{"id":17319,"date":"2018-08-21T09:00:04","date_gmt":"2018-08-21T16:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/community.nrs.com\/?p=17319"},"modified":"2018-08-20T10:25:26","modified_gmt":"2018-08-20T17:25:26","slug":"from-kayaker-to-canoe-racer-in-three-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/community.nrs.com\/duct-tape\/2018\/08\/21\/from-kayaker-to-canoe-racer-in-three-days\/","title":{"rendered":"From Kayaker to Canoe Racer in Three Days"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our canoe cuts through the glassy water, and I lose my count of paddle strokes in drooling over the fairy-tale waterfall we glide past. Glaciated mountains stand sentinel over the crumbling vestiges of the old Big Bend Highway that punctuate the shoreline along this sublime stretch of the Columbia between Mica Creek and Revelstoke Dam.<\/p>\n

It almost makes me forget that my shoulders are on fire from paddling frantically, I\u2019m sick of counting to ten over and over, and I\u2019m thirstier than I\u2019ve ever been in my life while also desperately needing to pee.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I decided at the last minute to participate in the first-ever David Thompson Paddlesport Classic.<\/a> Organized by\u00a082-year-old canoe legend Bill Pollock, it’s\u00a0the longest paddle event in British Columbia at 125 kilometers with six portages over three days.<\/p>\n

There were just two hitches: One, I\u2019d only known my teammate for 72 hours, and two, I\u2019d never raced a canoe.<\/p>\n

To sort out the first hitch, my pinch paddle partner Nathanael and I met for beers to make sure we wouldn\u2019t kill each other in a canoe for three days. He\u2019d been thinking about entering the race, and when I sent out feelers for a partner through the local paddling network, he jumped on the opportunity.<\/p>\n

Neither of us had spent much time in canoes, but I\u2019d been paddling packrafts and rowing fully-loaded rafts on whitewater for years in the Pacific Northwest. When I moved to B.C. I started kayaking. I asked Nathanael about his paddling experience, and he said he was pretty comfortable in a kayak as well.<\/p>\n

The next day, I watched him run a series of big drop class IV rapids at the Jordan River Fest in Revelstoke and decided he was clearly over-qualified for flatwater canoeing.<\/p>\n