"It's the water," right?
"Why would you want to be out in this weather?" We get a few questions when we explain that we're out in the boat all year round - rain or shine. The classic Olympia slogan "it's the water," might be the reason, as we're able to enjoy year-round practices here in the marina. But we weren't always so lucky!
How it started:
In the early 2000’s the Washington Dragon Boat Association opened a small division in Olympia. Then, in 2014, the WDBA closed up shop. This left the people in Olympia without any opportunity to paddle.
A club from Seattle (our friends at SAKE) stepped up and offered to provide support for a few years! Thanks to their support, the Olympia dragon boat community was able to stay active through 2019.
In January 2020 the Olympia Dragon Boat Club struck out on our own, with just 13 founding members. As you can imagine, the timing wasn't ideal for recruiting new members in those first years, but it slowly began to grow.
How it's going:
After some slow and steady years, our little club took on a big challenge in 2024 and brought the Olympia Dragon Boat Festival back to town. A resounding success, the first year created a lot of enthusiasm, and we immediately began to plan for 2025.
Today, we welcome new members to join us on the exciting journey of growing and cultivating new skills with us. We still go out on the water every week and are always happy to have new paddlers join us.
As we continue to grow, we hope to expand our club to offer targeted practices for different goals and develop some competitive teams to take part in regional races. Paddles up!
