Ordinarily, it's the wood shop at Macdonald Drive Junior High School in St. John's, Nfld. But four times a week, it becomes the shipyard of the Avalon Dragon boat builders, 55 Newfoundland women with the sea in their veins and a vision in their hearts. On one particular day last May, three women stood at one end of what looked like a wooden skeleton, staring at a tiny spot on a long, narrow piece of mahogany.
Marie Hyslop, 55, a retired special education teacher, ran her fingers along the wood and said, "This feels like a little tumour here." The women started to laugh as she picked up the hand plane and glided over the little bump. "I've excised the tumour," she declared.
This group is used to lumps and bumps along their way. They are breast cancer survivors who have come together to build and race a magnificent 40-foot dragon boat.
Dragon boating for breast cancer survivors
Dragon boats originated in China more than 2,000 years ago; today it's one of the fastest-growing team sports in the world. After Canadian doctor Don MacKenzie first showed the benefits of repetitive upper body exercise for breast cancer survivors in 1996 and had his patients paddle dragon boats, the sport has been embraced by women recovering from breast cancer. Not only is the exercise great, but the women also benefit emotionally from the camaraderie of being on a team. Today dozens of survivor teams race dragon boats across Canada.
But the Avalon crew is unique: they'll be the first team in North America and only the second in the world to build their own boat.
Building the team to build the boat
Julie Bettney, 56, a former politician and chair of the team, put a call out for paddlers a year ago. Thirty women showed. Today the team includes 55 paddlers from every walk of life who will take turns crewing the 22-person boat. In the future, they hope to have four boats so they can have a regatta.
Julie first enlisted Bruce Whitelaw, master boat builder and naval architect, to help her find a dragon boat. "We were talking about [finding] the boat and Bruce said, 'You know, we could build a boat.' And there was silence in the room," says Julie. "Then we thought about it and realized that this was well-suited to Newfoundland, this opportunity to build a boat as our ancestors have done for hundreds of years."
Bruce drew up the plans, and the women hit the shop floor. Under Bruce's patient guidance, the women get together four times a week. Start to finish, he estimates it will take 1,000 woman hours to build the boat.
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