On your mark, get set, paddle!

The Dragon Boat Festival raises money for charity and introduces a new sport here.

By ABRA COHEN
Dragon boat festival (photo credit: Abra Cohen)
Dragon boat festival
(photo credit: Abra Cohen)
A traditional Chinese paddling competition in brightly decorated boats may just be this country’s newest sport.
Thousands of miles from China, fiery dragon boaters from all over the globe gathered at Lake Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee) to race in Israel’s first dragon boat competition last week. Armed with team spirit, paddles and enthusiasm for the sport, more than 1,500 participants lined the banks of the lake just south of Tiberias. Beaming with pride about her recent accomplishment, Debbie Halton-Weiss, festival coordinator and dragon boater, said, “It’s a dream come true.”
After joining a dragon boat team three years ago in Ontario, she had such a gratifying experience with the team and raising money for charity that she decided she wanted to bring the sport across the ocean to Israel.
“I looked into it, and there were dragon boat races in 70 countries around the world,” she said, “but nothing in Israel. So I said, ‘Let’s go to Israel!’” Dedicated to bringing money to Jewish charities and tourism to northern Israel, Halton-Weiss worked with five other female volunteers to create a business plan, decide on which Israeli charities and how they would teach the sport of dragon boating.
In Israel in November, she and other volunteers from the project welcomed the Chinese dragon boats they had donated to the country. With them, they brought Canadian dragon-boat experts, who taught the sport on the Kinneret to Israelis.
“That’s the nice thing about dragon boating – you can have 20 paddlers, and in 10 minutes they can learn how to dragon boat,” Halton-Weiss said, adding, “Only the steerer needs to be the expert.”
An abnormally wet winter and spring in Israel’s North, combined with the wind on the Kinneret, made for challenging weather conditions when Halton-Weiss traveled again to Israel in March to hold a mini-regatta and practice for the Dragon Boat Festival.
“We wanted to get people on the Kinneret and practicing,” she said. “These boats are a present for Israel.”
The vessels, which look like elongated canoes, are festooned with bright colors and feature a gold dragon’s head at the front of the boat and slithery tail at the stern. Each boat holds a 22-person crew: a drummer at the bow of the boat for team spirit, a “tiller” who steers, and 20 paddlers who sit side by side. Split up into three sections are the “pacers,” who set the stroke; the “engine room” in the middle of boat; and the “rockets,” who paddle to gain speed during a race.
The sport, which is very popular in Canada, is not about strength but synchronicity and how well the team can work together.
Stephanie King, from the Blazing Paddles team in Montreal, said she loved the team spirit of dragon boating and how people of all ages and abilities can paddle together on one team.
“It’s amazing,” she said. “It’s competitive, but not like other sports.”
King, who was recruited by the Jewish National Fund, has been practicing indoors since November and is convinced that dragon boating will be a success in Israel: “We came to have fun, and we had a great time. I think it will definitely catch on here.”
An energetic team from Kinneret College, who had placed fifth in the overall competition, embodied the spirit of the festival and were excited to be part of it. All the team members, except the captain, had taken up the sport only recently. When asked when they started, they quipped in unison, “Yesterday.”
Finishing with a time of 1:38, the team was thrilled to do so well in a short amount of time and hope to continue the sport.
From the shore, energetic spectators yelled team names as the colorful boats raced 350 meters down the Kinneret coastline in less than two minutes.
Paddlers cohesively glided through the water to the sounds of the rhythmic drumming at the front of the boat.
The 39 teams representing countries from all over the world raised more than $50,000 for two charities: Youth Futures and Net@, organizations that help at-risk youth in communities throughout Israel. The teams, which were made up of energetic and brightly clothed paddlers who voiced their team spirit both in and out of the boats, ranged in age from teenagers to late 80s.
While their experience ran the spectrum from novice to seasoned dragon boaters, all came to paddle for a good cause and to have a good time. However, some participants had personal reasons to be on the water. A handful of teams were made up of breast cancer survivors; one team was visually impaired; and another team represented the Canadian-Israeli collaborative fund OneFamily, which helps victims of terrorist attacks.
A strong sense of community is ingrained in many of the dragon-boat teams. Tarsha Boutte of Houston is a veteran dragon boater who jumped at the opportunity to fill in for a Montreal team that was short a team member. She said that dragon boating not only brings people together, but the group she paddles with is a collaborative of breast cancer survivors from all over the globe. “I was introduced to dragon boating five years ago, and I haven’t stopped paddling,” she said. “I never would have known about it if it were not for breast cancer.” She added, “It’s really been the silver lining in a dark period in my life.”
Before the championship races at the end of the festival, breast cancer survivor teams gathered for a flower ceremony at the dock, where paddlers were given a pink carnation and took a moment to remember those lost to the disease before flinging the flowers into the water.
As teams gathered for the final championship races, dragon boaters and spectators walked around the grounds and stood in the shade to listen to live music and to enjoy food, local crafts and the camaraderie of dragon boat enthusiasts from around the world.
“It’s way beyond expectation,” Halton-Weiss said.
“We never thought this would become a reality, and I’m very proud.”