Enter the dragon
Two teams armed with wooden paddles and iron clad determination clad determination from Melbourne and Sydney crossed vast oceans to compete in an ancient sport.

Set on the Teluk Bahang Dam with Penang Island as its backdrop, Navy teams from Sydney and Melbourne competed against 17 international teams for the coveted Governor’s Trophy in the 26th International Dragon Boat Festival.

The festival commenced on the of June 10 with an opening ceremony at the Bay View Resort where teams from Australia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, Myanmar, Malaysia and the Philippines came together to celebrate the age old tradition of seeking blessing from the dragon.

Both Navy teams comprised members drawn from all over Australia. Months of early morning paddling, gruelling gym sessions and participation in numerous local races leading up to the event ensured that the teams were well prepared.

Over the two days of competition, Navy teams battled it out in the 20 man and 12 man events with crews containing paddlers, a sweep and drummer.

The competition was fierce and it was a significant achievement to make the finals.

The Navy teams rose to the challenge qualifying for six finals in total. The men’s 20 is the premier race of the event and the crew from Sydney was placed sixth in the final from a field of 24 competitors.

Greater success was achieved in the 12 man event with Sydney One taking out third place.

The Penang competition finished off with a banquet where teams from around the world were asked to exhibit their culture through song and dance. Led by AB Cain-Cross and CPL Lambe on guitar, the Sydney team gave a rousing rendition of We are Australian endearing them to the crowd.

The Sydney team went onto Guangzhou in China where they had two days to acclimatise and train on the Pearl River before the next two competitions in the International Series.

During training, members of the team refined their paddling technique using footage provided by ABPH Freind.

The training paid dividends with the team coming up victorious and taking out the Challenge Trophy for international teams competing in the main event of the meet.

Sydney Navy was also placed overall second in a punishing 600 metre race in which they paddled upstream against 5-8 knot currents. Unfortunately, Navy did not compete in the main event due to language difficulties which resulted in a starting mixup by the officials.

This was very unfortunate as the Navy team was the only international team that was placed in the finals with all chinese teams. Despite this mixup the team came away with a sense of achievement. Other highlights from excursion to China included a visit to a local primary school in Longxi with the Frankfurt Draken Boot Team from Germany.

After being welcomed by the school’s band and touring classrooms, the Aussies and Germans combined with villagers from Longxi to form an 80 man dragon boat crew.

It is only the second time that Navy has participated in this historic event.

Having been televised and watched live by millions, it was reported in the local press that the Royal Australian Navy team ‘had big muscles and were champions’ The Sydney and HMAS Cerberus teams send their heartfelt thanks to CDRE Hart and CDRE Taylor, all coaches, managers and sponsors, who for over a year now have supported and encouraged the team and provided an environment for the successes achieved so far.

This support base has been a terrific in establishing the huge infrastructure needed for the ongoing development of the sport.

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