These paddlers are out of sight
RUSSELL GOLDMAN AND ANGIE CHAN
A blur of boldly patterned jerseys and fluttering banners of green, pink and yellow. The platinum of a boat’s wake against the pewter of the sea. Oars paddling in hypnotic unity. All of it made brighter and more vibrant by a glaring summer sun.
This is Hong Kong’s annual Dragon Boat Festival, a centuries-old tradition throughout Asia that combines sacred rituals with serious competition.
Among the competitors last month were the Darkness Fighters, Hong Kong’s only dragon boat team composed of visually impaired paddlers and their sighted coaches. Most of them are well past retirement age.
“I’m really happy to be here today because I didn’t think I would be able to do things like this,” said Tsang Jau Rung, 72, who began losing her sight 16 years ago and joined the Fighters this year.
For Tsang, and the other blind paddlers, joining the team has meant breaking with housebound routines that provide a sense of safety, but also inflict a crushing loneliness. Competing is an opportunity to socialize as well as a chance to exercise.
“It is a group effort,” said Annie Wing Chee Lo, 60, who steadily lost her sight over the past 10 years. “It requires our utmost focus and perseverance for us to do well.”
On race day, hundreds of teams from across the territory representing Hong Kong’s modern tribes, locals and expatriates, bankers and fishermen, meet to compete. The Fighters’ boat is exactly the same as the ones rowed by their sighted competition, long, wooden and tottery, with a dragon figurehead, 22 paddlers at work. At the front of each boat is a large drum, beat to keep members of the team in time.
Many of the team’s members are participating in an organized sport for the first time in their lives, at an age when their peers have retired. There are nearly 175,000 blind people in the city, according to the Hong Kong Federation of the Blind, and 65 per cent of them are older than 70.
Just getting to practice is an achievement. One paddler, Lau Fat, 65, must take a bus. Make three subway transfers. And navigate the streets in one of Asia’s busiest cities. On race day, Lau said he was nervous but found the steady beat of the boat’s drum calming.
“We are happy to participate,” he said. “But of course we want to win.”
“This is the Darkness Fighters’ mantra,” the team shouted before carefully getting into the boat. “Challenge the impossible!” By the end of the race, they are sopping wet, exhausted and beaming with pride. They placed fifth out of eight teams.
“We were all on point with our rhythms and didn’t mess one another up,” Lau said. “That alone is a win for us.”