Word: dragons
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...only reason the sport is not more widespread now is the lack of equipment," Campbell says. No dragon boats are currently manufactured in the U.S., so most teams have to import them from Germany, although more affordable models from other European and Asian manufacturers are catching up in quality. In the meantime, a Canadian marketing company, Great White North Communications, is filling the void. The Toronto-based firm owns a fleet of 40 boats and charges some $30,000 to provide consulting, technical support and boat hire for dragon-boat festivals...
Campbell saw a business opportunity in running the complicated logistics of an event that can involve more than 2,000 competitors and dozens of weeks of preparation. His fledgling company, USA Dragon Boating, organizes festivals for a fee. He will set up the racecourse and conduct paddling and coaching clinics before the event to make sure participants don't end up in the drink on race day. Local organizers, typically charitable or cultural groups, are responsible for land-based arrangements: tents, Porta Pottis, bringing in sponsorships, cultural activities, food services--anything that draws crowds and meets their needs. Some festivals...
...gets to the finish line without a boat. A dragon boat weighs as much as 2,000 lbs. and can cost $6,000 to $14,000, depending on the design, craftsmanship and materials used. That doesn't include the recurring cost of trailering the boats to different competitions. Given such expenses, many teams don't even own their boats; they share them. The California Dragon Boat Association, for example, has a complicated practice schedule to allow more than 20 crews, including the City College of San Francisco and the Rainbow Koi, a team of gay and lesbian paddlers, to train...
...fastest-growing markets for dragon-boat racing is the corporate retreat in need of a little excitement. "You can have a big sales meeting, boring meetings for three days, and then one afternoon, we can work with the event planner and produce a four-hour mini-dragon-boat regatta for 500 people," Kerkmann says. It's one of the few sports that can accommodate people of any size and any level of fitness, as long as they can keep their paddle dipping in and out of the water in time with their teammates. "There are no heroes...
Corporations are proving to be among the most enthusiastic dragon boaters in the country. Kaiser Permanente, which sees dragon boating as an exercise in team building, has shelled out almost $40,000 for two boats and enough paddles and life vests for two teams. One boat went to its longest-paddling team of employees, the KP Dragons, and the other is shared among Pollonais-Britt's Dragon Healers and other crews in the California Dragon Boat Association. Teams like the Wal-Mart Warriors, VeRizing Dragons and Starbucks Waverunners have also entered festivals around the country, in competition against schools, police...