Zamboanga's Aquarockets
Due to COVID-19, the 2021 Dragon Boat season is postponed until further notice. If you are interested in getting out on the water, head over to our Outrigger page.
The Zamboanga Aquarockets are a competitive youth dragon boat team comprised primarily of students from Franklin High School. We are a Franklin High School club sport open to all FHS students as well as students from other local high schools.
Officially founded in 1998, we have a storied history as the longest continuously running high school paddling team in Portland and have won multiple gold medals in various dragon boat and outrigger canoe races along the west coast, and even made the dragon boating Worlds qualifiers in Australia in 2016! These highly competitive junior paddlers are hungry for gold again and wont stop until they get it!
Dragon Boat and Outrigger Canoe racing is a great way to be part of a team, be outdoors and have fun! Joining the AquaRockets is a great way to join a community and have fun practicing and competing in races and regattas all around the west coast, and even the world!
"Paddling is not only a great way to stay fit, but it is also a wonderful community full of enthusiastic and supportive teammates!" - Anna
"I like paddling because it's a sport that includes everyone and lets each person play an important role in winning, unlike a lot of team sports where there's competition within the team and only a certain type of person can be a part of it." -Berkeley
"Winning races with all your teammates on the water is one of the best parts of paddling!" -Allia
"Paddling is great because every person matters on the team. When you compete you compete as a team, and everyone is involved at every moment." -Emmett
Dragon Boating is a team paddling sport, where 20 coed athletes paddle a long canoe-like boat competitively. The Aquarockets have consistently done very well, competing in both junior and adult competitions. Most recently we won the Junior Division at the Portland Dragon Boat Festival and came in 11th out of 39 in the adult division. Every year we go to Vancouver Canada for a race against the best youth teams in North America where we have consistently placed in the A division.
Outrigger Canoeing is a traditional island sport, where anywhere between 1 and 6 paddlers sit in a long canoe and compete either in distance races of 8 miles or more, or in sprint races, which are short distance sprints involving choreographed sliding turns around flag buoys. Both styles of race are super fun in different ways and paddlers practice for both styles, depending on which race is coming up.
The Aquarockets have a very supportive, tight knit community and we're always looking for new members. We welcome new paddlers throughout the season, no experience necessary.
How to Join
Are you between the ages of 14 and 18 and are interested in learning more about what dragon boat and outrigger canoeing with the Aquarockets is all about? Send us an email at zambopdx@gmail.com and we'll get you hooked up with all the info you need to come down to the water and try it out for yourself. The first 3 practices are free!