Watersports

What I love about paddling is its endless variety. By switching up your time, place and boat, you can make it as easy or as challenging as you want. I’ve taken people who’ve never been in a kayak before on summer evening cruises in Vancouver’s English Bay. Gotten myself pummeled into glorious exhaustion in Tofino surf.

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The ocean’s not only a place for recreation – it’s also as a place of sustainable and responsible commerce, and a wilderness to be respected. To inspire and stimulate people to explore their relationship with the ocean, the Vancouver Festival of Ocean Films (VFOF) brings together local and international filmmakers and presenters in a multimedia event and film competition.

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It’s 6am, and I already have a soaker. I forgot my paddling booties again, and now my foot is going to be cold and wet all the way to work. Two hours in a canoe with a wet foot, and no cup of coffee within reach to ease my suffering. If I was in my car, on the bus, or even on my bike I’d have a cup of coffee, but there are no cup holders in this boat.

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MEC supported Maxi Kniewasser through the MEC Expedition Support Program on his adventure to Mt Waddington last spring. We recently caught up with him to ask him a few questions about his inspiring trip.

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It’s never too early to get out in the wilderness with kids, and Dan and Alice Clark are proof of that. In 2012, they set out in a canoe with their two young children (aged 3 and 5 years old), and paddled from Jasper, AB to Tuktoyaktuk, NT. The trip took 95 days and covered 3400km. To give you some perspective, that’s the same distance as driving from Calgary to Toronto.

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On an unremarkable fog-turned-to-sprinkle-turned-to-downpour winter morning, I opt to put off my inevitable bike to work, and check my email.

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While my colleague Ariane was shivering through her recent alpine adventure, I was spending a lovely week paddling round Murtle Lake, and staying warm the whole while. Partially that was because I was below the snowline and had perfect weather (some nights dipped toward the freezing point, but I had no precipitation or heavy winds.) And partially it was because, like Ariane, I have my strategies for coping with cooler weather and longer nights.

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With a gap in Vancouver’s winter rains, and light breezes in the forecast, it was an ideal day to get the kayak out. And to test my new sail system.

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