If you’re visiting the Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel in late February, if you live here or if you’re just curious about an alternative paddlesport, tune in: Southwest Florida’s first-ever dragon boat festival is about to happen.

Mark your calendar for Feb. 27. The Cape Coral-based European Business Council and the Marina Village (at Tarpon Point in Cape Coral) are partnering for this new watersport event on the Calusa Blueway’s Caloosahatchee leg.

Not sure what a dragon boat is? It’s an Olympic paddlesport in which a 45-foot boat is propelled by a team of 20 paddlers while another person beats a drum and a second non-paddling person steers.

Visitors, residents and snowbirds can watch the spectacle – organizers expect 10 to 15 teams to participate – from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 26. Opening ceremonies are the evening of Feb. 25 and an after-event get together is open to the public the evening of Feb. 26th at Marina Village.

People can get involved earlier than that, too. Training sessions are set for this Saturday and next, Feb. 13 and 20. Organizer Jergen Hartwich tells me they’re looking for students, collegians, firefighters, fitness fans, paddlers and anyone else to turn out and become a “team” for the races. Organizers have a dragon boat or two ready to be filled.

For more information, call Hartwich at (239) 645-4191.

To see what it’s all about, click on this link for a video:
http://22dragons.com/site/?q=en/node/74

For festival information, go to:
www.dragonboatfestivalcapecoral.com