“Paddles up!”

Elbows high in the air, the group of 20 men and women leaned over the side of the long canoe, ready for the big push away from the dock at the Oak Harbor Marina.

“Remember, it’s all about looking good,” shouted Suzanne Marter, who sat at the bow of the boat, her eyes scanning the lineup of paddlers. The group laughed at her quip — not too long, though — and quickly steadied their arms again.

“Take it away!” Marter said, as a sudden rush of water swirled around the boat, paddles stirring and thrusting the boat away from the docks and other boats.

Whitney Hudson dug her paddle into the water, her left arm reaching far in front of her, while keeping the elbow of her other arm high. A breast cancer survivor for about eight years, Hudson uses the paddling as a form of physical therapy, continuously working to keep her upper body strong.

Hudson is one of about 38 members of the North Puget Sound Dragon Boat Club, a nonprofit group based out of Oak Harbor but attracting members from Anacortes, Bellingham, Bow, Camano Island, Coupeville, Everett, Mount Vernon and Seattle. Most of the group members — mostly women, but also including a handful of men — are 45 years and older, but determined to stay active well into their golden years.

The group has been meeting for a little more than a year with the goal of providing a different kind of cancer survivor support circle.

It’s not about sitting around and talking about cancer, Marter said. No, the Dragon Boat Club is about tackling cancer head on ... er ... “paddles up” and having fun with others who are looking for the same approach.

“Just because you’ve had cancer doesn’t mean you can’t be a physically fit, viable person,” Marter said, while waving her wiry, fit arms to the starboard side of the boat.

The group meets at the marina three times a week to paddle for about an hour. For a group that’s only been meeting a year, an hour is a pretty good stretch of time, Marter said. When the group first began paddling the 48-foot-long, 4-foot-wide, 700-pound fiberglass boat, 15 minutes was about too much, she said, laughing.

Not like the group spends the entire time paddling, she added.

During the most recent paddle, Marter’s shouts of “let it ride!” gave way to heavy sighs and grunts as the team members pulled their paddles dripping from the water and stopped rowing to let the long boat glide softly through the water.

The riders stopped to rest from their “power” row and take in some of the local wildlife and scenery, including a blue heron, that stood stick-still on a pier watching the group from a safe distance.

“He’s our friend, there,” said Diane Peters, of Oak Harbor, who squinted her eyes from the sun and pointed toward the bird. Shortly after the group began paddling, the heron became a regular visitor. Consequently, when it came time to name the majestic boat, the group didn’t have far to look for inspiration — the boat’s called “The Blue Heron.”
Just a short distance from the boat, the group was visited by another faithful fan, a seal, whose head bobbed up and down in the gentle waves.

Meantime, Marter, an experienced dragon boat paddler of six years, gave the group pointers on form and threw in a few jokes to keep the group laughing.

As the team paddled away again, she yelled to several giggling women sitting side by side at the front of the boat, “All you troublemakers better keep paddling.” Instantly, most of the team mischievously pulled its paddles from the water, bursting with laughter, while Marter rested her hands on her hips.

Marter helped kick-start the group with a friend after moving to Whidbey Island from Portland, Ore., two years ago. Marter had been heavily involved with an award-winning dragon boat club in Portland. She had joined that club shortly after being diagnosed with breast cancer six years ago.

Dragon boats have been around for centuries in China, but became widely synonymous with cancer recovery in the U.S. and Canada about 11 years ago after a Vancouver, B.C., doctor, Don McKenzie, completed a study of women recovering from breast cancer surgery. That doctor discovered that the women who stayed active and concentrated on building their upper body strength could avoid or relieve lymphodema — a condition that occurs when the lymphatics of the arms are damaged by radiation treatment, chemotherapy or surgery. The tissue swells from a build-up of fluid, and is extremely painful.

Before McKenzie’s study, conventional wisdom said paddling only encouraged lymphodema.

Marter had heard about dragon boats even before she was diagnosed — her daughter-in-law had been paddling with one.

“It was like a good news/bad news thing,” Marter said, with a laugh. “It was bad news that I had cancer, but good news that I could finally paddle with the dragon boat group.”

The Portland dragon boat club was a huge success, winning paddling races across the country and even winning the world championship title two years ago in China.

“We were just a group of women who started out to have a good time and got carried away with the competition,” Marter said about her previous group.

When she moved to Whidbey, Marter said she knew she had to keep paddling. So she began working with a friend to organize a local group. Her efforts paid off in a short time: The group quickly flourished, mostly by word of mouth and the initial newspaper advertisements.

That’s how Whitney Hudson, now president of the group, became involved. Hudson, who was diagnosed with breast cancer eight years ago, saw a newspaper ad for the group and was immediately intrigued. She had seen dragon boats before and always found them interesting.

“I thought, ‘I don’t believe this,’ that there would be a dragon boat club on Whidbey Island — we’re so small,” she said.

Physical activity always had been a hallmark of Hudson’s life. Once she began paddling with the group, she didn’t want to stop.

“I was thrilled to be on the water paddling,” she said. “I really didn’t join for the cancer support — I never did support groups — but I did it for the exercise and the love of dragon boats.”

Nina Boudinot of Mount Vernon, who was diagnosed with breast cancer five years ago, had been encouraged by other women she had met while participating in a cancer run in Vancouver, B.C., to join a dragon boat club. At the time, those women had been paddling a dragon boat.

“They said, ‘If you get a chance to join a dragon boat team, it will change your life,’” Boudinot said.

And for Boudinot, 60, it has. She had never been involved in team sports in her life, but saw an advertisement in the newspaper about the local club and decided to check it out. After all, there are so few athletic activities for older women, she said.

The first practice was tough, Boudinot said, laughing.

“I thought my arms were going to fall off,” she said. But she enjoyed the camaraderie and the support of the other team members.

Some team members haven’t suffered from cancer themselves, but have lost a loved one to the disease and joined to support the fight against it.

Judy Lewis, of Everett, heard about the club from a friend and former coworker who had become involved. Initially, Lewis, who said she hasn’t had much experience with water sports, thought joining the group might be a nice introduction to them. After her first paddle, however, she was hooked.

“It’s the feeling of being with this group and being on the water that I really like,” Lewis said.

Lewis’ father died in 2002 of pancreatic cancer, just two months after he was diagnosed. Lewis, 60, said the experience of watching her father and other friends through the years battle the life-threatening disease has left her with a desire to help.

The group hasn’t had trouble finding new members, or jumping into the dragon boat racing scene. The Mud Hens, a team of the North Puget Sound Dragon Boat Club grabbed third place July 14 in the Kent Cornucopia Days Dragon Boat Festival’s 500-meter straight line race.

Now the group is preparing for yet another race Aug. 25 on Lake Washington, and working to outfit the boat with an ornamental head and tail.

Shortly after the group was formed, members practiced paddling in a boat that had been financed by a former team member. When that team member left and took the boat, group members came together to find a way to pay for another one.

During a meeting, Marter asked team members how much they could anonymously donate toward a boat. By the end of the meeting, members came up with a commitment of $5,000. The team was then able to secure a loan to pay for the remainder of the $11,500 boat.

“It was amazing,” Marter said.

Along with a goal to stay active, the group wants to start concentrating on raising money to donate to cancer fighting causes. They are selling “scales” — small blue scales that are painted on the sides of the boat — with the names of loved ones who are battling with or have died of cancer for $50 each. And they’re hoping to organize an auction later this year.

“We want to put out an awareness of cancer and information about early detection,” coach Marter said. “But we also want to have fun.”

• Beverly Crichfield can be reached at 360-416-2135 or