2024: Dragon Boat Racing in Vancouver
Canada's first dragon boat festival was held in Vancouver after Expo '86, a very popular World's Fair located in the False Creek area of the city. The dragon boats used in this initial race were gifted from the city of Hong Kong. The festival was repeated in '87 & "88 and was so popular that the Chinese community and other volunteers formed the Canadian International Dragon Boat Society and now sponsor multiple dragon boat events across Canada. The 2024 Event consisted of over 200 teams and almost 5000 participants.
As Vancouver is an international community and the event has strong cultural inclusiveness undertones, we were not surprised to see this dragon at the event. In fact, 2024 is the Year of the Dragon!
Yes! The boats do have a dragon figurehead on the bow.
Here is a race boat with its dragon figurehead, the drummer who sets the rowers cadence, and the rowers, At the stern there is also a helmsman who uses a sweep, a long oar, to steer the boat.
One of the race flights consisted of 8 boats whose crew members were all breast cancer survivors. Watching these women compete and show such strength after the battle they fought put a lump in my throat as I lost my wife to breast cancer 23 years ago.
As you can see, this was a competitive group of ladies.
In addition to the races, there were music concerts on the main stage, cultural displays and demonstrations, and a popular selection of food trucks and vendors. 100,000 people were expected to attend the event. It was well organized and coordinated. False Creek is a perfect venue as it's location is sheltered from the wind. Non-race boat can be excluded from the area. and fans can line three sides of the course to get a close view of the competition.
The main stage and vendor booths were near the finish line.
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