Dragon Boat West

Hi,
I'm moving to a place that doesn't have DB. Shocking, I know. However, my BF says we can build a personal training tank for me such as the indoor training tanks used in Edmonton and other places, but obviously smaller as it will be just for me alone to practice in so I won't be completely useless when I move back to Vancouver. This sounds great and I'm all for it, but has anyone ever heard of this before or seen something like this? It sounds easy enough although I have a feeling it may get expensive, but I've been Googling and I haven't come across anything like it.

The founder of our team had that kind of setup. A simulator of sorts for winter lol.
The basic idea was a platform right beside a tub filled with water in his warehouse/garage.
Dont know if you can spare a tub but there's always other ways to jerry-rig one.

Ex: buy a medium height (high enough for paddle length) kid pool (read: pvc) at cad tire/walmart, then build a wood plank across it as a seat? just a thought.

However you do it, its going to be expensive. I suggest cross training like kayaking, elliptical machines, swimming, etc anything to keep ur stamina up and upper body working.

Good luck!  :D

Just get an oc1. Ergometer can be pretty cool for indoor winter training, but there's nothing like actually paddling.

Or you can rig up a paddle with bungee cords for indoor practice.

Honest!  a paddler did this about 10 years ago.  It can give a lot of resistance training, like working with giant rubber bands.  It's similar to working on an erg machine, or using a rowing machine, or a universal weight machine.

But you need to make it FUN, or else you won't be doing the exercise.  NFW makes a good point to explore cross training.  Try some small boat work, in a canoe or a kayak.  A small river kayak can be a relatively cheap investment, that you could use all over the place, and sell it later. 

Swimming is a great cross trainer, and you'll be using the same hip/leg drive, back muscles, + reaching it out.

But you might also want to get out in the sunshine with a trail bike... depending where you are moving, and what is available.

Have you considered buying an ERG? They've come down in price quite a bit over the years. The one I have is a Paddle One ( www.paddleone.com ). They're pretty compact (compared to others like the Multistroke or converted rowing machines). They go for about $1000 and you can order thru Andrea Dillon at Waters Edge.

Might be a cheaper option to stay in paddling shape than trying to build your DB training tank...

Thanks for the ideas! I will be doing some cross training. I'm getting an SUP and we'll kayak as well, so that'll be good for upper body strength (I hope). Trail biking for sure as well. Moving to Virginia so there's the Blue Ridge Mountains to tear around on. It's just the DB stroke in particular I was thinking of for the solo training tank. Love the pool idea and the bungee cord ideas sounds pretty wild too!

The bungee/resistance cord is a nice idea gunghaggis!

I would imagine its a pretty inexpensive setup. multiple resistance settings = cord X 2/3/4 lol