Dragon Boat Festival

The infamous Dragon Boat Festival was held in Kaohsiung from June 3rd-June 6th. Our months of training and hard work came down to this one weekend. The festival was so much fun and such a great experience. Hundreds of people lined the Love River to watch the races that went on all day for 4 days. At the festival there are vendors that line the streets selling souvenirs, food, and other little trinkets. There were teams that flew in from the USA, Israel, and an abundance of Taiwanese teams. The energy was great and the sense of team spirit was prevalent. 

About the Competition

Dragon Boat racing is an important part of Taiwanese, and other asian cultures. It originated in China over 2000 years ago and emerged as an international sport in Hong Kong in 1976. Unlike other rowing or paddling sports, dragon boating is important in culture because of its ceremonial, ritualistic and religious traditions. The modern racing component is just a small part of the significance of the sport in Asia. The significance of the dragon is that they are traditionally known to be the rules of rivers, lakes, and sea. 

The festival in Taiwan hosts two kinds of boats for racing. There are first the small narrow boats that consist of 20 paddlers, 1 steerer, and 1 drummer. And the larger, heavier dragon boats that have the same crew with an additional flag catcher. It appears that Taiwan has been one of the only places that uses this traditional method with a "flag catcher". When the boat crosses the finish line, there is someone atop the dragon head to catch the flag, if the flag is not caught the boat's finish is disqualified. 

The pulsation of the drum beats produced by the drummer may be considered the "heartbeat" of the dragon boat. The drummer leads the paddlers throughout a race using the drum beat to indicate the frequency and synchronicity of all the paddlers' strokes. One of the MOST important aspects in dragon boating is synchronization of the paddlers. If the strokes do not all go, and out of the water at the exact same time, the strokes can be very ineffective and actually work against the boat. 

Our Teams

NSYSU has submitted one team for the past 4 years - an international team. They have won 3 years in a row so there were big shoes to fill. This year there was such a high interest that we were able to submit 3 teams. Some people had to paddle on 2 teams to fill all the position - but the great thing was that anyone who trained all semester got to participate in the race. The first team was of course the international team. Since there was so much pressure to get 1st place again this year and keep up the school's tradition - this team consisted of the strongest guys and some of the top female paddlers (and 1 girl for drumming and 1 girl for catching the flag). The next team was the men's university team. This team consisted of mostly all of the guys on the team (international and Taiwanese). Then that left the mixed team. This was for any guy who did not make the international or men's team - and all of the girls. This is the team I was on. At first, this team felt slightly neglected during practices and disappointed we did not make the international team. This team consisted of about 15 girls and the rest were guys. 

Results

Now, I am sure you are probably wondering how each team did in the competition. . .

Men's Team
The outcome of this team was very unfortunate. After racing two great races against three of the best teams in their division, they got disqualified at the 3rd race because of an error in registration. Thankfully most of the guys on this team were also on the international team, so racing for them was not put to a complete halt. 



International Team
The international team was clearly a strong competitor from the beginning. Starting with the first race, their times were incredible, and the teams did not even come a close second. The exciting thing about this team is that they got to race at night which looked so cool with the boat all lit up. At the finals NSYSU got the gold medal! They were able to keep up the winning streak and make the NSYSU international alums proud. 

Mixed Team
Like I have mentioned before, the mixed team lacked a little confidence that the other teams had. We were sort of the underdog. Through training we became really close as a team and our confidence began to build. We started to train on the river, and realized we may have a chance at this. We communicated really well with each other and we worked really well together.  We got 2nd in our first 2 races, and this gave us a lot of hope. We finished 4th in the finals but were so proud of our accomplishments. We were racing against some very talented teams (their times were in line with some of the men's teams) and we still got a trophy and a prize of NT5000 (around $170). I am so proud to be a part of that team and I know we all gave it our all. 

Now that dragon boat is over, it comes with a bittersweet feeling. I am glad it's over because it was very intense training so hard the months leading up to the competition. Some teams train all year, we only trained for 3 months - we needed to make every second count. I'm sad it's over because it was such a big part of my experience here in Taiwan. I made so many great friends, and everyone on the team really bonded. Now that this is over, I know that the semester is coming to an end. This dragon boat experience taught me a lot about communication, trust, confidence, patience, perseverance, loyalty, commitment, respect, and friendship. I will cherish every moment and every memory.  


Throughout our time training, and at the festival - we all took pictures and videos. I took some of these memories and created a video of our experience. I hope you will get a sense our commitment and camaraderie. 


To see the video just click on the link below ;)

NSYSU 2011 Dragon Boat

Love always,
Chantal
xo