Taiwanese Cultural Festival and Dragon boat races:
Look for Gung Haggis dragon boat team

It is the 4th annual Vancouver International Taiwanese Dragon Boat Race, held in conjunction with the award winning Taiwanese Cultural Festival.  Come watch the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team race on Saturday and Sunday at Plaza of Nations.

Taiwanese Dragon boats are different from the Six-Sixteen boats normally raced in the Vancouver area, or the Millenium Boats raced in Victoria and Kelowna.  18 paddlers on a boat made of Alaskan Cedar, with a big dragon boat head - the better to climb on top of.  Why?  to grab the flag!  The race is won by grabbing a flag sticking out of the water, and being the first to cross the finish line.  If you miss the flag... stop, go back, grab the flag, then paddle forward.


Here's a picture of last year's Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team with our drummer Naoko pointing to the flag   photo Ray Shum

The Taiwanese Cultural Festival is pretty interesting.  It reminds me of what the Alcan Dragon Boat Festival used to be many years ago, when it was still focussed on bringing Chinese cultural performances and food to mainstream Vancouver audiences.  The focus of the festival is to celebrated Taiwanese culture for ex-Taiwanese families, and to share it with Vancouver residents.  Taiwan really does have it's own separate history and culture separate from Mainland China.  I spent weeks in Taiwan back in 1980 on a student culture and language tour.  With about 200 other 20-something students from across the USA, Hawaii and with a contingent of 30 Canadians, we stayed in Taipei, and travelled across the beautiful island in our final week.

The Taiwanese dragon boats first came to Vancouver as a gift from the Taiwanese government and people in 2003.  I was part of the inaugural race committee and a board member of the CCC Dragon Boat Association, that worked together with the Taiwanese Cultural Festival to bring "flag grabbing" dragon boats to Canada.  The boats arrived by container only 10 days before the first race.  The first boat was in the water on Thursday night, and on Friday morning we had a demonstration race for media.  The first flag grabbers were Vancouver City Councillor Raymond Louie, and Olympic medalist Lori Fung.  I taught them both how to climb onto the dragon head and Lori asked me if they were our guinea pigs.  I corrected her and said "No... you are pioneers for dragon boating!" Lori caught the first flag, as her boat crew paddled by False Creek Grand Dragons, narrowly beat the Eh Team.

On Tuesday night, the 2006 version of the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team went out paddling in a Taiwanese dragon boat for the first time.  For many people, it was their first time ever in a Taiwanese d-boat.  About 1/3 of our paddlers had been in the boat before.  We took turns giving people a chance to try climbing onto the head a being a flag grabber.  No flags were set out to practice with... so we pretended.

A Taiwanese dragon boat sits higher off the water than most other dragon boats, and there is very little gunnel above the seat.  You literally are sitting on the side of the boat, and could slide off your seat if you are not careful.  It's a whole different paddling style, and our paddlers have to adapt.


Last year we missed grabbing the flag.  We had to stop, paddle backward, then draw left to grab the flag. - photo Ray Shum

We did our race pieces, and called a power series.  The flag grabber would rise from their crouched position behind the dragon head and nimbly pull themselves up onto the dragon head, raising one leg above the horns, and tucking in their feet, then the other.... or not!   One by one, Julie, Ashleigh, Ann-Marie and Jonas each climbed onto the dragon head, as we paddled the boat at top speed.  They reached out to grab an imaginary flag, then hold it out straight as we crossed the imaginary finish line, and each paddler waved the imaginary flag to the imaginary crowd, as all our paddlers in the boat cheered.

Our crew is amazing... we might not be the fastest on the water, but we have an incredible attitude to share our experiences with each other and be good friends.  After Ann-Marie came down off the dragon head, she declared that it was an amazing experience, and that everybody should take the opportunity.

Check out articles and pictures from last year's Taiwanese dragon boat race


Taiwanese Dragon Boat races... Gung Haggis wins BRONZE medal!
Congratulations everybody!!! Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team won our first medal this year - Bronze in Division D. Lots of fun & PICTURES   more »