In conjuction with RealNZ tours, Aoraki Dragons will put on a one-off special race on Lake Wakitipu.

This is to celebrate the Chinese New Year - to welcome the Year of the Dragon.

  Lóng tóu mǎ wěi: Lead like a dragon, finish like a horse - have a good start and strong finish.

This will be on Saturday 10 February 2024, and will include paddlers and Sweeps from Dunedin and Christchurch.

The race starts at Queenstown wharf with TWO Standard Boats racing against TSS Earnslaw to a buoy positioned 900 metres away. The race starts at about 11 am. One Dragon Boat is powered by paddlers from Dunedin and the other by paddlers from Christchurch.

All boats start from stationary position, giving Earnslaw a healthy 50m "lane width". We will have radio contact between captains (Sweeps) of all boats, a dropped Flag will indicate start is imminent, and the start signal is a LONG blast on the horn of the Earnslaw.

Boats have full heads, tails and drums fitted, so we will "make some noise" in Queenstown Bay.

Keep an eye out for the article on One News, probably on Saturday night.

--- Despite the strong winds and choppy lake furcing Aoraki and RealNZ to cancel the on-water events, this was a great chance for us to put boats on show in the downtown/wharf area, and create some great connections with local tourism ---