The three W’s: Whether / Weather / Wind

The three W’s: Whether / Weather / Wind

Whereas my trip is long, there is not a lot of “technical” paddling to be done (i.e. white water). For the most part it is a series of lakes and rivers with a few minor portages here and there.

What then is my biggest obstacle? Weather, and its upshot wind, will constantly determine whether it is safe and prudent to proceed. I will have to continually monitor what is happening around me and the most likely impact topography, cloud formation, temperature, prevailing wind, etc, will have over conditions for the foreseeable future.

While over the course of my trip I will be paddling on rivers and lakes of various sizes from the monsters such as Lakes Superior, Huron and Winnipeg, to the giants such as Lakes of the Woods, Cedar, Rainy, La Croix, and Nipissing, to the medium sized Lakes du Bonnet, Sturgeon, Pickerel, to a dozen hydrology lakes behind dams, and to the multitude of smaller lakes, there is one constant and that is if the wind is over 20 knots, I won’t be leaving the shore. Similarly, I will never venture far from shore given the propensity for most of these bodies of water to be subject to rapidly rising squalls and the gusts of wind which attend them.

Apart from safety, I find it demoralizing to paddle into a headwind with very little in the way of tangible results. I would more likely want to rest on shore until the wind abates even if it means I have to travel at night. Straining over a paddle in a high wind can also result in injury to muscles and joints, needlessly.

I have a big objective but I have to remain patient in order not to risk injury or capsize. I will get there even if it’s later than scheduled.

Now that I have stated my “modus operandi”, I trust that anyone who is thinking about joining this grand adventure will see that I am of a kindred spirit and will feel moved to join me for part of this quest.

Profile Update

I have blessed you with a photo through an update of my profile.  Before you wretch, please consider my purpose. I am the hairless one on the right and the silver hair dude to my left is Bob Rieder. The photo was taken at the time of the 2008 Make a Difference Marathon across Canada by bike fundraiser undertaken by supporters of the Strachan Hartley Legacy Foundation. See: http://bike.shlf.ca/

Bob, in addition to being our largest individual sponsor, joined us on the final leg into Vancouver.

Crew -to date

I am pleased to report that Bob Rebagliati has indeed joined with Bob Rieder and myself to paddle that section between Fort Frances, Ontario through Quetico Provincial Park to its north western boundary at French Lake and the portal where the trail crosses Highway 11. We estimate it will take two weeks of paddling from July 15 through July 29. I am very excited to have these two venerable men join me.

I have known Bob Rieder since the fall of 1987 when we met on the playing fields of North Vancouver as our sons played Minor football in the Gordon Sturtridge Football League. My first encounter was being introduced to him with my son Strachan as the coach of the Browns to which my son had been designated. One practice later my son and a few "castoffs" were relegated to form a new team under my tutelage. That first season we paled badly in comparison to the Browns led admirably and skillfully by Bob's son Eric. Besides having been so badly duped by the relegation :), Bob and I have had continuing ties since then -not the least of which is that our sons both subsequently played junior and senior football for Handsworth Secondary School Royals. Just to complete the loop, Eric Rieder met us in Dawson, Yukon after our trip down the Yukon River from Whitehorse last summer. Fortunately for us he was working as a pilot out of Dawson for the summer and took us on a fuel supply run out to a mining camp on his twin engine Britten-Norman Islander aircraft and later also flew us back to Whitehorse (what a day!).

Although Bob Rebagliati was to me more of a friend and a neighbour in North Vancouver, he also ran the highly rated music program at Handsworth. While none of my children were able to meet the high standards of the music program, they benefited indirectly by the ecletic environment provided by the music, drama, and cultural make up of the school. Bob also worked on a staff which included my wife Mary Ann who toiled in the counselling department. On an extended trip, not only is Bob a great debunker of the whiskeys we drink and cigars we smoke, he is also a wonderful conversationalist and raconteur. Having retired from teaching, he keeps his interest in music development by judging at jazzz festivals and in his role of conductor of various local orchestras. A more complete bio will be filed at a later date.

Handsworth is also central to this story of paddling across Canada because, not only did 8 of our combined children go to school together there, it is also the hub of the annual 10 km and 5 km Strachan Hartley Legacy Run held in October which is a critical fund raiser for the Foundation (http://www.shlf.ca/). This October will be the sixth running and our succes at this event allows us to give an annual scholarship to the Handsworth graduating student who most combines accademics, sport and citizenship, as well as make  healthy donations to Vancouver based Take a Hike and Streetfront youth and athletic organizations.

Why do this?

I merge two passions.

On the one hand:

I want to raise funds for the Strachan Hartley Legacy Foundation: I believe what we do makes a difference in the lives of at risk children through sport and I want to insure we can do so far into the future as well as expand our reach.

On the other hand:

I am interested in activities that have a very high spiritual content; by spiritual I mean having to do with the sensory non cerebral part of me. Kayaking, canoeing or hiking in Canada’s vast wilderness provides this for me; that moment when I am no longer just a passer through but united with nature –an organism that is part as opposed to separate.  It is pure: an alignment of my spirit with my soul brought about by the physicality of my actions within a pristine, serene environment accentuating the sublime. I am in the “now".

 For me, this state is usually only achieved wherein everything has been my responsibility; from the planning, preparation, knowledge, outfitting, logistics, navigation, effort, skill, and perseverance .There can be no half measure; the results are dependent on me. Planning includes objective risk assessment: I am not in this to kill myself nor to put life in danger needlessly or recklessly.

The other requirement is for there to exist an edge between not only success and failure but between life and death as well. The edge constantly explores the depth of my character in a completely undiffused way. It is only then that I am powerful and in control of my soul: I am cool with myself.

OOPs

Clearly I am just learning how to do this "blogging thing" as my last two efforts at issuing this blog were made in the form of comments, see above.

I want to use this opportunity to welcome Bob Rieder as the first commitment to do a leg of the trip with me in July. He will join me in Fort Frances, Ontario on July 15 and paddle through Quetico Provincial Park to French Lake on Highway 11 near Atikokan. We will arrive at the latter July 29, after having crossed in turn Rainy, Namakan, Little Vermillion, and Loon Lakes, all on the boundary of US Voyageur National Park, and Lac la Croix before turning up the Maligne River system through Sturgeon, Olifaunt and Pickerel Lakes. From what I heard from brother in law Jim Munro, who did this trip in 1970, this is the very best part of the trip. Mary Ann a nd I spent two weeks in northern Quetico Park in 1973 and loved it -a combination of Muskoka Lakes and Algonquin Park without the crowds. I have had the pleasure of a number of sea kayak trips with Bob on the west coast of Vancouver Island as well as a canoe trip down theYukon River from Whitehorse to Dawson last summer. Our specialty is after a hard day of paddling and before bedding down having a glass of Scotch with a Cuban cigar: Heaven. We are hoping that our friend Bob Rebagliati will see his way clear to joining us.

It is a sizable commitment these men will make for the "cause" and I love and respect them for it. Apart from giving up two weeks of their holidays, Bob Rieder runs an emergent pharmaceutical company, they are undertaking to fly to Winnipeg from Vancouver and then by vehicle to Kenora for outfitting followed by the trip down the width of Lake of the Woods to Fort Frances, Of course, they have to make their way back with canoe and vehicle to Kenora and then Winnipeg. Can you say commitment!

It starts now

Perhaps activating this blog means I can no longer chicken out. There are plenty of monkeys (expression used to connote the multitude of voices in my head telling me that I am nuts, etc) acting on my psyche but with this blog, although not stilling them, my commitment is open to scrutiny and my resolve better be up to the task.

The task is to paddle across Canada for 131 days from Rocky Mountain House, Alberta to L'Ilse-aux Grues, Quebec (salt water for one) from May 19 to October 4, 2012. If you try to do the math you will come up 7 days short, which I will use to fly back to Vancouver (from North Bay, Ontario) for purposes of my son's wedding to Vanessa Burdett on September 15.

My purpose is to raise funds for my deceased son's foundation, the Strachan Hartley Legacy Foundation, all the while paddling the route used by fur traders to open up this land to immigration and commerce.