Dragon Boat Swamped During Victoria Dragon Boat Festival
Aug 15
2010
“Dragon boat paddlers rescued in Inner Harbour after being swamped, story and photos”
“Dragon boat piloted by Seattle team is swamped by fire boat’s wake”
Given all the comments we have heard, prompted by the swamping of a Champion 12m boat in Nanaimo in May of 2010, about how IDBF dragon boats are inherently unsafe, we wonder if the same folks will now claim that they’ll never paddle in a Millenium again?
The truth of the matter is that no dragon boat will survive a 2 to 4 foot high wave caused by prop wash from a craft in close vicinity. There is a lesson to be learned, but it will doubtless be lost on those who need it the most.
Tags: Champion, Dragon Boat Festival, dragon boat swamped, Dragon Boats, Fire Boat, Millenium, Millenium dragon boat, millenium swamped, Photos, Seattle Team, Truth Of The Matter, Vicinity, Victoria
I was one of the paddlers on this team. Our Club practices flipping Buk’s so we were prepared for it. It was a “fluke” accident but it does raise questions about the Millenium’s design. What you did not hear is that the boat totally flipped over, not just swamped, and we struggled to flip the boat back over because, unlike a Buk or a Champion, the Millenium has a solid center beam so when water fills one side of the boat,it will flip because the weight of the water is not evenly distributed. When trying to flip the boat back up, myself and a couple other paddlers had to reach under the water and pull using the benches because water was getting trapped in the half still submerged.
The other problem is that the race organizers were not prepared. The reason the race was stopped for 2 hrs is that everyone got on the radio at once blocking anyone from speaking. So marine patrol had to confer with race officials. Also, there was a lack of bailers (1 in the boat floated away) and none of the course marshall and police boats even had a bucket. The paddler in the picture was going in to start bailing only to discover no bailers. In practice we could have the boat bailed in about 5-10 min. I shouted to the other dragonboats for their bailers and they ignored me.
The “rescue” boats were also not helping because they kept creatign wakes while we were in the water and not paying attention to keeping their bow towards us. At one point, a marshall boat started to tow us towards the rocks and we shout why? It turns back out and speeds up that the boat starts diving nose first like a submarine due to the weight of water in it until we shout to stop because people were still hanging on.
We recognize that all races use different boats and this experience will not stop us from racing in Milleniums if that is what the race is using. If you dragon boat long enough you’re probably going to flip or swamp at least once for whatever reason. I was at a race where the youth team just pushed off from the dock and flipped. I think it was a Champion. It happens. This is my 4th year racing in Victoria and our Club enjoys it. We had 3 teams there this year.
I’m not sure if the IDBF specs address the inside of a boat because other than the basic size/shape, which is consistent for all boats, the inside seems to vary by manufacturer. The Millenium’s center beam is certainly a drawback but its foot bracing is better than most.
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