health + wellness - Explore Big Sky
health + wellness - Explore Big Sky
health + wellness - Explore Big Sky
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the PinK boat is<br />
coMing to big sKY<br />
“rowing for the Cure” is<br />
helping fight breast cancer<br />
by eMily stiFler<br />
When a well-known local fishing guide<br />
rolls up to the boat ramp with a pink<br />
boat, many of the anglers there do a<br />
double take, says Ian Davis, owner of<br />
Yellow Dog Fly Fishing Adventures<br />
in Bozeman and a founding member of<br />
Rowing for the Cure.<br />
“They can’t figure out why this famous<br />
guide is rowing a pink boat. As the<br />
guide gets closer, they see ‘Rowing for<br />
the Cure’ on the side of the boat. It’s got<br />
shock value that metamorphoses into<br />
the warm fuzzy feeling. Unfortunately<br />
too many people nowadays have had a<br />
direct connection to breast cancer.”<br />
Created in 2010 by a group of friends<br />
in the Montana fly fishing community,<br />
Rowing for the Cure is a campaign to<br />
raise awareness and funding for breast<br />
cancer research. Prominent fishing<br />
guides throughout the West row the<br />
pink boat for a few days at a time, accepting<br />
donations from clients, fellow<br />
anglers and onlookers, and then pass it<br />
on to the next outfitter, lodge or guide.<br />
RO drift boats in Bozeman built the<br />
custom watercraft, which has a secure,<br />
self-contained donation drop box in<br />
the front seat compartment. “Judy” is<br />
imprinted on the back of the boat in<br />
honor of Davis’s mother Judy who died<br />
of breast cancer.<br />
The pink boat was in <strong>Big</strong> <strong>Sky</strong> at Gallatin<br />
River Guides over the July 4 weekend,<br />
and will return for a sold-out women’s<br />
fishing trip Aug. 2. Betsey French,<br />
owner of Gallatin River Guides, said<br />
that while the pink boat was parked out<br />
front that weekend, they had donations<br />
and curious passersby.<br />
“Many people had questions about the<br />
pink boat,” French said. “I don’t think<br />
anybody’s not been touched by [breast<br />
cancer].”<br />
For the women’s trip on Aug. 2, Gallatin<br />
River Guides will take 10 ladies to<br />
float the Yellowstone River (conditions<br />
dependent). They have four other boats<br />
going along, and will take turns floating<br />
in the pink boat.<br />
The pink boat will be “our mother ship,<br />
so to speak,” French said. “We’re hoping<br />
to raise money from other fishermen<br />
and onlookers and also have a great<br />
time fishing.”<br />
French hopes to make this float a<br />
popular annual event, and says they<br />
can book custom trips in the pink boat<br />
during that time, as well.<br />
“Many of the gals signed up have<br />
had friends or relatives [with breast<br />
cancer], or have had a bout of cancer<br />
themselves.”<br />
French lost her first husband to colon<br />
cancer, and said Rowing for the Cure<br />
is “something that makes me more<br />
about susan g. Komen for the cure® and<br />
the Komen Montana affiliate<br />
nancy G. brinker promised her dying sister, susan G. komen,<br />
she would do everything in her power to end breast cancer<br />
forever. in 1982, that promise became susan G. komen for<br />
the Cure and launched the global breast cancer movement.<br />
the Montana affiliate of komen for the Cure is working to better<br />
the lives of those facing breast cancer in local communities.<br />
they join more than a million breast cancer survivors and<br />
activists around the globe as part of the world’s largest and<br />
most progressive grassroots network fighting breast cancer.<br />
through events like the komen Montana race for the Cure®<br />
and rowing for a Cure, the Montana affiliate has invested<br />
in community breast <strong>health</strong> programs in Montana. up to 75<br />
percent of net proceeds generated by the affiliate stays in<br />
Montana. the remaining income goes to the national susan<br />
G. komen for the Cure Grants program to fund research. For<br />
more information, call (406) 495-9337.<br />
komenmontana.org<br />
<strong>Big</strong> <strong>Sky</strong><br />
July 15, 2011<br />
Volume 2 // Issue #13<br />
betsey French poses with “Judy” the pink boat photo by Gervaise purCell<br />
all donations will be sent to komen Montana after each guide’s stint<br />
in the pink boat. the guide who raises the most receives a prize at the<br />
end of the season. yellow dog Fly Fishing adventures, patagonia river<br />
Guides and ro drift boats, as well as several individuals, are also integral<br />
to the project.<br />
aware, and makes me proud to have<br />
that boat up there and part of Gallatin<br />
River Guides.”<br />
The sole beneficiary of Rowing for the<br />
Cure’s donations is the Montana affiliate<br />
of Susan G. Komen for the Cure.<br />
French says while there are walks and<br />
other fundraising events for the Susan<br />
G. Komen foundation, this is particularly<br />
special because Ms. Komen’s husband<br />
is part of the fly fishing industry.<br />
Fishing guides have been responsive<br />
to this fundraising organization, so the<br />
boat’s schedule fills up quickly. “We’ve<br />
gotten the most prestigious guides<br />
across the West to row the boat, which<br />
gives validation to Rowing for the Cure<br />
fundraising,” Davis said.<br />
Last summer the pink boat floated the<br />
Madison, Yellowstone, <strong>Big</strong> Hole, Beaverhead,<br />
Jefferson, Missouri, Henry’s<br />
Fork, South Fork, and the main stem<br />
explorebigsky.com<br />
of the Snake River and raised just over<br />
$10,000. Forty percent of this came<br />
from anonymous donations.<br />
Even Henry Winkler (The Fonz) spent<br />
a day in Judy and donated, Davis said.<br />
Toby Swank from Fins and Feathers fly<br />
shop at Four Corners raised the most,<br />
and donated his guide fees during three<br />
days in the boat.<br />
If you see the pink “Rowing for the<br />
Cure” boat while fishing, at the boat<br />
ramp, parked at your favorite postfishing<br />
watering hole, or at your local<br />
fly shop, you can donate to the cause.<br />
You can also follow the adventures of<br />
the pink boat online at facebook.com/<br />
rowingForacure.<br />
If you are interested in guiding out<br />
of the boat or having the boat at your<br />
event, contact Ian Davis at Yellow<br />
Dog Fly Fishing Adventures:<br />
ian@yellowdogflyfishing.com.<br />
fishing report:<br />
Fishing season is here all at once<br />
story and photo by<br />
ennion williaMs<br />
It’s mid-July and the fishing season<br />
is finally here. Even though the river<br />
looks muddy, the fish are there and<br />
feeding. This past week has been the<br />
best fishing in over a month, and it<br />
will only get better. Look for the rivers<br />
to drop and clear over the next two<br />
weeks.<br />
Hatching now are salmonflies and<br />
goldenstones, in addition to drake<br />
mayflies, pale morning dun mayflies<br />
and all sorts of caddis. Look for emergences<br />
in the afternoon until the river<br />
drops and clears. Once the river clears<br />
we’ll see some very consistent fishing<br />
on the Gallatin, Madison and Yellow-<br />
rainbow trout<br />
stone rivers.<br />
After a very high spring of runoff<br />
with rivers running at 200 percent of<br />
average for an extended period, the<br />
fishing holes and spots that were fishing<br />
two months ago may well be gone<br />
or changed. It will be interesting to see<br />
how the season progresses from here.<br />
Contact fishing guide Ennion Williams<br />
at ennion3@yahoo.com.<br />
July 15, 2011 17