OarBusters Inspire All DSC Scullers

Every Thursday morning just after dawn, a group of DSC scullers we call the OarBusters lift everyone up. Most require adaptations to their boats, depending on whether they have no or limited use of their legs and/or their trunks. They all show up and scull gracefully and with increasing endurance, strength and skill on the Deep Water Channel.

First there was Rachel, who moved from Oregon 9 years ago because of DSC’s adaptive rowing program, the only such program in the Central Valley. She settles into her prostheses attached to the foot stretchers of her boat; then, because the extension of her arms and body swing are so efficient, she serves as a model for those who have use of their full bodies. Eila, a spoken-word poet, and Gaby, a paralympic wheelchair racer and swimmer from Mexico, roll down to the dock, and row in specially adapted single or double boats. 

Septuagenarian Sheila, who suffered a TBI, drives 65 miles each way every Thursday to enjoy the thrill of the run of the boat under her and the camaraderie of her DSC “family”. She and Tricia always light up the boathouse with their infectious smiles. A graduate of St. Mary’s High School who had an aneurysm 10 years ago, Tricia uses a specially designed glove (by volunteer Rebecca Abreu) that allows her to grasp the oar on the left side of the boat, the side affected by the aneurysm.

These steady four OarBusters inspire all DSC’s scullers to realize we can push ourselves to do so much more than we ever imagined.