July 8th
Nanaimo Festival - Paddling With Prince Rupert’s Rainbow Warriors

The Nanaimo Festival is a great community-based event with many company supporters. While Save-on-Foods is the major sponsor, each race is sponsored by a Vancouver Island company. When crew bios are announced the team sponsors are also named.

This year I had the opportunity to paddle with the 5 year old Prince Rupert Rainbow Warriors, a combined breast cancer survivor/support team and the sole dragon boat team of Prince Rupert. It was an exciting and enriching experience which I would recommend for anyone.

The Warriors had 5 vacancies and were scrambling for replacements just days before the festival. It was a challenging juggling act for Acting Coach Joan and Manager/Paddler/Captain Lori. During the weekend 3 seats were filled by brand new never-even-sat-in-a-dragon-boat-paddlers who were being taught how to paddle during the races (!!) by the very able steersperson Kathy. Pat of the Sunshine Dragons and I took the other 2 seats.

For the Prince Rupert Team, participating in venues beyond Kitimat is an expensive commitment. Flying to Nanaimo via Vancouver costs close to $1000 dollars. And this season was off to a delayed start due to very inclement weather in the harbour where the team practices. In addition to losing several paddlers due to illness, the Rainbow Warrior Head Coach, Chris, at 38 weeks pregnant was also unable to attend.

I arrived in Nanaimo in the early afternoon in time to participate in the blessing and dotting of the eyes by the Taoist priests. I later met the team for a short practice in choppy water, a strong current, and enough wind to challenge everyone. My supporter spouse Henry was on hand to assist with docking and to cheer on the team.

Early Saturday morning was a time to socialize a little with the two AIAB crews since we managed to stake tents in close proximity. Warm-ups on the grass and visualization led to strong 4th place finishes in both heats.
We later enjoyed a crew dinner at Tania’s Tapas and learned a little more about each other while exchanging paddling stories.

The after dinner partying by some crew members paid off on Sunday as we won our 8 am race. Coach Joan promptly phoned Chris in Prince Rupert and the team shouted that we’d won. Coach Chris was thrilled!

We joined other crews for the breast cancer race and the very lovely flower ceremony. Our last race was the Jade Final and we managed to finish an exciting second.

It was a proud team on the stage at the awards ceremony. The silver medals looked wonderful on everyone and may be incentive for more survivors in Prince Rupert to join the Rainbow Warriors.

 

Article and Photos submitted by Patricia Tanaka, Abreast - Deas Divas