Women at Sea Linda
BARTLETT MOUNTAIN EQUIPMENT CO-OP
BOARD CHAIR ST. JOHN’S, NEWFOUNDLAND “There’s an old Chinese saying, ‘You’ve never lived till you’ve run a raging rapid and ridden a wild horse,’” says Linda Bartlett. “Well, I’ve had horses that have been difficult to handle and I’ve run the canyon of [Newfoundland’s] Main River.” A woman of lean build, extraordinary stamina and sheer love of the outdoors, Bartlett’s roster of adventures, like sitting behind the blowhole of a humpback whale during a rescue mission, or speed skate skiing smack into the face of a bull moose, could well rank her as the female Indiana Jones. She started canoeing about 20 years ago, completing most of the major rivers of her home province—some with her 165-pound Newfoundland dog, Bear—and twice running the Churchill River of Labrador, once in a solo canoe. She switched strokes about 10 years ago. “I found a lot of skills used in canoeing I could use in kayaking and I love the sea.” Driven by physical challenge, this former captain of McGill University’s Woodswomen lumberjacking team spent the millennium whitewater kayaking in Nepal, “… sitting on a bag of rice paddling with a head of cabbage between my knees.” IN OTHER WORDS: Richard Alexander, a kayak instructor and president of Paddle Canada, sees Bartlett as a role model. “Her high level of competency is complemented by her enthusiasm to share her knowledge and passion with others. She is, in every sense, a leader in the paddling community.” TO THE BOARDROOM: For the past four years, Bartlett has served as chair of Canada’s leading retailer of outdoor gear. “I was drawn to the values of Mountain Equipment Co- op, and it’s become a vehicle for change,” says Bartlett. “I’m motivated to make a difference.” FAST FORWARD: Her day job in tourism with the provincial government and involvement with MEC have carved into her time on the water. Next year she intends to change that by paddling more in her home province. “I’m not a fair-weather paddler who explores the coast in calm conditions. I enjoy wind and waves. I’m looking forward to challenging myself in the elements.”
—ALISON DYER
Fiona
Whitehead 37 COACH AND EXPEDITION PADDLER ABERDOVEY, WALES
When Fiona Whitehead finished kayaking around Great Britain and Ireland she wanted to keep paddling and go around again. The 140-day trip, mostly solo, involved two crossings of the Irish Sea
and some of the world’s strongest tides. Fiona is the only woman to have completed this journey solo. “I had to draw on a lot of self-discipline and motivation,” she says. “I was enjoying myself so much that modern life was no comparison.” Fiona has always been a strong athlete, as Britain’s number-one hammer thrower for five years and a top racing paddler. She went sea kayaking in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides in 1994 and was “totally sold” by the scenery and living at one with the environment. A talk by Chris Duff about circumnavigating the South Island of New Zealand inspired her to set off for three months of mostly solo kayaking in Western Australia. A year later she circumnavigated Wales by sea, river and canal. Fiona spent years working with dozens of coaches before becoming the second ever female BCU Level 5 Coach in 2003, a qualification which takes her all over the world. IN OTHER WORDS: “Fiona is not only one of the leading female expedition kayakers but is also one of our leading sea kayaking coaches,” says Nigel Dennis. “Fiona has played a big part in making us all aware of and respecting female kayakers.” ROUGH SEAS: One attempt around Ireland was thwarted by bad weather, and she pulled out of a circumnavigation of Sri Lanka because she felt threatened. “It was the first time I had any doubt that I could do something and the main reason was being female,” she says. “I found this very hard to deal with, but I am a firm believer that you will always learn from every experience. It’s what you do with the learning that is important.” FAST FORWARD: Fiona is planning her next expedition to the Falkland Islands in early 2009. But first she’s cycling the length of Britain from Lands End to John O’Groats. She says, “I’ve done the outside and now I want to go up the middle. —JUSTINE CURGENVEN
Trys
BURKE 40 PADDLING COACH,
EXPEDITION PADDLER DENIOLEN, NORTH WALES, U.K.
We can thank the seals that Trys Burke switched from paddling rivers and climbing to sea kayaking. On her first outing, in Wales, Trys was so mesmerized by the seals that danced around her kayak that she started taking her equally inexperienced college friends out on the sea. “I learned a lot getting me and my friends into trouble and then out of it again,” she says. “I didn’t know it at the time but it was to form the grounds
for my future coaching career. I had to make a lot of decisions, stay calm when things got tough and really get to grips with how different states of the tide affected the coastline and made it safe to paddle there one week, but not the following week.” Trys’ boldness led to a few scrapes, including being rescued by a fishing trawler, before she sought formal training. She trained with Nigel Foster and spent a year as his apprentice before becoming the first woman in the world to attain the BCU Level 5 Coach assessment in 1998. IN OTHER WORDS: Foster says, “Her quiet ‘no big deal’ approach made her appear initially invisible. Yet there at the focal point of the group would be the gentle apparently unflappable figure, big red curly hair tumbling in the wind, and a pretty little face peering out this way and that to observe, quietly reassure and guide. Very modest and sensitive, you’d never imagine the conditions she’s paddled in.” TRY, TRY AGAIN: Trys went on to paddle 4,500-kilometres from the U.K. to Greece with her then- boyfriend, Bob Timms. They’d planned to paddle to Australia but couldn’t get visas for all the Arab countries. Ultimately they quit the expedition and broke up soon after, but that didn’t put Trys off for long. In 2004 she joined the first all-female team to circumnavigate Tasmania, a six-week, 1,400-kilometre journey. FAST FORWARD: Trys now has a son and is pregnant with her second child, but she’s not ready to put down her paddle: “My husband Simon went paddling solo in Sweden for six weeks last year. It’s my turn next.”
—JUSTINE CURGENVEN 40 ADVENTURE KAYAK | SPRING 2008
PHOTOS FROM LEFT: TONY LEE // ROWLAND WOOLLVEN // JUSTINE CURGENVEN // WENDY KILLORAN
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