Dragon Boat Makes Historic Crossing
After months of training, the AeroDragons Dragon Boat Club, met their goal to “go where no man has gone before” by paddling a dragon boat in the open ocean from Two Harbors at Catalina Island back to Mother’s Beach on Naples Island, Long Beach.
Dragon boats are not typically designed for open-ocean travel, making the crossing a dangerous undertaking, but the team succeeded nonetheless. The AeroDragons Dragon Boat Club members challenged themselves, not only to set a new record by making the first open-ocean crossing of the Catalina Channel by a dragon boat, but also to use the paddle out as a third party event to raise funds for Heal the Bay.
The Club’s team couldn’t have asked for more perfect conditions on the morning of September 24th, with calm seas and virtually no wind or waves. It took the team three hours and 26 minutes to paddle the 21-mile crossing.
During the paddle out, the team reported multiple sightings of blue whales and dolphins, including a pod of hundreds of dolphins near Point Fermin.
Congratulations to the Long Beach-based club for going, where no dragon boat has gone before.
