{"id":337,"date":"2013-01-30T18:38:07","date_gmt":"2013-01-31T01:38:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/?p=337"},"modified":"2025-09-16T14:41:32","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T20:41:32","slug":"michael-j-boyd-paddler-bio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/?p=337","title":{"rendered":"Michael J. Boyd – Paddler Bio (Phantom Dragons)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael J. Boyd (Captain Bligh)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"MB<\/a>
\nMichael Boyd (a\/k\/a Captain Bligh!) serves as Captain, Head Coach, and Lead Paddler of the Phantom Dragons dragon boat race team.<\/p>\n

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 paddle, coach, and serve as captain for competitive teams since that time.<\/p>\n

Mike has attended week-long dragon boat camps taught by world champion level coaches \/ paddlers in Florida and Canada for the past fifteen years, and is a Dragon Boat Canada Level II (Competitive) Coach. In addition to coaching teams for local events, Mike has trained six paddlers who have gone on to qualify for national teams and compete in the IDBF World Championships (five on Team USA and one on the Japanese National Team).  Several went on to win multiple medals.<\/p>\n

Mike has led his team to successfully compete in out-of-state festivals in Las Vegas, San Diego, San Francisco, Portland, Montana and Tempe.  In the 2011 Arizona competition, his team was awarded the prestigious Spirit of Qu Yuan award<\/a> for demonstrating outstanding sportsmanship and honor.  More recently, he was recognized in a Letter from Senator Mark Udall<\/a> for his contributions to dragon boat racing in Colorado, and the Phantom Dragons’ performance in the San Francisco International Dragon Boat Festival.<\/p>\n

Mike’s journey came “full circle” in 2015, as he was the first paddler from Colorado to ever be selected to race on a World Championship level dragon boat team.  He had the honor of racing in the coveted right stroke position on Team USA\u2019s Senior C Mixed crew in the 12th IDBF Dragon Boat World Championships in Welland, Ontario. For dragon boaters, this is the pinnacle event \u2013 the equivalent of what the Olympic Games represents for more conventional sports.  That team failed to reach the podium, so feeling unfulfilled he tried out again in 2019.  He was again selected, and had the honor of racing on the Team USA Senior C Open crew that swept the 2019 IDBF Dragon Boat World Championships in Thailand, bringing home four gold medals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael J. Boyd (Captain Bligh) Michael Boyd (a\/k\/a Captain Bligh!) serves as Captain, Head Coach, and Lead Paddler of the Phantom Dragons dragon boat race team. Mike got his start in dragon boating in 2003, when he formed a team … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-paddlers","category-phantom-dragons"],"yoast_head":"\nMichael J. Boyd - Paddler Bio (Phantom Dragons) - Dragonboat Racing Assn of CO (DRACO)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/?p=337\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Michael J. Boyd - Paddler Bio (Phantom Dragons) - Dragonboat Racing Assn of CO (DRACO)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Michael J. Boyd (Captain Bligh) Michael Boyd (a\/k\/a Captain Bligh!) serves as Captain, Head Coach, and Lead Paddler of the Phantom Dragons dragon boat race team. Mike got his start in dragon boating in 2003, when he formed a team … Continue reading →\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/?p=337\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Dragonboat Racing Assn of CO (DRACO)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-01-31T01:38:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-16T20:41:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/MB-Team-USA-OpenCer-Sm-235x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Captain Bligh!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Captain Bligh!\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/?p=337\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/?p=337\",\"name\":\"Michael J. Boyd - Paddler Bio (Phantom Dragons) - Dragonboat Racing Assn of CO (DRACO)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/?p=337#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/?p=337#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/MB-Team-USA-OpenCer-Sm-235x300.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-01-31T01:38:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-16T20:41:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d39a3a00aa1410a718f132b48e7dc73b\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/?p=337\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/?p=337#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/MB-Team-USA-OpenCer-Sm-235x300.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/MB-Team-USA-OpenCer-Sm-235x300.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/\",\"name\":\"Dragonboat Racing Assn of CO (DRACO)\",\"description\":\"Promoting Dragon Boat Paddling and Racing in Colorado\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d39a3a00aa1410a718f132b48e7dc73b\",\"name\":\"Captain Bligh!\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a0afa2d9e12d39b3645e08ce3627f9f5c1821efe2432f58455431ac5edfdd40b?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a0afa2d9e12d39b3645e08ce3627f9f5c1821efe2432f58455431ac5edfdd40b?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Captain Bligh!\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Michael J. Boyd - Paddler Bio (Phantom Dragons) - Dragonboat Racing Assn of CO (DRACO)","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/?p=337","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Michael J. Boyd - Paddler Bio (Phantom Dragons) - Dragonboat Racing Assn of CO (DRACO)","og_description":"Michael J. Boyd (Captain Bligh) Michael Boyd (a\/k\/a Captain Bligh!) serves as Captain, Head Coach, and Lead Paddler of the Phantom Dragons dragon boat race team. Mike got his start in dragon boating in 2003, when he formed a team … Continue reading →","og_url":"https:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/?p=337","og_site_name":"Dragonboat Racing Assn of CO (DRACO)","article_published_time":"2013-01-31T01:38:07+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-09-16T20:41:32+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/MB-Team-USA-OpenCer-Sm-235x300.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Captain Bligh!","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Captain Bligh!","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/?p=337","url":"https:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/?p=337","name":"Michael J. Boyd - Paddler Bio (Phantom Dragons) - Dragonboat Racing Assn of CO (DRACO)","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/?p=337#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/?p=337#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/MB-Team-USA-OpenCer-Sm-235x300.jpg","datePublished":"2013-01-31T01:38:07+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-16T20:41:32+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d39a3a00aa1410a718f132b48e7dc73b"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/?p=337"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/?p=337#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/MB-Team-USA-OpenCer-Sm-235x300.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/MB-Team-USA-OpenCer-Sm-235x300.jpg"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/","name":"Dragonboat Racing Assn of CO (DRACO)","description":"Promoting Dragon Boat Paddling and Racing in Colorado","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d39a3a00aa1410a718f132b48e7dc73b","name":"Captain Bligh!","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a0afa2d9e12d39b3645e08ce3627f9f5c1821efe2432f58455431ac5edfdd40b?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a0afa2d9e12d39b3645e08ce3627f9f5c1821efe2432f58455431ac5edfdd40b?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","caption":"Captain Bligh!"},"url":"https:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=337"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3640,"href":"https:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337\/revisions\/3640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dragonboatco.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}