Faith Can Move Mountains... But Dynamite Works Better

Wednesday, June 27, 2018

The Dragon Boats Upon The River

As I am busy over at my photoblog with a series on Doors Open, I have a post here today on last weekend's Dragon Boat Festival here in Ottawa. In its twenty fifth year, the event takes place down at Mooney's Bay, a wide stretch of the Rideau River where the river and the Rideau Canal part ways for the last time as they both head through the city core towards their end. This view of the bay is from the bridge crossing to the north- dragon boats were being rowed into position after a race.


This is a regular feature here at the bay, a pirate boat which goes out sailing regularly and hosts, among other things, children's birthdays.


The park area was busy, with many teams under shelters in between times out on the water. Spectators were taking in the events, and parents had their children out in the large playground that is here.


Here we have some of the teams at rest. This is a big event, raising money for charities, and bringing in  teams from near and far for the weekend.


Here we have a view of the bay. One of the teams was rowing their way upstream to get into place.


The calm before a race. This was as far as I could go- I imagine the fellow on the dock was an official photographer with the organization that puts this event together each year. This is thought to be the largest such event of its kind in North America, with over two hundred rowing teams involved during the course of the four day event.


And they were off, rowing their hearts off down a two hundred metre stretch to the finish line.


With one race done, another set of dragon boat racers were heading off towards their place at the start line.


There were some unusual characters out and about in the park, including members of a local Star Wars cosplay group- Imperials in this case.


The park is dominated by a large hill overlooking the water. I went up to the top and got in views of the bay and the surrounding area. A stage is set up for concerts in the evenings during the festival.

16 comments:

  1. I love it! I participated in Dragon Boats one year, through my softball team. Quite enjoyable.
    My SIL had a surprise 40th birthday party on the pirate ship this month! Friends and kids were quite excited about it. Especially my grandies! They dock it in Rideau Ferry Marina over the winter.

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  2. Looks like a fun way to spend a day!

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  3. That logo for the Paddle Demons is badass.

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    1. I thought so- I photographed from further away at first, and the closer I got, the more I wanted a close up of it.

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  4. Wonderful event. You could you use a strong zoomlense there ... ;-)

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  5. Nice. Looked like a wonderful day for water events.

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    1. They had good weather. I think that day, there might have been a brief mist for a few minutes, but no serious rain.

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  6. It does look fun, perfect for summer.

    All the best Jan

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  7. It's cool event. I missed this year's Dragon Boat Race in my city :-(




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    1. It's quite something to see. Of course, we also have the ice dragon boat festival coming up in February again.

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