Water skiing behind a dragon boat
I’m always amazed by the enthusiasm of the paddlers at One Mile Lake outside Pemberton. Members of this small community, practicing on a tiny lake, have consistently won Junior national and international dragon boat races for 15 straight years and are the team to beat. Perhaps their secret lies in unusual training practices such as getting a water skier up out of the water and pulled along behind their boat.
Photographer’s son Dalton Pehota shown here after being pulled up by the dragon boat near Pemberton, BC
Categorized: Blog
I have watched these youthful dragons go from strength to strength from their earliest days. Their coach, Dr. Hugh Fisher, (LA Olympic doubles kayak medalist with his aboriginal paddling partner Alwyn Morris) was part of the original men’s dragonboat crew out of False Creek RCC that competed in Hongkong in 1986, the year authentic dragonboat festivals and races were introduced into North America. To help publicize their need for travel funds, this crew towed a small adult on water skis, which was carried by the Vancouver Sun. A couple of seasons later, they managed to pull along two skiers! The men’s crew’s performance surprised their hosts: they silvered to a boat from China. 10 years later, a Canadian men’s crew from Toronto won gold. In both cases, these were the first and only non-Asian crews to medal in this world invitational meet for club-based crews (not national teams).