Springtime In The Arctic

The other night I finally had a look at Isuma's feature film The Journals of Knud Rasmussen. From what I could tell, most of the filming was done in the springtime, which is probably the best time to be in the arctic. The light is wonderful, the snow conditions perfect for travel and generally people are happy to be out on the land after a long, cold winter.


That was the upside to watching the film. The downside was knowing I wasn't in Igloolik where the film was made. It's been over ten years now since I've visited this special place. Some old friends have passed on, particularly Nathan Qumaniq whose name appeared in the credits of the film. He was listed as an elder. I knew him long before he reached that status, but to me he was always a wise elder and a wonderful teacher with the patience to teach me and others his way of life.

I wish we could all return to those days...

Dreamtime With Paul and Freya

Freya continues to hurtle along Australia's south coast on her 'Race Around Australia'. In a few short weeks she will complete the circle only done once before.

I was looking around for some biographical information on the first person to paddle around Australia: Paul Caffyn when I discovered a short piece on his Amazon.com page. Here is a brief excerpt:

"In December 1981, Paul set out from Queenscliff near Melbourne and spent the next 360 days achieving the first kayak circumnavigation of Australia. This 9,420 mile paddle is acknowledged as one of the most remarkable journeys ever undertaken by kayak. Paul had to contend with a tropical cyclone which nearly swept him off a small offshore islet in the Coral Sea, raging surf, tiger sharks which frequently bumped into the kayak in the Gulf of Carpentaria, crocodiles, sea snakes and three sections of sheer limestone cliffs. To overcome the three 100+mile plus long sections of cliffs, Paul used Nodoz tablets to stay awake and lomotil to keep his bowels dormant during these overnight paddles. The longest stint along the awesome Zuytdorp Cliffs in Western Australia, took 34 hours of continuous paddling. After 10 years of trying to interest a publisher in a book about the Australian trip, in April 1994 Paul finally self-published his story as The Dreamtime Voyage.

Sadly, most of Paul's books are not readily available, but perhaps Freya's journey will prompt a publisher into returning them to the market. In the meantime, go, Freya, go!

Map from vskc.org, Australia.

Oprah's Secret Paddling Life

For those who follow such things - I don't - the news is out that Oprah Winfrey will be ending her career as a TV host and general commentator on all things entertaining as of September 2011. You might be wondering what she will be doing with her life after that point...

Wonder no more. It appears Oprah has a secret life! Never one to wonder who she was meant to be, she's been seen out trying on her new career, kayaking. In the picture above a bunch of paddlers hit the beach. Is one of them Oprah? I'm sure of it, because a few minutes later, the camp all set up, she was changed out of her paddling gear and caught on film imbibing the post-paddle drink of the day: Fireball.


I can hardly wait for her new TV series: Paddles With Oprah! This may just be the shot in the arm our sport needs to pull out of the post-recession blues, not to mention all of us getting into more classy camp clothing...

KayakWays' Qajaq Barn

If you know anything about the two people in the photo above, you'll know they're a dynamic pair. Never ones to wait for things to happen, they've made an enormous impact in the development of traditional kayaking skills during their travels around the world.


Well, once again, they haven't been sitting around. They've made an exciting new thing happen, this time along the Maine, New Hampshire border. They've built a barn!


Not just any kind of barn. It will be a place to build qajait, traditional craft, based on those in Greenland. I suspect it will become much more than that. It will become a gathering place, a center of excellence, a destination for those seeking more than just another roll, or a new boat. I can't wait to get down to Brownfield, Maine and have a look around!

Goodbye Phil Bolger!

Nearly 25 years ago I was told that to live well, it was important to raise a child, plant a tree and build a boat. So I did. I was into sailing back then and turned to a sailboat design of Phil Bolger as the boat to build. A man named 'Dynamite' Payson offered plans and I started to build. The design is called the 'Surf' and in the photo above I sailed her for the first time.

I had such fun in this little boat, I began looking at more of Bolger's designs. I bought plans for his folding schooner and considered buying a Dovekie sharpie sailboat for a while.

Phil was a guy who delighted in looking at new ways of doing things. Some of his hundreds of designs would leave you with your head shaking, but most of them worked and were easy to build. I will miss him, knowing he's gone and no longer producing quirky, intriguing designs for those of us who like to live on the water. More information about this interesting man can be found here.

Paddle Like Your Ocean Depended On You!

Margo Pellegrino set off to paddle from Ft Pierce, Fl to New Orleans 45 days ago. Right on schedule, she completed her journey paddling her Fuze outrigger canoe. Her mission has been to increase awareness of the deteriorating state of our oceans. It seems like nearly every day we hear another gloom and doom statement about what we've done with our oceans, so it's good to hear that people like Margo are out there trying to gently make us get to work to change things. Of course she's not alone among the paddling community. Reducing our carbon output is one solution that interests me. I know other paddlers are involved in beach clean-up programs. No matter where you paddle, there's something you can do for your ocean.

Thanks Margo, great journey, even greater message!

Clean An Ocean, Save a Planet

Interesting boat? I think so, but what's really interesting in this picture isn't the boat. It's really the paddler and what she's doing. In 2007, Margo Pellegrino of New Jersey paddled this boat from Miami to Maine in an effort to raise awareness in the general public about the state of the world's oceans. A few days ago, she began another journey to continue this awareness campaign. She's paddling from Ft Pierce, Florida to New Orleans, a trip of about 1000 miles to again bring to mind the sad state of ocean pollution.

Not enough can be said about this topic. Everyone who paddles has found examples of our mindless littering of the shorelines. A number of bloggers, from Newfoundland, New York and Australia have shown that it's possible to collect rainbows of litter just by making a short walk along a beach these days. Our mess is everywhere. Our oceans are in big trouble. We need to find solutions to our destructive behaviour. Sadly we often work against ourselves in our effort to help. In Key West recently, some paddlers were "caught and fined" for cleaning up the garbage on a small mangrove island. The court ruled they had been stealing fishermen's trap buoys... Margo's trips help raise awareness, the first step in working on solving this problem.

So I'll be encouraging Margo on her trip. Visit her web site and get to know her vision. I know she's on Facebook if you want to follow her trip as well.

See How They Run

Dam at Montmagny, Québec
My concern for Canada's minority Conservative government's secret plan to alter the public's right of navigation on the small rivers of Canada and the removal of the requirement for environmental assessment and public consultation when "works" are undertaken on these rivers prompted me to write 13 letters to various people intimately involved in this decision. I emailed the letters on Sunday. Now I thought it would be interesting to see how long it takes the recipients to respond and in what fashion they do so. It will be a little exercise in democracy-in-action!

Today, Tuesday, is the second working day since sending my email. First to respond - Monday morning early - and the only one to write a personal letter stating he will be "looking into" the issue and contact his Member of Parliament, was William Munsey, deputy leader of the Green Party of Canada. Interesting.

Next to respond was Mario Laflamboise, a Liberal member and VP of the Permanent Committee of Transport and Infrastructure. His note was a simple acknowledgement of my email. Okay, but I wanted more.

This morning came another acknowledgement of my email this time from Jim Prentice's office. He's a Conservative MP and Minister of the Environment. This is the first email from a member of the Conservative government, but he'll need to do more to impress me.

I'll post updates on this item letting you know who responds and what measures they are prepared to take on behalf of maintaining the public's right to have unhindered access to Canada's rivers, and, most especially, that the environmental safeguards and reviews are kept stringent and ecologically sound in any new legislation or amendments.

Update #1 - Thursday, Feb 12
One more reply late yesterday, this time from Bruce Hyer, MP for the New Democratic Party. He wrote an informative note mentioning the NDP are on top of this issue and are working to see the amendments meet the goals of a wider group of Canadians than the Conservatives have in mind. This move by Harper's Conservatives certainly makes one wonder who the proposed amendments are intended for and why the environmental safeguards would be left in the Minister's hands alone?

Update #2 - Friday, Feb 13
Two more replies in today. The first was from David Lewis, Research and Operations Coordinator for the Green Party. He provided me with some additional links on the subject as well as the party's position. I have the feeling that these people are interested in this issue, although, they do not sit in the House.

The second reply was a simple letter of reception from the office of Joe Volpe, the Official Opposition Transport Critic. Other than assure me that Volpe will get to see my letter, nothing else was mentioned. Are these people interested? It's hard to say...

Inuit Odyssey Documentary on CBC

Image taken from CBC's Inuit Odyssey web page.
David Suzuki's television program The Nature of Things will present Niobe Thompson's documentary film Inuit Odyssey this coming Thursday night. If you happen to be located in a region where you can pick up this program, I suspect you will be delighted. It tells the story of the Thule Culture people, those we know today as the Inuit, and their journey through time across the arctic landscape from west to east. Their story is a sweep across the top of North America from eastern Russia to the southern tip of Greenland, into Labrador and into the barren grounds of Canada. It promises to be an interesting glimpse into the history of the people who brought us the kayak.

If you cannot get The Nature of Things here are some web sites connected with the program...
- Inuit Odyssey
- Promo clip
- Buy the video!

Going In Circles

One of the wonderful things about living in a winter climate is the wonderful light at certain times of the day. The low sun angle pours out the pinks and purples making everything rosy and somehow warm.

I remember years ago going clothes shopping with an Inuk girl friend in Ottawa and being bothered that she kept picking out pink and purple clothes to try on. I didn't think those were her colours, but later after spending time living in the arctic, I came to understand her choices. She wasn't choosing those colours because she looked good. She was choosing fond memories and fighting off homesickness. She was tending to her feelings of being far from home, living in a foreign culture, and speaking a language not her own. Today I look at those colours in the landscape and I miss the arctic light, the people and the sound of a language far away. Our memories come full circle.

Beer, Pizza, Kayaks!

I almost chickened out when I read the weather forecast: high winds, rain and snow. Not the kind of conditions for making the 150 km trek into Montreal, but the prospect of seeing friends, eating excellent pizza, sipping micro-brewed beer and having my first opportunity to see Justine's TITS-4 video, was too strong a draw. It turned out to be over-forecasted. A bit of wind, some rain and hardly any snow.

There's no need to repeat what every review of Justine's latest video offering has already said. In my opinion, she only gets better and better. The images, the stories and the intimacy of the viewer experience is wonderful. In fact, even more than in any of the previous videos in this series, I really felt I was alongside for the adventure. Perhaps it's because I had the chance to meet Justine last summer in Toronto, but more likely because her ability to tell a video story keeps jumping up a few notches with every DVD she produces. There's a lot of material in these videos for those of us who take videos on the water to learn from a real master.

My thanks to the organizers of the Soirées Aventures for hosting this showing!

Look Ma, No Pictures!

I spent the weekend on - or near - Seneca Lake in New York State. The purpose of paddling over there was to take in a Greenland style paddling clinic given by Turner Wilson and Cheri Perry. I've joined their classes on several previous occasions and without fail I've come away a better paddler. This past weekend was no exception, especially in the stroke department.

I've paddled for years with a Greenland style paddle and really thought I knew most of what there was to know. Wrong! Turner had more to offer me. Cheri did as well in the rolling and bracing department. Unfortunately for me, the heat had got to me and I didn't do as well as I had hoped. I'm an old arctic hand, as they say, and really like to have a bit of ice in the water or in a nearby glass, at least, to get the most out a paddling experience!

All to say, if you have the chance to take a clinic with either of these two people, don't hesitate. Great instruction given by two very generous and knowledgeable people!

Oh, and the fact I don't have a picture of all this fun is mostly due to the fact I was too busy enjoying the day to bother taking pictures...

Greenland's Gift

It's no longer much of a secret that Greenland style kayaking - or perhaps I should say qajaqquni - is taking the world by storm. Almost anywhere one goes these days to meet up with fellow paddlers, one sees Greenland "skinny stick" paddles and even a few home-built 'skin-on-frame' kayaks. There is a reason for this recent diaspora of Greenland qajaq culture and much of the reason can be seen and heard in Dubside's latest video: Modern Greenland Kayaking.

This is the latest product coming out of the collaboration of Tom Sharp and Dubside. I was lucky enough to wrangle a copy out of Dubside's hands when we were both in Toronto last month. It should be available now through his web site and I can highly recommend adding it to your collection. The DVD takes the viewer through the re-birth and transformation of Greenland's qajaq culture as it moved from a hunting implement to a national sport. Well documented are all the varied aspects of the sport from the qajait themselves, to the rope gymnastics, the rolling and the racing. From there the video moves to the United States where a number of early pioneers like Cindy Cole and John Heath brought the rich and varied qajaq culture home to people in North America and now it's busy spreading around the world.

So get out there and buy this video! Then get involved in one of the most fascinating parts of the kayaking world, one that goes directly to the heart and spirit of its beginnings - and future.

Zach Kunnuk Interview

IsumaTV translates into English as 'ThinkTV', almost an oxymoron these days, but Igloolik's multifacited production team has really made us TV viewers think. They've recently posted an interview with the head of Isuma, Zach Kunnuk. Here's how it begins...

I was nine when I came into Igloolik. I was on Baffin Island, living on the land, and I saw the last of that era - my family living in a sod house, my father getting ready to go dog-teaming early in the morning, mother waking me up saying, "Go get your dog," because nobody else could catch my dog. (In those days all dogs were loose, outside). I would go out and the dog would come to me, and I'd give it to my father. He harnessed it, and I would go back to sleep. I was just about old enough to go out with the men dog-teaming, and then I had to go to school; so I just saw a little bit of that life.

I recommend reading the rest. The man behind the film 'Atanarjuat' and the 'Journals of Knud Rasmussen' has much to say. Enjoy!

Pogo Jumping To New Heights!

We are absolutely living in 'extreme' times. Yesterday I went to watch my daughter's boy-friend's team of engineering students try out their newly designed pogo stick. Now pogo sticks have been around since forever, but these guys had taken the stick used for the 6 foot Guinness World Record jump and engineered it into an 'extreme' variant. Their new super-charged pogo stick was theoretically capable of doubling the current record and possibly more! In front of judges, press, friends and family, David Barabé pogo jumped himself over an 8 foot high bar, and bounced his way into the record books. I made a video of the jump and am waiting for the boy's permission so I can post it on YouTube. In the meantime, here's a look at the post jump champs posing for the press!

UPDATE! You can now see the record jump on YouTube!

Kiwi Style!

It isn't every day one gets a chance to paddle with a fellow 'klogger', but last weekend KiwiBird and I spent most of the day on the water together. The day was warm and sultry, with a bit of wind now and then to cool us off. Neither of us was dressed for full immersion, but prepared for a quick plunge should it occur.


By lunch we were hot and hungry and also at the end of the lake, a small, tumbling rock-filled stream which blocked any further progress. We ate and then headed back. About half the distance to the putin, thunder rolled in the distance. Dark clouds pushed up to the other side of the lake. Then a bit of lightning and a breeze. Suddenly we were hit by a brisk wind and pelting rain, pushing at our rear quarter. Waves began building rapidly. A lightning bolt struck so close to us it came simultaneously with the thunder! We dug our paddles in hard, trying to control our skittish boats as we raced to the put-in. Sliding into a calm inlet beside the boat ramp, we finally managed to smile again. It was a close call and a bit scary, but an exciting finish to a day on the water. We managed to beat the odds, dodge the lightning, surf the waves and tell the tale.

Here We Go Round Again!

The ferry MV Caribou is currently stuck in heavy ice off Cape Breton resulting in a Canadian icebreaker heading to her aid. About 170 people on board are having their 6 hour crossing prolonged. Not to worry, the ship has lots of entertainment centers aboard including internet. Those addicted to reading blogs will not be deprived!

Not aboard is Greg Stamer, although he may well be in June 2008 if his plans work out. He has just announced, via his new blog, his intention to paddle around the island of Newfoundland this summer. This will be the third summer in a row that kayakers have accepted the circumnavigation challenge since Wendy Killoran made the trip in 2006.

Let's wish him luck and don't miss following along via his blog! Perhaps someone will post his web page above the computers on the MV Caribou so those stuck on her will know to where to follow the trip as well...

Iditarod Memories

Susan Butcher - Part 1
If you live in northern climes and find yourself unable to get out hunting in your qajatuinaq, then what about hitching up the old kimupsik and heading out on the trail. Which trail, you ask? Why the Iditarod trail, of course! The race from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska is running right now with many of the old hands still contenders. Much like kayaking, once a person gets involved, the passion grips tight and people stay with the sport seemingly forever.

One person who raced for years and won on four different years was Susan Butcher. Unfortunately Susan died from leukemia during the summer of 2006, but up until then she was the most incredible lady. Warm and caring for both her dogs and fellow racers, she was the spirit of the Iditarod. I followed her adventure every year with my classroom of kids. We cheered her on and tried to make her spirit ours for as long as we could. With International Women's Day just behind us, it's good to know there were - and still are - women like Susan challenging all of us to make a more exciting and interesting world out there!

Speaking of Winters...

If, like me, you paddle a QCC kayak the name John Winters will ring a bell. He designed the various models as well as numerous other small boats. He has recently completed a new ebook entitled, A Hydrodynamic Study of Skin Kayaks, which sounds like a fascinating look into just what happens as we paddle our boats through the water. This book follows The Shape of the Canoe - Designing Canoes and Kayaks, his companion ebook. He writes about this latest volume:

"The intention was to determine if any hydrodynamic similarities or trends could be detected as opposed to comparing kayaks on a qualitative basis (although I suspect people will want to use the data that way). A range of form coefficients, stability and resistance was analyzed and from the data graphical trends and differences, if any, were examined."

In all he used data from 21 skin kayaks, four hypothetical kayaks, and two modern kayaks to get an idea of what was going on as these boats moved through the water. Most of us paddle for the fun and pleasure of it, but knowing some of the science that occurs as we move along can only provide a deeper appreciation of our sport. If you like designing and building your own boats then this book ought to be a goldmine of information about getting the boat characteristics you're looking for.

John can be reached at his home in Liverpool, Nova Scotia by sending him an email at jdwinters at eastlink.ca. Both books are available on CD format for $25 Cdn each, slightly more elsewhere.

Winter Got You Down?

People living in places where cold and dark can persist well beyond reasonable limits can take heart by counting their other blessings. Here's a perfect example, a wonderful mid-winter smile from a young lady named Suzie who hailed years ago from Kangirsualjuaq who's clearly having a good day. She was over in Old Fort Chimo having a look at the musk ox and wearing her home-made parka with it's gorgeous white fox fur trim on the same day I was there. She seems to be happy to see us, doesn't she!

Now don't you feel better?