A group of six Peninsula breast-cancer survivors are in Argentina this week, sharing their love of dragon boating with dozens of their South American counterparts.
The women are part of an organization called Abreast in A Boat, comprising close to 200 breast-cancer survivors who compete on various dragon boating crews locally.
They left Tuesday for Argentina, where they will be training upwards of 60 women – also breast-cancer survivors – none of whom have ever set foot inside a dragon boat.
"The dragon boats were delivered to them in December, but they have not been used," South Surrey's Adriana Bartoli told Peace Arch News Sunday. "They've been practising in kayaks and canoes, but it's much different than a dragon boat.
The trip has been two years in the making, according to South Surrey's Adriana Bartoli, an Argentina native who spearheaded the initiative to bring Abreast in a Boat to South America.
Bartoli, who was diagnosed in 2012 and began paddling the following year, lost three friends to breast cancer back home in the years prior to her battle with the disease.
"They lived through their breast cancer in loneliness," Bartoli said, noting that bringing the dragon boating "sisterhood" to Argentina will help provide support for survivors.
"You're not the only one."
Two days before leaving for Argentina, the basement of Bartoli's home was a flurry of excitement as the group scrambled to pack everything they would need for the nearly two-week trip.
They brought with them everything from paddles and lifejackets, to safety whistles and other first-aid supplies, as well as candy and T-shirts and hats emblazoned with Abreast in a Boat's logo.
The women – all members of the Deas Divas crew – will spend this coming weekend in Tigre, near the Argentinian capital of Buenos Aires, where they will train the first two teams of women on the River Plate.
Next weekend, they will travel to Patagonia, where they will work with another two teams, who will be trained to paddle on a lake. At the end of each weekend, they will hold symbolic regattas to give the women a taste of what a real race feels like.
The group anticipates a positive response from the South American survivors, as well as any spectators they may attract; the four dragon boats that arrived three months ago were the first of their kind in the country.
"It's going to be as much of an adventure for us as it is for them," team member Ysa Luz said.
Fellow paddler Lynn Sparling suspects their trip will drum up more interest for the organization on the continent, noting there have already been inquiries from people in Chile and Brazil
"I think it's going to start a wave of something down there," Sparling said.
To find out more about the dragon boating organization, visit www.abreastinaboat.com