Publication:Navy Annual 2005/Royal Australian Navy Dragon Boating

BY ABLE SEAMAN BRENTON FREIND AND LIEUTENANT PETER TEICHMANN

It has been a year of success and tremendous growth for the sport of Dragon Boating in the royal Australian Navy. A successful competition at the New South Wales state Championships was followed by the Australian Dragon Boat Championships in Canberra on 9-10 April 2005. Two royal Australian Navy Dragon Boat teams competed at this event.

The mixed team from HMAS Cerberus secured their position in the finals of both the 250 and 500 metre events after great results in the heats and semi-finals. The team, which was comprised predominantly of trainees, achieved respectable results with bronze and silver medals respectively.

The East Australian Area Dragon Boat team, coached by Warrant Officer 'sooty' Winter, challenged the best teams in Australia in the heats, semi-finals and the final events of the 250 and 500 metre races. With less than a second between first and third, the East Australian Area Navy Dragon Boat team commanded respect from more established teams that have dominated Australian Dragon Boating for the last decade, and proudly walked away with a bronze medal in both events.

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. Both Navy teams comprised members drawn from all over Australia.

The Festival commenced on 10 June with an opening ceremony to celebrate the tradition of seeking blessing from the dragon. Teams from Australia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, Myanmar, Malaysia and the Philippines competed in this event.

Over the two days of competition Navy teams battled it out in the 20-man and 12-man events. 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 mens 20 is the premier race of the event and the crew from Sydney was placed 6th in the final from a field of 24 competitors. Greater success was achieved in the 12-man event with Sydney 1 taking out 3rd place.

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. The training paid dividends with the team taking out the Challenge trophy for international teams competing in the main event of the meet. The Navy Sydney team was also placed an overall second in a punishing 600 metre race in which they paddled upstream against five to eight knot currents. Unfortunately, Navy did not compete in the main event due to a starting mixup by the officials. 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'.

Other highlights from the 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.