This&That Race Around the
Great Red Mud While one paddler prepares for the first female circumnavigation of P.E.I., Wendy Killoran jumps the gun.
Flotsam&Jetsam THIN ICE STOPS EXPEDITION
Polar explorers Lonnie Dupre and Eric Larsen have abandoned their attempt at the first summer crossing of the Arctic Ocean via the North Pole (“Sitting on Top of the World,” AK online V5 I1). Their hopes of bringing attention to global warming by paddling and ski- ing 1,995 kilometres from Siberia to Ellesmere Island ended in June, three weeks after they set out. The pair made just 72 kilometres of progress northward thanks to slushy conditions and what Dupre calls the “arduous routine” of having to cross frequent leads [areas of open water] full of broken brash ice, making paddling nearly impossible. What progress they managed was erased as they slept by a strong southerly drift. They stopped when it became clear they wouldn’t reach Ellesmere Island before winter storms set in.
HOW TO AVOID CHUNNEL TOLLS Ian Tordoff shaved 11 minutes off the record for the fastest cross- ing of the English Channel when he slid his solo kayak onto France’s Wisant beach in May. He completed the 35-kilometres from Britain’s Fokestone Beach in just under 3 hours and 22 minutes, besting the previous time that had stood since 1976. No one was more impressed with his feat than Tordoff himself. "Having compet- ed at the world level at marathon and sprint kayaking since the age of 16, there were not many challenges left for me in the kayak world,” he told a reporter. Tordoff used his attempt to raise money for the British Heart Foundation.
WHO ARE YOU CALLING EXTINCT?
“Halfway around, I said to myself, ‘Woman, you’re destined to do this,” recalls Wendy Killoran, a schoolteacher from London, Ontario, after finishing the first female circumnavigation of Prince Edward Island in record time on June 9. The only previous 800-kilometre round- ing had been done in 35 days by John Barrett in 1987. Killoran had been plan- ning to spend 25 days on the water but managed her circuit in just 15 days, a feat she puts down to calm, cool conditions and a near constant tailwind. She took advan- tage of the good weather and paddled between 40 and 50 kilometres a day dur- ing 10-hour days.
“It would have been very different if I had had nasty weather, but every time I came to a cape or point there would be a calm, and high tide,” says Killoran. Killoran had planned to do the trip last
year, but couldn’t because of a resched- uled trip to Greenland (see “Frozen Assets,” AK online, V5 I1). As Killoran was preparing for the trip earlier this year she
14 // Fall 2005
heard that Toronto lawyer Jacki Lewis had the same route in mind. The two played phone tag for a while but couldn’t coordi- nate plans to go together. Lewis has long vacationed on P.E.I. and used to paddle there with a friend she lost to breast cancer in 2002. It had always been her friend’s dream to paddle around the province, and Lewis decided she would do it in her name and raise money for the Cancer Society in the process. Her campaign raised $43,000 in Ontario before starting the trip. She has distributed fund-raising cans to stores around the island and will be selling T- shirts and bracelets when she stops for events along the way. She hopes to raise $250,000.
Lewis set out for her trip on July 1, and plans to take between three and six weeks. “While it’s nice to talk about who was first and who was fastest, I want to be the person who raises the most money,” says Lewis.
www.kayakforthecure.com
Gene Sparling was kayaking through the cypress trees of a bayou in eastern Arkansas’ Cache River Refuge in February of 2004 when a bird flew over his kayak and landed nearby. Sensing there was something special about the bird he returned with two ornitholo- gists. Happily, the bird appeared for a second time; but the hyster- ics of the ornithologists scared it off. A yearlong follow-up study by the Department of the Interior has just announced that there have been seven subsequent sightings of the ivory billed woodpecker, the last previous confirmed sighting of which was in 1944. The once- common bird was thought to have been killed off by hunting and logging. With a 70-centimetre wingspan it is the largest woodpeck- er in North America.
YING YANG QUEST
Eight of 10 speed records fell at this year’s 740-kilometre Yukon Quest race. Two tandem sea kayaking teams posted a new fastest all-around time of 42 hours and 51 minutes. The teams decided to cross the finish line together after cooperating through the race to negotiate the channels of the Yukon River. Local paddler Stephen Mooney was happy to agree to a tie with the more experienced U.S. paddlers. “I’m glad we didn’t sprint to the finish line,” said Mooney. “We would have lost. They’re sponsored up the ying- yang.”
STEP ONE: PUT BOAT IN WATER The Professional Paddlesports Association (PPF), a U.S. trade group, has released a proposal for manufacturers to adopt kayak safety standards. The new proposal would require manufacturers to stan- dardize and display capacity ratings, build flotation into the boats to keep them from submerging and provide operating instructions.
— IM
Photo WENDY KILLORAN
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