Club News Stories

Championships 2010 State Titles - 2010 Manly Celebrate the Arrival of Two New Boats Bronze to Manly Paddlers In AusDBF Championships Ideal cross training for Seagulls Come N Try Events National Titles 2008 Qld State Titles 2008 Dragons Come To Life

Manly Celebrate the Arrival of Two New Boats - October 2009 On a recent Saturday afternoon, Manly Dragon Boat Club celebrated the arrival of their two new boats with the traditional “Dotting of the Eyes“ ceremony. Abess Venerable Chueh Shan and Reverend Miao Lai from the Priestdale based Chung Tian Buddhist Temple conducted the ceremony witnessed by more than 50 guests.
By conducting the activity of dotting the eyes, we are dotting out the essence. The tradition of "eye-dotting" originated from the Eastern Jin Dynasty [314-420 A.D.] and when we dot the eyes of a dragon-boat, we give the dragon sight, we give the dragon life! The ceremony was conducted on the deck of the Moreton Island vehicular ferry, MiCat.  MiCat is a major sponsor of the Manly Dragons and they generously provided the vessel to conduct the ceremony.
The two new boats were a full sized 20 seat boat and a half sized 10 seat boat. The formalities of the evening were capped off with the naming of the boats MiCat and Ling Ling (a small dragon is a dragonling). As the sun went down, Manly Dragon Boat Club members and their guests then completed the celebrations with some fine refreshments and a little champagne. Manly Dragons are always welcoming new members to their club and you can arrange to Come and Try dragon boat paddling by contacting them through their website www.manlydragons.com.au .