Exposure. PHOTO: VIRGINIA MARSHALL
Tammy Story
GOING GREENon SUPERIOR LAKE SUPERIOR, ONTARIO
Tammy Story, a retired nurse, and her husband live in a cliff-top home on Lake Superior. A latecomer to sea kayaking, Tammy now upstages the regulars at winter pool sessions with an array of Greenland-style rolls and last summer completed her first extended trip, an eight-day odyssey on Lake Superior’s north shore.
T
he first time I sat in a kayak I thought, “I have to have one of these things.” I started
as a weekend paddler, fitting it in when I could. At 63, I wasn’t getting any younger and I
knew I had a lot to learn if I wanted to realize my dream of paddling the remote coast of Lake Superior. I started taking courses, eating a healthy raw food diet and losing weight. I learned how to roll, surf and paddle Greenland- style. Tis year I’m preparing for the Paddle Canada Level 3 certification. My husband and I discovered this 93-acre
property on a weekend drive up the north shore. I spent a year hiking the three-quarter-
Paul Caffyn W
mile shoreline of the property, searching for the spot where the sound of the waves and the view were just right. An architectural graduate friend helped us
design the plans. We wanted a building that was aesthetically satisfying but also sturdy, low-maintenance and energy efficient. We used a lot of windows to bring the outside in. Since we are on a bluff facing almost due west, we have spectacular sunsets year-round but we are also exposed to heavy winds that build across hundreds of miles of fetch. We had to have special engineering and use triple-pane glass to withstand the wind. Paired with an energy-
conscious lifestyle, a windmill and solar panels generate enough power to cover nearly all of our electrical energy needs. Tere are a few disadvantages to living here.
It’s not as carbon-friendly as I’d like because of the gas used to drive an hour to town for groceries. It’s socially isolated and a bug net is requisite for spring gardening. But there are many rewards: being immersed in nature, fall- ing asleep and waking up to the sound of wind and waves—it’s a spiritual place. And I can put my kayak in the water whenever I want. —as told to Virginia Marshall
Living legend. PHOTO: PAUL CAFFYN
LAUNCH PAD • SOUTH ISLAND, NEW ZEALAND Paul Caffyn made sea kayaking history with his 360-day circumnavigation of Australia in 1981. He has also paddled around New Zealand, Iceland, Alaska and Japan.
hen you have seals crawling up onto your front lawn and spray from the Tas-
man Sea breaking over your roof then you know you live close to the elements. I moved into my house on the west coast of
New Zealand 25 years ago. Te previous owners sold it when their long-drop toilet fell into the sea. Tey thought their crayfisherman’s cottage would be next and they were glad to get rid of it. I was enchanted by the incredible view. I
stood on the golden beach and watched the roll- ers slamming into defiant rock pinnacles and I decided I’d rebuild it from the piles up. I started mixing sand, cement and beach
rocks by hand. Ten I bought a cement mixer and built up walls in front of the house. I must have poured 70 square metres of concrete over the years. Now the waves don’t crash over the house anymore, but I’m still privy to such a dynamic environment, right on my doorstep. Inside, the house is done up quite simply.
Tere’s one main room with the kitchen, my bed and a sitting area, with double glass doors
that open onto the sea. Tere’s also a small study, a garage and an upstairs snuggery, or loft, where guests can crawl up a ladder and sleep. Tere’s a shower, and the toilet is in the back of the garage. Te position of the car means that any unsuspecting person walking in only gets a view of your head. Above the car, my five Nordkapp sea kayaks
and a K1 are hanging from the roof. Tey mean a lot to me as they accompanied me on my vari- ous sea kayaking expeditions including around Japan, around Alaska, and several thousand miles in Greenland. Te Nordkapps I paddled around Australia and New Zealand are on permanent display in those countries’ respective National Maritime Museums. Te study is full of thousands of books. I collect
books about kayaking and the Arctic and love go- ing to secondhand book shops searching for rari- ties. I’m also passionate about opera and usually have Boito’sMefistofele blaring out of the house. In between kayaking trips, I used to work as a mining geologist. It wasn’t unusual for me
to be picked up to go to work by helicopter. At low tide, the pilot would land on the beach, and at high tide, he could just get two-thirds of the skids on the lawn, and I’d jump on. I can’t imagine living anywhere else. I reckon
I’ll fall off my perch here and they’ll find me on the lawn with the seagulls picking my eyes out. In the summer, I can wander round naked all day, take my wave ski for a surf outside the door, then relax in my outdoor swimming pool right on the brink of the sea. I watch the sunset with a glass of red or a medicinal dram of whisky. What could be better?—as told to Justine Curgenven
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