Dragon boats compete off Magic Island
By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
Spectators leaped to their feet and chanted the name of a Honolulu mayoral candidate yesterday during a semifinal of the AT&T Hawai'i Dragon Boat Festival races at Ala Moana Beach Park.
Andrew Shimabuku • The Honolulu Advertiser
They weren't cheering for Mufi Hannemann; the Kane'ohe-based team he sponsored had the same name, and the intricately carved boat they paddled was pulling ahead of two others.
One of the colorful boats prepared to launch yesterday during the AT&T Hawai'i Dragon Boat Festival at Ala Moana Beach Park.
A Hannemann team member leaned between the dragon's horns at the boat's bow and grabbed the flag at the finish line. The Kane'ohe team won, and will continue in the finals today.
"Tough competition," said Sandy Quon, a Hannemann team paddler.
"We'll get 'em next year," said Mae Lynn Sato, a paddler for Ben Franklin Crafts/Ace Hardware, another Kane'ohe team, which was beaten earlier in the day. "Next year, we'll kick butt."
Dragon boat races are a 2,000-year-old Chinese tradition, said Sunny Wong, president of the Hawai'i Dragon Boat Association, and have become popular across the globe.
The races came to Hawai'i nine years ago, Wong said, when a government official in Taiwan donated two of the association's three boats to visitors from Honolulu.
Teams from all over show up to participate in the annual event, he said. He pulled notes from his pocket: the address of an interested paddler from Portland and another from Sydney.
"They like it because it is just fun," he said.
According to information from AT&T, the races were originally part of a fertility rite, designed to ensure good crops and sufficient rain.
Although the dragons are still awakened with a blessing and food continues to be an important part of the celebration, some traditional elements of the festival have changed over the past 2,000 years.
Participants are no longer encouraged to throw rocks at competing boats and drownings are no longer considered a sign of good luck.
The dragon races continue this morning at 9 a.m. at the Magic Island end of the Ala Moana swimming channel, and could conclude as early as noon.
Reach Karen Blakeman at 535-2430 or kblakeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.
