P A D D L E R P R O F I L E
Pipe
SMALL TOWN B.C. BOYS
SURF ALBERTA’S BLACK WAVE OF PROSPERITY
20
Dreams
The B.C. Boys Logan Grayling, Micah Lyall and Dylan
and Max Davidson wearing their summer uniforms. PHOTO TANYA SHUMAN
YOU CAN’T TUNE IN the radio these days without hearing about the oil flowing from Alberta’s soil. There are reserves rivalling Saudi Arabia’s; vast tracts of earth impregnated with crude; it’s the first and only province to declare itself completely debt free; prosperity cheques are issued to anybody with a pulse; and there are $20-an-hour wages at Tim Hortons to truly fuel it all. Alberta has – eco- nomically – become a veritable horn of plenty for those willing to show up and get dirty. The Davidson brothers Max, 19, and Dylan, 23,
grew up in Mabel Lake, B.C., a small town of a few hundred on the banks of the Shuswap River. For the second year in a row, the two, along with paddling friend Logan Grayling, are toiling away in the oil fields, hauling in money like Enron insiders. Fellow Mabel Lake paddler Micah Lyall chose a slightly different path, heading off to be a lumberjack. For these young paddlers it’s a short season, but
the work is brutal. Co-workers are as filthy off the rig decks as on. Drugs and tempers are rampant. But beyond the haze of a frontier boom economy their vision is clear: big waves and an endless summer. At the end of their contracts they take the spoils from the grease bog and go paddling. Their first season netted them a 1993 Cavalier
and an all-expenses-paid trip to the waves of the Ottawa Valley and eastern Quebec. They spent their earnings partying, surfing and living as if their pockets were lined with greenbacks—but without forgetting where it came from. “I felt so good ‘cause I worked so hard…I had
10 grand in my pocket and I could do whatever I wanted with it,” said Max. This year they have even bigger plans. “Max’s latest idea is to buy a limo, throw on some
racks, put stickers on it and just live in it… Anything can happen,” says Grayling. And, like their pay cheques at the end of a shift,
their play is earning them some returns. They have all placed well in rodeos, including the Ca- nadian team trials where Lyall took second in the junior men’s division and Dylan placed eigth in the men’s. They even appeared in the 2006 Young Guns film Dynasty. Unlike many young hotshots, they aren’t waiting
for the saturated paddling industry sponsorship to pay their bills. The boys say they will work hard to solicit companies and they’ll put out their own video someday, “We’d even like to put out a cloth- ing line,” says Max. But they also know they’ll be back on the rigs. “It’s brutal work,” admits Max as he readies himself
for another season. “I don’t want to do it forever.” Maybe not forever, but according to petroleum
industry expert and University of Calgary profes- sor Paul Chastko, they could be living their pipe dreams well into their 70s. “Alberta has the ability to supply all of North America for the next 50 years without touching a drop of imported oil,” predicts Chastko. “Maybe someday we’ll be able to just live off paddling,” counters Max hopefully. “But for now, it sure helps.” —Raymond Schmidt
RAPID
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