D
avid Johnston is screaming like a school girl. A dozen eager hands release the stern
of Johnston’s kayak, launching it off Snug Har- bour’s six-foot-high pier. For a moment the boat arcs gracefully through the air, and then the bow dives into the cold, clear water. The kayak enders, submersing Johnston and
12 feet of gleaming red and black fiberglass be- neath the harbor. Briefly, a Darth Vader sticker and Union Jack behind the rear hatch are all that is visible. Johnston’s head and body resurface first, like
the conning tower of a submarine. He is grin- ning and laughing his high-pitched laugh. The Snug Harbour Dock Launch Competition is a Johnston favorite and already a Storm Gather- ing classic. We are assembled in a sheltered nook 20
kilometers northwest of Parry Sound, On- tario, for the third annual Georgian Bay Storm Gathering. It’s mid-October and the combined water and air temperature in degrees Celsius barely scrapes the double digits in the morn- ing. Yet some 50 paddlers have traveled from as far away as Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and Victoria, British Columbia, to get together for one last weekend of sea kayaking before winter sets in. Nearly half of them are now cheerfully hurl-
ing themselves off the Snug Harbour dock. Leading the charge are Johnston, Storm Gath- ering’s energetic creator and co-organizer, and
Tim Dyer, 25-year veteran owner of nearby White Squall Paddling Centre and fellow event ringleader. The running Storm Gathering joke is that
Johnston and Dyer started the event as an ex- cuse to go paddling in wind and waves with a bunch of experienced paddlers. Like any good myth, this one is half true. In 2007, Johnston and a friend were look-
ing for alternatives to sanctioned certification courses as a means to develop advanced pad- dling skills. “We considered traveling to the U.K. or Cali-
fornia, but we were too cheap,” recalls Johnston. Their solution was to rent a cabin in Tober-
mory, Ontario, fly in an accomplished instruc- tor, share the cost with half a dozen friends and go paddling. The following autumn, Johnston partnered with Dyer to grow the idea into a public event and Storm Gathering was born. “The goal of Storm Gathering is to build
a community,” says Johnston. “Sea kayaking is like rock climbing or whitewater paddling; you can only reach a certain point on your own be- fore your skills plateau. We’re connecting pad- dlers with each other so they can progress.” Where other symposiums focused on draw-
ing in new paddlers, the Gathering targeted committed kayakers with the lure of challeng- ing conditions in a safe and supportive envi- ronment. According to Johnston, the timing for such an event was perfect.
INSIDE THE ROUGHEST WEEKEND ON THE GREAT LAKES
Story and Photos by Virginia Marshall
www.adventurekayakmag.com 45
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