Michael Boyd (Captain Bligh!) serves as President, and is one of the founding members of the Dragonboat Racing Association of Colorado (DRACO), who’s primary goal is to promote dragon boat racing in Colorado.  As Head coach of the Phantom Dragons, Mike has an additional aspiration – to train competitive dragon boat paddlers to compete in local, national and international races.  One of his dreams came true in 2015, when Mike became the first Colorado paddler to ever try out for and be selected as a Team USA crew member.  He raced in the coveted right stroke position on Team USA’s Senior C Mixed crew in the 12th IDBF Dragon Boat World Championships, held in Welland, Ontario in August of 2015. He has now been selected twice, and was most recently part of the Team USA Senior C Open crew that won four gold medals in the 2019 World Championships in Thailand.

Mike got his start in dragon boating in 2003, when he formed a team to race in the Colorado Dragon Boat Festival as a fund-raiser to help send three students (including himself) to Brisbane, Australia to compete as part of Team USA in an International TaeKwon-Do Championship tournament. He was instantly hooked on dragon boat racing, and has continued to coach and serve as captain for teams participating in the CDBF and more distant venues each year.

Mike has attended week-long dragon boat camps taught by world champion level coaches / paddlers in Florida and Canada for twelve years, and completed a Dragon Boat Canada Level II Competitive Coaching Certification course in Pickering, Ontario in 2013.

Now Captain and Head Coach of the Phantom Dragons, Mike (a/k/a Captain Bligh) has led his team to successfully compete in out-of-state festivals in Las Vegas, San Diego, San Francisco, Portland and Tempe. In the 2011 Arizona competition, his team was awarded the prestigious Spirit of Qu Yuan award for demonstrating outstanding sportsmanship and honor.  More recently, he was recognized in a Letter from Senator Mark Udall for his contributions to dragon boat racing in Colorado, and for his team’s performance in the San Francisco International Dragon Boat Festival.  He also led the effort to establish Colorado’s first Breast Cancer Survivor (BCS) dragon boat program, which has now been expanded to include all cancer survivors..

Contact Us, and see how Mike can help you and/or your team reach a new level of competitive performance in dragon boat racing!