FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

A dragon boat holds 20 paddlers, with a drummer/caller on the front and a Sweep (steering) at the back. That is a total of 22 persons on a boat.

For training sessions there is no minimum or maximum team members required to paddle.

Your race day squad cannot contain any more than 25 paddlers + Drummer + Sweep.

If your team is short of paddlers, please Contact Us and we can help fill your boat.

Youth teams are high school aged paddlers. There is no age limit for adult teams.

We have paddlers compete at the festival in their 80s!

We provide everything needed including the dragon boats, life vests, paddles, and coaches. Please wear clothes that you can get wet. No heavy clothes (e.g. jeans) or shoes (e.g. boots).

Out of town teams start at $90 per paddler without training sessions.

Adult teams start at $225 per paddler including a training package.

Please see our festival entry packages here for more information.

We are privileged to provide a location to paddle right in the city itself. We train and race on the Wellington Waterfront, from the Jervois Quay Whairepo Lagoon to Oriental Bay.

The festival is on Frank Kitts Park, with great views of the racecourse on the waterfront from the wharf.

We assemble at the lagoon boat ramp here for training sessions.

The short answer is 'No'. Dragon boat racing is a sport where people of any shape, size, or ability can participate and contribute to the success of the team. Races only last about 90 seconds, so aerobic fitness is not so important.

Our racecourse is approximately 300m. It starts inside Queen’s Wharf and runs down towards Te Papa.

We know it can be daunting to rally 19 other people to join you, so we have started to bring individuals keen to dragon boat together. This is a competition that doesn’t exclude. You’re a dragon boater? Great. Never done it before? Even better. See more information here.

At the festival you get 3 heats and 1 final. In the heats you compete against other crews both in and outside your division. We run division-based finals and your best two heat times determine which final you race in.

We will happily put the call out for people from other teams to jump in your boat!

Heat 1 will be taking place on Friday 28 February 2025. Heats 2, 3, Finals and Prize-Giving will be taking place on Saturday 1 March 2025. Every team gets the opportunity to race 3 heats and 1 final over the weekend. However, if your team is unable to make their first heat on Friday, you can elect to only race 2 heats and 1 final. Either way, your best 2 heat times are used to determine which final your team races in and what lane you are allocated.

We only race 20s at the Wellington Dragon Boat Festival. We wouldn’t rule out 10s for our Harbour Fun Day though!