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Hey sports fans, ever want to see a what boat racing looks like in Japan?
Here we go. In Japan, boat racing is called Kyotei and they race on rivers with stadiums built next to them. There are 6 people racing at a time with the numbers 1-6 on their boats. They use clock starts and 1 pin turns. There is no overlap rule and everyone backs off hard core to make that 1 pin turn. They take 2 practice runs, on for the start line up and one for driver skill exhibition. Oh and there is no jockeying for position, 1 is on the inside lane, 6 on the outside and 2-5 in order in between. Then it's just a 1 heat race on which most of the spectators place bets. You bet on who gets the 1st 2 or 3 postions, your choice. You can bet as little as 100 yen (a little more than a dollar) or as high as you want. They race all day, but each race has a different set of 6 drivers. There are women drivers but very few. The min. weight is 50 kgs for men, 47 for women. Just to put that in perspective, in India you can't get health insurance if you weigh less than 50 kgs because it's an unhealthy weight. The Japanese are just so tiny. The boats look like a cross between the old marathon styled runabouts and mouse boats. Drivers do this funky standing thing to turn. They put their feet against the transom and get off their knees into a sort of push up position. Think of a horse jockey combined with someone doing a push-up, that's what it looks like. Oh, and it was pretty rainy yesterday but that didn't stop the races.
So without further ado, pictures from the races. There's not many, unfortunately the rain combined with dying batteries made it difficult.
That last one is the Samurai statue outside the stadium.
Here we go. In Japan, boat racing is called Kyotei and they race on rivers with stadiums built next to them. There are 6 people racing at a time with the numbers 1-6 on their boats. They use clock starts and 1 pin turns. There is no overlap rule and everyone backs off hard core to make that 1 pin turn. They take 2 practice runs, on for the start line up and one for driver skill exhibition. Oh and there is no jockeying for position, 1 is on the inside lane, 6 on the outside and 2-5 in order in between. Then it's just a 1 heat race on which most of the spectators place bets. You bet on who gets the 1st 2 or 3 postions, your choice. You can bet as little as 100 yen (a little more than a dollar) or as high as you want. They race all day, but each race has a different set of 6 drivers. There are women drivers but very few. The min. weight is 50 kgs for men, 47 for women. Just to put that in perspective, in India you can't get health insurance if you weigh less than 50 kgs because it's an unhealthy weight. The Japanese are just so tiny. The boats look like a cross between the old marathon styled runabouts and mouse boats. Drivers do this funky standing thing to turn. They put their feet against the transom and get off their knees into a sort of push up position. Think of a horse jockey combined with someone doing a push-up, that's what it looks like. Oh, and it was pretty rainy yesterday but that didn't stop the races.
So without further ado, pictures from the races. There's not many, unfortunately the rain combined with dying batteries made it difficult.
That last one is the Samurai statue outside the stadium.
...........(I don't see yer Kevlar in any of the pics!
)
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