The Dragon Boat. Dragon Boats do not have Stem and Stern posts, such as a Canoe does, but have a keel-plank, reverse dead rise garboard strakes and hard chined slanted bilges (not round turn-of-bilge). Dragon Boat bottoms are of an inverted gull wing form in transverse section.

Dragon Boats gain structural hull rigidity from full bulk-heads, a longitudinal, anti-hogging stringer pegged intension, and an odd number of strakes. A canoe derives its hull strength from the internal frame, which is comprised of the gunwale, thwart and rib elements.

Dragon Boats are carvel built (edge on edge planks) as opposed to the overlapping clinker or lapstrake planking method used, in building some types of Rowing boats and Canoes. Dragon Boats have a shelf-like, projecting, overhanging prow and stern whereas canoes have fine bows and must be boarded amidships and not over the prow or stern as dragon boats are designed to be. Dragon Boats can be poled from the extremities whereas Canoes must, generally, be poled from amidships.

Dragon Boats were designed to be beached and to cross sand-bars, shoal waters and flood plains. Canoes were designed as a watercraft that could be portaged. Dragon Boats are sturdy and robust while Canoes are fragile, delicate and easily damaged.

Traditional Sizes, Descriptions and Use.

Definitions. A small vessel is, by general definition of the maritime authorities, less than 20 meters (65 feet) in length. A large vessel is, therefore, over 20 meters long.

Dragon Boats, as used within IDBF Sport Racing for example, come under the Small Vessels Regulations of the Canada Shipping Act. The Canadian Coast Guard recognises and classifies all manner of water-craft by length and function and designates Dragon Boats as Long Paddled Watercraft (LPW) to distinguish them from Canoes and Kayaks and Long Rowing Craft (LRC).

It is worth noting the following English dictionary definitions of a Boat and a Canoe and to see how, in size and use, the Dragon Boat and Canoe fit the definitions and in practice are very different too.

Canoe: A small light boat, with pointed ends.
Canoeing: to carry or send by canoe especially as a sport or hobby.
Boat: A relatively small usually open vessel.
Boating;- the action of going by boat.

The Canoe. The Canoe as referred to in this Short History is the Native craft used by the indigenous peoples of North America and adopted by Europeans when they first arrived in the New World, primarily as a means of transport and for trading purposes. It is this craft that has been developed into the stylised modern racing and slalom canoes used in ICF Canoe Sport.

Canoes, for solo use, can be as small as 10 feet, in length. They are paddled from a seated or a standing-stooping position using relatively short-shafted, single bladed paddles and never from a high kneel position. The largest of the North American freighter canoes, used by Voyageurs, were beamy, with very high freeboard, cargo bearing and under 40 feet in length.

European explorers, from Columbus onwards, applied the term "canoe" (from the Arawak (Caribbean) canoa or kanawa) to any vessel paddled with a single bladed paddle, in a forward facing manner (whether framed or dugout) that was double ended. Such ‘canoes’ were usually narrower and faster, than the European’s beamy, deeper draft and aft facing oar propelled ship’s boats.

A dug out "canoe" is actually a log boat – not a ‘canoe’ at all, that goes by the name of pirogue / piroque in the Americas and Va'a, Wa'a or Waka in Polynesia. These were also called ‘canoes’ by Captain Cook on his expeditions to the South Pacific and Australia, hence the Maori ‘war canoe’ of New Zealand and the Outrigger ‘canoes’ of the Pacific Islands.

In Chinese, "canoe" is denoted as Du Mu Zhou, a single log boat or as Xiao Hua Chuan, a small paddled boat. Neither of these descriptions apply to dragon boats, which are neither single log boats nor small in capacity. In the etymological roots of the Chinese pictorial written script the word for "boat" (Zhou) denotes a raft form and not a single log dugout.

In ICF Canoe Sport the Canoes and Kayaks presently used normally seat one, two or four paddlers and are designated by type and crew number. Thus a single person Canoe is called a C1 and a Kayak that seats two people, a K2. In ICF competitions, events are held for C1, C2 and C4 canoes and K1, K2 and K4 kayaks. Essentially, ICF competitive canoeing is an ‘individual sport’ or at best a small crew based sport, with crews rarely exceeding four in number, useing stylised versions of the North American Canoes described above. Indeed, the modern sport Canoes (and Kayaks) are as far removed from their forbearers, as the Formula 1 Racing Car is from the average family saloon and both are mainly, a single person paddled water-craft.

The Dragon Boat. Dragon Boats are essentially built similarly, to other boats and watercraft unique to Asia, such as the Junk and the Sampan. (Sam means three and Pan means boards or planks). They derive from lashed log catamarans and lashed bamboo rafts. (Catamaran, a Tamil expression for lashed log rafts, was misapplied by an American yachtsman in 1875 to a hull fitted out with double outriggers. Such tri-hull sail craft were subsequently called trimarans, a further misnaming).

Records show that ancient Chinese generals once used dragon boat paddling as a fitness and training exercise for soldiers, but never for waging battles or for tactical purposes. In addition to dragon boats for racing (long zhou) there also existed barge-like dragon boats (long chuan) which are both paddled and rowed and used for ritualistic purposes.

Today Dragon Boats in a competition are rarely paddled by less than 20 paddlers in a crew (plus a Drummer and Steerer) and never by less than ten paddlers. It is therefore very much a ‘team sport’.

The Steerer (Helm) of a Dragon Boat always controls the Boat by means of a Stern mounted steering oar, with an oarlock rigged aft, although small dragon boats of the 20 paddler variety, or less, can be helmed using a freely held stern located steering paddle.

The Drummer, normally seated at the front (Bow), is unique to the sport and has a purely traditional significance. In dragon boating, the Drummer has a role similar to that of a Cox, in a Rowing shell. The IDBF International Racing Dragon Boat (IRDB) used in competition today, whilst designed for crews of 22 (Standard Boat) and 12 (Small Boat) retains the shape and hull design of the traditional dragon boat from the Pearl River area, of Southern China.

The standard IRDB, (DB 22) is around 12 metres (40 feet) in length, whilst the small IRDB (DB 12) is 9 metres (30 feel) long. However by Asian standards neither model of the IRDB is a large Dragon Boat, as Dragon Boats of different sizes and shapes are paddled by over 100 crew members.

The IDBF Racing Dragon Boats and their antecedent Dragon Boats from Southern China, especially Hong Kong, are referred to as Xiao Long Zhou or small dragon boat, because Normal size dragon boats, in the area, are double the length with a crew complement of up to 50 paddlers. Large dragon boats, throughout Southern China, are even longer and have 80 plus paddlers, sometimes in double ranks like oared "biremes" of ancient Greece.