Fire-breathing optional

“This is the most popular water sport in the whole world,” says Howard Chen of the International Cultural Exchange Assn., organizer of the Long Beach World Cup Dragon Boat Tournament since 1997. Or so it seems to the thousands expected to turn out at Marine Stadium this month to watch the absurdly painted 40-foot boats slice through the water in 500-meter races. Each team has 20 members: 18 paddlers, a steerer and a drummer who beats an enormous bongo in the back of the boat to set the paddling pace. Most go 50 to 80 strokes per minute, though top Asian teams have hit 120. Competitors run the gamut from elementary school students to VIPs, including a mixed division of men and women in which at least six team members must be female. Along with the Long Beach event, similar competitions occur this month in such far-flung locales as Iowa, Switzerland, Japan and Canada. Like all fringe-sport enthusiasts, dragon boaters maintain websites where they can obsess over their underappreciated calling. Consider this premarital advice posted on www.dragon-boat.net: “I am getting married next weekend.... The key to ensuring that you can paddle after your wedding is to have an understanding before you get married. I told Tina that for the rest of our lives, our vacation schedule would revolve around the dragon boat racing schedule.” Call (626) 288-8888 or go to www.lbdragonboat.com.

-- Mary Forgione