It has been a busy and exciting year for Wave Walkers; we’ve had collaborations, race opportunities and new experiences for lots of us on the team!

We train each Sunday, rain or shine, and whilst training for Vogalonga took up a lot of our sessions for the first part of the year we’ve been busy locally and further afield too! Wave Walkers gets involved in a variety of Dragon Boat events, giving those team members who want to try competitive racing a chance to do so, and letting those who just want a fun and relaxed paddle to enjoy this as well. Below are some of the types of activities we’ve been up to this year:

Vogalonga (aka Venetian Visit)!
Our crowning achievement of this year is undoubtedly partaking in the 50th annual Vogalonga in Venice in May. Wave Walkers joined 2000 human-powered craft of all types on a 30km route starting from St Mark’s Basin, taking in the islands of Murano and Burano and finishing off with a glorious (if tired!) paddle down the infamous Grand Canal. This year’s Vogalonga was the culmination of dedicated training, practice, commitment and encouragement from the whole team. For many of the crew, this was their first time at Vogalonga and it was a truly incredible paddle with a phenomenal atmosphere. Wrapping the Vogalonga itself was a team meal alongside the Grand Canal, and some post event celebrations, bringing the club together over a fantastic couple of days. Check out some of the photos taken by the team and their supporters to see what an amazing experience this was!

International success!
In March, we were ecstatic to hear that current teammate, Emily, and former members Kate (who paddles with Raging Dragons Dragonboat, our fellow dock-mates) and Bron (with Thames Dragon Boat Club now) had been selected to be part of Team GB Breast Cancer Paddlers. In July, they won Silver medals in Munich at the EDBF National Championships! Well done!

Racing visits!
A group of Wavies joined Raging Dragons Dragonboat to take part in the London-Macao Dragon Boat Festival in June at the London Regatta Centre and had a great day racing, connecting and enjoying being out on the water! Two more of the team went back to the London Regatta Centre in August to join the Cambridgeshire Royals Dragon Boat team for some more racing in the heat!

At the start of July, two of the team combined forces with Notts Anaconda Dragon Boat Club and Yorkshire Sharks Dragonboat Club to take part in a fantastic day of racing at the BDA event in Milton Keynes, hosted by the Secklow Hundred Dragon Boat Club! They had a brilliant day and made some great partnerships with paddlers from other clubs, which is such an important part of being in the Dragon Boat community.

Social Paddle Swaps!
At the start of August, we travelled as a team up to Oxford to paddle with Oxford Paddlers for Life, a fellow cancer team who paddle in beautiful surroundings at the Dorchester Sailing Club and who were incredible hosts, even ferrying us to and from train stations and providing us with lunch! Building connections and friendships between teams is so important to us and being part of such a welcoming and accepting community is incredibly special.

Days out!
In September, we made our way up to Cookham for the annual Cookham Regatta, a fun event of community stalls, games, entertainment and – of course – Dragon Boat racing! The team had a fantastic and enjoyable day and it was a great introduction for racing for those in the team who had not raced before!

Festive fun!
As we approach the end of this year, we can look back on an action-packed and eventful year, but we’re not finished yet! We don’t just paddle, we enjoy socialising as a team and we have a couple of lovely events upcoming, including a Halloween-themed ceilidh and a Christmas party in the pipeline!

Join us!
Don’t forget, you don’t have to wait for an open day to come along and try out with us. We always welcome new paddlers, those who love boating, those who’ve never been on the water before, and everyone in between. Just drop us a note on our contact form here or find us on social media @Wave Walkers – Dragon Boat Team and come and give us a go!

Wave Walkers open day with Rowbust from London Ontario was a resounding success! Thank you to everyone who came along, including a team from Macmillan - we thoroughly enjoyed the training, paddling together and the delicious food!  And we are pleased to welcome new recruits to the team!

Wave Walkers successfully completed the Vogolonga, the 30k race through the historic waterways of Venice. It is an annual event held originally in protest at the motorised boats in Venice and now attracts people and their boats from all over the world.

We trained for endurance and were extremely proud when we completed the course (over 40kms – including picking up and returning the boat) without incident! We were thrilled, in just over 18 months we had developed into a team that worked together, supported each other and didn’t need to stop for a rest after 20 strokes! 

 “It’s not a typical race - in fact it started as a protest against motorised boats on the canals” explains Ciara Sutton, who has previously participated. “Thousands of human powered boats take part. Wave Walkers were one of the boats that made their way along the Grand Canal on the 8th of June 2014”.

To experience it for yourself:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNEVCIyC9sI