The Mallacoota Lakes are part of the wilderness coast of Victoria, and are a perfect setting for a day of dragon boating. The weather conditions were also perfect, with glorious sunshine and a moderate breeze.

This was a non-teams, social event comprising of novelty events which require good team work and a sense of fun. Paddlers swap boats at each rest stop to make sure they meet as many people as possible.

Four dragon boats headed off from the starting point at Gypsy Point Wharf on Saturday morning. The boats initially paddled up river to locate cryptic clues that allowed each boat to find a hidden treasure planted the day before.

Next, a ball scramble, where different coloured balls have to be retrieved by each boat crew, testing the sweeps steering ability and encouraging healthy competition.

The first rest stop was at Sandy Point, a small but beautiful picnic area about five kilometres from Gypsy Point, where the hard working road crew set up morning tea.

After a great deal of paddling and some navigation exercises, the boats pulled into Bucklands Jetty for lunch.

The final stretch led the boats into the Mallacoota Township. The tide was in our favour, so we managed the shorter route and arrived at the main boat ramp and picnic area after a total of about 20 kilometres.

On Saturday evening a dinner for all participants was held at the Mallacoota Golf Club.

The food was fantastic, and there was a lot of fun and laughter. The highlight this year were the “Sunset Jammers”, a quartet of enthusiastic musicians who got our toes tapping.

Congratulations to Merimbula Water Dragons for organizing a wonderful event, and thank you to the road crew who did a marvelous job feeding us all and managing all the logistics.

Dragon boating is a sport that people of all fitness levels can enjoy, as the emphasis is on having fun and feeling healthy.

If you would like to have a go at dragon boating, pop down to the club’s boat shed (situated next to the Quarterdeck Café) on Saturday at 8.30am.

For more information contact the club via email at Narooma.bwd@gmail.com. You can also follow us on facebook.