Alastair Yap

“I previously served as Chair of the club and I highly recommend that people try to take a role in helping to run their club as it requires a lot of work behind the scenes.

I first discovered dragon boat through London’s Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival, an annual charity event. It's probably the biggest festival in the UK and a great showcase for the sport.

I entered the charity event for about 5 years before deciding to take up paddling on a regular basis in 2015 after calling time on my rugby career after one too many concussions. I needed a new social team sport to keep me in shape and I haven't looked back since! I love that the dragon boat community is so friendly all around the world, and I always try to make time to paddle with a local team whenever I am travelling.

I'm so glad I took the plunge to take up dragon boat racing and made some lifelong friends along the way.

My favourite memory from my paddling career was when we travelled to the European Club Crew Championships in 2017 near Geneva. Taking part in a major championships was great fun and a real opportunity for us to test ourselves against the best teams in Europe.

Another great memory was from earlier this year when a group of us travelled from London to the French Alps to try Snow Dragon Boating at a ski resort."

[Alastair Yap (London, Great Britain), coach/paddler of Typhoon Dragon Boat Club.]

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