The Bay Area Dragons (BAD) is the first, founding dragon boat club in Northern California, founded in 1996 by our Canadian founders, when they moved here and found out that dragon boat racing did not exist! Our non-profit organization is the Bay Area Dragon Boat Foundation.

BAD began with 2 boats having practices in San Francisco by the pier,  growing the sport from 1 humble team to spreading the racing bug that has sprouted many more dragon boat clubs over the years. BAD hosted the first dragon boat race festival in San Francisco over 28 years ago.

BAD has been hosting an annual summer dragon boat race since the early 2000s, with a new festival name change 14 years ago and in 2024 we welcomed the Year of the Dragon with a new Competitive Fall Sprints invitational race format for competitive and recreational teams! 

Come join the Fall Sprints Regatta and enter our exciting dragon waters on the beautiful lagoons in Foster City, California!  We’ve got new boats and new gear for a fun weekend of competitive racing!

Foster City is just 15 minutes drive from the SFO airport, 30 minutes drive north to downtown San Francisco, and 30 minutes heading south to Silicon Valley.  It is central to everything and a great base for your racing and sightseeing vacation to the SF Bay Area.