Ms. Paddling,
I think you are missing one very important point about any paddling sport... BOATS SINK... be it a kayak, a flatwater canoe, an outrigger or a rowing skull. The safety aspect of the boat is not that it doesn't sink... all boats will even life boats will sink given rough enough conditions just ask BC Ferries, but it is rather how a boat sinks.
In this case the boat did it's job and the outcome given the conditions was as safe as possible...
If we look at how the boat reacted when hit on the side with a wave the hull filled with water and distributed the additional weight from the water evenly and submerged in a controlled manner. Now for a quick physics lesson... any boat that takes on water will increase it's water displacement as it is heavier, this results in a reduction in the buoyancy of the boat and freeboard. The reduction in freeboard allowed additional water to come in and resulted in the boat loosing additional buoyancy until becoming fully submerged.
Now kudos should go out to the boat designers as the boat remained upright until it achieved neutral buoyancy (was fully submerged) meaning that the boat didn't flip creating a real danger of trapping people under the boat or even hitting them as the boat rolled... unconscious people in the water NOT good.
If you look closely at the pictures you will see that the boat did not capsized at any point and that once weight was equalized in the boat (Picture with only 4 or 5 people left in the boat) the nose started to resurface which suggests to that someone has done a hell of a job calculating the size of the sealed bulkheads.
Now the idea that a different boat would be better here are some possible alternatives:
- Controlled sinking of the D2 Boat, 6-16 likely a similar scenario given the hull designs, no big deal.
- Millennium boat = right/left compartments... Likely would roll tossing paddler from the boat and possibly trapping people under it... and if you have ever hulied you know how fast it happens so beyond anything else there would be the shock factor.
- BuK or a Gem though the sinking would be more controlled because of the open compartment I would think that the reaction to the weight shift in the boat would be more dramatic resulting in a similar situation where the boat would roll. Like they wouldn't sink because of the sealed hull but you're never going to right one.
Though it is great to say that we need safety standards in Dragon boating I think you are sadly mistaken if you think that the sport is without them... Certification of Life jackets is the primary safety standard... that's why it is required to be a coast guard approved PFD. Government testing on boats happens individually and is a test of sea worthiness not will it sink or not.
Now for the argument that a sealed nose capsule would have prevented the problem... you can't be serious, the design of the boat has a bulkhead just in from the fixture for the dragon head... so yes it would allow water into the front of the boat... but I doubt even enough to make the boat nose heavy.
Sooo that being said and to keep Ms. Paddling happy and to prevent this from happening again I say we start a petition to make Water's Edge Design manufacture and implement the first ever Dragon Boat Spray skirt so we can learn to ride the waves just like an outrigger
Hats off to Water's Edge for making the right call... even though they would have been a boat short for every second race if they decided to continue.
Finally to those who are worried that the world of dragon boating is not governed by adequate safety regulations... if you are that worried about it I suggest you stay on dry land and while you're at it not drive or cross the street you're much more likely to get killed doing that.
