Since there is all this talk about paddling in shallow lanes and how it slows teams down, I would like to ask if certain teams have a specific strategy for more efficiently navigating through shallow spots. There's the obvious answer of "paddle harder", but I was wondering if there was more than just that. Do you increase the rate, change up the technique, etc? I know there are some folks here that like to bring up a lot of the physics involved with different aspects of dragon boating so I wanted to see what their thoughts were on this topic.

Some of the questions on here are surely posted by troll. Oh wait I have a good one.

How do you fart, yet not increase or decrease your stroke rate? Is there a certain type of fart that will help you go faster? Should these farts be held and only released explosively and in unison when a team hits shallow water?

how is that a troll question? Seems like an ok question to ask.

It's a legitimate question. Before this thread turns into every other name calling thread in this forum if you do not know the answer please refrain from making stupid comments such as the one above.

Your answer is like saying that there is no reason specific paddling techniques have been developed for specific types of boats (C-1, OC-1, K-1, etc.). Or that crews don't adapt their stroke based on water conditions, crew size/strength etc...

I thought this forum is here to discuss dragon boat which would naturally lead to questions such as: "What makes a boat faster when ____ ?". I am sorry if my question does not create enough drama to fill your empty life.

So please post post your opinions on my original question. I have heard many different things such as how the wake affects the boat based on lane depth, etc but not sure how it applies in these conditions.

Shallower water = less glide = increase stroke rate and focus on the catch

I would tend to agree. The classic advice is pull harder, but this just increases the force against you and wastes more energy. It makes more sense to go harder in the deeper water where it will make a difference, and just ride out the shallows with a higher rate but giving up a little in terms of energy if you have too.

paddling easier always wins the race.

When its raining out should you close your eyes?

"Look at me mom! I'm so witty!"

"paddling easier always wins the race."

My point is that if you can't pull 100% for the entire race, which is the case for everyone, then you should conserve slightly more energy in the shallows than in the deep (i.e. go to a higher rate but lower intensity). Keep in mind the difference should be slight - so it might be best to not worry about it and race as hard as you can.

Thanks for being the only person giving useful advice. Just checking to see if there were other schools of thought out there.

Bringing the intensity down is not what I meant at least.

Connect up front - and cut off any unbeneficial portion of the back half. That results in a faster rate. You don't want to spin though. Always stay connected.

Why disagree?

Suppose your team races at 90% effort but has en extra 5% they can apply for half the race. Now suppose that the first half of the race is shallow and the second half is deep.

I would argue that applying the extra 5% when in the deep water will lower your time more than doing so in the shallow water. Why? Because if the extra 5% in the deep water saves you 1 second, the extra 5% in the shallow water will save you less than that, because the boat is will react less due to the wave interference.

Thus you overall time is reduced more if you race a tad harder in the deep stuff. Keep in mind this difference is so little that telling your team to take it easy during the shallows probably isn't a good idea - but so is "pull harder" to compensate which you hear all the time.

Watch some of the good marathon paddlers. Races quite often take place in shallow water when travelling rivers. Faster tempo, smooth glide and quiet upper body.

Do the boats glide well in shallow water? I would think that there would be more drag in shallow water. Dragon boat would obviously face a magnified problem since the boat is much heavier and wider than marathon boats. I guess it seems that the consensus is just a faster rate and shorter stroke.

Marathon analogy doesn't apply. In marathon racing we pop the boat , get on our own bow wave using a very high stroke rate and go faster than in deep water. I do not think you can pop a dragon boat, we tried in Stratford a few years ago.
However , a quick recovery does help go faster because it reduces the deceleration beween strokes.(There is much greater deceleration between strokes in shallow water because the bow wave is so big , like paddling uphill.)

The last poster's commentary was the most insightful so far.

You'll go slower in shallow water and faster in deep water.