Wind and rough waters led to a premature end to this year's dragon boat festival in Nanaimo.
After the original festival was relocated to Victoria due to financial constraints, stakeholders scrambled to host the Nanaimo Dragon Boat Regatta Saturday, July 13. While eight races took place earlier, a decision to delay races was made before noon, with competition ultimately cancelled before 3 p.m.
It is a safety-first situation, Tom Arnold, VI Paddling president and one of the organizers, told the News Bulletin.
"This is a tricky waterway, it's open and exposed … and while the overall course isn't too bad, the wave pattern and wind direction right at the dock just makes it difficult to launch … with the dragon boats being as big as they are, you don't want to take chances with 22 people being in the water at the same time."
Among those pulling together to hold the regatta, region dragon boat teams, including Angels Abreast, VI Paddling and Downtown Nanaimo Business Association. There were only three months to organize, which led to a scramble, according to Roseleheh Lalande, Angels Abreast president.
"Initially when Fairway Gorge pulled out, we had a meeting with the City of Nanaimo because Fairway Gorge actually told us they brought $1 million a weekend into Nanaimo for this festival, so we thought, 'Somebody's going to want to step up,'" said Lalande. "I met with the [city parks and rec department]. We went through a whole bunch of Zoom meetings … which I was included with the city, and with VI Paddling and at that point, we started just to get things in place."
This year's festival featured 200-metre races. Arnold previously told the News Bulletin. While previous events featured 500-metres, the shorter distance this year would allow for more races to occur.
Leslie Lambert, Angels Abreast coach, said paddling in the wind was exhilarating.
"It's been great though," said Lambert. "I mean, it was an adventure, the first race."
Despite a premature end to competition, Arnold said he wants to focus on the positives.
"It's very much glass half-full, in two regards – one, just the energy here," said Arnold. "The people have just been so grateful for this event and the vibe has been tremendous and I think a lot of the experienced paddlers, they understand the water. This is a challenging course of all the courses on Vancouver Island. This one has had the most races cancelled over the last 20 years. So while it's unfortunate, it's not an unusual event for this course.
Wind has delayed the #Nanaimo #dragonboat regatta. Situation to be re-evaluated in < 1 hour. pic.twitter.com/BjAtvAvASA
— Karl Yu (@KarlYuBulletin) July 13, 2024
