Dragon Boats.
There! There's the dragon! ...I told you: Here There Be Dragons!
And it's being tamed by the athletic club.
It must be a competition. Anything boys can do, girls can do better! Most of the girls are all on unicycles!
And they're off! We didn't know it, but apparently there are two race distances that the competitors can choose, a 100m race, or a 1 km race. This is the 100m race.
And so is this. Strategy: Paddle your brains out! They did not win, though.
This boat did. Note the smiles. Also: note the coordination and the all black paddles (hint: carbon fiber).
And way over there is the start line for the 1 km races. All boats racing in both distances were usually mixed crew: 10 guys, 10 girls. (men, women, hims hers, whatever is most pc)
This was a seniors teams race. Note the senior women... I think the drummer at the front of #5 is calling her bookie, and changing her bets to #6, who were ahead, and won.
The winners! Note the excellent symmetry and coordination, and the black paddles again.
Now we get more serious, this is the university crowd, and they were close for the whole 1 km. #6 won, #5 was second. Note the muscles, the coordination, and the black paddles on #5 & #6.
This boat finished furthest from the winners. Note the muscles, coordination, and black paddles: or lack thereof. It's good to see them out there. You have to start somewhere!
The serious paddlers train as a team, and buy their own carbon fiber paddles. The clubs will provide wooden paddles for those who don't want the expense of buying a carbon fiber one.
A common problem: Boats that own the waterway, and chug right through the course, even during a race.
...next page.