General

This year's paddling season got off to a tragic start as 65 year old Dr. Steven Senior of Bridgenorth, near Peterborough died on March 11 on a Class IV rapid on the Little River in Tennessee. Dr. Senior was attending Ain't Louie Fest, an annual Spring Break paddling event that brings together some of the best open boaters from the US & Canada to run some classic whitewater in the Great Smokies. He came out of his canoe on running a ledge, swam, and was swept downstream over another ledge. He experienced a foot entrapment at the base of this ledge, holding him underwater. In spite of heroic efforts by the highly trained crew of paddlers with him, it was 37 minutes before he could be extricated. He had vital signs on recovery but subsequently died in hospital.

Some of you who paddle at the Gull may have met Dr. Senior there.

We extend our sincerest condolences to the family.

There is video footage from a local television station, as well as a full accident report on the American Whitewater website.
http://www.thedailytimes.com/Local_News/story/Fellow-boaters-rescue-Can…
http://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/Accident/detail/accidentid/36…

As anyone who has visited the Canadian Canoe Museum is aware, the current location on Monaghan Road in Peterborough, is a less than ideal venue for the display and preservation of its world-famous canoe and kayak collection. The museum is located in what was once a factory of the old Outboard Marine Corporation. Plans are afoot for moving the museum to more suitable home in Peterborough's downtown, and on the waterfront to facilitate actual on-water canoe activities. Specific plans will be made available to the public later this year. For details of the plans as they unfold, keep your eye on the museum's website.
For the local view and more information, follow this link to an article in The Peterborough Examiner:
http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/2013/03/05/downtown-site-a-perfe…

Departing 25 November on a 3 week long self-guided rafting trip down Colorado from Lee's Ferry to Diamond Creek.
SPOT tracker link:
http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0mDoZ8KY08Zd1StU6RhEdh1B2NrhDzx5o

Aleks

Sadly, one of our long time members, Jim Greenacre, recently passed away after a short illness at age 92. Jim was one of us who joined the WCA in its very early years, and I can remember our first outing with the club was a run down the Credit River organized by him. That was back around 1977. After the trip, Jim took the time to phone Rita and I to thank us for joining him, and to encourage us to continue to get out on club trips. That was the kind of guy Jim was. Subsequent years found us often on lakes and rivers with him, and later I joined him on the Outings Committee, where he was active for many years. When we organized our first introductory whitewater courses, Jim was onboard, and continued to be an instructor on this very popular course well up into his 70's.

A very active outdoorsman in all seasons, he travelled the Nahanni, Thelon, Quebec and Labrador Rivers, and Ontario waterways from the Great Lakes to James Bay. In his mid-60's he participated in a Northern Ontario snowshoe trip across James Bay, keeping up with companions two decades his junior. That trip ended up as an article in "Canadian Geographic." Jim was everyone's ideal travelling mate. He was helpful, patient, congenial, and always pulled his weight. If your chatter got to him, he just turned down his hearing aid and tuned you out.

One of my favourite memories of Jim was a whitewater course on the French River where he was a co-instructor. There was another group at Blue Chute, where we were working the river. Jim fished out a soggy swimmer from this class, and started to explain that he needed extreme lean to the inside of the turn in crossing such a strong eddy line. The other members of his group started laughing all of a sudden- the septagenarian who they thought didn't know which end of the paddle to put in the water was demonstrating for their hot-shot young instructor.

I last had the pleasure of paddling with Jim some 9 or 10 years ago. That would make Jim in his early 80's. We were pulling our at the end of the Moira one April afternoon. We were beat, and suggested the we all hit Tim's in Belleville. Jim gave his regrets. He had to hurry home to change. He was booked for an evening of one of his favourite off-water activities- ballroom dancing.

Those of us who knew Jim came to regard him as a paddling inspiration, continuing to canoe up until he was 90. When I talked to him a few months ago, he was still getting out for his daily hour walks, and dancing up a storm, though he confessed he had to chase up younger gals of late since finding ladies in his own age group who could kick up their heels with him was becoming difficult.

We'll miss you, Jim.

Bill Ness

A great Fall weekend at the Madawaska Kanu Centre with great attendance. We had 44 for the full weekend and a further 19 join us for supper on Saturday night. Jon McPhee did a wonderful job with the organization of the weekend starting with a fire in the gazebo on Friday night to warm and welcome everyone.The weather cooperated with a lovely sunny Saturday with beautiful colours. The group split with a flat water group exploring the Bonnechere River and the white water group scraping down the lower Mad. Yes, even though we had great attendance this year, the water gods did not cooperate. Thanks to Cathryn Ross and Bill Cormode for leading the flat water expedition. On Saturday night we had the best meal yet, followed by presentations on the Ashuapmushuan River by Dave & Dawne Robinson and the Mistassibi Nord-Est by William Sleeth and Claudia Escandon.

Sunday saw members split into smaller groups, some doing some hiking in the area led by Cathryn Ross and others snubbing/poling down the Chalet rapids.

Fourteen of the attendees were new members within the last year!!

To see pictures from the Saturday paddle on the lower Mad:

http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=41405f10b47…

Diabetes is an insidious disease. It is prevalent amongst our First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples. I have been part of organizing an Aboriginal Heritage Festival in Fergus, Ontario for the past three years. All monies collected by admission donations are presented to the Southern Ontario Aboriginal Diabetes Initiative (SOADI). This year's festival will be April 19 and 20 2013 at the Wellington County Museum in Fergus. It is (to my knowledge) the only festival, inclusive of all three Aboriginal groups.

In co-operation with SOADI, we are trying to promote a community " Paddling Against Diabetes Display Love for Earth (PADDLE)", similar to "Running for Diabetes". The first event was held in July at Six Nations on the Grand River. This was well received and considered to have been very successful.

I am also trying to raise awareness and contribute to local Aboriginal Diabetes Health Units. Each year, I do a solo canoe trip. This past year, I did the Kattawagami River, which empties into the southeast corner of James Bay and finished at Moose Factory.
A small amount of money was raised and presented to the local Weeneebayko Diabetes Health Unit.

This July I will be doing the Notakwanon River in Labrador, with all monies raised going to the Natuashish Diabetes Health Unit.

It is the intent to bring further attention to this serious disease and to benefit the local Aboriginal Diabetes Health Units and peoples.

If you are interested in helping by donating or have any ideas, please contact me.

I will be at the Symposium, should anyone wish to discuss these initiatives.

Thanks,

Jack Frimeth
60 Washburn Dr.
Guelph, Ontario N1E 0B2
(H) 519 823 5709
(c) 519 212 3817

j_frimeth@hotmail.com

The Saturday April 21 edition of the Toronto Star has a very interesting article on a Search & Rescue mission to rescue two Inuit hunters gone very wrong. (page IN1, "A rescue nightmare in Arctic") http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/article/1165241--how-did-search-and…

The two hunters had left Igloolik on Baffin Island last fall to go walrus hunting from a small boat, when the weather turned bad. They activated their SPOT beacon Oct. 26, 2011 at 9:19 pm. By the time they were rescued at 10:50 pm the next evening, most of eastern Canada's SAR resources had been brought into play on this one call, and one SAR technician was dead.

A Hercules transport was initially sent from Winnipeg, but since the hunters were on the ocean, it couldn't do anything. A Griffon utility helicopter could have been brought in to hoist the men from the boat, but this was found to be impossible since the closest was somewhere in the south. So a larger Cormorant was sought. The closest was in Gander, but it (like so much of our military's flying hardware) apparently could not make the long flight due to "airframe hours and cycles." Finally, they found a Cormorant in Greenwood, N.S. To cover this extraordinarily long flight, it had to re-fuel in Goose Bay, Kuujjuaq, and Cape Dorset. Since the journey was beyond its normal capabilities, it would have needed an accompanying plane for safety if it were to fly over the ocean directly there. As one was not available, the helicopter had to follow the coast. Another Hercules was dispatched from Trenton with two SAR technicians on board. Meanwhile, attempts were made to obtain an Aurora long range patrol plane, or even a Twin Otter, but without success. So then, a third Hercules was then sent from Greenwood, N.S., though it only had a few hours of flying time available before it was to go in for scheduled maintenance. Additionally, a fourth Hercules took off from Trenton, only to turn around five hours later as by then it was not needed. Finally, the Coast Guard icebreaker Henry Larsen was dispatched to the scene, though it was two days sailing time away.

Since the SAR technicians arrived hours before the Cormorant will be on the scene, they decided to jump from the Hercules with a couple of large rubber rafts for them and the hunters, so that they could provide assistance. One of the technicians made it, but the other was separated from the big raft, so deployed his one-man emergency raft. By the time the four were pulled from the ocean, the SAR technician in the little emergency raft was unresponsive and became the only fatality.

We take our hat of to the courageous men and women of our Search & Rescue teams, and to our armed forces personnel who support them. These people put their lives on the line to help us if things go wrong out in the wilds.

The unexpected can happen to even the most experienced travellers in remote areas, despite meticulously careful planning. Nonetheless, when we head out on that canoe or kayak trip, we need to keep in mind the potentially serious consequences of mishaps when so far from help. The danger isn't only to us, but also to those who may come to help us. While sat phones and locator beacons are wonderful pieces of technology, we should never come to rely on them or allow them to become substitutes for personal responsibility and prudent behaviour.

This episode should also be a somber heads-up that just because we carry a sat phone or beacon, we should not assume it guarantees a fast rescue. The unfortunate string of events that occurred here have caused some serious questions to be raised about this country's SAR organization- not the people; their professionalism and commitment is never in doubt- but the SAR operations, procedures, and material support.

Our Prime Minister has said “There is no possible way that in the vastness of the Canadian Arctic we could ever have all the resources close by." With recent federal budget cuts, those resources may be even farther away in the future.

Reminder - you must sign in as the member in order to download the current issue:

http://www.wildernesscanoe.ca/content/download-current-issue

In this issue:

1 Snake River
10 Editorial-out
10 Editorial-in
10 WCA Activities
10 Contributors’ Guid.
11 Book Review
11 Deadline
11 Outings Report
11 Bill Mason Videos
12 Food for Paddlers
12 Don River Paddle
13 Spanish River
17 Damascus
18 Bear Spray
19 Symposium
20 Bonaventure River
26 Camera for Paddlers
27 Fall Hiking Weekend

Minutes AGM 2012