely tall and heavy, but very ornate and beautiful.  Taiwan style racing usually involves grabbing a flag from a holder at the finish line.  The flag puller lies out on the dragon head to reach the flag.  Hong Kong style dragon boats are the most popular style of dragon boat in North America.  Modeled after the boats used in Hong Kong, they are narrow, very sleek and long with a delicate and ornate head and tail.  These boats seat 20 and fully loaded are only inches from surface.  Hong Kong style boats race point to point with the winner determined by which dragons’ nose crosses the finish line first. 

The act of paddling a dragon boat!  Most dragon boating is done for competition at one or two day races throughout the United States and world wide.  More and more clubs are forming for people to continue to paddle recreationally for exercise and practice. 

In the U.S. in 2006 there were over 80 cities with dragon boat races.  There were about 2,800 unique dragon boat teams and over 95,000 participants.  The 2007survey should show considerable increases in all of these numbers.  World wide there are over 50 MILLION dragon boaters, the vast majority in Asia and the majority of those in China,

Where else is dragon boating popular?

There are dragon boat races on every continent (except Antarctica, of course) and in more than 40 nations.  The sport is very popular in Europe, Asia, Australia, South Africa and North America.  The sport has not yet taken off in South America, Central America, N.Africa and the Middle East. 

That depends on who you ask!  The goal of most amateur sports is a shot at those 5 Olympic rings.  The problem is the size of the dragon boating teams.  The Summer Olympic Games is currently trying to limit the size of the game to 3,000 athletes.  The last World Dragon Boat Championship was over 2,000 athletes strong.  Each team is 26 people, plus coaches, trainers, managers, etc.  A single division contested by only 16 countries would still add nearly 500 to the games.  Considering that the IOC has recently taken steps to reduce size by eliminating baseball and softball, it's unlikely dragon boating will be added soon. 

In most cases the races provide the boats.   A dragon boat is up to 44 feet long and can weigh between 450 and 1600 pounds depending on the style of boat.  A special trailer is required to move them and most teams don’t want to risk their investment on the open road.  In Europe, where distances between countries are much less than here, teams more frequently bring their boats to competitions.

Like any sport you can use as much physical exertion as you like.  With 20 people paddling it is very hard to tell who is giving 100% and who is only giving 75%.  The sport is easy to learn and hard to master.  Most recreational paddlers are ready to race after as few as three practices.  The sport is low impact yet very aerobic and is an excellent way to expand your exercise program.  A good analogy is a choir.  In a choir you don’t have to be the best singer but it helps considerably if you blend in and harmonize. 

There are a couple of ways.   First, check our listing of festivals and find a race near you.  Contact the race director and they can usually pair you up with a team.  You can also join the USDBF Paddler’s group on Yahoo.  The group is designed to hook up paddlers and teams.  You can always start your own team.  Again -  contact your local race and they will help you get started.  If you want to be involved but don’t want to paddle you will be worth your weight in gold if you learn how to steer.  Finally, just volunteering is a great way to help out and enjoy the fun and excitement of dragon boating.

USA Dragon Boating, LLC was started to address the needs for quality services and goods in the fast growing world of dragon boating in the United States.  The company focuses mostly on new and developing races and clubs in the U.S.  There are a growing number of race providers, and not all enjoy good reputations so be careful if one wants a  multi-year contract.  One of the main focuses of this company is training and self sufficiency.  When we work with an event, the goal is to teach the local organizers how to properly run the race.  By teaching in addition to providing we are doing two things.  First, we are helping to standardize racing in the US and second, we are generating the next group of service providers.  We ultimately want all race organizers helping surrounding communities to start dragon boating.  If we do this right we will eventually put ourselves out of business and our founder can finally work on his golf game!

Our people have years of experience in all aspects of dragon boat racing.  We have worked small races as well as National and World Championship events.  If there is a service you need at your event, we can provide it or find someone who will.  A key focus of the company is race management and training.  From registration to award presentation we can help.  Typically we help with technical issues such as creating the race grid, start line operations, finish line operations and officiating.  We use the latest in digital video technology to streamline the event.  We provide training services in such areas as paddlers clinics, officiating clinics and steering clinics.  We can also arrange to bring the boats and equipment to your event.  Our consultation services include Race/Site evaluation, new festival development, course design and layout and club development.

One of our goals is to leverage the size of the sport to secure the best pricing possible.  By buying in large quantities we offer festivals and clubs great prices on paddles, PFD’s, apparel and accessories.   We offer Swift Racing dragon boats, ZRE, Grey Owl, Typhon8, Chinook and Extrasport with more companies added all the time.  We specialize in fulfilling large orders and discount accordingly.  Visit our online store for more information or to purchase.

At USA Dragon Boating, of course!!  We are proud to offer Swift Racing Dragon Boats in both a 20-man and 10-man version.  Manufactured in China, the boats are constructed using fiberglass and polyester resin for durability and low maintenance.  The boats are designed to be fast, stable and best of all - Affordable!  See our online store for more details or contact us directly at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it or toll-free at 877-872-3211 for more information.  

The world seems to be settling on three distances.  250 meters, 500 meters and 1000 meters are the current international standard and the distances used at big races like the US Nationals.  There is a trend toward 200 meters instead of 250 which works well for festivals and novice teams.  The vast majority of racing is straight line sprints and equate roughly to middle distance running in track.  The 250 takes around 60 seconds to race.  The 500 is in the two to three minute range.  The 1000 is like the mile, top teams do it in under 4 minutes and 5 to 8 minutes for everyone else is standard.  There are a few races that include turns and run 2000 meters and longer.

A great paddler from Canada once told me the secret training food is donuts.  In our opinion the secret is Technique, Power and Speed, in that order.  If all of the paddlers are flailing about, the boat will get to the finish line…eventually.  Proper technique means everyone is using the same basic stroke and staying in time with each other.  In novice teams the crew that stays together best usually wins.  Once everyone has the stroke and timing down the next step is to add power.  Digging deeper and pulling with your back adds power to the stroke, but power without technique can actually make you go slower!  Once you have the technique and the power you can add speed.  If two teams are even in technique and power then the team that takes more strokes will win.

Festival or local racing is informal racing, often with unique rules and regulations, where teams compete for trophies, medals or other awards.  Festival racing sometimes involves prize money making it extremely competitive.  Pride and bragging rights are the motivation for most teams. 

Sport racing is formal competition using standardized rules, regulation, equipment and distances.  Sport racing events are typically championship events such as the US Nationals or the World Championships.  These events are highly technical which allows for the best conditions for fair competition.

My local race is over, what options are there for my team to keep racing?

There are races all over the United States and Canada from March through November.  Check out the festival list for a race nearby.  If your whole team doesn’t want to continue then you should contact other teams from your event and see if some of their paddlers would be interested in traveling.  Traveling to events is one of the most exciting aspects of dragon boat racing.  It allows you to combine a weekend getaway with something you love doing, dragon boat racing!  Contact the local race organizer and ask if there are any teams interested in hosting a visiting team.

What’s the difference between a crew and a team?

In the United States the terms are interchangeable except when talking about our national team, Team USA.  At the higher level a team is a group of crews competing under the same name.   At the World Championships Team USA consists of 15 to 18 different crews, any of which may participate on any USA crew at the event (as long as they meet age and gender requirements).   For most people crew means team and vice versa.

A club is a organization with members and a formal structure that compete under the same name.  It typically has officers and a board of directors that oversee the operations of the club.  A club crew is any grouping of club members that form for a race.  Club crew championships are for club teams where all of the participants are bona fide members in good standing of one club.  Small clubs may only have one crew while the largest clubs have hundreds of members and can field multiple crews to an event.

The IDBF World Championships is for Representative National Teams.  The team members must be citizens of the nation they represent but may be from different clubs and crews.  The national team represents its country and wears its nation’s colors, in our case it’s Team USA and red, white and blue. 

A racing class is a grouping of similar teams at a race. There are three racing classes; Open (Men’s, but really not restricted by gender), Women and Mixed (Minimum of 8 women).   If an event only has these three racing classes they are sometimes referred to as Divisions.

When there are multiple racing classes broken out by age then they are grouped by age into divisions.  For example the Senior Division can have Open, Mixed and/or Women’s racing classes.  The four primary divisions are Premier (no age restrictions), Master (over 40), Grand Master (over 50) and Junior (Under 18).

Wow, who thinks up all of this stuff?  In some cases an event will be contested over multiple distances.  If each racing class will recognize winners at different distances then the racing class becomes a competition class.  For example, if a race has a Senior Division with an Open racing class and they race at 250, 500 and 1000 meters then each distance is a competition class.  Senior Open 250, Senior Open 500 and Senior Open 1000 would be the entries and each is unique with no bearing on the other.

The sleek and lightweight Hong Kong style boats can reach top speeds of around 10 knots or 11.5 mph.  The men’s crews at the 2005 World Championships were averaging over 12 mph over 250 meters.

There is enough power in the boat to pull an adult male water skier and we’ve got pictures to prove it.

 Wasabi Mixed pulling Kym Lavell in Portland, OR 2001

That’s a really good question.  We are proud to partner with The Dragon Boat Channel as our provider of video and they have the contacts and means to get your event on TV.  ESPN runs competitive jump roping (no offense if you jump competitively) and spelling bees, and they are starting to show interest in the second largest sport in the world!  However, we are always looking for more ways to increase the visibility of the sport.  If you know any sports producers or have contacts at any TV or cable network give us a call toll-free at 877-872-3211

Why doesn’t the sport have any major sponsors?

Dragon boat racing is frequently considered fun and many races are fundraisers for charitable organizations.  We can’t even get coverage in the sports section of most newspapers.  There seems to be a chicken and egg thing going on.  We can’t get TV because we don’t have big name sponsors and we can’t get big name sponsors because we aren’t on TV.  If you have contacts with any national or international country that may be interested in sponsoring the sport, please give us a call toll-free at 877-872-3211.  We’ve got a great pitch prepared, but can’t get it in front of the right folks.

Who is the National Governing Organization (NGO)?

Dragon boating in the U.S. is governed by the United States Dragon Boat Federation (USDBF).  The federation is made up of regional organizations that cover multiple states.  Currently there are three regions in the United States.

Who is the International Governing body?

Internationally the sport is governed by the International Dragon Boat Federation (IDBF), an organization made up of member NGO’s.  The United States is a founding member of the IDBF.

What are the different Championships?

Each region holds championship races for member clubs and the USDBF has the US National Dragon Boat Racing Championships.  The USDBF combines with Canada and Mexico for the North American Club Crew Championships.  Regional, National and Continental events occur annually or every two years.  Internationally the IDBF recognizes three World championship events.  The World Dragon Boat Racing Championships is for national teams and is held every two years in odd numbered years.  The Club Crew World Championships are also held every two years but in even numbered years.  The newest world championship is for corporate and community based team and is known as the World CorCom Championships.  This event is geared to novice level teams from local events.

Typically, championship events are for USDBF member clubs and crews but some races such as the US Nationals are expanding to include all dragon boat teams in the U.S.

Since the USDBF membership is limited to regional organizations the only way to become part of the USDBF is through one of the member groups.   See the links area for the regional member list.

Technically no, but in some special cases a festival may be able to hold an Associate Membership.  The catch is they must be recognized by the NGO, in our case the USDBF, so they are already members.

In an effort to standardize equipment ,the IDBF has created a rigorous specification for paddle manufacturers.  Manufacturers submit the paddle to the IDBF for approval and then may add the IDBF mark and specification number to the paddle.  The current paddle spec is 202A.  Only 202A paddlers may be used in national and international competition.  If you think you ever might paddle at that level make sure you buy 202A paddles.  USA Dragon Boating only sells the most current specification paddles.

Why won’t some races let me use my own paddle?

This is becoming less and less of a problem now that most paddles are standardized.  The biggest reason a festival may not let you use your own paddle is the perception of fairness.  By making everyone grab a stick from the big barrel the race organizer thinks that all controllable factors are equal.  In higher level competition your paddle may be excluded if it does not have the proper spec marking or if it fails any of a number of checks.  Even something as innocent as sharpening the tip is not allowed.

What’s the big deal about carbon fiber?

It’s super light and super strong.  By making a paddle out of carbon fiber the manufacturer can shave several ounces of weight.  The paddles are also extra stiff which translates to more power. 

Is carbon fiber worth the extra money?

Look, we’ll sell you all the carbon fiber paddles you want, but most novice and recreational paddlers are better off with a good wood paddle.  Expert paddlers definitely think it’s worth an extra $100 or more to get extra stiffness and less weight.  The difference between a carbon fiber paddle and a standard wood blade is two or three ounces or about 10% in weight and about the same in stiffness (but we haven’t actually done the math on stiffness).  For a competitive crew shaving a little weight and adding a little more power is the difference between winning and losing.  There’s also the psych factor which can be much greater than the weight or stiffness.  Get into the other guy's head and the race is won before you even hit the water. 

Who took those great pictures on your website header?