Blind, deaf teams at no disadvantage in the Rose Festival Dragon Boat Race

By Jamie Hale | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Portland’s dragon boat races attract people of all stripes. There are the trained athletes, the casual exercisers, the stay-at-home parents, the business professionals, the senior citizens, the teenagers and, of course, the deaf and the blind.

Lack of hearing or sight doesn’t mean squat in the dragon boat community. It’s a sport that requires steering and direction from the tiller of the boat – something the blind boats need a hand with – but the rest of the crew needs little help when it comes to racing.

Deaf and blind teams have been racing in the Rose Festival’s Dragon Boat Race for more than a decade, said race director Tom Crowder. This year, two blind teams will compete under the moniker Lethally Blind, while a team of deaf rowers will compete as Sound Waves.

“The big challenge is that all 20 paddlers be in time and they do a great job of that,” Crowder said.

Without sight to coordinate with their teammates, the crews on the Lethally Blind boats use their other senses. They can feel the boat around them, gliding through the water, and they can feel their paddles too, pushing through the river – their comrades breathing and rowing in unison around them.

Of course, they can also listen to the drummer at the end of the boat, who pounds out a rhythm to row to. That’s the big issue for the deaf team, who must utilize sight and feeling to keep in time with their crew.

It all goes to show that the blind and deaf can perform just as well as anybody else. While it’s obviously useful to utilize all of the senses, it’s by no means necessary for the Dragon Boat Race.

There will be 71 teams in all participating in the 2014 race, which will take over the Willamette River this Saturday and Sunday. Each team will be given four opportunities to race, with the fastest boats in each of the three divisions taking home the top prize.