You might find yourself strolling around the fabulous Docklands Precinct on a pleasant Melbourne evening or perhaps a lazy weekend and hear the sound of bong, bong, bong amid the splashing of paddles beating the water to foam.

A scan of the water will discover one or more of the many teams who train and compete in the Dragon Boat races at Docklands. These Dragon Boats have a dragon’s head on the prow, a tail at the stern and carry a crew of twenty two, including a drummer who sits facing the twenty paddlers urging them to paddle harder. Behind the paddlers is a helmsman (or woman) standing with a sweep oar, maintaining the boat’s course as the paddlers drive the boat forward with every stroke.

The claim of the International Dragon Boat Federation based in London is that Dragon Boat racing is the fastest growing and largest participatory sport in the world today. Dragon Boating is found in countries as diverse as Iran, Canada, Chile, Cypress, New Zealand, Uganda, Russia, Ireland and North America and well over 100 more.

Australia is no exception to the rapid expansion of Dragon Boating and it is hoped the Docklands residents will again have a team competing together with the Chinese Youth Society of Melbourne, Melbourne Flames and a host of other sporting teams and corporate entities from the Docklands precinct. Dragon Boating in Victoria also occurs at Falls Creek, Sale, Geelong and regattas are planned for Albury/Wodonga, Nagambie and Martha Cove.
Many of our major corporate entities are taking to Dragon Boat racing as a wonderful ‘team builder’. No single paddler can make the boat go faster
by his or her own effort. They can make it go slower if they fail to work together. The secret is teamwork. A respected Dragon Boat coach in China was asked “What is the most important element in a successful Dragon Boat team?” He replied, “For the team to be of one mind”.

A particularly exciting development in Dragon Boating is the phenomena of Breast Cancer Survivor teams. Following the work of a Dragon Boating doctor in Canada in the early 90’s there are now

100’s of teams of women around the world (and sometimes men) training and racing Dragon Boats. The research that followed discovered that the incidence of lymphodema fell dramatically and post surgery depression was wiped completely from the equation.

On Sunday 8 March 2009 Victoria Harbour, Docklands will host the Melbourne International Dragon Boat Festival and Victorian Championships, supported by the City of Melbourne and Parks Victoria. Teams are coming from all over Australia and the races will be conducted over 500m and 200m. There will be a Chinese Lion Dance and the “Awakening of the Dragons’ by a “Dotting of the Eyes” during a colorful blessing ceremony by Buddhist Monks.