At 5:45 a.m. on a pleasant May morning, three boats push off from the dragon boat dock on the west side bank of the Schuylkill River in Fairmount Park, tailed by a small motorboat.

It’s a long-distance training session, an hour out on the water paddling a small oar in unison with up to 19 other members of the Philadelphia Dragon Boat Association (PDBA), propelling an almost 40-foot-long boat up and down the river. 

Head coach Dr. Robert McNamara follows alongside in the motorboat. He uses a megaphone (the traditional drums are rarely used in practice) to start and stop the racing and rest periods or to call out individuals by name — or learn the names of any newcomers — and correct any sloppy technique.

“This is harder to teach than rowing,” said McNamara, who also used to teach rowing. “Rowing … you have a fixed oar lock, it’s much easier to control where the blades are going. Here, it’s all free-flowing.”