After spending
a grand total of 2 hours in a canoe together you couldn’t exactly call us a
formidable pair capable of undertaking a multiday, self supported canoe
expedition in the Canadian wilderness. Never the less we started planning. With
our eyes set on a large grant from the University to fund the expedition and no
alternatives if this failed it was time to come up with a solid plan. Working
towards a deadline of the end of October we used all the resources available to
come up with the “perfect canoe trip.” When I say resources I mean taking up
hours of our lecturer’s time with endless ideas as well as some rather stupid questions.
Without their help and support Ray would still be wondering whether or not
bears do indeed shit in the woods...
With
the primary stages of the planning drawing to a close after many man hours of
work and a fair few pints, it came down to polishing up one or two little
aspects. Ray was fighting the urge to splash out on plain tickets even without
a bursary when the thought came to us to check the weather... Apparently the
weather in March doesn’t lend its self too favorably to a canoe expedition.
Unless we decided to fit the canoe with a set of skis and hire a pack of sled
dogs... It was like watching the film Marley and me on repeat. (If you haven’t
seen the film, don’t bother. The dog dies.) At this point it looked like the
expedition was over before it had even started. I had plans on working in
Austria through the summer and couldn’t allow for the expedition to run later
in the season.
So
after a couple of weeks of not talking and a hell of a lot of sulking from
ray... It was back to the drawing board. We took a simple approach and set on
working out an expedition plan based on our proposed expedition aims:
“To plan and execute an overseas expedition in a wilderness
environment.”
“To travel to the home of canoeing
and experience the lifestyle and history of the voyageurs and native people.”
Aim one was
easy to hit. Aim number two only had one
real answer... So it was a case of me changing my summer plans and making this
expedition my top priority. The expedition was back on!
Why “Making lazy look
good”? Why not? As predominantly a white
water kayaker I always had this idea that open boating was reserved for the old
and the lazy. It was a concept I had discussed a lot with Ray in relation to
paddle sport and also a concept that I had used a lot in coaching on white
water. It takes a hell of a lot of skill to look relaxed and lazy on grade 4,
when in actual fact it is a product of years of personal development and the
murder of the Duracell bunny. If by the end of the expedition Ray and myself
can make a 500m portage look relaxed and lazy or can make a tandem check and
set on a grade 2 look “sexy” (Dave Lukes words not ours) then I think we can
consider the expedition a success. Even if on the inside our muscles are
aching, our feet are numb and we are covered head to toe in black fly bites.
Fast forward to the end of
October and we received the news that our funding application has been successful.
This point brought very mixed emotions for me. For one I was incredibly excited
and relieved to know that our work had not been in vain. On the other hand I
was scared! Up to now this expedition had been a fantasy. We now had a very
real goal and a hell of a lot of work to do. Since then the planning has fallen
into a lull. Working our way through correspondence and risk assessments and
emergency action plans... All the fun stuff that you don’t even consider when
you start to plan an expedition of this scale. I haven’t even mentioned the
actual canoeing yet! From here it is a case of consolidating our skills and
working on becoming an efficient tandem crew capable of making lazy look good.
Thanks for taking the time to
read our first entry. In the next few weeks we will look at our plan for the
expedition as well as what we are doing to get ready.
Ray and
Nathan.
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