Printable lineup card
Free, no sign-up. Print it, fill it in, throw it in the gear bag.
A blank race-day lineup card for a standard 20-paddler boat. Ten rows, a left and a right column, a weight box for each seat, and boxes at the bottom for your left total, your right total, and the difference between them. Drummer and steersperson have their own boxes, because their weight belongs in the bow-stern sum.
It’s paper, so the totals are yours to work out. Add each column, write the two numbers in, subtract one from the other. Every time someone drops out and you move a paddler across, you do it again. That is the honest trade for something that works with no signal at the venue and no battery.
2 pages, 4.25 × 6.25 inches, 653 KB. Prints two to a sheet of letter or A4.
What to fill in before you get to the venue
- Weights. Real numbers, refreshed each season. A boat balanced on guesses is not balanced.
- Side. Mark anyone who paddles both. Those are the people who rescue the lineup when someone drops out.
- Your subs. Write who takes the stroke seat if your stroke does not show. Decide it once, calmly, rather than twice under pressure.
Working out who sits where
Two guides cover the rest. Dragon boat seat positions walks the boat bow to stern and explains what each seat asks of the paddler in it. How to balance a dragon boat lineup covers weight, side preference, and building a boat that survives a late drop-out.
When the card stops being enough
A card works for one boat on one race day, as long as you don’t mind doing the sums. DragonSignUp does them for you: it holds the weights and sides for the whole club, keeps the left and right totals live as you move paddlers, suggests a balanced boat, and warns you when someone lands on their off side. Swap a paddler and the numbers update themselves, which is the part the paper can’t do.