Below are questions which newbies and regulars often ask the more experienced members of Typhoon, if there are any questions and answers missing please send the question to info@typhoon-dbc.com and we will add this to the list.
Below are questions which newbies and regulars often ask the more experienced members of Typhoon, if there are any questions and answers missing please send the question to info@typhoon-dbc.com and we will add this to the list.
The name Typhoon was given to the team back in 2003, at that time there was a lot of teams with the name 'Dragons' in them, to be different we wanted a powerful name to be feared whilst also taking into account that it was a water sport.
So instead of picking a mythical creature we picked a natural occurring force of destruction and that being a 'Typhoon'.
Typhoon is a fun friendly social dragon boat club which has a lot to offer new members, there are loads of hobbies within the club, Badminton, Rollerblading, Gym, Snowboarding, Rock climbing, in fact any event that you can think of there's probably someone at the club that is already part of a club.
Apart from training, we know how to have fun, we believe in work hard and play hard!!!
In the Winter we train once a week on the Saturday at 9:30am. In the Spring time we train three times a week, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
As well as on the water training, we sometimes have group outdoors land training to work on muscle strength and indoor circuit training to build stamina.
Since Dragon boating is an Amateur Sport, it may be considered as not competitive as other sports (this is true when going to Charity Races).
We partake in the British Dragonboat Association (BDA) League which normally consists of 8-10 events a year, we aim to put a team forwards for each event when possible.
As well as the BDA League, there are other worthy charity races where we allow our newbies to race such as in the Lions, Rotary and Bewl Waters events.
It is a common myth that people think that you will gain big arms when doing paddling, however this is not true as paddling is about using the bigger muscles like your back and legs by engaging the twist and kick of the stroke. You will never get 'big' arms unless you hit the gym on a regular basic, in fact it will actually help to tone up the arms and get rid of 'bingo' wings - imagine doing dumbbells with light weights of only 1kg for over a hour.
Dragon Boating is an extreme sport that works on all the muscle groups - arms, shoulders, back, core and legs are all engaged when paddling. To help build up your strength paddlers can go to Body pump/Circuit classes, general free weight and cardio session for stamina training.
All paddlers have their own commitment and goals, we as a club understand that and put no pressure on paddlers to dedicate all their free time to the team.
We can have up to two teams that cater for all paddling levels and depending on what your goals are we are happy to place you in whichever teams you feel best placed. We have a few paddlers in the team that doesn't attend any BDA races and just paddle to keep fit and enjoy the social side of things.
No paddling experience is required to join Typhoon, we will provide all the coaching that is necessary for the progression of a new paddler to the sport into an experienced BDA racing paddler.
The rate of progression is down to the paddler as we provide the facilitates and training sessions as well as access to O1 canoes to improve on their techniques. We don't force people into doing more than they want to but however, if you are able to prove yourself, you can rise up the Typhoon ranks pretty quickly.
Ideally you would know how to swim as least 50m, however swimming is something that most Typhoon members lack so its not so important as long as you are comfortable with paddling with a buoyancy aid.
From our creation in 2003, Typhoon has never once capsized and we do not plan on doing so anytime soon. We have safety procedures to make sure each person is looked after in the event of an accident/capsize.
We provide buoyancy aids for non-swimmers, in Winter and rough conditions, buoyancy aids MUST be worn.
Once you have signed our electronic waiver form and have given us permission to add you to our training distribution list, we will then send information on how to join our next training session via a link to a google document.
Typhoon Membership prices varies from year to year, please see the membership page for latest pricing for the year.
We provide the following membership options, full year (£155), 3 months newbies (£30), monthly (£12) and PAYG (£7).
Membership payments can be made directly into the Typhoon bank account.
Account name: Typhoon Dragon Boat Club
Bank: HSBC
Sort code: 40-02-31
Account no.: 01396897
Reference: Your name - membership
Once payment has been made and the finance team has verified payment via a confirmation email, you will be sent a link to our membership pack with details on how to log on. You are now able to attend unlimited training session up to the membership payment period.
We normally dress the boat with the dragon head, tail and drum for races. At training it is not necessary as it takes time to dress the boat.
Typhoon has a number of branded clothes such as hoodies, wind jacket, t-shirt, vest and racing top. These can be seen on our merchandising page, if you wish to place an order for one of these items you would need to be an typhoon member. We normally advertise new branded kit to the team and once a certain number of orders has been met then we will place the order.
There are three types of paddle that can be used in Dragon boating, plastics, wooden and carbon fibre. Most of the experienced members of Typhoon have their own paddle, majority of them are trivium, but there are a few ZRE and Merlin paddles that are used. If you want to purchase one they cost around £135-£175 or email info@typhoon-dbc.com to check if there are any second hand paddles for sale.
We have a 10% discount code for Stylosports and for Trivium paddles there is a 8-12 weeks lead time for the paddle to be made and transported to the UK./p>
You can buy a padded bum seat from one of the following suppliers
- Gelsport seat pads - via Stylosports
- Seat Grips - via Godfrey Sports
Once you are part of the training distribution list (signed our waiver form) you will be informed about our upcoming competition events when they're about to happen.
The charge for racing costs £13 a paddler to help cover the team's entrance fees.