• Paddlers on the River This Week
• Music at the AKC Boatshed
• Canning Classic Race
• Paddle Canada's West Coast
• On My Paddles - Birds Along the Way
• Masters Games
• Coming Events

It was the last marathon race until after the New Year. It started at Deep Water Point went up to Kent Street Weir and back to Riverton Bridge. There was some choppy water, some shallow water and some narrow channels.

I decided to take my car to Riverton Bridge, the finish line and paddle to the start at Deep Water Point which was just over 6kms. This meant no car shuffle and I was able to leave my car right at the finish line as no other cars were parked there in the early morning.

Half way to the start I met Alastair Fox. He was on a ski and when we crossed over the wide section near Bull Creek the side chop was testing. I was hoping not to capsize, luckily I didn’t. Alastair made better progress having a slightly more stable craft.

We arrived in plenty of time. There was certainly a little chill in the air and the wind was picking up with a few kayakers wondering how rough that first wide section was going to like. By the time we got on the water I think the wind eased a little and at least the waves were meeting us head on so it would be easier than paddling in a side wash.

Slowest grids were off first. With the wind and having a wide river the line of boats weren’t very straight and the closer to the pole in the middle of the river the shorter the distance. It’s not the best place to start a race. Immediately the crowd of skis to my left took off and were ahead straight away. Being in a kayak I was reluctant to join them as I thought clean water would be safer. To have a capsize in the middle of the river would be a long swim if the rescue boat wasn’t around. It’s not that I ever capsize but there will be a time.

Ross Burdett paddled beside me. It took me 6-700 metres to get slightly ahead of him and to get a little closer to some of the ski group. Chris Watson and Sean Killen seemed to be leading the group with Erica in the mix. Although I caught many of the group by the bridge those three had got way ahead. As we passed under Mount Henry Bridge and headed for the turn buoy at the bottom of Bull Creek we started catching up with some of the slower paddlers in the first grid. This is where I caught up with Doug and Nicky, but they did such tight turns that I couldn’t get inside of them to pass. As we headed back into the wider river I decided to cut a corner a little hoping to get a faster track which I seemed to do, as when all the boats met up again I was in front of Doug.

Paddlers from the other grids behind kept passing, I tried grabbing a ride on Gordon Lentz and I did for a few minutes but when he saw a faster group of paddlers pass he chased them and left me behind. I thought that was very un-considerate!!

I caught up with Agnes Pajor who started 2 minutes before me, but it didn’t show as she was keeping a good pace and I found it hard to pass her as we moved across the shallows. I did manage to pass but she then passed me again when Jade Lane came by.

The three 3^rd div leaders, Chris, Sean and Erica were still ahead and Agnes led through the short cut shallows in the Riverton swamp. Just afterwards I heard the voice of Doug Hodson who was pretty close and that stirred me up. It was time to get passed Agnes so I put on some speed and sped in front of her and got to the turn first and widened the gap. Several minutes later Ash came by so I jumped on his wash, but then Peter and Jane Liddle came by in their double and Ash sped ahead with them.

I could see Sean in his multisport not that far ahead but it seemed too far for me to reach him before the end but I could see he was slowing so I increased my pace and by the time we got back to Riverton Bridge I was about level with him. Then I saw Sharon over to my right. She had started 2 minutes behind me so she really thumped me today so what a disastrous day! Could I redeem myself by beating Sean to the line?

About 100 metres before the finish line I started sprinting ready to beat Sean who looked tired but he was like a sleeping giant who had just come to life. Suddenly as my nose was about to pass him, his kayak reared up like a speeding power boat which left a huge wash for me to wallow in. I ended up being 8 seconds behind him. He had been away from paddling for several years after having children and he been getting better every week, now he is back.

Well it was another great race although I didn’t enjoy being beaten by the other 3 in my class. It looks as if I might need to do a little more training!

Thanks to the organisers and volunteers.

Race results here:

https://www.webscorer.com/racedetails?raceid=262855

Paddle Canada's Western Coastline

Vancouver to Prince Rupert

Luke Dooley

Stage 2

It was lovely to stay in a hotel for two nights and have a fresh meal and sleep in a warm and dry bed with clean clothes. We enjoyed a lovely meal at the pub both nights. Terry and I must have looked as though we hadn’t eaten for months because we were served the most enormous steak and vegetable meal we’d ever seen. John was a bit jealous because he ordered a different meal which was not nearly as impressive. The following night, John ordered the same meal as Terry and I had the previous night but they must have given him the ladies cut from the menu because, to John’s utter disappointment, it didn’t nearly fill the plate! We were really able to appreciate the amenities that our room had to offer such as a tap, a hot shower and a roof. Throughout the trip we had to gather our own freshwater from streams which we found along the way. This was easy enough except the water had to be purified so we wouldn’t get sick from drinking it. John chose to use tablets which dissolved in the water to purify it. Terry and I couldn’t put up with the taste of the tablets so we shared his water pump which forced the water through a filter. Unfortunately it required a lot of effort to operate and 10 litres would take nearly an hour to collect.

Unfortunately the final ten days of the trip were extremely wet. We had been very lucky for most of the journey as the wind had held back and we had only received one or two showers. The gods must have been saving it for the finish however because it rained non-stop day and night for ten solid days. I was a little glad it rained because it created more of a challenge and meant we could go home and tell everyone that we had in fact braved the Canadian wilds and it was not just a cruisy sight-seeing trip. After about four days I was wondering if it would ever end. I had never seen so much rain before and didn’t know it was possible to just rain for days on end. Although the rain itself was annoying; it was more of a problem to be constantly putting on wet clothes and sleeping in a damp sleeping bag. It also brought the cold with it and the wind too. Some days it became extremely stormy and the waves were quite large. On one occasion John had stopped in a little bay to put on another layer and did not see Terry and I paddle past him because the visibility was so poor. He then sat there and waited for us to come past, meaning Terry and I had to spend a lot of energy paddling back up against the current and the wind to let him know we’d already gone by. It was dangerous for us to be so spread out because if one of us had capsized, it would have taken a while for another to locate and rescue the victim..

The rain did however make it easy to find water. I remember sitting in my kayak one morning absolutely soaked wondering how I’d ever get dry again. Everywhere I looked there was water. It was falling from the sky, it was running down the side of every mountain, it had soaked into my clothes and it filled the channels we were paddling in as far as the eye could see. It also meant that a few of the waterfalls we visited were even more spectacular than usual and you could hear them from miles away in some cases. Sometimes two waterfalls from nearby mountains would join together to form one enormous torrent falling vertically through the trees and straight down into the ocean. The tides also made for a good challenge. As we moved from channel to channel and around countless islands it was a constant mental exercise to work out where the current would be coming from. We would normally manage 5-6 kilometres an hour, however if we were up against the tide we could be right down to 2km/hr. Because it changed four times every 24 hours and would come from a different direction every time we entered rounded a bend, we had to be constantly alert to make sure we remained in an eddy and weren’t exhausting ourselves.

We were very lucky throughout the trip with the amount of wildlife we saw. We spotted several eagles and Terry was endlessly frustrating himself trying to get the perfect shot of one about to take flight. We also saw sea otters, sea lions and thousands of star fish and several sea urchin, which we discovered don’t actually smell that great. One night I even heard some wolves howling in the distance as we were camped on a rather small island location named god’s pocket. The highlight for me was one evening while we were making dinner I heard John shout out BEAR! Three grizzly bear cubs had emerged from the forest on the beach about 150 metres away from our camp. They had a look for a few minutes while Terry scrambled to find his bear spray in case they came even closer. After having a good look around, a fourth bear, this time an adult grizzly, appeared. The cubs ran back into the forest and mumma bear began wandering closer and closer to our camp. She got to within 40 metres and suddenly ran off towards our tents. She emerged again on the other side of our camp and began to swim around us to complete the circle. We became fully aware of her size only when she stood up in the deep water and made it look like a kid’s paddling pool. After completing her circle she wandered back to where she’d first appeared and wandered off. We did spot them further up the beach an hour or so later on. It was a very exciting moment and one we would remember for a long time. We suspended our food up a tree that night so they couldn’t get at it and moved it away from our tents as well!

The final day was a little sad as we were leaving the beautiful ocean and mountains which had been our home for the past 35 days. The sun had come out for the final night, however the clear skies meant it was absolutely freezing in the morning. As we exited the channels and found ourselves in an enormous bay we suddenly realised we were back in the real world as there were helicopters and planes everywhere as well as fishing boats and transport ships. It had been an incredible journey and although the arrival on the jetty was a little anticlimactic as only a few disinterested locals were there, it didn’t deter our celebrations.

After a few days in Prince Rupert of sorting out our gear, we caught the ferry back to Port Hardy where we sold our kayaks to a couple who we’d met by chance in a small village. The 15 hour ferry ride gave us a great opportunity to reflect on the amazing memories we’d created and realise that we had enjoyed an experience very few will ever get to appreciate. We had passed many cruise ships along our journey and often thought of the passengers inside who probably thought they too were experiencing Canada’s wilderness. I learnt throughout the trip that there are many different ways of looking at a place. It sure would be luxurious to open the curtains of the cruise ship and look out across the ocean at the mountains while enjoying a full cooked breakfast. Our journey however managed to capture the elements that a cruise ship can’t offer. You can look out the window and see the rain fall and the bears walk along the beach but you can’t complete the picture until you actually feel the rain fall on your face and have that surge of adrenaline as the bears creep ever closer to stealing your dinner. I guess that is why we didn’t find the ferry ride back as exciting as we’d anticipated.

I would like to thank Terry and John for inviting me to come along on such an amazing trip. Also my mother and my girlfriend Clare for all of their support along the way and perhaps most importantly my father up in Kalbarri who gave me a job for 11 weeks before we left to allow me to earn the money to go on this trip in the first place. Thank you to my grandparents of course who also kindly donated towards my trip. It was an awesome journey and I certainly hope I am able to have lots more similar adventures in the future. For anybody that would like to read more about this trip and see a lot more photos, please have a scroll down Terry’s Facebook page named Canoeing Down Under or lookup his website: terrybolland.wordpress.

Luke Dooley