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Dragon Boat Canada


IDBF


Canoe Kayak Canada

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[crustyx]

http://www.cknw.com/news/news_local.cfm?cat=74281417912&rem=37270&red=801141723aPBIny&wids=410&gi=1&gm=news_local.cfm

Dragon boat overturned
May, 06 2006 - 5:00 PM

 
PORT MOODY/CKNW(AM980) - They were wet and cold, but it could have been much worse.
A dragon boat, carrying 24 female paddlers in training, capsized in Burrard Inlet this morning off Barnet Marine Park.

Someone on shore called emergency crews and the coast guard, tugboats and a couple of smaller vessels were dispatched.

Maritime Search and Rescue coordinator, Alison Keighan says although they responded quickly, she has no idea how long the women were in the water.

Keighan says luckily all the paddlers were wearing life jackets and to her knowledge no one suffered any serious injuries.

 

[Colossus]

yeah, i heard about that today.  i wonder how it happened. 
although according to paddling for life, i'm sure that if they were in a millenium boat they would have been fine. 

[zephyrantes]

at least it wasn't in false creek water

[Rossifumi]

I've paddled out of Lotus before there.  The water's always choppy out there, and sometimes you get heavy boats (ie tanker) coming by.  Even on a windy day, false creek is a skating rink compared to Barnet.

[GnashMyTeeth]

What had happened was that the Abreast in Barnet team's 6-16 boat had gotten swamped by the wake of a tug passing nearby.  Usually, the tugs passing through the channel slow down a bit but this one was going a bit too fast and generated a wake with waves 3-4ft high.  Once their boat had gotten swamped and the ladies were in the water, one of them used a cell phone to call for help.  While most of the ladies clung to the swamped boat, the crew of the tug saw what happened and proceeded to turn around to render assistance.  In the meantime, several nearby craft were already enroute to render assistance.  All in all, some of the ladies ended up in the water for up to 15 minutes.

   

[gunghaggis]

I talked with some of the ladies of Abreast in Barnet.  They made a special talk and presentation about the incident at the Lotus Sports Club's "Bill Alley Memorial Dragon Boat Regatta."  They practice out of the Lotus Sports Club, and they were quickly rescued.  They gave $1000 + restaurant gift certificates to Lotus as a thank you, and also special gifts to Lotus member Barb Alley and another paddlers who stayed with them for the entire ordeal.

We saw two ocean going tug boats pass by during the regatta, and the club paused loading the teams, until the tugs had passed.  No more 4 foot wake though... guess the word got out to the tugboats.

It really sounds like a freak accident.  Lotus has been paddling outrigger and dragonboats since around 1980, when they moved to the Barnet clubhouse, from Burnaby Lake.  I don't know of any other dragon boat incidents other than back in 2001, when Abreast in Barnet suffered a swamping by encountering high choppy and windy weather.

In Portland, in the late 1990's, a dragon boat team paddling at night, hit a towline between a tugboat and a barge.  The boat and paddlers all went under the barge, but all were safe.  This story was told to me by Wasabi paddlers.