This post is one of a special series of posts contributed by University of Florida graduate students, Azariah Rodriguez and Caroline Davis. The students are working on projects to digitize and promote materials related to the history of Balboa High School and the annual Ocean-to-Ocean cayuco race, which are two of the most frequently requested topics we have received from researchers recently. Within those broad topics, the students identified objects and stories that they wanted to explore in more depth and then conducted research and wrote posts to tell those stories. We hope you enjoy their contributions!

I think the best way to begin this story is with what first prompted me to write about it. One of the most engaging parts of the Panama Canal Museum Collection (PCMC) is its online blog site, which highlights individual collection items and interprets them through public-facing posts for readers and researchers alike. Since I am currently working through scanning Cayuco Race photographs for digitization, I came across an image that had already been featured in a blog entry. 

What makes these posts especially meaningful is that their comment sections remain open to the public. This creates a rare opportunity for archival photographs to spark conversation and collective memory. In this particular post, the reader is asked questions about the image, and dozens of former Zonians responded by recounting their own experiences racing in the Ocean-to-Ocean Cayuco Race. In this way, the archive becomes something living: not simply a repository of images, but a space where personal stories and community history continue to unfold. 

One comment in particular immediately stood out to me. Margaret Whipple Booth wrote: 

“I was in the 1973 race and it was the first year for girls to enter. We came in last and won the lead anchor award. I was in the Sea Explorers Coca Solo ship 9. We were an all girl crew and fixed the cayuco ourselves with our skippers help. The day of the race the cayuco had a leak so we fixed it with chewing gum and it stayed for the whole race. It was a great and exciting two days.” 

Booth’s memory is one of fun, but also marks a time of change in the history of the Cayuco Race. 1973 was the first year that girls were officially allowed to enter, signaling an important moment of inclusion in a sporting tradition that had been dominated by male crews. The Panama Canal Spillway writes in a newspaper section from April 6, 1973:

“At least two boats will be paddled by young ladies in the 52-mile race. Feminine paddlers will represent Ship 9… and Post 26…”¹

Her recollection reminds us that women’s participation was not just about competing, but being athletes in one of the most popular events tied to life in the Canal Zone. What stands out most in Booth’s story is the collective effort behind it. This was a team that repaired their own boat, problem-solved under pressure, and relied on each other to persevere. The chewing gum patch becomes an amazing symbol of resilience and ingenuity, reflecting the endurance required to complete such a grueling race. Booth’s background as part of a naval family stationed in the Canal Zone also provides insight into how young women, like many Zonians, became involved through community networks and youth organizations. 

Her comment immediately inspired me to highlight women athletes in the Cayuco Race, using her experience as a starting point. Another incredibly helpful source has been Frank C. Townsend, who wrote about the early years of the race between 1954 and 1962. Townsend notes that even before women were officially included in the full Ocean-to-Ocean competition, there were moments when all-female crews were finding ways to participate. He mentions that in 1955 an all-female group called the Gamboa Mariner Scout troop, led by Gamboa Sea Scout Skipper Mr. Holmes’ wife, were allowed to unofficially paddle two cayucos in the race from Gamboa to Pedro Miguel. One of the female scout members recalls: 

“We did not do the locks. We had a heck of a time just getting to Pedro Miguel, as we kept drawing water and bailing out! What fun! We would leave from Gamboa through Pedro Miguel and Miraflores locks and go over to Taboga for one or two nights.” 

Though brief, this anecdote echoes many of the same themes found in Booth’s memory: endurance, teamwork, improvisation, and joy in the face of challenge. Townsend also references Jackie Dunn Fearon as someone who would know more about that experience, suggesting that many women’s stories remain present but under-documented.

It seems that women crews weren’t common until the 1980s, to which we see more newspaper and photographic documentation. In an excerpt from The Panama Canal Spillway in 1984, it is reported that “rotating awards went to ‘Situation Hopeless’ the mixed-crew champions, and ‘Bejuco’ winners of the all-female category.” Below is the accompanying photograph, which does not have a caption but I assume is the “Situation Hopeless” crew. Look at the strength of these women, and the concentration on their faces! 

Two years later, the 1986 Zonian (Balboa High School’s yearbook) published a short section dedicated to that year’s Ocean-to-Ocean Cayuco Race. The categories participating in the race were the trophy boats which consist of men and women, teams of four people and co-ed boats, and the patch boats which consist of eight persons. The photograph shown below is taken from this section, depicting “the exhausted crew, Situation Hopeless, after their win in the all-girl crew trophy.” 

The following year in June 1987, the “Short Cut” crew and “Bejuco” crew were photographed, and their names are documented: Front row – “Short Cut” with crew from left: Eva Anderson, Joanne Reilly, Angie Stephenson and Karen Fahlgren. Back row – “Bejuco” with crew from left: Joann Eckel, Kindra Rankin, Karen Rankin and Cindy Coykendal.

Below is another photo of the 1987 all girls Cayuco “Bejuco”. 

Taken together, these accounts show that women were part of the Cayuco Race history all along, gradually expanding what participation could look like through determination and opportunity.  

Today, these memories remind us that the Cayuco Race is not just a sport, but also one of empowerment, inclusion, and community resilience. Women paddlers, whether patching leaks with chewing gum in 1973 or bailing water in the earlier years of the race, helped redefine who belonged in this tradition. By preserving and digitizing these photographs through the PCMC collection, we ensure that their contributions are not sidelined, but recognized as part of the race’s ongoing legacy. Their stories invite future generations to see themselves in the cayuco: not only as participants, but as pioneers. Below is a more recent photo of the “Situation Hopeless” cayuco and crew.

1. https://dloc.com/UF00094771/00918/images ↩︎

This post was created using endowment funds raised during our Digitization Campaign. The funds from this campaign enabled us to hire students to digitize materials in the Panama Canal Museum Collection (PCMC) and make them freely available online for scholars, students, and people globally.