Читать книгу Paddles Up!. Dragon Boat Racing in Canada онлайн

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Finally, as paddlers, we remember our first time in a dragon boat, our first coach, our first team, our first race. We all started as beginners. The dragon boat community has given so much to us. We thank all the paddlers, coaches, sponsors, friends, and family to whom we owe so much for the love of dragon boating.

This book is dedicated to our friends and family who have supported our maniacal passion for dragon boating. Richard and Leo, our spouses, deserve our special thanks for their encouragement and understanding … being awakened before sunrise as we fumbled for our paddling gear in the dark to take to the 6:00 a.m. morning practices; putting up with stinky paddling clothes and shoes; spending weeks and weekends alone while we crossed town, province, country, continent, and oceans for race regattas and training camps. We have tested the limits of their tolerance and patience without fail.

Paddles Up!

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Arlene Chan

Daredevil manoeuvres. Capsized boats. Fierce rivalry. Fighting spectators. So frequent were these incidents that dragon boat races were outlawed in China at the beginning of the twentieth century.¹ The ban was lifted and dragon boating is flourishing as one of the fastest-growing team sports around the world. On the fifth day of the fifth month in the lunar calendar falls the Dragon Boat Festival, one of the most popular Chinese festivals. Celebrated on and off as an unofficial holiday in the People’s Republic of China, it became an official state holiday in 2008.