Over the past two decades, Dragonheart Vermont founders Linda and John Dyer have helped to create a strong community of dragonboat racers in the Burlington area.
Now, with new accessible docks, they’re hoping to reach an even wider audience.
Dragonboats are long, human-powered boats originating from China. The vessels have been raced in China for thousands of years, but the sport has grown in popularity since it went international in 1976.
In the past two decades, Dragonheart Vermont has seen growing interest and now has over 200 members in the state.
Last month, Dragonheart unveiled the final addition to a new dock system, an ADA-approved kayak launch. Dragonheart organized fundraisers in order to purchase the $130,000 dock system. Members of Dragonheart surprised the Dyers at the unveiling of the kayak launch by naming the docks in their honor.
“We’re just really humbled,” John said.
Dragonheart and the Burlington city government have been working to update the community boat launch since 2008 to make the lake more accessible to more people, especially for the annual Lake Champlain Dragonboat Festival.
“What was down there was not sufficient to handle the people going on,” Linda said.
Over the last 14 years, all docks at the community boat launch near the U.S. Coast Guard station in Burlington have been replaced by Dragonheart and the city of Burlington. This year, the final addition of an ADA-approved kayak launch was completed. The new launch provides a stable way for people to launch their kayaks and is entirely ADA-compliant.
“It’s really been a team effort, so we’ll always think of them as the Dragonheart Docks, but we’re totally honored that they are calling them the Dyer Docks,” Linda said.
The naming of the new docks in the Dyers’ honor is a testament to the impact they have had on the Burlington dragonboat community. When Linda and John moved to Vermont in the early 2000s, Linda had already gotten a taste of the dragonboat community in Philadelphia. The Dyers had met a dragonboat team of breast cancer survivors while living in Philadelphia and were inspired to start their own.
Linda’s idea for a dragonboat community for breast cancer survivors came to fruition when the Dyers saw Lake Champlain. Then came the crucial step of getting a boat.
“Linda is a bit of a dynamo,” John said.
Linda found a dragonboat team in Boston and asked to borrow one of its boats, but was initially turned down. She kept asking, however, until she was given a boat.
Within the first month, Dragonheart Vermont had about 30 members. Eventually the boat had to be returned, but Dragonheart was able to buy two of its own boats to continue to grow the community. Now, Dragonheart has 10 teams that compete at the national and international levels with many of them winning national and world championships over the last decade.
Teams compete in 200, 500 and 2000 meter races in either a standard or small boat. Standard boats have about 20 rowers while small boats have about 10 rowers. A drummer sits at the front of every boat to help the rowers stay in perfect sync with each other. These fast-paced races, which only last a couple of minutes, require extreme athleticism and energy from everyone involved.
“I’m a pretty high-energy person, but Dragonheart has such a high energy level that it kind of leaves me in the dust,” said Ellen Gurwitz, a member of Dragonheart since 2018.
Dragonheart and the Dyers have provided breast cancer survivors and supporters with a loving and supportive community. Gurwitz has felt the support of the community since joining and has seen the community as a light in her life.
“Dragonheart is a safe haven of sanity,” Gurwitz said.
Dragonheart will host the 16th annual Lake Champlain Dragonboat Festival at the Burlington waterfront on Aug. 7 with the help of the new Dyer Docks. This year’s festival will benefit the Cancer Patient Support Foundation, which helps to financially support cancer patients.
Dragonheart and the Dyers look forward to the annual festival to raise money for cancer groups in Vermont and to see the community participating in the sport that brings them so much joy.
“It’s all about our mission of survivorship and giving back to the community,” Linda said.
