Dangar Dory Derby Day 2011
On Dangar Island everyone knows that the big race on Easter is not an egg hunt but the Round the Island Rowing Race.
In the morning the boats line up along the beach – long and thin alongside each other. This year there’s a big crowd. The local kids, all grown up now, come back especially for today. Hugged in wet swimsuits, long hair slipping down their backs. They rise mermaid from the water. Filled with memories of swimming races, oyster cuts and homemade rafts.
Everyone piles into boats for the twelve apostles race. Using only hands to paddle, the trick is not to fill the boat with water. But they’re sinking almost before the race begins. They return soaking wet, dragging upside down boats, with big smiles on their faces.
In the Women’s Sprint there are so many contestants they can’t fit along the beach. Instead they start in two rows, with the fastest out the front to scramble first around the markers.
The real competition is to push off hard from the right spot on the beach, to get out ahead. In the crowded space, the oars seem to land themselves in someone else’s boat. Many lock together, scraping into each other with the outside oar.
The pressure builds for the Men’s and Women’s Round the Island. Surprise competitors emerge from the across the river. “Have you got a boat yet?” This one stands her ground, even though, she says, it rows like a pig. “Perhaps you can borrow this one.” “Hey Charlie, is your boat free?”
The start line of the men’s race zigzags out from the public wharf. The crowd edges forward, armed with cameras and stopwatches. On your marks, get set, GO!
They’re back in record time: 15 minutes, 40 seconds. Little Asha isn’t so little anymore. He comes in first. The crowd cheers, delighted, as each boat crosses the finish line. The competitors let go of their oars, slouching forward exhausted.
The kids say this is the only day of the year they actually row. But for others it is an every day commute: jackets in the rain, flashing torches late at night, and hauling groceries across the river. These boats are home: a way of life.
The stopwatches are paused, ready for the Women’s Round the Island. Onlookers take pictures of the boats lined up with the sun sparkling on the water. The tension in the boats goes unnoticed from the shore. We just see women of all ages, and a couple of little kids sitting in the back. And get set! GO! There’s no stopping them now.
Not long and they’re back, slamming across the finish line, faces red and smiling like the sun. The trophy - with its message, “no smelly engines just smelly people” - gets carted off to live for another year on the winner’s wall.
