Merimbula Water Dragons in Merimbula
Interested in participating in one of Australia’s fastest growing water sports, making new friends, doing something different, challenging and fun? Then the Merimbula Water Dragons Dragon Boat Club is for you. Merimbula Water Dragons (MWD) was formed in December 2015.
The goals of Merimbula Water Dragons
• to provide the opportunity for the community to enjoy Dragon Boat Racing in a spirit of good companionship, enthusiasm and involvement within a supportive club environment
• to provide a means to raise general levels of fitness and encourage social and competitive paddling in the stunning lake environment of Merimbula
Merimbula Water Dragons will:
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Maintain a respectful, supportive and fun Club environment
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Encourage participation in all categories of Dragon Boating
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Encourage community participation in Dragon Boating activities as a means of raising general levels of fitness
- Provide opportunities for people to enjoy dragon boating in a spirit of enthusiasm and involvement
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Encourage social paddling for those who want to paddle on our beautiful Merimbula lake in great company
Dragon boating is a safe, non contact sport and a great way to develop fitness, make new friends, stay motivated and most of all enjoy life.
Dragon boating is an aquatic sport in a canoe like boat approximately twelve metres long. The boat seats twenty people (two abreast), has a sweep at the rear to steer, motivate and encourage and a drummer at the front to keep paddlers in time. During racing a Dragon Boat will feature a traditional head and tail of a dragon.
The use of dragon boats for racing and dragons are believed by modern scholars, sinologists and anthropologists to have originated in southern central China more than 2,500 years ago along the banks of such iconic rivers as the Chang Jiang, also known as Yangtze.
Dragon boat racing as the basis for annual water rituals and festival celebrations, and for the traditional veneration of the Asian dragon water deity, has been practiced continuously since this period. The celebration is an important part of ancient agricultural Chinese society, celebrating the summer harvest.
The Dragon Boat Festival honours a patriotic Chinese poet Qu Yuan who drowned himself as a protest against the evils of corruption.