Boy, did I have a weekend. Think of it. Me in a dragon boat on Morro Bay as it rained, a snow storm having just blown through.
Perhaps you ask, “What in the heck; why was she doing that”? I have a perfectly good explanation. I joined SurviveOars dragon boat team to lend my spirit and support to all women that have battled cancer. Our daughter-in-law had a double mastectomy with all that entails, and she joined a dragon boat organization up in Vancouver. Last summer we saw her paddle in a race on the Willamette River that runs through the city of Portland, OR.
While long in the tooth, and frightfully weak in my upper body, I threw caution to the wind and did it anyway. My Uncle Ralph pumped his bike up a tall hill until he was 85, so I figured I could do things I didn’t think I could do.
The paddling team (never refer to it as rowing...they frown on that), had two women fly down from Portland, OR to our little Morro Bay to do a two-day paddling clinic. As a newbie in the group, I was anxiously hesitant, but I signed up.
Boy was it a work out! We paddled, and paddled, and paddled some more. We were filmed, then we all went back to the Morro Bay Art Gallery and looked at our “strokes ”. It turned out I was not getting my hips into the action so I practiced that for the rest of the two-day clinic.
This is a sprint sport. Boy, does it get my heart racing. After the sprints, we rested in the boat, as sea otters came by to view us!! So fun to see them up close in the water. Then, after a break, another sprint. More instruction. Then another sprint. The second day, more instruction, more sprinting. I felt about 100 years old when we finally docked on Sunday. I suggested to no one in particular that the team needed a crane to lift the half dead bodies out of the boat!!
The team is always looking for more paddlers. If I have failed to scare you off, you might give it a go. It really is fun, invigorating, and nearly impossible to do right as a newbie. Improvement is just around the corner. Practice makes perfect, and with any luck at all, I will develop more muscle through my back, shoulders, and arms.
All ages, all shapes, all sizes enjoy the sport of dragon boat racing. I’m just another one now!!
Go team!! And to all who survived cancer and joined the sport...hats off to all of you!
—Dianna Jackson
Diana Jackson enjoys paddling in Morro Bay!