Dragon Boat Racing
The use of dragon boats are believed by modern scholars, sinologists and anthropologists to have originated in the southern central China more than 2,500 years ago along the banks of the Yangtze River. Dragon boat racing was the basis for annual water rituals, festival celebrations and for the traditional veneration of the Asian dragon water deity. This celebration is an important part of the ancient agricultural Chinese society for celebrating the summer harvest. They first used a "dragon boat" to go save a local scholar from drowning in the river. Today, dragon boat racing has become a fast growing International sport with numberous Festivals and World competitions in many countries. A commonly used dragon boat has a drummer, 20 paddlers and a steersperson to complete a race crew.
Outrigger Canoe Racing
Outrigger canoes were originally developed by the Austronesian speaking peoples of the islands of Southeast Asia for sea travel and were used to transport these peoples eastward through to Polynesia and New Zealand during the Austronesian migration period. In the early 1900's, the Hawaiian Outrigger Canoe Club was founded at Waikiki.
Outrigger canoeing is a sport in which an outrigger canoe (vaʻa, waʻa, waka ama in Tahitian, Hawaiian, similarly in Polynesian language) is propelled by means of paddles. Outrigger canoeing has grown from its roots in Polynesia to become a very popular paddling sport, with numerous sporting and social canoe clubs established around the world. These sporting clubs are also often involved with dragon boat racing. The Six person outrigger canoe (OC6) are the most commonly used for this sport. A variety of boat types exist including the OC1, OC2, OC3 and OC4 (with the respective number of paddlers using a single hull outrigger canoe). Also used are the OC12 (with twelve paddlers in a double hull outrigger canoe; two six person canoes rigged together like a catamaran). The shorthand form is also commonly written as V1, V2, V6, etc. (where V refers to vaʻa).
