In this regatta, flashy boats and friendly rivalries

Sitting at the head of long, ornate vessels, one member from every team at Saturday's Independence Dragon Boat Regatta assumed the responsibility of motivating their 20 paddlers to push through the 500-meter course along the Schuylkill, beating a drum until the last stroke.

Three objectives seemed to fuel the racers: camaraderie, a healthy rivalry, and a sense of charity. In its sixth year, the regatta, hosted by the Philadelphia Dragon Boat Association, raises money for the association's members to attend an international dragon-boat competition, as well as for charities.

The 65 regatta teams this year, all from the region. were made up of groups of friends as well as representatives of organizations. The School District of Philadelphia was the source of one of the many friendly rivalries on display — between first-year team Stab-N-Grab, mostly health and physical education teachers, and Team 440, comprising workers from school district headquarters, at 440 N. Broad St.

"We had a running joke … that we were going to beat" them, said Samantha Woodburn, a physical education teacher at Philadelphia High School for Girls. Woodburn and fellow paddlers with Stab-N-Grab, named after a practice phrase referring to the motion of moving the paddle through the water, donned shirts with a variety of messages underscoring its good-natured battle with Team 440 — including "Sabotage 440."

"All of this camaraderie and team-building lasts us until the next one," said Team 440 member Bettyann Creighton, director of health, safety, and physical education.

Ken Wong, president of the Philadelphia Dragon Boat Association, said the event was about exposing people to the sport of dragon-boat racing.

"People will get to see some good, quality teams, in addition to seeing teams who are just getting together to have fun with it," Wong said. The event, he said, usually nets about $75,000.

Charities that will benefit from this year's regatta include the city's Police Athletic League, the Philadelphia Vietnam Veterans Memorial Society, and, for the first time since the regatta began, Liberty USO, which assists members of the armed forces and their families.

This year, planning for the dragon-boat event hit a wall, so to speak: A deteroriating riverwall that has suffered multiple collapses was declared off-limits.

A February report by the city's Parks and Recreation Department said an 800-foot section of the river, between the St. Joseph's boathouse and the Strawberry Mansion Bridge, would be prohibited from public use.

That prompted more than an altering of this year's racecourse. The Schuylkill Dragons team was forced to find a new dock.

"All the boathouses here are private, and they don't make room for dragon boats attached to their house, so we need public space," said Linda Breitstein, secretary for the team. Dragon boats weigh more than 800 pounds, she said, so taking them in and out of the water for practice isn't a reasonable option. "If the city was willing to build something for us, and we needed to pay [to keep our boats there], that seems fair."

At least 150 feet of riverwall has been compromised, said Mark McDonald, spokesman for Mayor Nutter. An early estimate to rebuild the entire 800-foot riverwall was $10?million. The city had requested funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, contending that the damage was caused by a storm, but the request was denied. McDonald said the city would now explore funding possibilities from the state and other federal sources for repairs.

Eventually, Breitstein's team found docking on the Cooper River in Camden County, where its two boats can stay in the water for the season for $700 each. Yet, while Cooper River officials have been accommodating, members said, it's not quite the same as being in Philadelphia.

"We're called the Schuylkill Dragons," said team president Karen Anderson, "and we're not on the Schuylkill."