Who We Are

The Seattle Flying Dragons are folks who enjoy getting out on Lake Union to paddle.  For those unfamiliar with the sport, dragon boating is a boat of 20 paddlers, a drummer, and a steersperson paddling to cross the finish line faster than their competition. It's a team sport in its purest form that encompasses the elements of power, speed, synchronization, and endurance.

The appeal of dragon boating is that the sport can accommodate a wide spectrum of skill levels ranging from novice to competitive.   It’s also a low-impact, full body workout for people of any experience level.  Not to mention that it's lots of fun!  We can make a paddler out of anyone - it's all about time on the water. 

We paddle year around.  During the Spring and Summer months paddlers can choose to compete in a variety of dragon boat races and other events.  Have a look at our Calendar page to see what we're up to.

Spotlight on our sponsors:  The wonderful people at Kenmore Air have hosted our club for the last eight years, providing moorage for our three dragon boats on Lake Union.  We are so grateful to have Kenmore Air for our host and primary sponsor.  Thank you!

More Information about Dragon Boating and Useful Links

The Seattle Flying Dragons are part of an international federation of dragon boaters.  Here's a video introduction to the sport from the International Dragon Boat Federation.
William and Kate go Dragon Boating in Canada!
The most famous dragon boaters in the world, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and his wife, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge showed their paddling skills when they took to the water in a two boat race, on July 4, 2011, during their tour of Canada.  It seems that William's boat won by a dragon's head!


Useful Links

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www.idbf.org
The International Dragon Boat Federation (IDBF). The IDBF is the world governing authority for dragon boating.
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www.usdbf.org
The mission of the USDBF is to promote the growth and development of dragon boating in the U.S. for fitness, recreation, and team building at all levels of competition.  The USDBF consists of four regional entities across the United States.
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www.pdbausa.org
Pacific Dragon Boat Association USA is a West Coast Dragon Boating resource, whose mission is to promote the sport of dragon boat racing and foster national and international dragon boat competition. They are part of the USDBF, representing the Western region of the United States.
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www.atlakeunionpark.org
A great site and calendar of what's happening at Seattle's Lake Union Park, including all Seattle Flying Dragon practices.  Lake Union Park hosts activities year-round and best of all, most activities are free and open to all ages.
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www.acsm.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=ACSM_Fit_Society_Page
The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) News & Publication Page.  ACSM is the largest sports medicine and exercise science organization in the world.  Their web site has a lot of educational information that is based on science and medicine, rather than fads or fallacy.
    

Latest News!

We had our annual All Paddlers meeting in early February and decided on the races that we'll be entering for the 2012 season.  Sounds like a super exciting racing season coming up.  First race is in April -- early this year!  Have a look at our Calendar page to see what we're up to.
Meanwhile it's still winter in Seattle.  And we've already had our first race of the year -- the New Year's Challenge.  What better way to start the new year than with an invogorating 6.5 mile race?   And what a fabulous race it was too!  Seattle Flying Dragon boats finished 2nd and 3rd out of four in the race, less than a minute behind the first place boat, made up of a combined Sake/Kent team. It was also great for us to have several paddlers whom we haven't seen for a while join the race and paddle hard.  
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New Year's Challenge race. Dozens and dozens of craft competed in this 6.5 mile race. It was a fantastic day out on the water!
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On the morning of New Year's Eve. Our last practice of 2011. And it was a glorious morning out on Lake Union and the Ship Canal. We made it all the way to the locks!
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January 2, 2012 was supposed to be our first practice of the new year. But we got skunked. The winds were well over 20 mph -- not safe -- so we didn't go out on the water. Still over 10 paddlers showed up! We're a hardy lot!
More photos on the Photos page!
Winter is usually great weather for paddling!  Lake Union in the evening with the city lit up behind us is a beautiful sight.
We'll be racing in Taiwan in June!  The Asian Pacific Education and Cultural Foundation has extended an invitation to the Seattle Flying Dragon Boat Club to race in the 2012 Kaohsiung Dragon Boat Festival in Taiwan. Based on the strong response by SFDBC paddlers, we have confirmed that the Flying Dragons will be sending a team to Kaohsiung, Taiwan in June to represent Seattle and the United States.   This should be a wonderful experience!  And in the meanwhile, we'll be practicing all through the winter.
Winter Paddling.  With the shorter and wetter days, and cooler temperatures, paddlers need to think about gearing up for paddling through the winter.   For many of us it's the best time of the year to be out on the water...but there are some tricks you should know to be fully comfortable during the winter months.  We've posted some great winter paddling tips on our FAQs page.
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Getting ready for some winter paddling! It's dark and it's wet -- but it's still so much fun!