Wednesday 26 June 2013

the checking



Sarah's stamped arm
It's the day before the race.  This morning we had registration where you collected a stamp on your arm as each piece of the process was completed:



 The grass by the visitors area was where all of the boats and kit had to be laid out and then checked by the people in fluorescent jackets.  We passed with no pieces missing but were told by Ingrid that even though it was warm we must still take socks.





There was a lot of kit laid out on display and it was interesting seeing what everyone was taking.



Here we are done and through kit check sporting our official jumpers 



 So after the fun of kit check it was time to return to the Beez Knees (which is amazing) to take over the kitchen for a mass cook up.
On the menu for the first section of the race is Chicken, new potatoes, raw carrots and cherry tomatoes; macaroni cheese and meatballs in sauce.   For dessert various cliff and luna bars along with apple puree At Carmacks we will restock with tuna splat , more mac cheese, pepperoni and boiled eggs.


This is the last post we'll be able to do before Dawson - there is wifi at Carmacks (more than 24 hours in) but I don't expect to be in a fit state to use this then.  We have had a lot of fun getting ready for this and now its time to slink off to bed ready to be down at the dock for 8.30 am for another round of kit check!

Tell you all about it on Saturday/Sunday

s
xxxxxxx

Tuesday 25 June 2013

the welcoming

It's busy here in Whitehorse.  There is no room at the inn and people are arriving.  Not many places left to put them.  Nancy here at the Beez Kneez is run off her feet and does amazing things to try and find rooms for people.

Yesterday was a relaxing day.  We started off by packing everything into dry bags and then into the boat that was sitting in our back garden.  I then walked out to the DIY store for pipe insulation for the gunnels of the boat and also to lag the pipes of our water systems to keep the water cool (a tip from Joe).

On the way back from the DIY store I went to the Real Canadian Superstore and bought children's sandcastle buckets - we now have pots to P*** in.  I then swang past Kanoe People to pick up the spraydeck and into Coast and Mountain (again) for a small dry bag.

That afternoon we even had visitors, Karla, Steve and Jason (from team Currently Confused...Still) popped in to say hello  - it's great to have friendly faces around.


Monday morning we had another test run and instead of walking the boat all of the way back into town we walked it across the road and got it all set up with the deck on.
Then we were off on another pesky practice run  - only 20km this time and there were more people about.
 t took us a while to find our rhythm - we were rocking a fair bit and it just didn't feel right.
 The scenery was still good though.
 As we reached the end we had hit our pace again and were happy with how the paddling was feeling.

There would be a very lovely photo of Sarah here but E's camera is too old to work with the notebook!!!!
We pulled in to the take out at The Takhini river and unfortunately there was no space in the mini bus leaving so we got to hang around in the sunshine, getting bitten by mosquitos for a while as the other paddlers came in to fill up the bus.

We were soon back in Whitehorse and in to shower, change and out again for the food shop from hell.




The Tower Hamlets Canoe Club contingent at the YRQ Meet & Greet
 Monday evening was the YRQ meet and greet where we got to meet up with some people we didn't already know and some that we did.  On the way we popped to Coast & Mountain (yes again) for Sarah to get a space bivvy bag.
One chocolate and one vanilla moose coming up (for our hallucinations!)

I think all of the racers got the message that if your spot device had not already sent a signal from Whitehorse you were in BIG trouble.
As close to bears as we want to get

Sunday 23 June 2013

The testing



It's Saturday which is the day of the first practise run  so we went to Kanoe People to launch in our rented clipper.  We were hanging around for a while hoping that someone else would put on but no one seemed ready to.  There are only so many hours in the day (particularly when sunset is at midnight) and so we decided we would be first on.  It was the first time in  the boat and there was a decent current so we were not sure how she would handle over the eddy line.

We should not have worried.  We were soon over the eddy line, turning nicely and charging down the river past the buildings of central Whitehorse.

We were soon seeing the partly ogrn cb's which are described in our maps (ask for a copy of the O'Rourke maps if a translation is needed).


The sun shone on as we sped down the river covering the first 4 miles in 20 minutes!
We took some time out of paddling to get close to this juvenile bald eagle (sitting on the branch) and its mother which flew off as we approached.



On we paddled with me commenting on how gorgeous the river was and how great the boat was.




The take out at Burma Road was easily spotted from the directions we had been given and the flag that had been put up.  We covered 30km in 2 hours and 40 minutes.  This is pretty much the same as our race timings so we are happy with this as we took it easy and were tourists.
So this is the road we get to travel on Wednesday on to Policeman's point and round to lake Laberge,

We now have the boat in the back garden of the Beez Kneez and tomorrow is packing practice - life in the fast lane here.

 We spent the remainder of the day shopping for clarityn for Sarah's mozzie bites and a cheap emergency tent to go in the boat.  After a long hard day we rewarded ourselves with a trip to the Mexican restaurant.  No points for guessing what Sarah was drinking.

Saturday 22 June 2013

the gathering

So we were up bright and early and by 8 am we were out having breakfast and then it was time for a wander to "check the levels" as Tom would say.  For non paddlers this means going to look at the water.  It was big, green and fast.

The next stop was to pick up our extra padding for our bottoms aka gel seats - yes we do need them.  We then wandered towards Kanoe People to look at our new boat 2005/5 - really does need a better name.  We will send pictures of it tomorrow.


Down by the riverside we saw the trolley bus and then wandered to the supermarket for supplies.  The vegetables are massive - onions as big as your head and whole chickens are 50% dearer than cooked ones.
Esther has plans for tomorrow - Sarah will be wandering the streets looking for a Mountie (only joking Dan).
After a spot of lunch we hijacked the hostels dog, Bertha, and went on a walk to the longest wooden fish ladder in the world!  There was a nice 5km circuit up the river, over a bridge and back again through town which suited us.

Esther thought the water felt a bit chilly but in this sunshine that was very welcome.
This is only half of the river around one side of an island just to give you a bit of perspective.

the fish ladder with Dam in the background
Esther went for a look around the fish ladder (mainly as the man outside was almost begging for visitors. Sarah held the dog.

Unfortunately it was the wrong time of the year for fish and she saw a solitary grayling.

We then wandered to the top of the dam and looked out over Lake Schwatka where there is a float plane base.



As we wandered back towards town there was serious evidence of beaver damage on trees.  At first it seemed quite special to see this and then you realise just how significant the damage they do is as whole swathes of trees had been affected.

It's currently 9pm and before bed tonight we will be getting everything ready for tomorrows paddle but it is incredibly light - like the light you get at midday on the brightest summer days, instead of what you would expect for the time of day.

The arrival...

Sarah's account of the journey to Whitehorse.

The day of leaving I was up at 5.30 to shower - stare aimlessly at the bags and then to print off and laminate the words for modern major general and little list.  Its a keeping the minds working tactic that we are attempting to learn both of these by the end of the race

Half way through setting up the laminator Dan stumbled out of bed and offered to come with me to get the Heathrow express.

I hate flying even after taking a fear of flying course - you have to wait - forever, its not comfortable (even in premium economy) and its boring.  I like flying flatbed - I cannot justify this but suspect that I may be more likely to say to hell with the upgrade cost on the way home.

This is an odd flight - sitting in the gate there are clearly regulars who are being hugged by the cabin crew!  I have never seen that on a transatlantic flight.

So during the flight I was introduced to the Caesar - this is Clamato (tomato juice with clam juice added ) and vodka.

Arrival at Vancouver was late but smooth and they have aquariums where you can watch the pretty jellyfish  What they don't have is a pay in lounge before you check in for your domestic flight and I have 4 hours until I meet Esther - well I guess it's all acclimatisation for long days!

So then several hours spent sitting and mooching (and getting a massage) and along wanders Esther and its time to check in for our flight north.  No one seems to quite get what we are waffling on about and off we wander for a bite to eat.  


I'm slightly worried that Esther isn't getting into the swing of practising sleep deprivation as she is currently passed out of the benches at the gate.

Checking in for AirNorth goes well even though our bags are hugely overweight and then at security there is a sign which tells us we have to put our thermos flasks in the bin  - we go slightly mental until we are told that the bin is in fact a tray.  It's not a particularly busy section of the airport but could take more capacity!


Onto the plane and we are both asleep before take off, which wakes me up.  We know that a snack was served as at times we saw the residual bits but we were too much sleeping to worry about this.



We arrived into Whitehorse at midnight and it was surprisingly light.  We were a bit sleepy so the first view of the river is from this morning - looks great.

Thursday 20 June 2013

Final planning for adventure

Sarah's partner here, as both Sarah and Esther should be somewhere over the atlantic I thought I'd share a few things that they were up in their final days before their flights.

Saturday was a planning day, Sarah and Esther got out all the maps for the final planning and then brainstormed to see if they could work out if there was something important they hadn't covered.




Tuesday night was the last night at the basin with Tower Hamlets Canoe Club.  Instead of going around and around they challenged everyone else to pilot Fifty Shades a couple of hundred metres, and to guess the finish time - all to raise funds for the RNLI of course.




Some members cooked a lovely bear shaped chocolate cake to go with the BBQ, I think they enjoyed the evening of fun.


Early Thursday morning Sarah was up and scowling at her bags: too full, too heavy, but there was nothing that could be done without. A taxi was taken to Paddington where she headed off to the airport, Canada and almost certain adventure.



The end of the journey and the start of the trip

 So I'm sitting at Heathrow waiting for the plane (delayed) and it seems as good a time as any to write about our last full day paddle - Windsor to Kew (for old time sake).

We said a final goodbye to the lockies we have been passing for months and made sure they knew we wouldn't be bothering them again.  We also thought we would spread some news of what we were up to.



It was a bright sunny day to see us off but boy was there a headwind - the whole way.  It was annoying but didn't hurt and made the journey that bit more exciting, particularly when large cruisers came past in clumps and we had large confused water.  We have been passed this odd bicycle craft near Surbiton so many times that we decided that a photo was needed.  

At this point there were a couple of families out in canoes having a really hard time in the wind.  We also then came across a traditional group of English yobs steering a motor boat in decreasing circles and then rocking it to try and capsize - clever boys.



 Due to the headwind we hit Richmond lock some way behind target but at least Esther didn't get set upon by geese this time.


 It only seems right to finish off by showing your our journey home.  After being on the water for over 10 hours and leaving the house at 6.30 am we have to pack up the boat, get it on the bus to the train station, catch a train, then another bus and the final 5 minute walk back to Sarah's flat before carrying it all upstairs.   I suspect it will be some time before we do that again!

Wednesday 12 June 2013

Animal Rescue





So Esther had Tuesday 11 June booked off so that she could see friends who had not been in the UK for a long time.   In honour of her day off I pursuaded Ari from Interserve's team to join me in the boat for a few spins in the boat so he could practice steering.

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An Egyptian goose (not the actual one)
We were happily paddling round and noticed the male swan attacking one of the Egyptian geese - not an unusual event as the swan is a bit of a nasty one and already has a vendetta with the little white duck.  We kept going and on the second trip back it was looking more suspicious as the goose wasn't swimming away and the swan really was trying to kill it.  So we approached and tried to get our boat between the 2.

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An attacking swan (not the actual one

It transpired that it getting away from the swan the goose had swum into fishing line and become tangled on this.  We managed to get the goose away from the swan, find the line and cut it from where it had tangled to the edges of the dock.  However the goose couldn't swim and we were borrowing knives from passers by who we asked to phone the RSPCA or something.




The goose was exhausted and we clearly needed to get onto land and get the line from its wing.

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Not the actual fisherman
One of the fishermen climbed down into our boat and carefully got the goose and line into the boat and sat calmly with it as we got to the dock furthest from the swan, where we cut and untangled the line - the fisherman was very careful doing this.


We sat calmly with the goose for a while and it was calmer with a cag over its eyes.  Then a fire engine turned up with firemen who are what had been called!  They were pleased that we had the goose, had freed it from the line and they professed no real experience in goose rescue and were somewhat unsure why they had been called.

After a while the goose got up slowly and had a good flap - clearly no wing damage so we left it to have rest while his missus made lots of noise.  This was lucky as Dan said I could not take it home

At the end of the night the goose had a swim and went to meet the missus.  They swam straight back towards the swan who chased them away (clearly not an intelligent goose).

As the geese flew to avoid the swan attack our already befuddled goose flew straight into lines which hold slalom poles up and came crashing down into the water.  We left him gathering his thoughts on the pontoon and hopefully he will be well when we go back on Thursday.

Somewhat amusingly I have been named as a hero: http://lovewapping.org/2013/06/sarah-shadwell-basin-outdoor-activity-centre-wapping-hero/  I'm not - I'm a fool who quite likes wildlife So thank you to Ari for putting up with my animal rescue attempts when all he wanted was some practice.  Sorry to Esther - you missed the most exciting night of paddling I have ever had at the basin.  Thank you to the fisherman for helping to sort it out. Thank you to the chaps who passed me a knife, and to everyone who was involved in our animal rescue attempt.

I must also report myself to the club committee for allowing someone into a boat and passed the yellow line without a PFD.

Sarah