Here is the article as the hyperlink doesn't work.
http://www.westender.com/ and then click lifestyles.
Know your dragon boat
By Lori Kittelberg
Nine lightweight Gemini dragon boats will pose an additional challenge to paddlers racing in Vancouver's Alcan Dragon Boat Festival from June 19-20.
The spiffy new boats, manufactured in Poland, arrived in Vancouver mid-May. During the festival, both Gemini boats and the locally manufactured Six-Sixteen boats used in Vancouver for more than a decade will be rotated heat to heat. The Geminis will also be used in all competitive final races.
"The Six-Sixteen's a great dragon boat for safety and it's a great boat for racing, but logistically it's a bigger boat," says festival race director Greg Lamb. Older Six-Sixteens weigh in at about 950 pounds and the newer ones at 750 pounds, compared to the 550-pound Geminis.
Lamb had Don Irvine, who co-founded Six-Sixteen with Vincent Lo, scope out the Geminis when racing with Canada's senior men's team in Poland last fall. The Geminis are certified by the International Dragon Boat Federation and are similar in weight and size to other IDBF-approved boats. This means local teams training for international festivals will be better prepared to race abroad.
This is a good thing; however, it means paddlers are now working to adjust their technique so their stroke is as effective in the Geminis as it is in the Six-Sixteens. Vancouver clubs Dragon Zone and False Creek Racing and Canoe Club have been rotating the boats so each crew will have ample training time in them before the big weekend.
I'll admit I was wary during my first practice when I came close to smacking the head of my teammate sitting in front of me. Geminis are seven feet shorter than Six-Sixteens, so space is at a premium, forcing paddlers to lean out of the boat-the way we're supposed to, mind you. Dario Baldasso, Dragon Zone coordinator and coach of two teams, says the biggest complaint he's heard from paddlers is, "There's not a lot of breathing room."
With only 20 benches, as opposed to 24 in the Six-Sixteens, teams also can't race with a "split," or a row of empty seats in the middle of the boat. This has some coaches rethinking seating plans to ensure the boat is balanced properly. Since teams could race in both boats during the festival, Baldasso predicts some coaches will have different rosters for each boat.
Lighter boats are easier to rock, too. Half a week before my crew tried the Geminis, my coach encouraged our steersman to rock back and forth to prepare us. There was some grumbling that we wouldn't rock so much in whitewater, but the training tool was an accurate gauge of how rocky the Gemini was that first time.
Other differences: As there is no bar underneath the seats to rest your foot on and the seats are too close together for taller paddlers to comfortably prop their feet on, bracing can be challenging. Baldasso says, "There's been a lot of talk about bracing with the inside leg, which is similar to how you'd use the leg drive in a kneeling canoe- There's also been talk that we might shave down the back of the seats." Wearing shoes with thin soles or even paddling barefoot, as he does, can help increase the amount of foot and bracing space.
"There have been some complaints, and I acknowledge that," says Lamb. However, he adds that the more teams practice in the Geminis and perfect their technique, the more comfortable they'll be and, in turn, they'll become better paddlers. "I think this boat, because it's a lighter boat, you have to be a more technical paddler- It forces your crew to get better."
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