fitness paddling: exercise, train, race by kayak & canoe

1. Driving with your own boat

After driving from Colorado to Ultimate Florida Challenge where we made over 5000 miles in our Subaru Outback I started to consider driving to Whitehorse as a not so crazy option. I have about 1940 miles and 29 driving hours from Fort Collins, CO to Tampa/St. Petersburg, FL while to Whitehorse, YT it will be 2460 miles and 41 driving hours. Several teams from California and Texas were driving for this year race.

Erin Magee on Texas Paddlers Forum - Canoe and Kayak Racing:

8200+ miles in 126 hours - I'm sure we've got some sort of record on driving.

Our drive up wasn't bad. pulled into Whitehorse after 4 days on the road - 3600+ miles.

The trip back was a little stressful ...

The problem is that at this time I don't have a kayak (Sea Wind canoe is not allowed) which I can enter into the YRQ race except my folding kayak which leads to the second option.

2. Flying with your folding kayak

I am sure that I could dot he YRQ in cruising mode using my Feathercraft K1 Expedtion kayak. What a pity that they not allowed single blade paddles for kayaks. I am going to explore traveling by air with my Feathercraft, perhaps, for the next WaterTribe Everglades Challenge or for just some paddling in wintertime. I had paddled folding kayaks in Poland for 20 years, but we traveled only by trains and buses.

3. Flying and renting a kayak

This sounds like a reasonable compromise. I am just not sure if I would manage to customize a rental kayak for comfort to survive 450 mile race. However, Marty Sullivan used that option successfully this year. He rented quite nice and fast looking sea kayak, 18.4'x21" Boreal Design Labrador. He reports on the WaterTribe forum:

I flew into Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada a few days before the June 28 start of the 450-mile Yukon River Race from Whitehorse to the 1898 gold rush town of Dawson City. I had been told the race was a “piece of cake” compared to the Everglades Challenge, so I was confident not only of finishing but also of turning in a respectable time. I hate to call someone a liar, but a piece of cake it was not.

Marty summarized his 56+ hours race as follows:

The river was swift, wide, and got wider as it progressed from south to north. Reading the currents was important, and I learned underway to read them. Scenery was fantastic, the river winding its way between bluffs and spruce forests. There were no hazardous conditions for those of us use to paddling coastal Florida, but don’t fall into the 45-degree water. The local people and race volunteers were marvelous, friendly, and always helpful; I never had to lift my boat. The racers were a great group of people, although more competitive than the WaterTribe crew. My 2 ¾ days on the river were an experience I won’t forget. Flights are available to Whitehorse, and boat rentals are available, but not cheap. If you want to do it, sign up early to meet the 70-boat limit.

According to the race president Jeff Brady this year weather was really nasty (from Marin kayakers storm Yukon race):

The weather in the beginning was the worst we have had in the eight years of the event. Rain from the start Wednesday through much of Thursday, combined with wind on Lake Lebarge, made it difficult for many of the teams. Several were hypothermic or just plain worn out Thursday morning between Hootalingua and Big Salmon and could not go on.

There were lots of scratches on the race this year. We had weather that was unusually bad. In fact we had a wetter day than any previous June day on record. And our rain is very cold so the air temperature was about 5C, that's 41F.

What generally happened to people was that they got cold and wet, then the rain stopped and they changed clothes. Then it rained again and they got their second set of clothes wet. Then it stopped raining and if people had a third set of dry clothes they put those on, then it set in cold and wet and windy again and people were in trouble. The Yukon River Quest is a wilderness race first and a canoe/kayak race second. People need to take survival gear with them as if they were planning on camping. If they are lucky and the weather is kind they won't need it. But if things go wrong and you are not equipped you are likely to find yourself one being one of the scratches.

Erin Magee:

At that temp in that rain for the first 48 - I couldn't handle it. Not enough cold weather gear ...

I'd like to say thanks so much to Peter Coates. We had a good discussion about racing and race administration while he warmed us up with hot chocolate, tea and good spirits on that cold morning in the Yukon.

Peter is the "spirit of the north" and he's inspired me to at all times demonstrate the "warmth of the south" - while racing or training.

Despite of harsh weather conditions many records were broken in the 2006 race. It is worth to read: Two Views of Victory: '06 YRQ by Brandon and Heather Nelson

Related posts:

• Two Virtual Racers Met at 740 km Yukon River Quest
• A New Record in Yukon River Quest in Tandem Sea Kayak
• 75 Teams Set to Race in 2006 Yukon River Quest
• Is Ultra-Marathon Kayak and Canoe Racing Growing?
• Why the Yukon River Quest is Growing?